Saddle in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Herko Kerghans April 17, 2025 Collecting, MTG Cards, MTG Rules

Last updated on April 17, 2025

The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride | Illustration by Johan Grenier

Saddle up, partners!

Today we gallop straight into a mechanic that the MTG designers were dying to pull off for quite some time, and the Outlaws of Thunder Junction Magic set was such a good thematic fit for it that they went, “Hey, no better time than right now.”

Saddle and mounts are pretty similar to crew and vehicles (and they were designed that way on purpose), so this here activated ability should be a ride in the park for most of y'all… but even if vehicles ring no bell for ya', worry none: We'll make our mounts trot nice an' easy!

Table of Contents show

How Does Saddle Work?

Archmage's Newt | Illustration by Edgar Sanchez Hidalgo

Saddle is an activated ability that benefits mount creatures with the help of another creature. If a creature has “Saddle N”, you activate saddle by tapping any number of other untapped creatures with total power N or more. When you do, the mount becomes saddled.

For example, Drover Grizzly has Saddle 1, so you need to tap at least one creature with power 1 or greater.

Notice that you can tap any number of untapped creatures, and the total power can be much larger than N. In the above example, if you have a 1/1 creature and a 4/4 creature, you can tap the 4/4 to saddle our Grizzly steed if you want. And you could even tap both: Some saddled creatures, like Fortune, Loyal Steed, provide an effect to all creatures that saddled it, so it may make perfect sense to tap more creatures than what you need to meet the “N” in saddle.

You can only activate saddle as a sorcery–that's to say, only in one of your main phases, and only while the stack is empty.

When saddle resolves, the creature becomes saddled until the end of your turn. “Saddled” is just a designation (it has no effect by itself), but the creature will have another ability that only happens while the creature is saddled.

All creatures with saddle have the “mount” creature type. There's no inherent connection between saddle and mount other than flavor. If a mount creature somehow loses the “mount” type, it won't lose the saddle keyword; if it somehow loses the saddle ability, it’ll still be a mount. Non-mount creatures can gain the saddle keyword if an effect gives them the ability.

Note that there are some older cards with “saddled” in their name (like Saddled Rimestag), or with “mount” in their name (like Phantasmal Mount or Sun-Blessed Mount), which very clearly depict a mount with a saddle… yet they have nothing to do with the mount creature type or the saddle keyword. They’re just named and illustrated like saddled mounts, but they’re not really saddled, and aren’t really mounts!

The History of Saddle in MTG

The saddle keyword and the mount creature type were introduced in Outlaws of Thunder Junction. According to MTG Head Designer Mark Rosewater, WotC had wanted to do mounts for years. “Much like we felt the pressure in Kaladesh to finally make Vehicles,” Mark wrote, “it felt like Outlaws of Thunder Junction needed to be the place we finally cracked Mounts.”

Saddle shows up on the racing team of Quickbeasts in Aetherdrift which really put vehicles and mounts neck and neck, the result is lots more support for both.

Do All Mounts Have Saddle?

Yes. For now, there's complete overlap between mounts and saddle, if you see a mount creature then you know it can be saddled (ignore the changelings).

Is Saddle Evergreen?

Time will tell if saddle becomes evergreen. It is so similar to crew/vehicles, if it's treated similarly, it will be sprinkled into upcoming sets and rarely a main theme.

Is Saddle an Activated Ability?

Yep, saddle is an activated ability!

Tapping other creatures is the cost; becoming saddled until the end of turn is the effect.

Can You Saddle a Creature at Instant Speed?

Nope, you cannot saddle as an instant, but only as a sorcery; that's to say, during one of your main phases while the stack is empty.

Can You Tap Tapped Creatures to Activate Saddle?

If the creature is already tapped then no, you can't tap it to activate saddle (unless some other effect lets you untap it first, of course).

Can Creatures With Saddle Attack Without Being Saddled?

Yes, they can!

They are creatures, and therefore they can attack all by themselves. Being saddled provides a bonus when some other condition is met, but it's not mandatory to engage in combat.

If I Saddle a Mount with a Creature, Which One can Attack?

The saddled mount would be able to attack. The creature tapped for the cost to saddle, and cannot attack.

Can a Creature with Summoning Sickness Saddle?

Yes, a creature with summoning sickness can be tapped to pay the cost to saddle another card.

Can I Attack with a Creature That Saddled If I Untap it?

Yes, as long as you untap a creature it can attack like normal, whether or not it saddled another card.

If My Mount is Already Tapped, Can I Saddle it?

