Nimble Obstructionist MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 4 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityRare
TypeCreature — Bird Wizard
Abilities Cycling,Flying, Flash
Power 3
Toughness 1

Key Takeaways

  1. Enables card advantage and strategic disruption by countering triggered abilities during cycling.
  2. Instant speed utilizes mana efficiently while keeping opponents guessing.
  3. Highly relevant in metagames with pivotal triggered or activated abilities.
Flash card art

Guide to Flash card ability

Explore the dynamic Flash ability in Magic: The Gathering (MTG), a feature that allows you to cast spells at lightning speed, often leaving your opponents reeling and your strategy several steps ahead. This versatile ability can turn the tide of a game, providing the element of surprise and tactical advantage. It places a premium on timing and foresight, transforming an ordinary deck into a formidable arsenal of instant threats and responses.

Text of card

Flash Flying Cycling (, Discard this card: Draw a card.) When you cycle Nimble Obstructionist, counter target activated or triggered ability you don't control.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Nimble Obstructionist stands out for its ability to provide card advantage in key situations. When cycling it, not only do you draw a card, but you also have the opportunity to counter triggered abilities, potentially disrupting your opponent’s strategy and maintaining your edge in the card economy.

Resource Acceleration: While Nimble Obstructionist doesn’t directly produce mana or treasure tokens, its versatility accelerates your resources in a different way. By cycling to disrupt an opponent’s play, you effectively save resources that would have been spent on handling their threats after they’ve resolved.

Instant Speed: The inherent power of Nimble Obstructionist lies in its instant speed. This allows you to play reactively, keeping up mana for other spells or abilities and only opting to cycle the Obstructionist if a particular triggered ability threatens your board state or game plan during your opponent’s turn.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Nimble Obstructionist does not explicitly have a discard prerequisite, activating its cycling ability necessitates sacrificing the card. This can be a strategic setback when the player’s hand is already scarce in resources and the need for a strong board presence is paramount.

Specific Mana Cost: Summoning Nimble Obstructionist requires precise mana in both blue and colorless, making it less flexible for multicolored decks that might struggle with color fixing or would prefer to keep mana open for other spells.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The combination of three mana for a 3/1 creature with flash may not always be the most economical play. When considering card advantage and battlefield impact, some players might find other cards in the same mana range more appealing for their deck strategy, especially when the stifle effect tied to its cycling is not guaranteed to yield high value in every game scenario.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Nimble Obstructionist offers dynamic play options, adept at swooping in with a flash, providing an evasive threat, or cleverly disrupting enemy abilities without ever entering the battlefield thanks to its cycling capability.

Combo Potential: The bird wizard’s stifle effect, which occurs when cycled, turns this creature into a surprise tactic, synergizing with strategies that aim to shut down your opponent’s crucial plays or to subtly advance your own board state.

Meta-Relevance: In a game environment where activated or triggered abilities are pivotal, Nimble Obstructionist’s unique ability to counter those effects can pivot the match in your favor, making it a highly relevant card in various competitive formats.


How to beat

When facing off against Nimble Obstructionist in your MTG games, understanding its strengths and weaknesses becomes vital for success. This versatile card can disrupt opponents in subtle, yet powerful ways, primarily through its cycling ability which not only draws a card but also counters triggered abilities – often catching players off guard. To effectively counter this strategy, a keen awareness of timing is essential.

Consider saving targeted removal or counter spells specifically for the moment the Obstructionist is cycled. This approach might limit the disruption it can cause. Alternatively, opt for cards that limit the efficacy of cycling, such as Ashiok’s Erasure or Drannith Magistrate, which can directly hinder your opponent’s ability to utilize the obstructionist’s cycling ability to its full potential.

Bearing these strategies in mind, players can maintain control over the game flow and neutralize the Nimble Obstructionist’s impact, preserving the integrity of their game plan. It’s a subtle dance of anticipation and reaction, critical for turning the tide in one’s favor against such a tricky card.


BurnMana Recommendations

Nimble Obstructionist offers a unique blend of versatility and strategic potential, making it a noteworthy card in MTG. The ability to counter triggered abilities while cycling adds depth to your gameplay, providing an unexpected twist that can turn the tides in your favor. Whether you’re playing casually with friends or engaging in competitive matches, understanding this card can be game-changing. It’s always important to adapt and evolve your deck to meet the diverse challenges you’ll face across the tabletop. Embrace the fluid nature of MTG and let Nimble Obstructionist glide you towards victory. Dive deeper with us and discover the full extent of what this card can offer to your MTG arsenal.


