Move over, Nicol Bolas — a new Planeswalker has come to the Core Set, and her name is Chandra! While we’ve already seen Chandra’s Outrage and her Flames of the Firebrand, M14 brings us a new card in the form of Pyromancer’s Gauntlet. Fans of Modern may recognize this as being a very similar effect to Pyromancer’s Swath; basically, if any red instant, sorcery, or planeswalker you control would deal damage, the game asks “How much damage?” and if that number’s more than zero, add 2 onto it. For example, a simple Shock, normally 2 damage, will double in power to a face-melting 4 damage!

Let’s take another look at Flames of the Firebrand. Unlike Shock, Flames can split up to deal damage to one, two, or three different targets. What makes this a great combo with Pyromancer’s Gauntlet is that each different permanent or player being targeted constitutes a separate creature or player that will be being dealt damage, so the Gauntlet’s amplifying effect will deal extra damage for all of them. If you send all of the Flames at one target, the Gauntlet will add on 2 damage, for a total of 5. However, if you split up the Flames targeting three different creatures or players, the Gauntlet will add 2 damage to each separate instance of 1 damage — and that’s a total of 9 damage!

Today’s Rules Tip written by Jen Wong