If there’s a new Magic set coming out, there’s probably a dragon in it. Not only did we get the return of Shivan Dragon in Magic 2014, but we have a new mythic dragon in Scourge of Valkas, which lets your dragons breath a little fire when they enter the battlefield and deal some damage to a target creature or player. But when do we determine how much damage is dealt?

When we put the trigger on the stack, all we need to know is what the target creature or player is. The number of dragons isn’t counted at that point, they’re counted when the trigger resolves. This means that the amount of damage can be influenced. For instance, your opponent could Doom Blade one of your dragons, so the trigger will deal a little less damage when it resolves. Or maybe you decided to flash in a Bogardan Hellkite in response to the trigger because hey, who doesn’t want to see the world burn?

So, in short, we check the number of dragons you control when the trigger finally resolves. In the meantime, try not to have your dragons breathe too much fire on your opponents.

Today’s Rules Tip written by Nathan Long