Finally for this week’s Gatecrash mechanics, we have House Dimir, the blue-black masters of stealth and subterfuge. Their mechanic this time around is called Cipher, and boy is it a doozy! I’ve gotten plenty of questions about Cipher, so I’ll answer some of them for you here. Cipher is a fun mechanic. When a spell […]
Category: Abilities
Orzhov: How Extort works.
Keeping with their “bleed ‘em dry” theme from the old Ravnica, the Church of Deals has a new way to tax your opponent to death: Extort. Whenever you cast a spell while you control a permanent with Extort, you may pay W or B to cause your opponent to lose 1 life, and yourself to […]
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 […]
Simic: How Evolve works.
I’ve got to say, I’m really liking the new Simic! You’ll be seeing a lot of their little mutations at the prerelease, and just like Batallion, it helps to know how it works before you head into the event so you don’t make a misplay. Evolve is another triggered ability. If you have a creature […]
Boros: How Battalion works.
With the prerelease bearing down on us just this Saturday, it’s time to kick off the Gatecrash week! This week I’ll be covering all 5 of the new mechanics, just like we did with RtR. Today we’ll be doing Battalion, followed by Evolve tomorrow, Extort on Wednesday, Bloodrush on Thursday, and Cipher finishing things up […]
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 […]
Tournament Tuesday: Announcing Floating Mana
Your mana pool is arguably the most important concept in all of Magic — but most of the time, it’s completely invisible. If I tap four and three s for an , it’s pretty obvious what color of mana each of my Gardens is making, and whether the Vents are making red or blue usually […]
It That Betrays and Commanders
Om nom nom! is coming to get you — and your commander! For today’s tip, I want to talk about a cool interaction in Commander, the hugely-popular multiplayer format where each player chooses a legendary creature, called a “commander,” to lead his or her deck. In this format, each player’s commander is subject to a […]
You can cast Krosan Grip targeting Standstill, but you won’t be happy about it.
More Double-Legacy days! I hope that many of you are safely in Denver, or on your way there for the event, and I hope you have fun and do well! On to the tips. is a lot of fun in Legacy and EDH both, because it’s very difficult to deal with. Since it has Split […]