Welcome back to Prerelease Week here at the Rules Tips Blog! Today we’re going over one of the new mechanics of Shadows over Innistrad: Delirium. Delirium works somewhat similarly to an old ‘graveyard matters’ ability called Threshold; cards with Threshold got better somehow once you had at least 7 cards in your graveyard. Some were […]
Category: Resolving spells and abilities
How to resolve the ‘cast’ triggers of Vile Redeemer, Eldrazi Obligator, and Bearer of Silence.
These 'cast' triggers ask for the payment only as they resolve, and they only ask for a single payment. You can't pay extra for more effects!
Eldrazi Displacer – you can’t process the exiled card in the middle of the resolving ability.
Eldrazi Displacer's ability must resolve completely before anyone can do anything. You can't do anything to the exiled card in the middle of the resolving ability.
Hangarback Walker and Hardened Scales
Hangarback Walker plays well with Hardened Scales... but casting Walker for 0 isn't going to work out well for you.
Commander Week: Phage the Untouchable (But NOT Uncastable!)
Welcome to Commander Week, 2015! In honor of the deluge of Commander 2015 spoilers (and the release of the decks themselves next week), we’ll be doing a whole week of Commander fun here on the rules blog. First, we’re gonna start with a rather unconventional choice of Commander- . Phage is pretty scary- she’s got […]
All About Converge
Welcome back! For today’s Battle for Zendikar mechanic tip we’ll be covering Converge! Converge works very similarly to the Sunburst mechanic from Fifth Dawn- the more colors of mana you sink into the spell, the stronger it gets. For Sunburst that meant charge counters and +1/+1 counters; for Converge, it just means more of everything! […]
Awaken: One Land, or Many!
Welcome back to the Rules Tips Blog! This week we’ll be discussing the new mechanics from Battle for Zendikar, starting with Awaken today! Awaken is an alternate cost found on Instant and Sorcery spells, costing more than the ‘normal’ cost. If you cast the spell for the alternate “Awaken” cost, you get the added effect […]
Liliana doesn’t transform if she dies at the same time as other creatures.
Because of the "if you do" clause, Liliana's trigger won't do anything unless it's able to exile her from the battlefield. If she's already in the graveyard, it can't find her to exile her, so you won't get a transformed planeswalker and you won't get a zombie.
Skullcrack vs. Dragon’s Claw
Sideboard hate: it’s a time-honored tactic to fill your sideboard with narrow cards that totally hose specific decks to improve your matchups. Some are completely devastating ( or against a reanimation strategy, for example), while some are just really good at tripping the deck up. is such a card- part of a cycle commonly called […]