is one of the key board control cards in Mono Blue Faeries (as of the time of this writing) … but how does it work? First, when you activate it, you have to choose a target, and that target can’t have power greater than the number of Islands you control at that time. Then your […]
Category: Casting / playing a spell or ability
What happens between two spells or abilities on the stack resolving.
Magic is a game of playing spells and abilities, interacting with them, and dealing with the results of them. How does this all work, and what happens during this process? When played, spells and abilities go into a zone called the stack until they resolve. At this point, each player can respond to that spell […]
How the ‘Commander tax’ works in EDH/Commander.
Once more, I get the Commander question, and I’m fine with that. Commander is a popular format with Judges, largely because of the fact that it doesn’t rotate, and that the decks can be personalized a good deal. Many judges will haul a deck or five with them to a tournament, knowing that there’s likely […]
How Trinisphere works with Phyrexian Mana.
Whenever I’m asked about cost reductions/increases, especially in the flurry of questions about it thanks to a newly spoiled card from the Izzet vs. Golgari decks, a joke I like to use is ʺApply increases, then reductions, then .ʺ Trinisphere is really the only card that does what it does, and it seems to be […]
After attackers deal damage, they’re still attacking creatures for a little while.
A lot of people associate combat damage with the end of the combat phase. While it’s true that the majority of the time, people move straight from dealing damage to doing stuff in the second main phase or passing the turn, there is still the rest of the combat damage step and an end of […]
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 […]
Strategy Week: Wait to activate abilities until the end of your opponent’s turn.
When you play a card that has great potential, like , it’s sometimes tempting to activate its abilities right away. But remember the saying: “Patience is a virtue.” Or, in Magic terms, “Wait until the latest possible moment before playing anything.” There are a lot of steps and phases that can fly right by players […]
Strategy Week: It’s often better to attack BEFORE you cast spells on your turn.
If you watch many pro players, you might notice something consistent about how they play: They attack BEFORE they cast spells. Why is that? What’s the point of waiting? Well, sometimes, it makes sense to cast spells before you attack, such as when you’re casting a creature with haste. Also, you’d probably never want to […]
When you sacrifice Solemn Simulacrum to Birthing Pod, you always draw BEFORE you search.
There is a common confusion that comes up when you activate an ability that requires a sacrifice as a payment, and the sacrificed creature has an ability that triggers when it dies. Many people (mistakenly) think you can stack the order of the abilities so the activated ability resolves before the triggered ability. This is […]