Contrary to the ‘tip’ yesterday, the stack does in fact exist and with respect to the rules knowledge of it and how it works can be helpful in figuring out the game state. This knowledge is useful when making strategic decisions and can help win games too. One of the stack’s basic aspects is the […]
Category: Resolving spells and abilities
Nothing uses the stack.
Due to the Phyrexian’s impending victory in the war over Mirrodin, the Magic rules team has made a few changes in how the game works. Magic’s developers want the raw, aggressive ‘take no prisoners’ strategy of the Phyrexians to be mirrored in how the game is played. One of the more prominent changes is the […]
Indestructible objects can be targeted by spells and abilities that would destroy.
Permanents that have the indestructible ability cannot be destroyed by effects that would destroy them or, if the permanent is a creature, by receiving lethal damage. However that does not make indestructible objects illegal targets. For example, a can stil be targeted by . When Shatter resolves, nothing will happen, but that does not mean […]
Countered on resolution vs doing nothing.
As has been covered before, a spell or ability is countered on resolution if all of its targets are illegal when the spell tries to resolve. When a spell or ability is countered on resolution, no part of it will resolve. For example, if the target of a is removed from the battlefield before it […]
Failing to find.
When instructed to search a non-public zone (hand or library) players can ‘fail to find’ what they are looking for if the card that is being searched for has a specific characteristic. This most often applies when searching through a library. For example, when a player resolves ‘s enters the battlefield ability he can choose […]
Effects that apply to permanents only affect those in play when the effect is applied.
Many spells and abilities generate continuous effects that apply to permanents in the battlefield. Effects like these only apply to those permanents that were in play when the spell or ability resolved and the continuous effect was generated. For example, only affects those creatures controlled by when Turn the Tide resolves. If a creature were […]
Hellkite Igniter’s ability counts artifacts when it resolves.
‘s activated ability gives Hellkite Igniter +x/+0, where X is equal to the number of artifacts you control. Spells and abilities that ‘look’ at the game to get information do so when the spell or ability resolves. In this situation Hellkite Igniter’s ability needs to know how many artifacts are controlled by the controller of […]
How to perform simultaneous actions.
Sometimes when a spell or ability resolves more than one player is instructed to perform an action at the same time. When that happens choices of what to do are taken in APNAP order. This means that the active player chooses what he or she will do, then the nonactive player makes his or her […]
What and how to choose a source of damage.
Some effects have you choose a source of damage, often with a specific quality. The choice of a source is made when the spell or ability telling you to choose a source is resolving. For example, if you sacrifice a to activate its ability, you will choose a red source when this ability resolves. A […]