Waterwind Scout
Waterwind Scout: Creature - Merfolk Scout, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Flying. When this creature enters, create a Map token. On Mana Grove.
- Mana cost
- {2}{U}
- Mana value
- 3
- Type
- Creature - Merfolk Scout
- Colour identity
- Blue (U)
- Power / toughness
- 2/2
- Rarity
- Common
- Set
- The Lost Caverns of Ixalan (LCI)
- Released
- 2023-11-17
- Collector number
- 84
- Artist
- Alix Branwyn
- Commander rank
- 19,438 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)
- Keywords
- Flying, Explore
Build around this card with Grover
About Waterwind Scout
Waterwind Scout is a Magic: The Gathering card, a common blue creature from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan (LCI), an expansion set released in November 2023. It is collector number 84 in that set, with art by Alix Branwyn. It costs {2}{U} (two generic and one blue mana) to cast, for a mana value of 3. It is a 2/2 creature. Its colour identity is blue. It is legal in Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Pauper, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, Pauper Commander, Brawl, Standard Brawl, Historic, Timeless, Gladiator and Penny Dreadful. The Lost Caverns of Ixalan is its only printing so far. The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $0.18 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-02).
Card text
Flying
When this creature enters, create a Map token. (It's an artifact with "{1}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: Target creature you control explores. Activate only as a sorcery.")
Market price
Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $0.18 (as of 2026-11-02).
The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.
Format legality
Legality of Waterwind Scout by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.
| Standard | Legal |
|---|---|
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper Commander | Legal |
| Brawl | Legal |
| Standard Brawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Penny Dreadful | Legal |
Official rulings
Seven official rulings apply to Waterwind Scout, newest first.
- If an ability instructs a creature to explore, its controller reveals the top card of their library. If it's a land card, they'll put it into their hand. Otherwise, they'll put a +1/+1 counter on that creature, then choose to either leave that card on top of their library or put it into their graveyard.
- Map tokens are a kind of predefined token. Each one is a colorless artifact with the artifact subtype Map and the ability "{1}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Target creature you control explores. Activate only as a sorcery."
- Once an ability that causes a creature to explore begins to resolve, no player may take any other actions until it's done. Notably, opponents can't try to remove the exploring creature after you reveal a nonland card but before it receives a counter.
- If a resolving spell or ability instructs a specific creature to explore but that creature has left the battlefield, the creature still explores. If you reveal a nonland card this way, you won't put a +1/+1 counter on anything, but you may put the revealed card into your graveyard. Effects that trigger "whenever a creature explores" trigger as appropriate.
- Some spells or abilities might cause a creature to explore multiple times in a row. If you reveal a nonland card when a creature explores and leave it on top of your library, then the creature explores again immediately afterwards, you'll reveal the same card again.
- In some unusual cases, noncreature permanents may explore. For example, if the creature card returned by Defossilize is somehow not a creature once it's on the battlefield, it can still explore. You'll take all the same actions, and you may end up putting a +1/+1 counter on the permanent. (Note that some effects target a creature, and those effects would still require a legal target to have it explore.)
- If no card is revealed, most likely because that player's library is empty, the exploring creature receives a +1/+1 counter.
Similar cards
Other creature cards with a blue colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.