Startle

About Startle

Startle, Action, designed by None first released in Jul, 2026 in the set Attack of the Vine!. It's currently being selled by the minimum price of 0.36.

Startle would mainly benefit a tempo or control deck, especially Sapphire-based decks that want cheap interaction to win combat, protect key characters, or set up favorable challenges without spending too much ink; a -3 Strength debuff can help remove an opposing threat or let a small character survive a trade. That said, it is a fairly narrow card, and in many cases better removal or combat tricks exist depending on the color pair you’re playing: for direct board control, unconditional removal or stronger, more flexible bounce/discard-style effects are usually better than a temporary debuff, and if you want a similar effect in Sapphire, cards that outright remove or neutralize a character tend to be more reliable. As a result, Startle is playable only if your deck specifically wants a very cheap way to win one combat or push damage through, but it generally should not see broad competitive play unless the format is slower and small stat-based combat matters a lot.