A few of you may remember the card from Magic 2010. It has a very interesting interaction with a new card from Avacyn Restored. Exquisite Blood triggers whenever your opponent loses life, and it gains you that much life. Sanguine Bond is the other half of that; whenever you gain life, your opponent loses that […]
Second Guess can counter the second spell cast in a turn, no matter who cast the first spell.
At first glance, doesn’t seem too exciting, but it is not as narrow as you might think. It only needs you to use it correctly, and maybe some shenanigans involving other spells. As you may know, Second Guess can counter a spell if it was the second spell cast this turn, but it doesn’t care […]
When you flicker a double-faced card with Cloudshift, it will always return with the day side up.
When a double-faced card (“DFC”) isn’t on the battlefield, it only has the characteristics of its front (sun) side. This means that barring odd circumstances (i.e., ‘s triggered ability), a DFC always enters the battlefield sunny-side up. This rule creates an interesting interaction when you transform a DFC and then flicker it with something like […]
Match results aren’t final until the result slip is filled out.
For those players who go to large tournaments, you’ll notice that there are many more tables than there are judges to watch them, and it can be hard to tell when a match has concluded. For this reason, the Magic Tournament Rules include a simple way to tell: The match is over when both players […]
How Silverblade Paladin and first strike blockers/attackers interact.
‘s ability allows it to pair with another creature, and for as long as the two are paired, they both have double strike. In order for creatures to un-pair, one of the three things must happen: One of the creatures leaves the battlefield; one of the creatures changes control; or one of the creatures stops […]
You can “flicker” a creature to save it from a removal spell.
I’m excited for . Partially because it was a house at the prerelease, and partially because is one of my favorite cards. But why are both of these things true? Among other things, it’s the fact that they can be used to dodge removal very easily. Let’s use for our example. Ronny casts , and […]
Killing Wave is shut down by Sigarda, Host of Herons (but not by Angel of Jubilation).
and have abilities that at first glance look similar. However, they are actually quite different! When your opponent’s resolves, it gives each player a choice to make for each creature that player controls: Pay X life, or don’t pay anything. If you don’t pay any life, Killing Wave says “sacrifice the creature.” If you control […]
Cathars’ Crusade triggers multiple times if multiple creatures enter at the same time.
has an ability that triggers “whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control.” Normally, this will be one creature entering the battlefield as a result of the creature spell resolving – “a creature.” However, some spells and abilities can cause multiple creatures to enter the battlefield at the same time. In this case, “a […]
The only requirement for arranging stuff on the battlefield is that the game state is clear to all players.
One of the biggest questions a lot of judges receive is the way people arrange their cards on the battlefield. Players may organize their cards on the battlefield in any way they see fit, provided it does not cause confusion. For example, some people place their where their lands are, and there is nothing inherently […]