‘s first two planeswalker abilities exile cards from a player’s hand or permanents from the battlefield. It’s final ‘ultimate’ ability refers to those cards, and when the game restarts, some of them will start the game in play. This last ability reads: ‘Restart the game, leaving in exile all non-Aura permanent cards exiled with Karn […]
Category: Resolving spells and abilities
The owner of a card determines the order that it is put into a graveyard.
When an effect puts one or more cards into a graveyard at the same time, the owner of those cards determines the order that they are placed there. This is true when multiple cards would go to the graveyard from any zone, such as when discarding cards or when putting cards directly from your library […]
Spells leave the stack as the last action when they resolve.
Yesterday, the rules tip looked at what happens when you play a spell and the card representing the spell goes on the stack as the first thing that happens. The inverse of that is when a spell resolves, the very last thing that happens is that the spell will leave the stack and (most often) […]
You gain life when and if Maw of the Mire resolves.
When resolves, the targeted land is destroyed and the controller of Maw of the Mire will gain four life. If for any reason Maw of the Mire does not resolve, no life is gained. This can happen if some other spell or ability specifically counters Maw of the Mire, or if it becomes countered on […]
When Solemn Simulacrum comes and goes at virtually the same time.
First seen in Mirrodin, is an invitational card based on a designed submitted by Jens Thorén. It was recently reprinted in the Magic 2012 Core Set. It has two different triggered abilities: one that triggers when it enters the battlefield, and one that triggers when it dies. In most cases, it will enter the battlefield […]
Balefire Dragon’s ability counts damage that is actually dealt.
has an ability that triggers when it deals combat damage to a player. When the ability resolves, the Balefire Dragon itself will deal damage equal to the amount of damage it dealt to the defending player to each creature that player controls. In most cases, this is pretty simple; but as always, this can change […]
Smite the Monstrous checks on resolution.
destroys a targeted creature with a power of four or greater. In order for this spell to be cast, a legal target must be chosen. In other words, the creature must have a power of four or greater when Smite the Monstrous is cast. Somewhat similarly, the targeted creature’s power must be four or greater […]
How Liliana of the Veil’s first ability works.
There are many effects in Magic that cause multiple players to perform actions at the same time. ‘s first planeswalker ability is an example of this. When this ability resolves, each player in the game will discard a card. At first glance it seems simple, but many players are confused on the order that the […]
Elder of Laurels’ ability counts on resolution
has an ability that can give a creature you control +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of creatures you control. This ability checks the number of creatures you control and determines how much of a bonus to give to the targeted creature only when it resolves. As this ability uses the […]