Clever Impersonator card art

Clever Impersonator

Creature — Shapeshifter MV 4

Tracked across real Commander games played through TurnZero HQ.

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What it doesCombosRulingsIn the 99Every version

What it does

You may have this creature enter as a copy of any nonland permanent on the battlefield.

Combos with Clever Impersonator

Lines this card is part of — what it needs alongside it, and what the two of them do. An infinite result is the one that moves a deck's bracket.

Showing the 8 shortest and most explosive. This card appears in more than these — follow any of them through to Commander Spellbook to browse the rest.

Combo data from Commander Spellbook, the community-maintained database of Magic combos. Mirrored nightly.

Rulings

10 official rulings, in the order Wizards published them.

  • 2014-09-20

    If the chosen permanent is a token, Clever Impersonator copies the original characteristics of that token as defined by the effect that put that token onto the battlefield. Clever Impersonator is not a token.

  • 2014-09-20

    You can choose not to copy anything. In that case, Clever Impersonator enters the battlefield as a 0/0 creature, and it's put into the graveyard immediately (unless something is raising its toughness above 0).

  • 2014-09-20

    If Clever Impersonator enters the battlefield at the same time as another permanent, it can't become a copy of that permanent. You may choose only a nonland permanent that's already on the battlefield.

  • 2014-09-20

    Remember that if you control more than one legendary permanent with the same name, you'll choose one to remain on the battlefield and put the rest into their owner's graveyard.

  • 2014-09-20

    If the chosen permanent is a copy of something else (for example, if the chosen permanent is another Clever Impersonator), then your Clever Impersonator enters the battlefield as whatever the chosen permanent copied.

  • 2014-09-20

    Any enters-the-battlefield abilities of the chosen permanent will trigger when Clever Impersonator enters the battlefield. Any "as [this permanent] enters the battlefield" or "[this permanent] enters the battlefield with" abilities of the chosen permanent will also work.

  • 2014-09-20

    You choose which nonland permanent Clever Impersonator will copy, if any, as it enters the battlefield. This doesn't target that nonland permanent.

  • 2014-09-20

    If the chosen permanent has X in its mana cost, X is considered to be 0.

  • 2014-09-20

    If Clever Impersonator enters the battlefield as a copy of a planeswalker, it will enter the battlefield with a number of loyalty counters on it equal to the loyalty printed in the lower right corner of the planeswalker card. It won't copy the number of loyalty counters on the original planeswalker.

  • 2014-09-20

    Clever Impersonator copies exactly what is printed on the chosen permanent (unless that permanent is copying something else or is a token; see below). It doesn't copy whether that permanent is tapped or untapped, whether that permanent has any counters on it or any Auras and/or Equipment attached to it, and it doesn't copy any non-copy effects that have changed that permanent's power, toughness, types, color, abilities, or so on.

Rulings are Wizards of the Coast's own, mirrored from Scryfall and refreshed nightly.

In the 99

Every deck whose current list includes Clever Impersonator, whatever its commander.

Decks running it 1
Games played 1
Win rate — Fewer than 5 completed games — not enough to publish a rate yet.
Confirmed on board 0 Games where a board photo caught it actually in play.

Most played under

Commander Decks Games Win rate
Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief 1 1 —

Colors it shows up in

  • Simic 1 deck

Every version of Clever Impersonator

6 printings, newest first. Prices are the market figures Scryfall publishes, refreshed nightly — a printing with no figure shows a dash rather than a zero, because Scryfall genuinely publishes none for some of them.

Prices from Scryfall, which tracks the TCGplayer and Cardmarket markets. They move daily and are a guide rather than a quote. Search TCGplayer for Clever Impersonator — a name search across every version, for the printings TCGplayer publishes no direct link to.

Aggregated from Commander games tracked in TurnZero HQ. Every figure counts decks and games only — no individual deck list, player or playgroup is identified. Win rates are withheld below 5 completed games, where the sample is too small to mean anything.