Have you ever had a Judge come over, point at some face-down card under your Fiend Hunter, and ask what it was? Have you ever had him ask you to flip it over? Here’s why. The default for things in the exile zone is to be face-up. They’re supposed to be somewhere that everyone can […]
How Fiend Hunter can exile something forever.
has 2 abilities (similar to his friend ): one that triggers when he enters the battlefield, and another that triggers when he leaves the battlefield. These abilities are known as linked abilities, because the second ability refers to the permanent exiled by the first. There’s a trick to exile a creature permanently using Fiend Hunter. […]
Targets are checked for legality twice: upon casting and upon resolution.
When you cast a spell that requires a target, you have to be able to choose a legal target or you can’t cast it at all. However, that spell must still have a legal target when it resolves, or it will be countered by game rules. For example, one of the more interesting plays I […]
New! Each life total change must be verbally announced with the new life totals.
At the start of any game, both players should explain to each other the method that they plan on using to keep track of life totals. Whichever method they choose must be accessible by both players to record life totals consistently. Each life total change should be verbally announced and recorded. If a player notices […]
You can’t kill Delver of Secrets with Gut Shot after its controller reveals an instant or sorcery.
When any spell or ability starts to resolve, you have to let it resolve completely before you can do anything. So when ‘ triggered ability resolves, the player looks at the top card and has the option of revealing it if it’s an instant or sorcery to transform Delver of Secrets. This means that you […]
Parallel Lives doesn’t make any tokens. It causes other stuff to make extra tokens.
“If I make an Angel token with , and I have a out, why does the token made by Parallel Lives get exiled too?” Easy! Because Parallel Lives doesn’t make any tokens at all. What it does is create a replacement effect. Replacement effects do exactly what it sounds like they do: They take one […]
The “next end step” means the very next one to begin (usually in the same turn).
is an interesting card that lets you trade a creature card in your graveyard for a temporary creature on the battlefield. The only caveat is that your new best friend (or rather your returned best friend) will only remain on the battlefield until “the beginning of the next end step.” So what does that mean? […]
Fateful Hour can “turn on” in the midst of combat damage.
One of the most appealed rulings from GP Melbourne was about Fateful Hour becoming active in the middle of combat and saving creatures from dying. It’s understandable, as the interaction is a little bit more complex than your average combat trick. Let’s say I’m at 7 life and I control and . You attack me […]
Deathtouch only works if a creature actually deals damage.
When a attacks and is blocked by , the Crusader will not die. As we discussed a few weeks ago, protection does several things, such as preventing all damage from any source it has protection from. That means that deathtouch will not apply, as damage that is prevented is not considered dealt. Now let’s say […]