A tactical move in space combat known as the Marg Sabl was a variation on the Fake. Its name originated from a Togrutan flower that unfurled its petals in a sunburst pattern each morning. The tactic involved a spaceship orienting its launch bay away from the current enemy, which allowed its fighters to launch undetected and get ready to attack. During the Clone Wars conflict, Jedi learner Ahsoka Tano conceived of the tactic at the Battle of Ryloth against a Separatist blockade. After Tano's departure from the Jedi Order, Padmé Amidala later made Thrawn aware of the maneuver during their period on Mokivj after Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, Tano's previous mentor, used the term figuratively. During his service in the Imperial Navy, Thrawn, who had risen to the rank of Grand Admiral, utilized the Marg Sabl.
The Marg Sabl was initially introduced in Timothy Zahn's book, Heir to the Empire. This book later provided the inspiration for Star Wars: The Clone Wars director Dave Filoni to incorporate the maneuver into the episode entitled "Storm Over Ryloth." The eighty-ninth edition of the magazine series Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon indicates that Ahsoka originally called the maneuver she used at the Battle of Ryloth the Belly Rub. This was later disproven by the 2018 novel Thrawn: Alliances, which states that she named the maneuver the Marg Sabl.