Archangel of Thune has the impressive ability of pumping up your entire team whenever you gain life. And since she has lifelink herself, you’ll never be short of a way of putting +1/+1 counters on all your creatures — as long as you’re attacking or blocking, anyway! If your Archangel is the only creature you control that attacks, you will gain 3 life and put one +1/+1 counter on each creature you control, including the Archangel herself. The triggered ability doesn’t care about how much life you gain, just how many times you gain life.

But what if you attack with multiple creatures that have lifelink? For example, let’s suppose you’re at 20 life and control an Archangel of Thune and a Dawnstrike Paladin. If you attack with both of them, they will deal damage simultaneously. You’ll gain 5 life and go directly from 20 life to 25.

Given that your life total changes once, you might think that the Archangel’s ability only triggers once. Fortunately for you, and unfortunately for evildoers, the Archangel actually will trigger twice! Each creature with lifelink that deals damage is considered a separate “event” from the Archangel’s perspective. So in the scenario above, you’ll get to put two +1/+1 triggers on each of your creatures, not just one.

Happy smiting!

Today’s Rules Tip written by Paul Baranay