Magic has a long history of making small things large. Giant Growth. Monstrous Growth. Might of Oaks. And our newest “make small things gigantic” spell is Enlarge. It gives the targeted creature +7/+7, trample, and it has to be blocked if it attacks this turn. So you use this on your Kalonian Tusker, making it a 10/10 trample, and you attack into your opponent’s four 2/2 creatures. They all have to block the Tusker, and they all die, right?

Well, not quite. Enlarge just makes it so the creature has to be blocked if able. It doesn’t say that all creatures have to block it if able. Compare the wording of Enlarge to a card like Prized Unicorn. The Unicorn says that all creatures able to block the Unicorn must do so, but Enlarge says that the creature just has to be blocked if able. In the above example, if your opponent has the life to spare, they could choose to block your Englarged Tusker with a single 2/2. They’ll likely take some trample damage in process, but the rest of their army will live to fight another day.

Today’s Rules Tip written by Nathan Long