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 she can attack as soon as possible; and vigilance, to be there to defend the fort as well as attack the other fort. And then we have that last ability, and the focus of this tip: “Whenever Aurelia, the Warleader attacks for the first time each turn, untap all creatures you control. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase”, so if that one attack isn’t enough, there’s always the second one.

Surely, there’s some way we can abuse that last ability, right? And there is. The key is to use flicker effects, like Cloudshift. Attack with Aurelia, then at some point during that combat phase, Cloudshift her. She’ll be removed from the battlefield and returned. Now, in your second combat phase, attack with her again, and her ability will trigger again, and you’ll get a third combat phase.

Why does that work? When Aurelia leaves the battlefield and returns, she’s treated as an entirely new permanent that has no memory of its previous existence. The Aurelia that was attacking before the Cloudshift isn’t the same creature as the one that’s on the battlefield after Cloudshift has resolved. So when she attacks during the second combat phase, that’s the first time she’s attacked that turn, so her ability will trigger again and you’ll get a third combat phase. And since she naturally has haste, you don’t need to worry about giving it to her another way.

If you had multiple flicker effects (like multiple Cloudshifts in hand), you could even repeat this process, and you can get as many combat phases as you desire.

So when is the best time to cast Cloudshift? Technically, you can cast it at any point after attackers are declared in the first combat phase up until the beginning of combat step of the second combat phase. But if Aurelia is blocked by a 4/4 flyer, you want to cast the Cloudshift during the declare blockers step. If you let combat damage be dealt, then Aurelia will die and you don’t get to have any fun with your Cloudshift.

Today’s Rules Tip written by Nate Long