Ahhh, the classic “Me firs- NO ME FIRST!” scenario in Magic. Remember folks, those who respond last, get to resolve first; a concept that NONE of the people in busy lines seem to grasp at my local amusement park. Following that principal in Magic, Deathrite Shaman’s ability states that, “Hey, pay {B} and tap me, […]
Category: Abilities
Abilities, Activated Abilities, Continuous Effects, Effects, Mana Abilities, Type & Subtypes, Type Changing
Stony Silence and Artifact Lands
To finish out this week’s Modern flair, let’s talk about a deck called Robots (or back in my crotchety days, “Affinity”). It uses lots of artifacts to make your opponent and his life total very sad. The Legacy version (and the original Standard version) made delightful use of the artifact lands like and pulling double […]
Wall of Roots and +1/+1 Counters
There was a time when counters didn’t cancel each other out on the same permanent; you could have a bunch of +1/+1 counters and a few -1/-1 counters on a creature and they’d just co-exist happily on that creature, in case anything cared. With the Lorwyn block, that got changed up because it was a […]
Tournament Tuesday: Dark Confidant at Competitive REL
As expected, Modern Masters has created quite a stir, and we’re looking at GP Las Vegas in just a couple of weeks, where Modern Masters sealed will be the format. On top of that, there’s plenty of people drafting their MM boxes right now, and a lot of people looking to get into the format […]
Abilities, Activated Abilities, Characteristics, Continuous Effects, Effects, Interaction of Continuous Effects, Keywords, Static Abilities
Melira and Inkmoth Nexus
Infect! Quite the polarizing mechanic in most areas, it was either considered laughably bad or stupidly broken depending on who you were talking to. It’s gained some traction lately with eggs-in-one-basket rush decks, especially in Modern, and it’s possible you might run into a Pod deck running and you want to know how it interacts […]
Pit Fight Won’t Trigger Blaze Commando
is a Minotaur Soldier, which is a pretty sweet creature type you don’t see every day. He also has an triggered ability you don’t see very often, one that triggers whenever an instant or sorcery spell you control deals damage. This trigger is a little tricky to understand, but the important thing to realize is […]
Understanding Possibility Storm
Oh, the possibilities! is already a favorite of mine because of the sheer hilarity and chaos it can cause. It’s also seeing play in several EDH decks for that same reason, and even made an appearance at the most recent Pro Tour due to its ability to blank in some matchups. So with the possibility […]
A Progenitor Mimic copying Scion of Vitu-Ghazi will make birds when it enters the battlefield, but not on each upkeep.
Greetings, fellow students of Mat’Selesnya. I am pleased you’ve joined me here in Vitu-Ghazi to further your understanding of the ways of our guild. As future summoners and mages, it is crucial that you understand how to best direct our many allies in battle. For example, the is both a potent threat and a useful […]
Voice of Resurgence makes tokens that are always changing size.
is a card that doesn’t seem to have immediate appeal in standard, but is already having an effect in formats like Modern and Legacy. It punishes players who wait for your turn to play a spell, and it replaces itself if and when it dies. But how big can those tokens get? Does it just […]