has three abilities: flying; a characteristic-defining ability that sets its base power and toughness; and a triggered ability that makes you draw a card when it deals combat damage to a player. In the combat damage step, it is important to note that abilities that trigger from combat damage being dealt will go on the […]
Category: Triggered Abilities
Murder of Crow’s ability is optional.
has a triggered ability that uses the word ‘may.’ This indicates that the ability is optional and you do not have to draw and discard a card when it resolves. Because it is optional, it also means that you will not receive a penalty if the ability is missed. In instances where this trigger is […]
Mentor of the Meek’s ability checks the power of creatures as they enter play.
has an ability that triggers when a creature with power of two of less enters the battlefield under the control of the Mentor’s controller. The ability may seem pretty basic, but there are some facts to point out regarding how it all works. This ability cares about the actual power of the creature in play […]
Rakish Heir can give your Vampires even more counters.
Some of the Vampire cards from Innistrad have abilities that grant them +1/+1 counters when they deal combat damage to a player. is an example of a vampire with this ability. has a similar ability, but with an important difference as it can make all of your other vampires even better. Its ability triggers whenever […]
Warstorm Surge uses last known information if needed.
has a triggered ability that triggers when a creature enters the battlefield under the control of the controller of the Surge. When this trigger goes on the stack a target creature or player is chosen. When this trigger resolves the target will receive damage equal to the power of the creature that entered the battlefield […]
Blood Seeker’s ability does not work with Bloodthirst
, first seen in Zendikar and then reprinted in Magic 2012, has an ability that triggers when a player other than the controller of the Blood Seeker has a creature enter play under his or her control. When the ability resolves the controller of the Blood Seeker can have the controller of this creature that […]
Delayed triggered abilities
One unusual type of triggered ability is the delayed trigger ability. Delayed triggered abilities are created by spells and abilities (and some replacement effects). They are unique in that they wait around for a bit and then trigger at an appropriate time. Like other ‘normal’ triggered abilities they are recognizable by the words ‘when,’ ‘whenever,’ […]
How Storm works.
Storm is a keyword ability that first appeared in Scourge and made a return visit in Time Spiral block. Storm is also a triggered ability that triggers when a spell with storm is cast. This trigger will go on the stack on top of the spell itself and it will resolve first. When this trigger […]
The ‘Intervening if’
Some of the more complicated triggered abilities are those that include what is known as the ‘intervening if’ clause. These triggered abilities are generally written in the format “When/Whenever/At [trigger event], if [condition], [effect].” These condition followed by the ‘if’ functions as an addition trigger condition. If it is not true when this ability would […]