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Category Archives: Combat Phase
“Lethal Damage” in Magic isn’t always what it means in English.
“Lethal Damage” is a term you often hear in combat. It’s a term you might hear if the attacking creature has trample or when multiple creatures are blocking the same attacking creature. So in Magic term, what does “lethal damage” … Continue reading
Posted in Combat Phase
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Adding a +1/+1 counter to an unleash creature after it blocks won’t remove it from combat.
Unleash is a static ability from Return to Ravnica that has two effects. First, it lets you put an extra +1/+1 counter on a creature as it enters the battlefield — yay, bigger creatures! Second, it says that as long … Continue reading
Posted in Combat Phase, Static Abilities
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Mark for Death on Ember Beast. Can you block at all?
In Magic: The Gathering’s judging system, combat-based rules questions are considered especially heinous. On this blog, the dedicated judges who investigate these tricky interactions are members of an elite squad known as the Special Cards Unit. These are their stories. … Continue reading
Posted in Combat Phase, Interaction of Continuous Effects
Tagged Ember Beast, Mark for Death
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Lifelink can save you from dying in combat.
Ah, lifelink. The boon of white mages, the bane of red mages (the jury is still out on how Boros feels about it). Even though lifelink has only been around for a relatively short period of time (it was introduced … Continue reading
Posted in Combat Phase, Static Abilities
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Leyline Phantom can block Armored Transport without bouncing.
Armored Transport does funny things in combat. Well, funny as in if it’s blocked by a creature, that creature does nothing at all! Preventing the damage dealt to it in combat means things such as lifelink and deathtouch won’t apply … Continue reading
Posted in Combat Phase, Prevention and Replacement Effects, Triggered Abilities
Tagged Armored Transport, Leyline Phantom
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Flickering Aurelia for Fun and Profit
As mentioned last week, the guild of Boros has this really great leader in Aurelia, the Warleader. I mean, she has all the abilities one looks for when attacking: flying, to soar over the heads of her opponents; haste, so … Continue reading
Geist of Saint Traft and Battalion is NOT a combo.
This was briefly explained in the Battalion mechanic blog entry last week, but it’s still a common question, so I’m making it as a bonus entry all to itself! All the triggered abilities labeled with the Battalionability word have the … Continue reading
Posted in Combat Phase, Triggered Abilities
Tagged Battalion, Frontline Medic, Geist of Saint Traft
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Mishra’s Factory can pump itself when blocking, but only if it’s not sick.
When declaring blockers, the defending player can only use untapped creatures. Once blockers are declared, though, the game doesn’t care if the blocking creatures become tapped later! A useful application of this is Mishra’s Factory, which has three abilities: (1) … Continue reading