Source Archives - Magic Rules Tips

Soul-Scar Mage Doesn’t Stack

May 26, 2017 | tnunez

The Lorwyn block was one of my favorites, and Wither was one of the neater abilities to come out of that mega-block; damage from a source with Wither is dealt as -1/-1 counters, rather than marking damage onto a creature. It was like damage that never wore off! We have a sort of throwback to that in Amonkhet, thanks to . He might not have Wither printed on him, but the spirit is there- he turns noncombat damage from your sources into -1/-1 counters. Unlike Wither, this isn't changing the result of

Hapatra and Wither: Who’s Putting These Counters?

May 3, 2017 | tnunez

Welcome back! Today's topic will be the new card, and how she works. On the surface, pretty simply: Whenever you put some -1/-1 counters on a creature, you get a 1/1 deathtouching Snake as a bonus. That's fairly simple with effects like or , which are effects that you control telling you "Hey, put a counter on that thing". That'll trigger Hapatra and grow your Ophiological family. You also only get one Snake per creature you're shrinking; if you were to put 10 -1/-1 counters on a single creature,

Deflecting Palm against lifelink creatures

February 22, 2015February 18, 2015 | bimmerbot

Deflecting Palm doesn't actually redirect damage, as many players commonly say it does. Since it prevents damage then deals damage of its own, lifelink won't matter for the creature whose damage was prevented.

Rakdos Charm can never result in damage to a planeswalker.

March 15, 2013February 5, 2015 | bimmerbot

Today we’ll be taking a look at Rakdos Charm’s third mode, or specifically, what it means for a creature to deal damage to its controller. While it’s unusual for a source you control to deal damage to yourself, it does happen, and in most respects it’ll be treated like any other source of damage; a creature with infect, for example, will give its controller a poison counter, while a creature with lifelink will cause its controller to simultaneously lose and gain 1 life. Does anything change

Divine Deflection prevents and deals a TOTAL of X damage.

April 28, 2012February 5, 2015 | bimmerbot

With the new card , the wording can be a little misleading. While one might read it to mean that it prevents X damage to you AND X damage for each creature or planeswalker you control, then deals all that combined damage to whatever you targeted, it doesn't quite work like that. When you cast Divine Deflection, you choose a single target, which is what any prevented damage will then be dealt to. This sets up a "shield" for the next X damage that would be dealt to you and/or permanents you control.

Source

Corpse Lunge deals damage, the exiled creature card does not.

November 19, 2011February 5, 2015 | krizriktr

As an additional cost to cast , you exile a creature card from your graveyard. When Corpse Lunge resolves, damage equal to the power of the exiled creature card will be dealt to the targeted creature. It is important to note that the source of this damage is the Corpse Lunge itself, and not the exiled creature card. For example, if you cast Corpse Lunge targeting an and exiling a , the Inquisitor will be dealt two points of damage. It doesn't matter that the Inquisitor has protection from zombies

Source

Sword of War and Peace deals damage when its trigger resolves, the creature it is equipped to does not.

November 7, 2011February 5, 2015 | krizriktr

When a creature equipped with deals combat damage to a player, its ability will trigger. When this triggered ability resolves, the Sword's controller will gain life equal to the number of cards in his or her hand and the player that received combat damage will be dealt damage equal to the number of cards in his or her hand. The source of this ability and the damage is from the Sword itself, not the creature that the Sword is attached to. It doesn't matter if the sword is equipped to a creature

Activated Abilities, Source

Heavy Arbalest does not deal damage.

June 23, 2011February 5, 2015 | krizriktr

's ability grants to the equipped creature an activated ability that allows the controller of the creature to tap the creature to deal two points of damage to a targeted creature or player. Because the creature is the source of this ability, a creature with protection from artifacts can receive damage from this ability (as long as the equipped creature is not also an artifact.) Compare this to . Blazing Torch's ability specifically states that the Torch is the source of the damage.