Because of this card, I’m going to have to start carrying a random number generator (I also suggest all judges do so as well!). ‘s ability says that it deals damage to “target creature or player chosen at random”. A target creature, while activating this ability, can only be chosen if it can be legally […]
Category: Activated Abilities
Vorel of the Hull Clade doubles all counters on a permanent.
Ah, . There isn’t a counter he can’t double, you know. At first glance, he looks a lot like the proliferate mechanic from Scars of Mirrodin, which allowed you to choose any number of permanents and/or players that already had counters, and then give each of those permanents and/or players exactly one additional counter of […]
Rot Farm Skeleton’s ability can only be activated from the graveyard.
Generally, a permanent’s abilities only work while the card is on the battlefield, not in any other zone. There are some exceptions. One is if the ability only makes sense in another zone. For instance, has an ability that says it can’t be countered. While it doesn’t explicitly say that it only works while it’s […]
Abilities, Activated Abilities, Continuous Effects, Effects, Keywords, Mana Abilities, Triggered Abilities
Elvish Archdruid Won’t Trigger Gyre Sage
If there’s one thing Elves love [beyond having Hobbits do their dirty work, but that’s another plane entirely], it’s mana. Lots and lots of mana. Enormous, obscene piles of green mana, ready to be converted into an astoundingly large spell, or into many little elves, who will make even more mana. Continuing the trend of […]
Thrull Parasite can slow the Assembling of a Legion, but it can’t stop it completely.
A slow, inevitable death. That’s pretty much what brings to the table. Every turn, the Legion gets another counter, and you get another batch of tokens. If you leave the Legion unchecked, it’s going to overwhelm you. Sure, there’s always enchantment removal, but sometimes that’s not an option. Are there any outside the box ideas […]
Pithing Needle stops all of Deathrite Shaman’s abilities.
Before we go any further, we must ask ourselves… what is a mana ability? Well, that was semi-rhetorical, for those who didn’t snap answer the previous question. A Mana ability can exist as either an activated or triggered ability. For the activated ability form: 1) Does not have a target 2) It could put mana […]
Protection from creatures prevents targeting with Bloodrush.
To quickly remind yourself of what protection does, just think of the Orzhov guild’s favorite word: DEBT. D stands for dealing damage; E stands for enchanting/equipping; B stands for blocking; and T stands for targeting. While you might be most familiar with protection from a color, protection can also encompass a wide variety of other […]
The Gatecrash Guildmage cycle: Part 2
Duskmantle Guildmage’s 1st ability functions the same as Vizkopa Guildmage’s 2nd ability, as far as multiple activations are concerned. Since they set up a delayed trigger, each will resolve individually. Do note that it says Card, so once again, tokens won’t work, and it says from anywhere, not just the library or battlefield. Get inventive! […]
The Gatecrash Guildmage cycle: Part 1
There are 5 more guildmages in Gatecrash that complete the new Guildmage cycle, some of these guildmages have abilities that ‘stack’ (not in terms of using the stack, because they all do that, but I’m trying to express the fact that their effects are cumulative). Let’s have a look at these abilities. Should be simple […]