Do you have trouble remembering your DCI number? Do you have a habit of just signing up for a new one each time you enter a tournament? Here are some tips to avoid this problem!
Author: bimmerbot
Ashcloud Phoenix won’t come back if it’s face-down when it dies.
Ashcloud Phoenix isn't as difficult to kill as you may think. It will only trigger to come back if it's face up before it dies.
Aggressive Mining doesn’t stop lands from entering the battlefield another way.
Make sure you know the difference between actually "playing" a land and simply putting a land onto the battlefield.
Elesh Norn vs. Sakura-Tribe Elder, et. al.
You can only activate abilities when you have priority. If your creature enters the battlefield but dies before you get priority, you're not going to have a good time!
What “attacks if able” really means.
"Attacks if able" is pretty straightforward, until you add other restrictions or requirements! See inside for some more detail.
Notion Thief and Dredge
Notion Thief confuses many people, and dredge isn't much better... When the two come together, you get this rules tips blog!
You can’t “miss” True-Name Nemesis’s “as this enters…” ability.
True-Name Nemesis doesn't have a triggered ability, so it's not possible to simply "miss" the ability. If you think your opponent failed to choose a player, you must mention it.
Gargoyle Sentinel can dodge Clear a Path.
Clear a Path needs the target to have defender both when you cast it and when it would resolve. Gargoyle Sentinel can make sure the latter part isn't true in order to survive!
Casting Ajani’s Pridemate while you have Staff of the Sun Magus – No counter for you!
The Staves all trigger when a spell is cast, so that trigger must resolve before the spell that caused it to trigger can resolve. If you cast Ajani's Pridemate, you gain the life before it actually enters, so it won't be around to trigger on that life gain and therefore won't gain a counter.