Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game for 2 or more players, set in a variety of fantastical realms. The cards represent the player's resources and available spells and their interactions lead to an often high paced battle of wits.
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Where can I get my Magic the Gathering play critiqued?
I started playing Magic again last year right after the release of Dark Ascension after a long hiatus. I decided to get more serious in trying to win, but I've hit a roadblock in my play. I go x-1 in ...
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1answer
425 views
How does trample work against infect?
My opponent attacks me with say, a 6/6 trample generic Wyrm of some sort, and I block with a Whispering Specter, a 1/1 infect with flying. When damage is dealt the Specter will deal it in the form of ...
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1answer
858 views
How to deal with damaged cards from a MTG booster pack?
I bought a Magic the Gathering display box today with cards from the new edition Innistrad. Unfortunately one of the cards in a booster pack was damaged. It is not just a simple scratch - one corner ...
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174 views
Commander rulings on extort
If my commander is mono black and one of the creatures I have is color black and have the skill Extort which could be paid in white or black mana. Can I use this card on my commander deck?
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What happens if Ravager of the Fells can't target an opponent?
Ravager of the Fells (the flip-side of Huntmaster of the Fells) says,
Whenever this creature transforms into Ravager of the Fells, it deals 2 damage to target opponent and 2 damage to up to one ...
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2answers
436 views
Does 'shuffle your library' mandate that the cards actually change order?
According to the comprehensive rules, the definition of shuffling is thus:
701.16a To shuffle a library or a face-down pile of cards, randomize the cards within it so that no player knows their ...
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178 views
Is there an unofficial term for an artifact that produces mana?
Some terms have an unofficial but widely known meaning in Magic jargon. For example, a "cantrip" is a spell that lets you draw a card, and a "bear" is a vanilla 2/2 (with "vanilla" having its own ...
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313 views
Playing around a flag bearer
I'm playing a mono-Green infect Pauper deck that relies heavily on instant-speed pump spells in order to win. My opponent ruins my day pretty badly by playing a Standard Bearer:
Fortunately, my ...
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1answer
2k views
When is “end of turn” in Magic?
I've been casually playing Magic with a friend, about twice a month, for the last 3 months, and the phrase "until end of turn" has always puzzled me, particularly on effects that give +1/+1 (for ...
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1answer
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How many artifact lands can I play a turn?
I bought the 5 artifact lands from Mirrodin to add to my artifact deck; it works with the artifact theme (having all of my cards be artifacts) and goes well with my Darksteel Juggernauts.
The thing ...
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2answers
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Archetypes in triple Avacyn Restored draft
What good archetypes have you found in triple Avacyn Restored draft? I'm looking for strategies, color combinations and core cards for each deck type.
Maybe you found something that was surprisingly ...
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3answers
307 views
How is legality of blockers determined?
Lure says:
All creatures able to block enchanted creature do so.
I know that players cannot be forced to pay extra costs (via War Cadence for example) in order to make a creature a legal ...
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2answers
159 views
Worldfire order of events
Say I have a
Keldon Marauders on the battlefield. The card reads:
When Keldon Marauders enters the battlefield or leaves the battlefield, it deals 1 damage to target player.
I then cast Worldfire.
...
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1answer
547 views
Can I Birthing Pod a token to get a creature with a CMC of 1?
From my understanding, the CMC (converted mana cost) of a token is 0. When you sacrifice a creature with Birthing Pod it adds 1 to the CMC. So, if I sacrifice a token (any token) to Birthing Pod, ...
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2answers
463 views
Can Angel's Grace set your life total to 1 when you have Negative Life?
An opponent plays a storm combo, ending in Tendrils of Agony. In response I play Angel's Grace. After the storm of Tendrils finishes resolving, I am at -10 life, but I have not lost the game ...
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2answers
506 views
What happens if Genesis Wave puts Fists of Ironwood onto a battlefield with no creatures?
This question arose as a response to a recent question about putting Auras onto creatures with Shroud.
What happens if I cast Genesis Wave, let's say for 2, and reveal Fists of Ironwood on an ...
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2answers
273 views
In what order are replacement effects chosen with respect to damage prevention?
How are replacement effects handled in multiplayer? Here's a concrete example.
Player A, B, and C are seated around the table. It is Player A's turn.
Player A has a Furnace Of Rath (double all ...
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643 views
When must an Instant be played that prevents damage?
Consider the card Harm's Way or similar. The Oracle text states:
The next 2 damage that a source of your choice would deal to you and/or permanents you control this turn is dealt to target ...
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Interactions of multiple Parallel Lives
If I have two Parallel Lives, and I have a Doomed Traveler that just died, how many Spirit tokens would I put into play?
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What caused “Liliana of the Veil” to double its price during a single week?
When Innistrad came out in the beginning of September 2011, the most expensive card was "Liliana of the Veil", selling for a little over $25.
This card kept this price for almost a month. On ...
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1answer
284 views
What are the legal tournament formats for MtG?
What are the current legal tournament formats for Magic: The Gathering? What are the differences/definitions of each format? At what point do sets rotate in/out of a format?
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875 views
Are creature effects considered an Instant?
