What does Bilbo, Thief in the Night's cost reduction apply to?

Spells cast from anywhere other than your hand — flashback, foretell, adventure, impulsive draw, and this card's own attack trigger all qualify — cost {1} less, stacking a real discount on top of any deck already leaning on those mechanics.

How does Bilbo, Thief in the Night's attack trigger work?

Whenever it attacks, you may cast an artifact, instant, or sorcery spell from your graveyard — and if that spell would normally go back to the graveyard, it's exiled instead, so this is a one-time reuse per card rather than an infinite loop, but it's still real recursion attached to a cheap, repeatable body.

What deck wants Bilbo, Thief in the Night?

A mono-blue spellslinger deck that's already filling its graveyard with cheap instants and sorceries — the attack trigger turns those spent cards into a second cast, and the cost reduction makes every recast (and every other from-graveyard or from-exile spell) cheaper across the board.

Bilbo, Thief in the Night — Card Spotlight

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Strategies it goes well with

Spellslinger decks. A graveyard full of cheap instants and sorceries becomes recastable material every time Bilbo attacks, at a discount thanks to his own static ability.
Flashback and foretell decks. The cost reduction applies broadly to any spell cast from outside the hand, stacking with any of those mechanics already in the deck.
Cheap, aggressive blue tempo. A two-mana body that recurs value every attack is a fine rate on its own, before any dedicated graveyard package is built around it.

How it does in Commander

As the commander

As the commander it rewards a dedicated mono-blue spellslinger build, since guaranteed repeated access to the graveyard recursion from the command zone turns every cheap instant and sorcery the deck casts into a second potential cast down the line.

In the 99

A strong, cheap value engine in any blue spells-matter deck even without leading it, quietly discounting flashback and similar effects across the whole 99.

Formats it's strong in

Spellslinger and graveyard decks. The attack trigger directly reuses cards the deck has already cast, and the cost reduction compounds with any other from-graveyard effects already in the list.
Grindy, long games. The longer the game runs, the fuller the graveyard, and the more material Bilbo's attack trigger has to work with.

Formats it's weak in

Low-spell-count decks. With few cheap instants and sorceries in the graveyard, the attack trigger has little to recur.
Decks that can't protect a small attacker. A two-power creature that has to connect (or at least attack) to trigger its ability is vulnerable to removal before it gets much value.

Synergistic cards

Brainstorm — A cheap cantrip that becomes a repeatable recast target once it's in the graveyard for Bilbo to attack with.
Lightning Bolt — Efficient removal recurred at a discount, thanks to both the attack trigger and the static cost reduction.
Chandra's Ignition (or any expensive noncreature spell) — A big finisher becomes cheaper to cast if it's ever cast from outside the hand, including via Bilbo's own ability.
Any cheap, repeatable instant or sorcery — The lower a spell's cost, the more attractive it is to recur repeatedly off Bilbo's attack trigger.

Is it worth the price?

Bilbo, Thief in the Night has drawn real attention for its rate and carries a moderate price accordingly among the set's non-mythic cards. Worth the cost for a dedicated blue spellslinger deck; a smaller priority for a list without much of a spells-matter plan.

Current printings and prices →

Bilbo, Thief in the Night