Dragons of Tarkir Game Day may be well behind us, but its Top 8 promo prize, Thunderbreak Regent, is still tearing up the skies of Standard. While it doesn’t have any built-in protection, like hexproof or indestructible, Thunderbreak’s ability may be even more tricky to play against — it burns your opponent every time they play a targeted effect on any one of your Dragons!

Note, though, that when I say Dragons, what I really mean is Dragon permanents, which have to be on the battlefield. Indeed, every card that references “Dragons” in Dragons of Tarkir only applies to Dragon permanents, unless the card specifically says otherwise by referring to a “dragon spell” or “dragon card” (like Dragonlord’s Servant or Silumgar’s Scorn).

In the Regent’s case, it won’t trigger if your opponent tries to counter it (or any other Dragon) while it’s still a spell on the stack, or if they kill one of your dragons while the Regent is still on the stack. If you try to reanimate a Dragon, say with Fearsome Awakening, and your opponent removes it in response with Pharika, God of Affliction, that won’t count either.

Today’s Rules Tip written by Jen Wong