Hidden Blade

Hidden Blade is a common-rarity spell card from Riftbound's Origins expansion. It costs 2 Energy to cast as a one-shot effect. Aligned with the Order domain. The card uses the Action, Hidden keywords. It sees significant competitive play, appearing in roughly 81% of tracked tournament decks.

2 Energy | Spell | Order | common | Origins

Rules Text

[Hidden] (Hide now for Any Rune to react with later for 0 Energy.) [Action] (Play on your turn or in showdowns.) Kill a unit at a battlefield. Its controller draws 2.

Keywords

Domain: Order

Meta Statistics

Inclusion Rate: 81.4% | Win Rate: 50.0%

Related FAQ (4)

When I replace a unit's death with a card like Unlicensed Armory, does damage on the unit stay? If the unit died to lethal damage, doesn't it just die again?

The intent behind these four cards is to save your unit from dying, whether it died due to direct kill like Hidden Blade or due to lethal damage. To better communicate this, these cards will receive updated wordings. Two of them, Highlander (from the Proving Grounds boxed set) and Unlicensed Armory, have straightforward fixes, adding “heal" and listing “exhaust" and “recall" as separate actions. Choose a friendly unit. The next time it dies this turn, heal it, exhaust it, and recall it instead. (Send it to base. This isn't a move.) Discard 1, (E) Choose a friendly unit. The next time it would die this turn, you may pay (C) to heal it, exhaust it, and recall it instead. (Send it to base. This isn't a move.) Zhonya's Hourglass also has a slightly updated wording making it clearer that its ability applies any time a friendly unit dies, not just on the turn you play it. If a friendly unit would die, kill this instead. Heal that unit, exhaust it, and recall it. (Send it to base. This isn't a move.) The Boss was mistakenly worded like a triggered ability. It's receiving updated wording to make it clear that its ability is a replacement effect.

If a unit would be killed by Hidden Blade, but one of these cards replaces that unit's death, does the unit's controller still draw 2?

Yes. Hidden Blade attempts to kill a unit, then says that “its controller" draws 2. Even if the unit doesn't die, it's still on the board and information about its controller is still available, so that player draws 2. This is different from Baited Hook, which requests information about “the killed unit," and can't find any information if no unit was actually killed.

What does it mean to “kill a unit with a spell?" It seems like Hidden Blade counts, but what about a spell that deals damage? A spell that causes a unit to deal damage? A spell that causes a unit to die in some other way, like Stupefy on a unit that has 1 more Might than it has damage currently marked on it?

This is unclear under existing rules, so the updated rules will clarify. “When you kill a unit with a spell" triggers immediately after a spell you control resolves if either of the following is true: 1. That spell instructs you to kill a unit during its resolution, and that unit is put into the trash this way. 2. A spell instructs you to deal damage to a unit during its resolution, and that unit is put into the trash during the cleanup immediately following that spell's resolution. This includes “direct kill" spells you control like Hidden Blade. It also includes damage spells like Void Seeker, provided they mark lethal damage on the unit that immediately causes it to die. In all cases, the unit has to actually die—if that death is replaced by a card like Unlicensed Armory, then you didn't kill a unit with a spell. Notably, the following do not count as you killing a unit with a spell: ● You are instructed to kill a unit by a spell another player controls, even if the spell instructs you to kill the unit (e.g., another player's Cull the Weak). ● Another player is instructed to kill a unit by a spell you control (e.g., your Cull the Weak, if you don't kill any of your own units with it). ● You play a spell like Challenge that causes a unit to deal lethal damage to another unit. ● You use a spell to mark damage on a unit and the unit dies later in the turn, even if that damage later became lethal damage for any reason. ● You use a spell to directly or indirectly lower the Might of a unit, causing damage it's already taken to become lethal damage. For example: ○ You use a spell like Stupefy to lower the Might of a unit that has already taken damage, causing that damage to become lethal damage. ○ You use a spell like Charm to move a unit with damage on it away from Trifarian War Camp, indirectly lowering its Might and causing that damage to become lethal damage. ○ You use a spell like Rebuke to return Lee Sin, Centered to its owner's hand, indirectly lowering the Might of a buffed unit at the same battlefield that has damage on it, causing that damage to become lethal damage. ● You do anything else with a spell that causes a unit to die in any other way than the two methods listed above, or at any time other than during or immediately after the spell's resolution. ● You do any of the above, but the unit doesn't actually die.

Can Immortal Phoenix return if it is the unit that was killed? Or if it and other units were killed at the same time? For example, can I Hidden Blade on my own Phoenix and immediately replay it?

Yes. Triggers like this are evaluated immediately after the event that takes place, at which point Phoenix is in the trash.

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