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Mica, Reader of Ruins

Mica, Reader of Ruins

Legendary Creature — Human Artificer

uncommon

Ward—Pay 3 life. (Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter it unless that player pays 3 life.) Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may sacrifice an artifact. If you do, copy that spell and you may choose new targets for the copy.

4/4

$0.21 ✦ $0.32View on Scryfall →

Semantic Tags

Copy / Clonemechanical

Creates copies of creatures, permanents, or spells.

Creates copies of creatures, permanents, or spells.

Counterspellmechanical

Prevents a spell or ability from resolving.

Cares about casting noncreature spells — magecraft, prowess-adjacent strategies.

Permanentmechanical

A card or token on the battlefield. See rule 110, “Permanents.”

Protectionmechanical

A keyword ability that provides a range of benefits against objects with a specific quality. See rule 702.16, “Protection.”

Broadly benefits from sacrificing permanents — overlaps aristocrats but includes non-creature sacrifice.

Lets you sacrifice your own creatures or permanents for value. Key enabler for aristocrats strategies.

Spellslingermechanical

Rewards casting instants and sorceries. Includes magecraft, prowess triggers, and spell-count payoffs.

Wardmechanical

A triggered ability that can counter spells or abilities that target the permanent with ward. See rule 702.21, “Ward.”

Wardvector

A triggered ability that can counter spells or abilities that target the permanent with ward. See rule 702.21, “Ward.”

Format Legality

commanderlegal
oathbreakerlegal
modernlegal
pioneerlegal
standardlegal
legacylegal
vintagelegal
paupernot legal
historiclegal
explorernot legal
alchemylegal

Price history

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Printings (1)

SetRarityTCGplayerCard KingdomCardmarket
Secrets of Strixhaven#124uncommon···

Related Concepts

Ward

A triggered ability that can counter spells or abilities that target the permanent with ward. See rule 702.21, “Ward.”

Related Rules

106.5

If an ability would produce one or more mana of an undefined type, it produces no mana instead.

106.7

Some abilities produce mana based on the type of mana another permanent or permanents “could produce.” The type of mana a permanent could produce at any time includes any type of mana that an ability of that permanent would produce if the ability were to resolve at that time, taking into account any applicable replacement effects in any possible order. Ignore whether any costs of the ability could or could not be paid. If that permanent wouldn’t produce any mana under these conditions, or no type of mana can be defined this way, there’s no type of mana it could produce.

106.12

To “tap [a permanent] for mana” is to activate a mana ability of that permanent that includes the {T} symbol in its activation cost. See rule 605, “Mana Abilities.”

106.12a

An ability that triggers whenever a permanent “is tapped for mana” or is tapped for mana of a specified type triggers whenever such a mana ability resolves and produces mana or the specified type of mana.

106.12b

A replacement effect that applies if a permanent “is tapped for mana” or tapped for mana of a specific type and/or amount modifies the mana production event while such an ability is resolving and producing mana or the specified type and/or amount of mana.

107.3m

If an object’s enters-the-battlefield triggered ability or replacement effect refers to X, and the spell that became that object as it resolved had a value of X chosen for any of its costs, the value of X for that ability is the same as the value of X for that spell, although the value of X for that permanent is 0. This is an exception to rule 107.3i.

107.5

The tap symbol is {T}. The tap symbol in an activation cost means “Tap this permanent.” A permanent that’s already tapped can’t be tapped again to pay the cost. A creature’s activated ability with the tap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since their most recent turn began. See rule 302.6.

107.6

The untap symbol is {Q}. The untap symbol in an activation cost means “Untap this permanent.” A permanent that’s already untapped can’t be untapped again to pay the cost. A creature’s activated ability with the untap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since their most recent turn began. See rule 302.6.

Rulings

2026-03-20

You can't choose to pay any additional costs for a copied spell. However, effects based on any additional costs that were paid for the original spell are copied as though those same costs were paid for the copy too.

2026-03-20

If the spell that's copied is modal (that is, it says "Choose one —" or the like), the copy will have the same mode or modes. You can't choose different ones.

2026-03-20

The copy will have the same targets as the spell it's copying unless you choose new ones. You may change any number of the targets, including all of them or none of them. If, for one of the targets, you can't choose a new legal target, then it remains unchanged (even if the current target is illegal).

2026-03-20

Mica's last ability resolves before the spell that caused it to trigger. It resolves even if that spell is countered or otherwise leaves the stack.

2026-03-20

Any choices made when the spell resolves won't have been made yet when it's copied. Any such choices will be made separately when the copy resolves.

2026-03-20

If the spell that's copied has an X whose value was determined as it was cast, the copy has the same value of X.

2026-03-20

If the copied spell divides damage or distributes counters among a number of targets, the division and number of targets can't be changed. If you choose new targets, you must choose the same number of targets.

2026-03-20

If a spell with a converge ability is copied, no mana was spent to cast the copy, so the number of colors of mana spent to cast the spell will be zero. The number of colors spent to cast the original spell is not copied.

2026-03-20

The copy is created on the stack, so it's not "cast." Abilities that trigger when a player casts a spell won't trigger.