“How many times can I use my creature’s ability? Just once?” I’ve heard that one a lot, especially among newer players; they want to know how many times they can activate a given ability per turn. The answer is pretty simple: As many times as you can pay for it! The vast majority of activated […]
Category: Activated Abilities
Abilities, Activated Abilities, Combat Phase, Tournament Rules, Turn Structure, Type & Subtypes, Type Changing
How to Attack with Mutavault
is back in town, and doing fun things! It swings for 2, it gets pumped by , it has the subtypes of Ninja Mutant Turtle- and it taps for mana! What a land. However, some people don’t know how to properly attack with it! You see, to swing with your Mutavault, it has to be […]
You can activate Monstrosity abilities all you want (but only one can ever do anything).
Usually, there's no reason to activate a Monstrosity ability more than once. But if you have all the mana you need, it occasionally makes sense to thwart your opponent's removal!
Monstrous Isn’t Linked to the Counters
While this didn’t come up much at the prerelease (since there’s no real way to get rid of their +1/+1 counters in Theros sealed!), I’ve seen and heard a few players thinking that “Monstrous” is linked to the counters themselves. For example, they think that if they remove the +1/+1 counters from their somehow (perhaps […]
You can set up a regen shield “just in case” if your Trollhide is being Naturalized.
Most players only use regeneration right at the moment their creature would be destroyed. However, regeneration can be activated any time in case you need it later in the turn!
Trostani and Scavenging Ooze for value
Today’s tip submitted by reader Nicholas Brown loves to gain you life. Sometimes its good to get a nice big creature popping into play to get you a good life swing. If you find yourself mid-game with some creatures already in the graveyard, you can utilize the stack to your benefit to get the maximum […]
Elite Arcanist’s ability can trigger Young Pyromancer or Guttersnipe.
Today, for our Hump Day tip, we’re going to be looking at a Magic 2014 card with some potential: . The ability to repeatedly cast an instant is a powerful effect, and it has some synergy with some standard-legal cards, which brings us to today’s question. When you activate the Arcanist’s ability, you make a […]
Chandra, Pyromancer’s 0 ability – You have to pay to cast the exiled card.
Chandra's 0 ability doesn't say "without paying its mana cost," so you still have to pay for it... but you have to do it this turn or it just stays exiled.
Burning Earth only triggers if the land is tapped for mana, not for any other abilities.
An explanation of how Burning Earth works (or really doesn't) when a nonbasic land is tapped for a non-mana ability.