Chances are, if you’re reading this, one too many Emrakuls have been beating your face in. (I know mine has been squashed in! Holiday Cube is still fun though!). Most people when playing , put their chosen card face down, and flip them up at the same time. While this is acceptable, today I’m going […]
Category: Resolving spells and abilities
Triumph of Ferocity’s “if” is not intervening, but it still checks at resolution.
RAWR! Looking at exhibit A, , it has one and only one responsibility: to trigger on your upkeep. Now, this triggered ability will trigger on each of your upkeeps no matter what the situation: if the board’s empty, if your opponent controls a creature bigger than yours, or if your opponent has a billion creatures […]
Sphinx’s Revelation vs. Havoc Festival – You can draw cards even if you won’t gain life.
In Magic, there is a “Golden rule” that you should always remember. Basically, it says that “can’t” overrides “can”. So lets explore what happens when Narcissa controls , and Annabelle casts . Sphinx’s Revelation says to gain X life, while Havoc Festival says players can’t gain life. Can’t > Can. No life will be gained. […]
Detention Sphere can exile your opponent’s hexproof creature if you target your own.
More fun with ! As you may already know, Detention Sphere only has one target. Thanks to that, you can get it to exile things it can’t target, by targeting something it shares a name with. For example, if your opponent has a that has gained hexproof for some reason, and one that does not, […]
Sundering Growth can populate a token your opponent stole with Spirit Away.
You had an 8/8 elemental token, but your opponent stole it with ! What happens when you destroy the enchantment with ? When resolving a spell, you follow the instructions of that spell in order as written in the text box. In the case of Sundering Growth, the first thing is to destroy the enchantment. […]
How Odric’s ability works (yes, you can choose ‘no blocks’).
Interestingly enough, Odric requires 3 other creatures to attack alongside him in order to employ his masterful tactics. That means you need to declare at least 4 creatures (including Odric) as attacking when you begin your declare attackers step. You can’t attack with just Odric and a spirit token and , because the Angel that […]
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 […]
Guild Feud and triggered abilities.
Ashley controls two s. At the beginning of her upkeep, they both trigger. As the first trigger resolves, Nicky reveals and Ashley reveals . How do the triggers resolve? Two important things to remember about triggers: Abilities may trigger during the resolution of a spell or ability, but are not put on the stack until […]
Spelltwine needs two targets for you to cast it, but only one to resolve.
is a great card that gives a player the ability to cast two other instants or sorceries without having to pay for them. However, here’s the thing – in order to cast Spelltwine, you have to have an instant or sorcery in your graveyard to exile AND there has to be an instant or sorcery […]