Infiltrator il-Kor MTG Card
2007-05-04 - Number 37
2021-03-19 - Number 71
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 5 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Kor Rogue |
| Abilities | Shadow,Suspend |
| Power | 3 |
| Toughness | 1 |
Key Takeaways
- Infiltrator il-Kor excels at evasion, ensuring combat damage hits opponents, enabling various triggers.
- The need to discard for its ability can hinder late-game plays, affecting hand size strategically.
- Its versatility makes it a valuable addition, fitting into numerous blue-based MTG deck strategies.
Text of card
Shadow (This creature can block or be blocked by only creatures with shadow.) Suspend 2— (Rather than play this card from your hand, you may pay and remove it from the game with two time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When you remove the last, play it without paying its mana cost. It has haste.)
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Infiltrator il-Kor’s shadow ability makes it almost unblockable, which when paired with card draw spells or abilities can consistently provide you with extra cards, keeping your hand full and opponents on their toes.
Resource Acceleration: While Infiltrator il-Kor itself doesn’t directly provide mana acceleration, its efficiency in slipping past defenses ensures that any cards or effects you have that trigger upon dealing combat damage to a player are more likely to activate, potentially accelerating your resource accumulation.
Instant Speed: Infiltrator il-Kor pairs excellently with instant speed spells and abilities. The threat of an unblockable creature can force opponents to hesitate, preserving your mana for the most opportune moment, all while Infiltrator il-Kor steadily chips away at their life total.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Infiltrator il-Kor necessitates discarding a card for its shadow ability. This can be detrimental during late-game scenarios where hand advantage is crucial.
Specific Mana Cost: This creature card requires blue mana for casting, which could restrict its inclusion to decks that are based on blue mana or have a sufficient mana fixing to accommodate it.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost that might be considered steep for its stats and abilities, players may find other creatures or spells that provide a better cost-to-benefit ratio.
Reasons to Include Infiltrator il-Kor in Your Collection
Versatility: Infiltrator il-Kor slides seamlessly into various deck archetypes that prioritize evasive creatures. Its shadow ability allows it to bypass most blockers, fitting into both aggressive and control strategies that value unblockable attackers.
Combo Potential: As a creature with a unique evasion mechanic, Infiltrator il-Kor can synergize with equipment and auras or enable combat-related triggers and combos. Its capability to consistently deal combat damage to players makes it a reliable piece in decks built around damage-triggered abilities.
Meta-Relevance: In metas where ground stalls are common, Infiltrator il-Kor shines by being able to apply pressure without contest. Additionally, in formats like Commander, where the political aspect is significant, having a creature that can consistently chip away at opponents’ life totals without provoking massive retaliation is a subtle yet effective strategy.
How to Beat Infiltrator il-Kor
Infiltrator il-Kor is a stealthy creature card that slips past defenders with its shadow ability, making it an elusive target within the world of Magic: The Gathering. This creature can often catch players off guard, dealing damage while being difficult to block. However, there are strategies to handle this sneaky threat effectively.
The key is to disrupt your opponent’s game plan and remove Infiltrator il-Kor before it can cause too much havoc. Since it can only block or be blocked by creatures with shadow, your best bet is to rely on removal spells that don’t require a targeting block condition. Direct damage spells, exile effects, or board wipes can effectively remove Infiltrator il-Kor from the battlefield, irrespective of its elusive abilities. Furthermore, using creature abilities that don’t require blocking, such as “tap target creature” effects, can provide a means to neutralize the threat it poses without entering the combat phase. Timely removal is crucial – once Infiltrator il-Kor starts connecting, it can quickly lead to card advantage and battlefield presence that may become overwhelming.
Remember, as with any card, understanding Infiltrator il-Kor’s strengths and weaknesses allows you to anticipate it in your opponents’ decks, plan accordingly, and maintain control over the game.
Cards like Infiltrator il-Kor
Infiltrator il-Kor slips into the shadows of the MTG stealth creature lineup with finesse. Resonating with other low-cost, evasive units like Shadowmage Infiltrator, both creatures share the ability to avoid being blocked. However, Infiltrator il-Kor stands out by necessitating less mana and having the shadow ability, ensuring that only creatures with shadow can block it. This stealthy unit is not alone in its evasive capabilities within the game.
Referring to cards such as Tormented Soul, it offers unblockable prowess without the shadow restriction but lacks the power boost found with Infiltrator il-Kor. Furthermore, Looter il-Kor is a comparable mind-cousin that not only evades blocks but also allows you to draw and discard when it deals combat damage. While not as forceful in attack, it opens the door for deck cycling and drawing opportunities.
