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 […]
Category: Activated Abilities
Gruul: How Bloodrush works.
BLOODRUSH! Similar to Bloodthirst from the original Ravnica block, the barbarians and rubble-slummers of the Gruul Clans have a special love for cracking skulls. Where Bloodthirst would make your creatures bigger as they came down, Bloodrush turns your creatures into pump spells. Like Batallion, Bloodrush isn’t actually a keyword; it is an ability word, and […]
Divine Deflection vs. Olivia Voldaren (a study in state-based actions).
Times are tough for your Olivia Voldaren. She came down right on schedule on Turn 4, but your opponent immediately stabbed her with , reducing her to a mere 1/1. Fortunately, your opponent has a juicy 1/1 Human token, ripe for the plucking (and the vamping)! You untap and immediately direct your vampire queen towards […]
Mishra’s Factory can pump itself when blocking, but only if it’s not sick.
When declaring blockers, the defending player can only use untapped creatures. Once blockers are declared, though, the game doesn’t care if the blocking creatures become tapped later! A useful application of this is , which has three abilities: (1) a mana ability, (2) an “animation” ability, and (3) a “pump” ability. You can use the […]
All about Lion’s Eye Diamond (yes, it’s a mana ability, but it has a timing restriction)
So is kind of a weird card. Let’s start things off by looking at its current Gatherer text: Sacrifice Lion’s Eye Diamond, Discard your hand: Add three mana of any one color to your mana pool. Activate this ability only any time you could cast an instant. So the main difference between the printed version […]
You can respond to Stoneforge, Aether Vial or Miracle with Vendilion Clique
One of the strengths of is its versatility: you can surprise block an unsuspecting creature, cycle away a card in your hand, or take a peek at what your opponent is up to. Indeed, because it has flash, you can even cast it in response to an opponent’s activated or triggered ability. This is good […]
A Hellion Crucible can only put a counter on itself, not any other Hellion Crucible.
You are playing a game of standard and control two s, each with a counter. Can you use Hellion Crucible A to put a counter on Hellion Crucible B, so you can sacrifice Crucible B to make the 4/4 creature that turn? I’m afraid you can’t do that. When a Magic card states the name […]
Tournament Tuesday: An explanation of how “name a card” works.
Many cards in Magic ask you to “Name a card” as part of their effect, such as , , and . Whatever you pick has to be an actual Magic card legal in the format; calling “Pikachu” isn’t a legal choice, and neither is calling in Standard. Double-faced cards are a bit unusual. You’re restricted […]
Keyrunes Tips and Tricks
Reader suggestion time! Sort of. We got a submission from our Suggest a Rules Tip box about Keyrunes, and some of the tricky things about them. For example: You can throw down a Keyrune on turn 3 and immediately tap it for mana, just like you could a land, or another mana rock. As most […]