Normally I frown on re-gifting, but in the case of Rancor, I’m inclined to make an exception. This Christmassy colored ball of ire loves to bounce around from one creature to another. But wait, you ask, isn’t the holiday season supposed to be about peace on earth and goodwill? Well, as resilient as Rancor is, it’s not unstoppable. Here’s one way to get rid of it.

When Rancor is put into a graveyard, either from being destroyed directly by an effect like Naturalize or from no longer being attached to a creature, there’s a brief period of time when it lingers in the graveyard waiting for its triggered ability to resolve and return it to hand. If you can exile it with an effect like Purify the Grave before its ability resolves, it’ll become a new object with no memory of its former existence. Then the triggered ability will be unable to find Rancor in the zone it’s supposed to be in, shrug, and do nothing. The result is an end to the pointless cycle of hatred… well, unless it’s now your opponent who’s very annoyed instead.

Today’s Rules Tip written by Jen Wong