This week, in celebration of our Return to the beloved plane of Ravnica, I’ll be previewing each of the new mechanics! Tuesday is Tournament day, so I’ll be cramming two abilities onto Friday’s post. Today, Unleash! Unleash is the Rakdos mechanic, and it really helps capture the hedonistic, thrillkilling attitude of the Cult of Rakdos. […]
Category: Static Abilities
Torpor Orb doesn’t stop Clone effects or other ʺas this entersʺ abilities.
As Scars of Mirrodin’s time in Standard is coming to a close, it seems fitting to give a final hurrah to one of the most confusing cards in the block: ! This confusion can be attributed mostly to the difficulty people have in understanding the difference between triggered and static abilities, but once you know […]
Sigarda won’t save you from sacrificing your own Phantasmal Image, even if an opponent targets it.
‘s ability is pretty cool. If an effect an opponent controls says “sacrifice a creature” Sigarda says, “No, I’d rather not.” So she keeps you safe from things like and . But what if the opponent targets your Phantasmal Image (copying something other than Sigarda) with ? On the surface, it almost looks like the […]
Can you respond to the choice of what to copy with Phantasmal Image? It depends!
This is a very common question with any kind of copy creature. The most important thing to note is that the static ability that lets you choose to copy something is NOT a triggered ability (if it was, pretty much every Clone-type creature would die for being 0/0 before you could choose to copy something!). […]
Surgical Extraction vs. Miracles
Miracle causes lots of questions, as it’s a pretty complex mechanic. First, there’s the static ability that says “You may reveal this as you draw it if its the first card you drew this turn.” Then once you do that, there’s the triggered ability that say “When you do, you may cast this for its […]
How Sign in Blood (or any loss of life that isn’t damage) works vs. Elderscale Wurm.
Bart: I’d sell my soul for a formula one racing car. [Satan Ned appears with a race car] Ned: Heh heh heh, that can be arranged. Bart: Changed my mind. Sorry. [Ned vanishes] Cool! Marge: Bart! Stop pestering Satan! Some things in Magic–like drawing cards–are worth paying a few life points. Cards like and let […]
How Silverblade Paladin and first strike blockers/attackers interact.
‘s ability allows it to pair with another creature, and for as long as the two are paired, they both have double strike. In order for creatures to un-pair, one of the three things must happen: One of the creatures leaves the battlefield; one of the creatures changes control; or one of the creatures stops […]
A Miracle card must be cast in the same step you draw the card (even if it’s a sorcery).
When you draw your first card for the turn (usually in your draw step), you can reveal it as you draw it if it has the Miracle ability. When you do that, the ability triggers and goes on the stack as soon as you’re done with the action that let you draw the card. So […]
Why Knowledge Pool + Curse of Exhaustion locks your opponent out of casting spells from the hand.
As part of combo week, I’ve chosen to explain my personal favorite combo in standard: the + lock. First, let’s take a look at what these two cards do before we explain how the combo works. Curse of Exhaustion is pretty simple; it restricts the number of spells your opponent can cast to just one […]