Skill Borrower
~$0.32 low · ~$3.47 high
Blue. Artifact Creature — Human Wizard

Shards of Alara #56 · Illustrated by Shelly Wan
What is Skill Borrower worth?
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TCGplayer market prices in USD, updated October 14, 2026. Each price is for one printing and one finish.
Oracle text
Play with the top card of your library revealed.
As long as the top card of your library is an artifact or creature card, this creature has all activated abilities of that card. (If any of the abilities use that card's name, use this creature's name instead.)
1/3
Format legality
The only printing of Skill Borrower
| Printing | Rarity | Non-foil | Foil | Cardmarket (EUR) | My collection |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Shards of Alara ala #56· 2008rare· Cardmarket €0.27 · €1.37 foil | rare | $0.32 | $3.47 | €0.27€1.37 foil |
Prices are TCGplayer market prices in USD for each printing and finish, via Scryfall. They are a guide, not an appraisal.
Where to buy Skill Borrower
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Card details
- First printed
- 2008
- Printings
- 1
- Mana value
- 3
- EDHREC rank
- #24,966 on EDHREC (Commander popularity)
- Artist
- Shelly Wan
Rulings (5)
2008-10-01
The only difference between a colored artifact and a colorless artifact is, obviously, its color. Unlike most artifacts, a colored artifact requires colored mana to cast. Also unlike most artifacts, a colored artifact has a color in all zones. It will interact with cards that care about color. Other than that, a colored artifact behaves just like any other artifact. It will interact as normal with any card that cares about artifacts, such as Shatter or Arcbound Ravager.
2008-10-01
Skill Borrower may gain activated abilities that it can’t use. For example, if the top card of your library is an artifact or creature card with cycling, Skill Borrower will have cycling. However, since cycling can’t be activated from the battlefield, this won’t have any significant benefit. The same is true for unearth.
2008-10-01
Activated abilities contain a colon. They’re generally written “[Cost]: [Effect].” Some keywords are activated abilities; they have colons in their reminder text.
2008-10-01
If an effect tells you to draw several cards, reveal each one before you draw it. Skill Borrower will momentarily gain the activated abilities of artifact and creature cards revealed this way, but you won’t be able to activate those abilities while the effect is still happening.
2008-10-01
If the top card of your library changes while you’re activating one of Skill Borrower’s activated abilities gained from that card, the ability will still be activated and will resolve normally even though Skill Borrower has lost that ability.
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