Delving deeper into comparison, we observe that the attribute of evasion in these creatures can be pivotal for gameplay, enabling hits to enemy life points while staying just out of reach. Infiltrator il-Kor’s blend of low mana cost, offensive capability, and elusive shadow talent carves out its unique niche in MTG’s diverse creature collection.
Cards similar to Infiltrator il-Kor by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Infiltrator il-Kor MTG card by a specific set like Future Sight and Time Spiral Remastered, 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 Infiltrator il-Kor and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
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Printings
The Infiltrator il-Kor Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2007-05-04 and 2021-03-19. Illustrated by Jon Foster.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2007-05-04 | Future Sight | FUT | 37 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Jon Foster | |
| 2 | 2021-03-19 | Time Spiral Remastered | TSR | 71 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Jon Foster |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Infiltrator il-Kor has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Infiltrator il-Kor card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2021-03-19 | If an attacking creature has multiple evasion abilities, such as shadow and flying, a creature can block it only if that creature satisfies all of the appropriate evasion abilities. |
| 2021-03-19 | Multiple instances of shadow on the same creature are redundant. |
| 2021-03-19 | Once a creature has been blocked, that creature remains blocked and will deal and be dealt combat damage even if it gains or loses shadow or if the blocking creature gains or loses shadow. |
| 2021-06-18 | A creature cast using suspend will enter the battlefield with haste. It will have haste until another player gains control of it. (In some rare cases, another player may gain control of the creature spell itself. If this happens, the creature won’t enter the battlefield with haste.) |
| 2021-06-18 | As the second triggered ability resolves, you must cast the card if able. You must do so even if it requires targets and the only legal targets are ones that you really don’t want to target. Timing permissions based on the card’s type are ignored. |
| 2021-06-18 | Cards exiled with suspend are exiled face up. |
| 2021-06-18 | Exiling a card with suspend isn’t casting that card. This action doesn’t use the stack and can’t be responded to. |
| 2021-06-18 | If an effect refers to a “suspended card,” that means a card that (1) has suspend, (2) is in exile, and (3) has one or more time counters on it. |
| 2021-06-18 | If the card has in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as the value of X when casting it without paying its mana cost. |
| 2021-06-18 | If the first triggered ability of suspend (the one that removes time counters) is countered, no time counter is removed. The ability will trigger again at the beginning of the card’s owner’s next upkeep. |
| 2021-06-18 | If the second triggered ability is countered, the card can’t be cast. It remains exiled with no time counters on it, and it’s no longer suspended. |
| 2021-06-18 | If the spell requires any targets, those targets are chosen when the spell is finally cast, not when it’s exiled. |
| 2021-06-18 | If you can’t cast the card, perhaps because there are no legal targets available, it remains exiled with no time counters on it, and it’s no longer suspended. |
| 2021-06-18 | If you cast a card “without paying its mana cost,” such as with suspend, you can’t choose to cast it for any alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, you must pay those if you want to cast the card. |
| 2021-06-18 | Suspend is a keyword that represents three abilities. The first is a static ability that allows you to exile the card from your hand with the specified number of time counters (the number before the dash) on it by paying its suspend cost (listed after the dash). The second is a triggered ability that removes a time counter from the suspended card at the beginning of each of your upkeeps. The third is a triggered ability that causes you to cast the card when the last time counter is removed. If you cast a creature spell this way, it gains haste until you lose control of that creature (or, in rare cases, you lose control of the creature spell while it’s on the stack). |
| 2021-06-18 | The mana value of a spell cast without paying its mana cost is determined by its mana cost, even though that cost wasn’t paid. |
| 2021-06-18 | When the last time counter is removed, the second triggered ability of suspend (the one that lets you cast the card) triggers. It doesn’t matter why the last time counter was removed or what effect removed it. |
| 2021-06-18 | You are never forced to activate mana abilities to pay costs, so if there is a mandatory additional mana cost (such as from Thalia, Guardian of Thraben), you can decline to activate mana abilities to pay for it and hence fail to cast the suspended card, leaving it in exile. |
| 2021-06-18 | You can exile a card in your hand using suspend any time you could cast that card. Consider its card type, any effects that modify when you could cast it (such as flash) and any other effects that stop you from casting it (such as from Meddling Mage’s ability) to determine if and when you can do this. Whether you could actually complete all steps in casting the card is irrelevant. For example, you can exile a card with suspend that has no mana cost or that requires a target even if no legal targets are available at that time. |
