Let me tell you a little secret. X, if it’s not on the stack, is treated as 0. While an X spell is ON the stack, X stops being a variable and starts being a number (Note: the quality of the spell being considered an X spell doesn’t change; it’s still an X spell on […]
Category: Characteristics
If you copy a creature that’s encoded with a Cipher card, the copy won’t be encoded.
It’s only fitting that the new guild keyword that caused the most confusion upon being released was Cipher, the signature mechanic of House Dimir. And because I most definitely am not a Dimir informant secretly reporting to my shadowy superior in a hidden base in Arizona that most definitely doesn’t exist, I believe I’m at […]
Biomass Mutation Tips and Tricks
After a brief break for Tournament Tuesday, we’re back in Simic-Land for another neat card, . Mutation is the Simic entrant in the rare X spells cycle from Gatecrash, and it can be devastating. For X mana, plus 2 in any combination of green and blue, all your creatures become X/X. So you pour 5 […]
Wayfaring Temple and Essence Backlash
You’re playing your Selesnya token deck, and you have five tokens on the board. Hoping to take advantage, you cast your Wayfaring Temple, hoping to start attacking with a large creature and creating a larger army. However, your opponent doesn’t like that idea very much, and they counter your Temple with Essence Backlash. Surprisingly, your […]
Rakdos Shred-Freak can’t block Knight of Glory (an explanation of hybrid mana symbols).
“Hybrid mana” is incredibly flexible. Each hybrid mana symbol in a card’s cost lets you choose which color of mana you’ll use to pay for each hybrid mana symbol. For example, ‘s cost is {B/R}{B/R}, which can be paid with BB, BR, or RR. However, the Shred-Freak’s colors are always black and red, even if […]
Bloodbraid Elf can cascade into Boom/Bust and cast Bust.
Cascade and split cards are a fun little combination, both in Modern and in Commander. The reason it can be fun is that when Cascade asks a split card what its CMC is, you get two answers; one for each side. As long as ONE of those answers is ‘low enough’ for that Cascade, you […]
Rootborn Defenses’ interaction with creatures changing control or entering later.
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 […]
Pack Rat tokens won’t get any counters or P/T boosts the original has.
I control a . Then I target it with 4 s and 4 s. Then I put a +1/+1 counter on it and turn it blue somehow. You know, for good measure. Now I use ’s ability (don’t ask me how I cast 8 spells and still had another card to discard along with the […]
Wild Beastmaster can kill your other creatures if it has negative power when its ability resolves.
This question has come up a few times recently, because the answer doesn’t seem to make sense to everyone. What happens when you attack with a and your opponent responds to the trigger by casting or targeting the Beastmaster? Well the first thing to realize is that the Beastmaster’s power is only checked as its […]