Every good army needs a good leader, and luckily, the Boros Legion has Aurelia, whose Fury certainly lives up to the tradition of red Mythic Rares with X in their cost being a huge blowout for the opponent. In addition to nuking creatures, Aurelia’s Fury has a unique effect if it deals damage to an opponent; that player can’t cast noncreature spells for the rest of the turn. This is especially potent if your opponent is waiting on something that would otherwise give him permission to cast a spell, like the trigger from a miracle ability, or removing the last counter from a suspended card. When the triggered ability resolves, it asks its controller “Cast me now?” but since Aurelia’s Fury has made that an illegal action, your opponent is stopped (in the name of the Law) from choosing “yes”. A revealed miracle card will go to your opponent’s hand, and a suspended card will be stuck in exile forever.

Bear in mind, however, that Aurelia’s Fury can’t stop spells that are already on the stack. The restriction will still be put into place, but because a spell on the stack was already considered “cast”, preventing its controller from being able to cast noncreature spells doesn’t do anything. In the case of Miracle, it means that you can’t wait for your opponent to tap mana for Bonfire of the Damned then cast Aurelia’s Fury to stop the spell from resolving. If you choose to use Aurelia’s Fury, it must be in response to the triggered Miracle ability of Bonfire, before your opponent taps any mana to cast it (though if they rush into tapping mana, you can say, “Hold up I have a response!”). Hopefully you’ll be able to kill your opponent before he wipes your team with Bonfire next turn… with the power of Aurelia on your side, you definitely stand a fighting chance!

Today’s Rules Tip written by Jen Wong