Magic is a complex game. With over 12,000 unique cards and a hefty set of Comprehensive Rules, it’s not reasonable to expect players to have complete mastery over the precise rules behind every action they’re taking in the game. As a result, tournament Magic has codified a policy known as Out-of-Order Sequencing (OoOS for short). […]
Mark for Death on Ember Beast. Can you block at all?
In Magic: The Gathering’s judging system, combat-based rules questions are considered especially heinous. On this blog, the dedicated judges who investigate these tricky interactions are members of an elite squad known as the Special Cards Unit. These are their stories. “Captain! I’m so glad you’re here; it’s a bad one.” “What’s the situation, Sergeant?” “Well, […]
Thrull Parasite can slow the Assembling of a Legion, but it can’t stop it completely.
A slow, inevitable death. That’s pretty much what brings to the table. Every turn, the Legion gets another counter, and you get another batch of tokens. If you leave the Legion unchecked, it’s going to overwhelm you. Sure, there’s always enchantment removal, but sometimes that’s not an option. Are there any outside the box ideas […]
Rakdos Charm can cause the game to end in a draw.
Although I’m not a Rakdos guy (I’m crazy, but not that crazy), is one of my favorite new charms. And it’s mostly because of the third mode: each creature deals 1 damage to its controller. It’s not an effect you see a lot of, especially at instant speed. However, you should be careful when using […]
Wolfir Silverheart only triggers Evolve as a 4/4.
Evolve is a fun ability. Play out your evolve creatures, then play something big and POP! All those evolve creatures level up and get bigger. What’s not to like? I mean, a creature like should pretty much always cause your evolve abilities to trigger, since it ends up as an 8/8, right? Well, not quite. […]
Not all game errors are cheating (in fact, very few actually are).
Whether you’re at your local FNM or playing on the Pro Tour, mistakes will happen. And while there are a few people who might try to take advantage of mistakes by cheating, it’s unlikely that the average mistake is the result of trying to cheat. There are a couple reasons why a mistake might happen. […]
Lifelink can save you from dying in combat.
Ah, lifelink. The boon of white mages, the bane of red mages (the jury is still out on how Boros feels about it). Even though lifelink has only been around for a relatively short period of time (it was introduced in Future Sight), it has caused a lot of confusion, mostly due to how the […]
Rakdos Charm can never result in damage to a planeswalker.
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 […]
Corpsejack Menace and Master Biomancer.
From the research notes of Gulistan, Master Biomancer: A strange, filth-covered creature crawled up from the plumbing today. Our laboratory assistants noted a strange aura about it, which responded well to many forms of magic and was especially noted to accelerate the pace of evolution. Naturally, I had to summon one for myself. Imagine my […]