Cards like Nimble Obstructionist

Nimble Obstructionist stands out within its unique niche in MTG as a versatile blue creature and countermeasure. Comparable to Venser, Shaper Savant, which also provides a form of interaction by returning spells or permanents to an opponent’s hand, Nimble Obstructionist offers a different tactical advantage through its cycling ability that counters triggered abilities—a subtle yet potentially game-altering move that Venser lacks.

Further comparisons can be made with Stifle, a card purely dedicated to neutralizing activated or triggered abilities. Although Stifle is lower in cost, it does not present the additional threat of a body on the board. The flash ability of Nimble Obstructionist not only stymies strategies in the same vein but it also ends up as a flying threat on the battlefield that opponents must answer.

Taking into account these factors, Nimble Obstructionist carves a significant place for itself. It offers the strategic counter-play of a card like Stifle while adding the benefit of a 3/1 flier to apply pressure to opponents, demonstrating its dual functionality as a reactive tool and an aggressive creature in the game of MTG.

Venser, Shaper Savant - MTG Card versions
Stifle - MTG Card versions
Venser, Shaper Savant - Future Sight (FUT)
Stifle - Scourge (SCG)

Cards similar to Nimble Obstructionist by color, type and mana cost

Wall of Water - MTG Card versions
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Wall of Water - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
Prodigal Sorcerer - Unlimited Edition (2ED)
Apprentice Wizard - The Dark (DRK)
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Daring Apprentice - Mirage (MIR)
Time Elemental - Fifth Edition (5ED)
Rootwater Shaman - Tempest (TMP)
Wind Drake - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Volrath's Shapeshifter - Stronghold (STH)
Stronghold Biologist - Nemesis (NEM)
Quicksilver Wall - Prophecy (PCY)
Wall of Air - Seventh Edition (7ED)
Phantom Warrior - Duels of the Planeswalkers (DPA)
Animating Faerie // Bring to Life - Throne of Eldraine (ELD)
Ghost of Ramirez DePietro - Commander Legends (CMR)
Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Queen of Ice // Rage of Winter - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Mistform Warchief - Scourge (SCG)
Blind Phantasm - Future Sight (FUT)
Academy Researchers - Tenth Edition (10E)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Nimble Obstructionist MTG card by a specific set like Hour of Devastation and Hour of Devastation Promos, 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 Nimble Obstructionist and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Nimble Obstructionist Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2017-07-14 and 2020-08-13. Illustrated by Shreya Shetty.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12017-07-14Hour of DevastationHOU 402015normalblackShreya Shetty
22017-07-15Hour of Devastation PromosPHOU 40s2015normalblackShreya Shetty
32020-04-17Commander 2020C20 1212015normalblackShreya Shetty
42020-08-13Amonkhet RemasteredAKR 712015normalblackShreya Shetty

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Nimble Obstructionist has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Nimble Obstructionist card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2017-04-18 Some cards with cycling have an ability that triggers when you cycle them. These triggered abilities resolve before you draw from the cycling ability.
2017-04-18 Triggered abilities from cycling a card and the cycling ability itself aren’t spells. Effects that interact with spells (such as that of Cancel) won’t affect them.
2017-04-18 You can cycle a card even if it has a triggered ability from cycling that won’t have a legal target. This is because the cycling ability and the triggered ability are separate. This also means that if either ability doesn’t resolve (due to being countered with Disallow, for example, or if the triggered ability’s targets have become illegal), the other ability will still resolve.
2017-07-14 Abilities that create replacement effects, such as a permanent entering the battlefield tapped or with counters on it, can’t be targeted. Abilities that apply “as
-his creature] enters the battlefield” are also replacement effects and can’t be targeted.
2017-07-14 Activated abilities are written in the form “Cost: Effect.” Some keyword abilities, such as equip and eternalize, are activated abilities and will have colons in their reminder texts.
2017-07-14 If you counter a delayed triggered ability that triggers at the beginning of the “next” occurrence of a specified step or phase, that ability won’t trigger again the following time that phase or step occurs.
2017-07-14 Mana abilities can’t be targeted. An activated mana ability is one that adds mana to a player’s mana pool as it resolves, doesn’t have a target, and isn’t a loyalty ability. A triggered mana ability is one that adds mana to a player’s mana pool and triggers on an activated mana ability.
2017-07-14 Triggered abilities use the word “when,” “whenever,” or “at.” They’re often written as “
-rigger condition],
-ffect].” Some keyword abilities, such as prowess and afflict, are triggered abilities and will have “when,” “whenever,” or “at” in their reminder text.

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