This is a very common question with any kind of copy creature. The most important thing to note is that the static ability that lets you choose to copy something is NOT a triggered ability (if it was, pretty much every Clone-type creature would die for being 0/0 before you could choose to copy something!). […]
Category: Shortcuts
How the Heartless Summoning + Havengul Lich combo works.
As you might have guessed by now, we’re doing a special Combo Week this week! I got saddled with (in my opinion) the most hilarious combo in Standard right now: Heartless Lich. But how does it work? First, you need to control and a . You also need a (either in the graveyard or in […]
How loop shortcuts work.
So now you’ve assembled your and two s, and are ready to make infinite mana… but you don’t want to sit there tapping and untapping them ad nauseam. Luckily, you don’t have to, thanks to the magic of loop shortcuts. Once you’ve assembled your combo, you can propose a loop shortcut. Demonstrate the combo once, […]
The combat shortcut: What it means when you say, “Declare attackers?”
Many players are unsure about how the combat shortcut works; when they tried to tap an attacker before their opponent swung, the opponent said, “You can’t tap it, I already attacked.” Whether that’s true or not depends on what was said before that. There is a default tournament shortcut that says, “A statement such as […]
Wrapping up Shortcuts
The final two official shortcuts are.. – In a 2HG game, a creature that’s attacking a team and not one of their planeswalkers is assigns its combat damage to the primary player on the defending team, unless its controller states otherwise. For example, if an unblocked creature you control is equipped with in a 2HG […]
Shortcutting to Resolution
Three of the official shortcuts deal with announcing or asking about choices before those choices need to be made. If you cast a spell or activate an ability and declare choices that aren’t normally made until that spell or ability resolves, you have to abide by those declared choices unless another player responds to that […]
Stacking up the Shortcuts
Today, we’re going to be covering some of the shortcuts that deal with casting spells and activating abilities. There are a few, so let’s dive right in: –Whenever a player adds an object to the stack, it’s assumed that player is passing priority unless he or she declares intent to retain it. For example, if […]
Ready for Combat? Here are some shortcuts!
“Declare attackers?”, “ready for combat”, or any similar statement during your turn means you’re offering to pass priority until your opponent has priority in your beginning of combat step. Unless an opponent acts at this point, it’s too late to cast spells or activate abilities before you declare attackers. For example, if you say “combat?” […]
What ‘Go’ means
Shortcuts make Magic easier to play. Did you know that each player passes priority eight times in a turn where each player does nothing? It’s true! Because Magic is such a complex game, we have shortcuts to speed up gameplay and make things less technical. Most shortcuts skip multiple priority passes, but players can always […]