has come back into favor in a lot of aggro decks, and alongside it we’re seeing a few more Planeswalkers being played. So it’s easy to imagine that you might come into a situation where they interact! ’s ability is pretty simple; whenever you swing with a creature, triggers and burns your opponent for 1. […]
Category: Abilities
Nivmagus Elemental can only exile spells, not abilities.
’s ability is an activated ability that exiles an instant or sorcery spell you control from the stack… only instants or sorceries. This does not allow you to exile activated or triggered abilities on the stack (e.g., Planeswalker abilities, artifact abilities, etc.). While most abilities can be activated any time you could cast an instant, […]
You can flashback Ray of Revelation after Rest in Peace enters, before it exiles all graveyards.
You have a in your graveyard, and your opponent casts . Is there any way to use your Ray of Revelation to destroy it before it gets exiled anyway? Will that save the rest of your graveyard? When Rest in Peace enters the battlefield, it has a triggered ability that will exile all graveyards. This […]
Rootborn Defenses’ interaction with creatures changing control or entering later.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: This article has been updated as of the prerelease of Magic 2014 on July 13; Please refer to the revisions below. is a nifty common from Return to Ravnica that was made famous when it was (allegedly) accidentally included in a booster pack of Magic 2013. For us, it’s also interesting due to […]
How Odric’s ability works (yes, you can choose ‘no blocks’).
Interestingly enough, Odric requires 3 other creatures to attack alongside him in order to employ his masterful tactics. That means you need to declare at least 4 creatures (including Odric) as attacking when you begin your declare attackers step. You can’t attack with just Odric and a spirit token and , because the Angel that […]
You draw eight cards if you attack with two unblocked Drogskol Reavers.
is a powerful card, but it gets pretty ridiculous when you attack with two of them! If your opponent can’t block, how many cards are you going to draw? Well, first we have to look at the Drogskol Reaver’s triggered ability. It says “Whenever you gain life, draw a card.” Ok, that makes sense. An […]
Guild Feud and triggered abilities.
Ashley controls two s. At the beginning of her upkeep, they both trigger. As the first trigger resolves, Nicky reveals and Ashley reveals . How do the triggers resolve? Two important things to remember about triggers: Abilities may trigger during the resolution of a spell or ability, but are not put on the stack until […]
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 […]