Yotian Frontliner is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
Whenever this creature attacks, another target creature you control gets +1/+1 until end of turn. Unearth(
Complete guide
Yotian Frontliner is a versatile artifact soldier that provides a temporary boost to your forces every time it charges into battle. This low-cost creature is particularly resilient thanks to the unearth mechanic, allowing it to return for a surprise offensive from the graveyard. Whether you are playing an aggressive Soldier deck or an artifact-heavy strategy, understanding how its abilities interact with the stack is key to victory.
Tactical Reinforcements
Yotian Frontliner features a triggered ability that occurs whenever it is declared as an attacker. You must choose another target creature you control; that creature then receives a +1/+1 buff until the end of the current turn. Because this ability triggers upon attacking, the target is chosen before your opponent declares blockers, potentially making a small creature much more difficult to block profitably.
The Mechanics of Unearth
For a single white mana, you can use the unearth ability to return Yotian Frontliner from your graveyard to the battlefield. This is an activated ability that can only be used when you could cast a sorcery. When unearthed, the Frontliner gains haste, allowing it to attack immediately. However, there are strings attached: it must be exiled at the beginning of the next end step, or if it would leave the battlefield for any other reason before then.
Replacement Effects and Persistence
A common point of confusion is how unearth handles leaving the battlefield. If the unearthed Yotian Frontliner would go anywhere else (like your hand or graveyard), the unearth replacement effect exiles it instead. If an effect already tries to exile it (like a flicker effect), it successfully goes to exile. Notably, if it is exiled and then returned to the battlefield by the same spell, it returns as a brand-new object and is no longer bound by the unearth exile clause.
Interaction examples
Esper SentinelWith both creatures on the battlefield, you declare them as attackers. Yotian Frontliner's ability triggers, and you target Esper Sentinel. The Sentinel becomes a 2/2 creature. Now, if your opponent casts a noncreature spell, they must pay {2} instead of {1} to prevent you from drawing a card, as the tax is based on Esper Sentinel's current power.
Ornithopter of ParadiseYou have an Ornithopter of Paradise on the field and unearth Yotian Frontliner from your graveyard. You attack with the Frontliner and target the Ornithopter with its ability. The Ornithopter of Paradise becomes a 1/3 flying creature until end of turn. While usually used for mana, this allows the Thopter to survive a block from a 1/1 or 2/2 flier while the Frontliner continues its aggressive push.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Yotian Frontliner
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
If you activate a card's unearth ability but that card is removed from your graveyard before the ability resolves, that unearth ability will do nothing as it resolves.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
Activating a card's unearth ability isn't the same as casting that card. The unearth ability is put on the stack, but the card is not. Spells and abilities that interact with activated abilities (such as Defabricate's second mode) will interact with unearth, but spells and abilities that interact with spells (such as Scatter Ray) will not.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
At the beginning of the next end step, a permanent returned to the battlefield with unearth is exiled. This is a delayed triggered ability, and it can be countered by effects such as Defabricate that counter triggered abilities. If the ability is countered, the permanent will stay on the battlefield and the delayed triggered ability won't trigger again. However, the replacement effect will still exile the permanent if it eventually leaves the battlefield.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
Unearth grants haste to the permanent that's returned to the battlefield (even if it's not a creature card). However, neither of the "exile" abilities is granted to that permanent. If that permanent loses all its abilities, it will still be exiled at the beginning of the next end step, and if it would leave the battlefield, it is still exiled instead.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
If a permanent returned to the battlefield with unearth would leave the battlefield for any reason, it's exiled instead—unless the spell or ability that's causing the permanent to leave the battlefield is actually trying to exile it! In that case, it succeeds at exiling it. If that spell or ability later returns the card to the battlefield (as Static Net might, for example), the permanent card will return to the battlefield as a new object with no relation to its previous existence. The unearth effects will no longer apply to it.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
Commentaires
- Sois le premier à commenter cette carte.
Read next
Meta decks with Yotian Frontliner
No archived Top 8 deck with this card yet.