Snare Tactician MTG Card

Snare Tactician - Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Human Soldier
Released	2020-04-24
Set symbol
Set name	Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths
Set code	IKO
Power	2
Toughness	3
Number	30
Frame	2015
Layout	normal
Border	black
Illustred by	Micah Epstein

Key Takeaways

Snare Tactician excels in controlling combat, maintaining board presence by tapping opponents’ creatures each turn.
Cycling card interaction at instant speed allows for unexpected combat disruptions, elevating Tactician’s strategic utility.
Building around Tactician’s tapping synergy could deplete a player’s hand, highlighting the importance of deck balance.

Text of card

Whenever you cycle a card, tap target creature an opponent controls.

"Our volleys don't aim to kill. Impair them and the ground will do the rest." —Alux, Skysail defender

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Snare Tactician provides a consistent mechanism for controlling combat each turn, thereby mitigating your opponent’s threats and maintaining your board presence.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly influencing your mana resources, Snare Tactician helps you maintain tempo by keeping potential blockers at bay, effectively accelerating your path to victory.

Instant Speed: Snare Tactician’s ability triggers during the critical moments of the combat phase, thanks to cycling cards typically played at instant speed. This interaction allows you to surprise your opponent and disrupt their strategies at pivotal points in the match.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Snare Tactician doesn’t require a card discard itself, building a deck around tapping synergies could force you to include cards with discard costs, potentially draining your hand.

Specific Mana Cost: Snare Tactician requires white mana to cast, which may not always align with the mana base of multicolored or non-white decks, reducing its versatility in those builds.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of three mana, Snare Tactician is costlier than other cards with similar tapping abilities, which can affect your tempo, especially during the early game.

Reasons to Include Snare Tactician in Your Collection

Versatility: Snare Tactician can adapt to multiple deck strategies, especially those revolving around cycling. It provides a reliable way to temporarily neutralize threats, making it valuable for both defensive and tempo plays.

Combo Potential: Its ability to tap creatures can synergize with cards that punish tapped creatures or benefit from the absence of blockers, turning it into a key piece in intricate combo setups.

Meta-Relevance: As the meta shifts towards creature-heavy decks, Snare Tactician becomes increasingly effective at disrupting opponent’s board presence, showcasing its utility in current game dynamics.

How to beat

Snare Tactician is a card that requires a strategic approach to overcome in Magic: The Gathering. Primarily found in cycling decks, its ability to tap an opponent’s creature whenever you cycle another card can be quite disruptive. To counteract this, players can focus on removing it as soon as possible with efficient removal spells or by outpacing the cycling mechanism through aggressive board presence.

Additionally, Snare Tactician is vulnerable to spells that negate its ability or bypass it entirely. Cards that grant your creatures haste or protection from white can be instrumental as they allow for immediate and uninterrupted attacks. Using instant speed removal when your opponent is tapped out prevents them from cycling in response. Moreover, employing enchantment removal like Disenchant to address the cycling aids that empower Snare Tactician is also an effective strategy.

A well-constructed deck with a balance of creature control and direct damage spells can mitigate the advantages Snare Tactician offers in a cycling centric deck. Smart deck construction and timely plays are the keys to prevailing over this tactical threat on the battlefield.

Cards like Snare Tactician

Snare Tactician holds its own in the realm of utility creatures within Magic: The Gathering. It draws a parallel with cards like Frost Lynx, which temporarily locks down an opponent’s creature upon entering the battlefield. Snare Tactician, however, provides consistent control, tapping an opponent’s creature every time you cycle another card. The ongoing potential for board interference sets it apart from one-time use creatures.

Cards such as Gideon’s Lawkeeper also share the theme of tapping creatures, offering more targeted control, but lack the potential for cycling synergy. Another comparable card is Blinding Mage, which can tap creatures but requires mana investment each turn, a notable difference given Snare Tactician’s mana-free activation tied to cycling.

In evaluating Snare Tactician against its peers, it’s clear that the card’s unique interaction with the cycling mechanic gives it a recurring influence on the game’s tempo, representing a strategic asset that can consistently hinder opponents’ plans.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Snare Tactician MTG card by a specific set like Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, 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 Snare Tactician and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Snare Tactician has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2020-04-17	Some cards with cycling have an ability that triggers when you cycle them, and some cards have an ability that triggers whenever you cycle any card. These triggered abilities resolve before you draw from the cycling ability.
2020-04-17	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.
2020-04-17	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 is countered (with Disallow, for example), the other ability will still resolve.