Welcome to the post Pro Tour week here on the Rules Tips Blog! This week we’ll be going over some neat stuff that came up at last weekend’s Pro Tour Sydney. To start with, we’ll go over one line on Emrakul, the Promised End: Protection From Instants. What exactly does that mean? Our old friend Emrakul is no stranger to protection- Her original incarnation (Emrakul, the Aeons Torn) had Protection from Colored Spells, which tripped people up a bit because She could get tagged by an Oblivion Ring. So, we’ll break down Protection into four component parts: Protection from QUALITY means that something cannot be Damaged by QUALITY permanents, spells, or abilities from QUALITY sources; Enchanted/Equipped/Fortified with QUALITY auras/equipment/fortifications; Blocked by QUALITY creatures; or Targeted by QUALITY spells, or abilities from QUALITY sources. D E B T  is the easy way to remember what Protection stops! Well, Instants can’t be assigned as blockers, nor can they be attached to creatures, so Protection from Instants really only means two things: Emrakul can’t be damaged or targeted by Instants. You can’t hit Her with a Doom Blade, and if you dropped a doozy of a Squall Line it wouldn’t so much as put a scratch on Her Noodliness. But that’s all it stops! You can still throw Auras at Emrakul, or tag Emrakul with Sorceries like Vindicate– it’s just instants that get goofed. And if your instant isn’t trying to damage or target, Protection’s no help; an overloaded Cyclonic Rift will bounce Emrakul just as easy as any other creature; ditto for a Fated Retribution. Finally, this Protection ONLY functions on the battlefield; while Emrakul is a spell on the stack, or a card in someone’s hand/library/exile/graveyard, that Protection doesn’t stop anything. Feel free to use Pull From Eternity or Goryo’s Vengeance!

So when it comes to fighting interdimensional horrors from beyond time and space, now you know; and knowing is half the battlefield (the other half is equal parts red and blue lasers)!

 

Today’s Rules Tip was written by Trevor Nunez