When you copy a double-faced card with a clone effect, you get an exact copy of the currently showing side. Anything that isn’t a double-faced card can’t transform. So if you copy a with a , you end up with an exact copy of the Chalice of Death. The game doesn’t acknowledge or care that […]
Category: Characteristics
The extra mana you pay because of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben doesn’t count for anything else.
Simple enough: Does increase the converted mana cost (“CMC”) of your spells because she makes them cost more? Easy answer: No! CMC -never- changes. The sum of all the symbols in the top right corner of a card is the CMC. The only time CMC can change is with X spells. Everywhere except the stack, […]
Ratchet Bomb destroys most tokens, but not all of them.
Tokens created by a spell or triggered ability such as ’s golem token or ’ spirit tokens have no defined mana cost, and therefore have a converted mana cost (“CMC”) of zero. A activated with zero charge counters is more than adequate to wipe out a field of tokens generated in this manner. When a […]
When in any zone other than in play, double-faced cards are treated as face-up.
There are many ways for the characteristics of a permanent in play to have its characteristics changed. Double-faced cards are just a new way of changing more than one of these characteristics at one time, and in a somewhat dramatic way. While on the battlefield, these cards have the chance to turn over completely and […]
Effects that change a permanent’s characteristics only apply when the card is in play.
Effects like the one generated by , or all give a permanent an additional permanent type. It is important to note that these effects only apply while the affected permanent is on the battlefield. Once it leaves play, any of these effects will no longer apply to it. For example, if an Inkmoth Nexus is […]
Animated lands ‘keep’ counters even when they don’t matter.
If a non-creature permanent becomes a creature and gains counters that only apply to creatures, these counters will remain on this permanent even when it is no longer a creature. For example, if an is animated by its own ability and it gets a +1/+1 counter from something like ‘s ability, those +1/+1 counters will […]
Creatures only exist on the battlefield; in every other zone they are creature cards.
Many spells and abilities affect creatures in some way or another. When text on a card refers to creatures, it means creatures on the battlefield. This is because creatures only exist when on the battlefield. When a creature card is in any other zone, it is just that: a creature card. For example, let’s say […]
Destroying Gutter Grime will cause all the tokens it created to go to the graveyard.
has an ability that triggers whenever a nontoken creature you control dies. When this triggered ability resolves, you put a slime counter on Gutter Grime and a token creature into play that has power and toughness determined by the number of slime counters on the Gutter Grime. This power and toughness is continually calculated, as […]
Sturmgeist’s ability does not immediately boost the combat damage it deals.
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 […]