This card, despite its pretentious name, is definitely a “working class” one.

Obviously, we say it with no derogatory intent: simply, we want to say that Key to the City does a lot of different things, but does not excel in any.

This artifact:

• It’s a “discard outlet”, it allows us to discard cards, and often it’s exactly what we want to do.
• Makes creatures unblockable.
• It’s a “rummaging engine”, it allows us to discard/draw repeatedly.

Furthermore, it’s colorless, thus we can fit it in any deck, regardless of played colors.

Key to the City is not particularly powerful in a aggro deck, nor in a control one, and we will never play the 4x, not even in a slow format like Standard. One or two copies are fine for a constructed deck. In Limited or Commander, playing the Key should have its own reasons.

From a rules point of view, Key to the City is particular enough to deserve an in depth analysis.

“T”, Discard a card: Up to one target creature can’t be blocked this turn.

“Up to one target creature” means that this ability can be activated with and without a target. As a comparison, let’s have a look at how Panic Spellbomb works.

Panic Spellbomb’s first ability requires a target. If there aren’t creatures in play, this ability can’t be activated.

Differently, Key to the City’s ability can be activated without targets, so it can be used even with no creatures in play.

• If the ability is played with a target, we can respond with Reroute.
• If instead is played without targets, we can’t respond with Reroute: on the stack the ability has no targets, so it isn’t “an ability with a single target”, therefore casting Reroute is not legal.

We can’t activate the ability without discarding a card. Discarding is part of the cost of the ability, because it comes before the colon – everything after the colon in an activated ability is the effect.

Let’s suppose we have an Incorrigible Youths, a creature with madness and haste, in hand. If we discard Youths to the Key, and cast Youths, are we also able to target it and make it unblockable this turn? No, it doesn’t work. Madness goes on the stack only after we have completed the activation of the Key’s ability. To complete the activation, we have to declare  a target (or no target), and at this moment Youths is not in play.

• If an attacking creature has already been blocked, we can target it with the Key’s ability, but the creature will remain blocked. A declared block can’t be undone.
• If a creature that can’t be blocked loses all abilities, for example because of an Ovinize, the creature keeps the “can’t be blocked” status. Such status it’s not an ability.

“Whenever Key to the City becomes untapped, you may pay (2). If you do, draw a card.”

This second ability will normally trigger during the untap step. Pay attention, it will trigger, but won’t immediately go on the stack.

An ability can trigger at any moment, but to go on the stack it will have to wait the first moment a player will be about to receive priority. During the untap step, players do not receive priority: the first opportunity for the Key’s ability to go on the stack is in the subsequent step, at the beginning of the upkeep.

If, at the beginning of the upkeep, there are other abilities that trigger, they will go on the stack in Active Player (AP), Non-Active Player (NAP) order.

Let’s make some examples:

Let’s suppose we know the first two or three cards on top of our library, because we scryed, for example. We control Crawling Sensation. In the untap step Key to the City triggers.

At the beginning of the upkeep, we can choose to put Crawling Sensation on the stack  first and then Key to the City, or vice versa, depending on our desire to draw or not the card on top of the library.

Let’s suppose we are in the same situation, plus our opponent enchanted us with a Curse of the Bloody Tome. First, Key to the City and Crawling Sensation go on the stack in the order we prefer, and then Curse of the Bloody Tome. Curse of the Bloody Tome will resolve first.

The Key’s second ability goes on the stack whenever it becomes untapped. The decision to pay 2 and draw, or not to pay, is taken upon resolution, not during declaration. If our opponent wants to respond to the ability, they have to do it before the resolution and before knowing if we are going to pay 2 or not.

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