Hello all! This is a public service announcement about the rules for what you’re allowed (or not allowed) to keep with your sideboard. You CANNOT keep cards that are legal in the format and “conceivably playable” in your deck (i.e., your deck could even theoretically cast that card with the colors of mana your deck […]
The Gitrog Monster and the cleanup step (a better love story than Twilight)
There have been a lot of questions about The Gitrog Monster being a combo-enabler, letting you cycle through most of your deck in your cleanup step if you end the turn with 8+ cards. We explain how that works in detail!
SOI Prerelease Week! All About Madness
Buckle up everyone, because today’s mechanic is a little deeper than the others! We talked about some crazy stuff happening on Innistrad, and alongside Delirium, we’re also seeing some Madness. Madness is a returning mechanic, and it’s gotten a little face-lift. On the surface it’s really simple; when you discard a card with Madness, you […]
SOI Prerelease Week! Investigate and Clues!
Welcome back! Today we’re going over the OTHER brand-new mechanic of Shadows over Innistrad: Investigate. There’s some super spooky stuff going down on Innistrad, and nobody’s quite sure what! Everyone’s digging around for answers, and to represent that within the cards we have the Investigate mechanic. Investigate is pretty simple: When told to “investigate”, you […]
SOI Prerelease Week! Explaining Delirium
Welcome back to Prerelease Week here at the Rules Tips Blog! Today we’re going over one of the new mechanics of Shadows over Innistrad: Delirium. Delirium works somewhat similarly to an old ‘graveyard matters’ ability called Threshold; cards with Threshold got better somehow once you had at least 7 cards in your graveyard. Some were […]
SOI Prerelease Week! Prerelease Primer
Welcome back to Prerelease Week here at the Rules Blog! Today we’ll be going over what you can expect at your SOI Prerelease, and some tips on how to enjoy it to the fullest! First, we’ll quickly cover the ‘new’ mechanic of Skulk: I frame it that way because it’s actually something that already exists! […]
Prerelease Week: The Return of DFC
Hello and welcome to Shadows Over Innistrad Prerelease Week! Today we’re covering the first of two returning mechanics in SOI: Double Faced Cards, or DFC. They were originally printed in Innstrad, and have been brought back by popular demand! First, a quick crash-course: every pack of SOI will have one of these double-faced cards in […]
Gift of Tusks vs. Equipment/Auras
Removing the abilities of a creature doesn't always do what you might expect with auras/equipment. Read carefully to see if the aura/equipment is giving an ability to the creature, or if it just has the ability itself. Also remember that +N/+N effects from other sources and P/T counters are not actually abilties that can be removed, so they would apply on top of any base power/toughness setting.
Containment Membrane on Endbringer is less effective than you might like.
Containment Membrane will stop Endbringer from untapping on its controller's turn, but it won't stop it from untapping on any other player's turn!