Yes, a mount can be saddled, even if the mount is already tapped. Some cards want a safe way to become tapped and saddling is a great way to do so. For Wylie Duke, Atiin Hero you could saddle the Lagorin, Soul of Alacria you attacked with, if only for the benefit of triggering Wylie Duke. With Kona, Rescue Beastie you would need to have saddled Lagorin during the precombat main phase, but the free permanent is available if a player tapped down Lagorin before combat.

Does Saddle Target?

No saddling does not target. If your mount gains shroud somehow, you can saddle it like normal since your creatures don't target it to saddle it.

Saddle vs. Crew

Saddle and crew are fairly similar mechanics, and that's to make it easier for players to learn.

The two main differences are that mounts are already creatures (while vehicles are artifacts that turn into artifact creatures when crewed), and that saddle works at sorcery speed (while crew works at instant speed).

Broadly speaking, mounts are able to attack even if you don't have a second creature to saddle them (if you don't have a creature to crew them, your vehicles are just very sad, very useless cards that count as artifacts).

You can't saddle a mount while you’re the defending player. You can only saddle a mount during your turn. On the contrary, you can crew a vehicle at instant speed during your foe's turn and use a vehicle to block. This doesn’t really matter for mounts very much since they’re already creatures that can block independent of their saddle ability.

Gallery and List of Saddle Cards

There are 17 cards in Outlaws of Thunder Junction and 13 in Aetherdrift with the saddle keyword; they are also the only 30 cards in the game with the “mount” creature type, plus there are two Arena-exclusive mounts.

There are also several cards that care about mounts, but without being mounts themselves:

In Steer Clear you have a bit of cheap removal spell that gets better with a mount. Miriam, Herd Whisperer gives conditional hexproof and nurtures mounts to become big and strong. Bucolic Ranch is a land that gives you a little card selection and fixes your mana for mounts.

The cycle of Aetherdrift roads like Rocky Roads help ensure your vehicles or mounts work. Kolodin, Triumph Caster is a legend that grants haste and Guidelight Matrix both vastly improve your ability to attack with mounts.

Best Saddle Cards

#5. Drover Grizzly

Drover Grizzly is one of my favorite 3-mana 4/2 ever. The low saddle cost grants trample to your team for very little investment, and that 4 power is valuable to power-matters commanders and saddles all but the biggest mounts.

#4. Guardian Sunmare

You need quite a bit of power to saddle Guardian Sunmare, and the effect is worth it to cheat out from your library combo-pieces, auto-equip artifacts, or cheap auras. Basically any nonland you'd want with Sun Titan but from your library instead of the graveyard.

#3. Ornery Tumblewagg

Ornery Tumblewagg tacks on a +1/+1 counter doubling ability if you can saddle it, and the combat growth each turn is really good. This might be one of the more clunky counter doublers, but it does a great job.

#2. Calamity, Galloping Inferno

Calamity, Galloping Inferno looks just okay until you read the last phrase of its (admittedly kinda long) ability: “Repeat this process once.”

That's to say, it generates two creature tokens. And they can be different creatures (remember that you can “overpay” the saddle cost, and tap two other creatures if you want). Throw in some token doublers and Calamity raises an army all by itself.

#1. The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride

This froggy horror‘s gonna make a mess. It deserves some respect just by being a 6/5 hasty trampler, but The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride then draws you cards and ramps you whenever it deals combat damage to a player while saddled – if that's not a “Kill On Sight“ threat, I don't know what is.

Notice also that sacrificing the saddling creature(s) is optional: If your foe removes The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride before it connects, the saddling creature(s) are kept alive.

Round Up

Intrepid Stablemaster | Illustration by Svetlin Velinov

Personal hunch: The Magic devs carefully tested the waters in OTJ and didn't go too much over the top with what each saddled creature can do, to avoid some broken card/combo giving a bad rep to a mechanic they plan to deploy again.

In other words, I think saddle and mounts are a very cool mechanic. Future sets may bring mounts that have to be saddled to attack – for example, a mount with defender that loses defender when saddled. As of right now, no need to saddle your Armored Warhorse for it to jump into the fray! You'll see more mounts in more sets soon.

I hope you've enjoyed this mechanical deep dive, and if you have concerns or questions please drop a comment, or stop by the Draftsim Discord for a chat.

And good luck out there!

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Herko Kerghans

Herko has been battling online since EVE was a thing, fell in love with digital CCGs nearly a decade ago, and got his first taste of MTG during Arena's Open Beta. He loves Limited formats, crunching data, and (usually silly) puns and wordplay.