Thijarian WitnessHow it works & interactions with other cards

What It Does

Thijarian Witness has a triggered ability called Bear Witness. Whenever another creature dies, the game checks if that creature was attacking or blocking alone during the current combat phase. If it was, the Witness exiles that card from the graveyard and rewards you by letting you investigate, which creates a Clue token.

How Bear Witness Resolves

When a creature dies, the Bear Witness ability triggers and goes on the stack. As it resolves, the game looks back at the creature's state right before it left the battlefield. If the creature was an 'attacking creature' and no other creatures were 'attacking creatures' at that time (or the same for 'blocking'), the ability successfully exiles the card and you create a Clue token.

Common Mistakes

A common mistake is forgetting that the creature must actually die for the ability to trigger. If a creature is exiled directly from the battlefield, Bear Witness does not trigger. Additionally, the ability only checks for solo combatants; if two creatures are attacking and one dies, it was not 'attacking alone' at the moment of death, so no Clue is generated.

When to Play It

Because Thijarian Witness has Flash, you can cast it after your opponent has declared a single attacker but before that attacker dies in combat. This ensures you are ready to exile their creature and draw cards later using the resulting Clue tokens.

Interaction examples

Capturing a Solo Attacker

Thijarian WitnessLlanowar Elves

Your opponent attacks you with a lone Llanowar Elves. You cast Thijarian Witness using Flash and use it to block. When the Llanowar Elves dies in combat, Bear Witness triggers because it was attacking alone. The Elf is exiled, and you create a Clue token.

The Importance of Alone

Thijarian WitnessBirds of ParadiseLlanowar Elves

If your opponent attacks with both Birds of Paradise and Llanowar Elves, and the Birds of Paradise dies, Bear Witness will not trigger. Even though the bird died, it was not attacking alone at the time.

Cashing in Your Clues

Thijarian WitnessClue

Once Thijarian Witness has successfully exiled a creature and generated a Clue, you can pay two mana at any time you have priority to sacrifice that Clue and draw a card. This allows you to turn the opponent's failed solo attack into card advantage.