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 […]
Category: Abilities
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 […]
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 […]
Deathrite Shaman Won’t Make Mana Without a Target
is making a splash in Modern lately, and sees some play in Standard due to it helping to slow down reanimator-type strategies, as well as giving some Zombie decks an extra way to bleed their opponent for the last few points of mana. One of the reasons that it sees a good deal of play […]
Angel of Serenity “may” exile the targets if it’s killed before the trigger resolves.
has a somewhat unique ability, in that sometimes you target things that you wouldn’t mind being exiled forever at the same time that you target something you’d rather get back in your hand. So what happens if the Angel enters and you choose targets, but the Angel is ed before the ability resolves? The Angel’s […]