A triggered ability is controlled by the controller of the source of the ability when the ability triggers. Normally this is pretty straightforward. For example, with something like the controller of the trigger is whoever controlled the Blood Seeker when creature came into play under an opponent’s control. In most cases the controller of a […]
Category: Triggered Abilities
At the beginning of the end step vs until the end of turn.
There are a few things that happen at the end of every turn; players discard down to their maximum hand size, damage on creatures goes away etc. One area that often confuses players is the difference between effects that last until the turn ends and triggered abilities that trigger at the end of a turn. […]
Tokens do go to the graveyard when destroyed.
Token creatures are actual creatures and they will cause relevant abilities to trigger when they leave play. For example, ‘s ability will trigger when a token creature controlled by an opponent goes to the graveyard. This also applies if the source of the ability itself goes to the graveyard. If a token copy of a […]
Lifelink is not cumulative.
When initially introduced Lifelink was a triggered ability. If a permanent had multiple instances of lifelink, then each of these separate abilities would trigger independently ultimately causing the controller of of these abilities to gain more life than the damage dealt. However when the Magic 2010 base set was released how Lifelink works was changed. […]
Nested Ghoul’s ability triggers once per source of damage.
Some abilities in Magic care about specific amount of damage and others care about the sources of damage regardless of the amount. Abilities that prevent damage and redirect damage are obvious examples. For example, compare and . Shiledmate’s Blessing prevents a specific amount of damage and Auriok Replica’s ability prevents all damage from a specific […]
Who or what the Hero of Bladehold tokens are attacking.
In a previous tip it was pointed out that has two triggered abilities, the Battle Cry trigger and a trigger that puts two 1/1 white soldier tokens into play attacking. As mentioned in the previous tip, the order that these triggers go on the stack and therefore resolve matters. However Hero of Bladehold’s trigger that […]
What happens when multiple abilities trigger.
When two or more triggered abilities attempt to go on the stack at the same time they go on APNAP order. This stands for Active Player, Non-active Player. It means that those triggers that are controlled by the active player go on the stack in whatever order he or she wants, followed by those triggered […]
‘Becomes blocked’ vs. ‘becomes blocked by a creature’
Many triggered abilities trigger when an attacking creature becomes blocked. However some of them trigger just once regardless of the number of creatures that are blocking the attacking creature and others trigger once per each blocking creature. The difference is in how the trigger condition is written. Abilities that say ‘Whenever ~this creature~ becomes blocked’ […]
You can only pay Mirrorworks cost once per trigger
With triggered abilities that allow you to pay a cost to get an effect, you are only allowed to pay that specified cost once unless stated otherwise. An example of this would be with the triggered ability of . When a nontoken artifact enters the battlefield under your control, Mirrorwork’s ability will trigger. When this […]