Cat Burglar MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Kor Rogue Minion
Released	1998-06-15
Set symbol
Set name	Exodus
Set code	EXO
Power	2
Toughness	2
Number	54
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	DiTerlizzi

Key Takeaways

Cat Burglar offers card advantage by revealing and playing opponent’s cards, enhancing your strategy.
Resource advantage is key; it can use opponent’s spells or lands, boosting your gameplay unexpectedly.
Flexibility at instant speed allows tactical responses, disrupting opponents with surprise plays.

Text of card

o B, oc T: Target player chooses and discards a card. Play this ability as a sorcery.

The *il*-Kor no longer roam the open plains, but they are still hunters.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Much like a stealthy feline collecting hidden treasures, Cat Burglar provides valuable card advantage to its player. This advantage comes not only from its potential to reveal and play an additional card from your opponent’s deck but also by strategically disrupting their plan, thereby indirectly adding to your own arsenal of options.

Resource Acceleration: On top of its sneaky nature, Cat Burglar accelerates your resources by possibly granting access to your opponent’s spells or lands. This ability can unexpectedly shift the pace of the game in your favor, offering a burst of mana acceleration or alternative spells to cast, aligning perfectly with a strategy that thrives on versatility and surprise.

Instant Speed: The agility and reflexes of a cat are embodied in the instant speed of this card’s abilities. This flexibility allows the player to adapt swiftly to the changing battlefield, keeping mana open to respond to opponents’ threats with the well-timed reveal or theft of cards, thus maintaining the element of surprise and tactical advantage inherent to instant-speed plays.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Engaging with Cat Burglar requires a discard action, which could potentially lead to a depletion of valuable hand options. For players running lean on cards, this can pose a strategic downside.

Specific Mana Cost: This creature demands precise mana types for casting—both black and generic. This can sometimes complicate the deck-building process for multi-colored decks not focused predominantly on black mana.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Weighing the card’s abilities against its cost, a few mana for Cat Burglar might feel steep. This casting cost sets a bar where one starts considering alternative cards with lesser demand on resources to achieve similar or enhanced outcomes.

Reasons to Include Cat Burglar in Your Collection

Versatility: Cat Burglar is a card that offers adaptability to several deck archetypes. With its ability to disrupt opponent strategies by discarding cards, it fits well into decks looking for a balance of aggression and control.

Combo Potential: This card has synergy with strategies that reward players for discarding opponent’s cards or benefit from having creatures that can evade blockers due to its menace ability. Cat Burglar can be a key piece in creating powerful interactions within the deck.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta that values hand disruption and quick, evasive creatures, Cat Burglar shines. Its low casting cost makes it a timely play against decks that rely on card advantage to secure their win conditions.

How to beat Cat Burglar

Cat Burglar presents a unique challenge to players in the MTG arena. As a creature that leverages discard strategies, it can disrupt the tempo of your game by forcing you to discard valuable cards. To effectively counter this feline menace, consider cards that benefit from or mitigate discard effects. Madness cards, for example, thrive by being discarded, transforming a seeming disadvantage into a surprising advantage. Likewise, cards that allow you to draw when a card is discarded or offer graveyard recursion can effectively nullify Cat Burglar’s impact.

Another strategy involves removing Cat Burglar from the battlefield as quickly as possible. Efficient removal spells that can target creatures regardless of their power or toughness enable you to deal with the Burglar before its effect becomes detrimental. It’s also worth keeping in mind that a deck heavy with creatures may be less impacted by discard mechanics, assuming you have enough board presence to keep up the pressure and recover from any lost cards.

Navigating around Cat Burglar requires a blend of preparedness and prompt response. By integrating cards that counteract discard effects or prioritizing the removal of threats, you can maintain control and undermine Cat Burglar’s attempts at subterfuge.

Cards like Cat Burglar

Cat Burglar presents an intriguing twist in the thief-style niche of Magic: The Gathering cards. It shares some commonalities with cards like Ravenous Rats, which also causes an opponent to discard a card upon entering the battlefield. However, Cat Burglar offers repeated utility with its activated ability to continue the pressure on the opponent’s hand, putting it a step ahead in terms of potential card advantage.

Looking at cards like Burglar Rat, you’ll find another parallel – the one-time immediate effect of an opponent discarding. Yet, Cat Burglar stands out for its prowess on both defense and offense, offering a flexible gameplay strategy. Compared to Nezumi Bone-Reader, which requires the sacrifice of a creature to force a discard, Cat Burglar operates independently, avoiding the necessity of additional sacrifices which could compromise your board presence.

Assessing the utility and strategic depth of creature-based discard effects, Cat Burglar emerges as a card that can consistently apply pressure and adapt to various game states, enriching the arsenal of players who seek control over their opponent’s resources in Magic: The Gathering.

Cards similar to Cat Burglar by color, type and mana cost

Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed - MTG Card versions

Demon of Catastrophes - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Cat Burglar MTG card by a specific set like Exodus, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Cat Burglar and other MTG cards: