“My Clone targets your Huntmaster.” “I’ll play Wolfir Silverheart soulbonding the token.” “Exile all your creatures with my Angel of Serenity.” Statements like this, technically speaking, aren’t correct. When you cast a creature spell, it doesn’t have a target, even if it has an ability that would require you to make a choice as it […]
Boros Reckoner can’t kill a beast token from the Thragtusk it blocked.
“Judge, I blocked my opponent’s Thragtusk with Boros Reckoner. After they kill each other, is there a way I can use Reckoner’s trigger to kill the Beast token, too?” Your opponent may be protesting at this point “judges can’t give strategic advice!” but it turns out that according to the rules, there’s only one legal […]
Pithing Needle stops all of Deathrite Shaman’s abilities.
Before we go any further, we must ask ourselves… what is a mana ability? Well, that was semi-rhetorical, for those who didn’t snap answer the previous question. A Mana ability can exist as either an activated or triggered ability. For the activated ability form: 1) Does not have a target 2) It could put mana […]
Leyline Phantom can block Armored Transport without bouncing.
does funny things in combat. Well, funny as in if it’s blocked by a creature, that creature does nothing at all! Preventing the damage dealt to it in combat means things such as lifelink and deathtouch won’t apply for the blocking creature (Note that prevention effects are a kind of replacement effect, it’s not that […]
Cipher vs. Thalia (yes, you have to pay 1)
Did you know there’s a proper set of steps for casting a spell? Most people just tap mana, throw the spell on stack and ask for permission to resolve it (darn those blue mages!). Just a very simple breakdown, below are the steps to casting a spell in case you ever wanted to know: Announce […]
You can’t show or tell your draft picks during a draft, ever.
All tournaments are governed by the all knowing Magic Tournament Rules, no matter what type of tournament you’re in. As long as they are DCI sanctioned, they are bound by the rules laid out there. The 55-page document might be a long one, but if you’re into any type of sanctioned Magic (even FNM is […]
Simic Keyrune can cause Abrupt Decay to be countered.
“Can’t be countered…” You get a little tingly feeling inside when you cast a spell with such a phrase. It’s as if you had your old security blanket when you were 3, 6, … or in some cases, 12 years old. But like your security blanket, this phrase doesn’t mean that the spell will always […]
Gisela will prevent all instances of 1 damage
We already did a general overview of the legendary angel a while back when she was first released. But that general overview didn’t cover probably the most common question about her, especially in my Commander group: Whether or not she prevents 1 damage. Good old Gisela has two abilities (both are replacement effects) that make […]
Quirion Dryad Triggers Once Per Spell
was an old favorite card of one of my friends, so I’m used to dealing with it. But now that it’s Standard-legal again, and with all the 3 color decks kicking around, it’s seeing some play. So I’m gonna clear up a couple of little flubs that pop up around it! First one is in […]