Even with the Guild Packs making it much easier that usual to go into your two preferred colors in Limited, there were a lot of people splashing a third color for some fun stuff. For example, some people ran Black/Red/Green to keep a Corpsejack Menace around for Unleash.

But does that do anything? Unleash doesn’t say to ‘place’ the counter, it just comes down with it, right? Not quite! The rules say: “If a spell or ability refers to a counter being “placed” on a permanent, it means putting a counter on that permanent while it’s on the battlefield, or that permanent entering the battlefield with a counter on it as the result of a replacement effect.” Accordingly, Unleash does indeed place the counter on your creature, it just does so the very moment it is entering the battlefield. Which means the Menace plays very well with Rakdos, turning your Gore-House Chainwalkers into 4/3 beaters for 2, or your Rakdos Cacklers into walking Lightning Bolts.

Today’s Rules Tip written by
Trevor Nuñez