I played Magic a long time ago, and I remember activated abilities on creatures were considered instants. Reading through the rules today, it isn't quite clear to me. The reason I am wondering is for ...
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Can I flicker Aurelia to get more than two attack phases?
Whenever Aurelia, the Warleader attacks for the first time each turn, untap all creatures you control. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase.
If I attack with Aurelia once, ...
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1answer
235 views
What are the differences between combat damage, direct damage, and loss of life?
From reading the rules it would appear there are two kinds of damage and then straight loss of life:
118.3 If an effect causes a player to gain or lose life, that player's life total is adjusted ...
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530 views
How to decide if I should use a counterspell in MTG?
I always have a hard time to decide if I should use a counter spell in a given situation and one step earlier if I should save enough mana for a counter spell this round.
I am currently facing this ...
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How long will an MTG draft take with varying number of players (approximately)?
I'm planning to have a MTG draft with some of my friends, but I'm not exactly sure how much time I should block out. We'd be using 40 card decks with 3 boosters total.
About how long will the ...
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225 views
Does anybody know of a list of color-appropriate effects for new cards in Magic?
My playgroup has started to get into creating custom cards for our casual Magic: the Gathering games, but it's no fun if the cards aren't designed in a plausible way.
According to Mark Rosewater's ...
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1answer
602 views
What's actually good against Jund?
"Jund" is the red-black-green shard from Shards of Alara.
More importantly, however, it's a term for a midrange archetype in those colors, using a mixture of quick disruption, multi-faceted ...
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1answer
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Can Thraben Heretic be used on creatures with undying?
Thraben Heretic says:
{T}: Exile target creature card from a graveyard.
Undying says:
Undying (When this creature dies, if it had no +1/+1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under ...
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2answers
797 views
Can an Adaptive Automaton trigger Champion of the Parish's ability?
If I have a Champion of the Parish in play and play an Adaptive Automaton, choosing human, does the Champion's ability activate?
I believe it does since
the declaration of human occurs "as the AA ...
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1answer
392 views
Can players tap lands for mana with Enchanted Evening and Grand Abolisher in play?
If I play Enchanted Evening and turn everything into an enchantment, and then play Grand Abolisher to disallow them activating abilities during my turn, can my opponents tap their lands during my turn ...
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Why do cards have different rarity levels in Magic: The Gathering?
I've been reflecting on this concept and trying to come up with a concise answer: Why do different levels of card rarity exist in MtG? In order for this concept of different numbers of different cards ...
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Is it valid to exploit infinite loopholes in Magic: The Gathering?
Today at work, I played my first game in almost 10 years using a deck from another player. He was playing a deck made of creatures that facilitate life points regain. At one point, using 3 different ...
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MTG Sacrifice enablers for EDH
I'm building my first EDH deck and have chosen Thraximundar (Grixis) as my general.
My deck has a lot of synergy centered around sacrificing creatures. I find it easy to benefit from sacrificing and ...
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3answers
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Why are Shocklands better than Guildgates?
I recently read a review about Return to Ravnica and the reviewer says that, for example, Temple Garden is way better than Selesnya Guildgate. Can someone point out the reasons behind that? ...
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Nivmagus and cipher card rulings
Well since the new set is available I was wondering the combo between Nivmagus Elemental and cipher cards[1].
So let's assume that Nivmagus is on the field then I cast a cipher spell from my hand can ...
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Can someone Bioshift counters off a creature after combat damage has been assigned?
A friend has a Primordial Hydra with 10 +1/+1 counters on it, giving it trample. I block it with a Vampire Nighthawk, causing it to die. My friend then uses Bioshift to take the counters off "in ...
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If a +1/+1 counter is removed after a creature takes damage, does it die?
I have two creatures out. Creature One gives Creature Two +1/+1. Creature One is a 2/2 and Creature Two is a 4/4 after adding the +1/+1 from Creature Two.
My opponent casts a spell doing 3 damage ...
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Can I use graveyard removal to stop Sorin, Lord of Innistrad's “ultimate” ability?
My opponent has a Sorin, Lord of Innistrad with scads of loyalty. I've got a Gideon Jura and a Nihil Spellbomb on the battlefield.
He activates Sorin's "ultimate" ability, targeting Gideon.
-6: ...
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How to prevent being overrun in the early game?
My girlfiend has a U/G standard deck (Scars/M12/Innistrad), and she's having issues with being overrun in the early game so that she can take off late game with her deck (once it takes off it's nearly ...
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Do the Elf creatures put into the battlefield by Planeswalker Nissa Revane suffer from summoning sickness?
The 3rd ability of Nissa Revane Planeswalker is
-7: Search your library for any number of Elf creature cards and put them onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.
So the question is do the ...
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Red and/or white cards that can handle indestructible creatures
I am creating a Red-White commander deck using Gisela as my commander. I noticed that my deck is incredibly weak against a deck with any sort of indestructible creature. I know of the board sweeper ...
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Can I choose “Artifact Creature” as a creature type as Adaptive Automaton enters the battlefield?
I want to use the card Adaptive Automaton in my white artifacts deck. Most of the creatures in the deck are artifact creatures. Now, I am not sure if "artifact creature" is a correct creature type. ...
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Can I play a card using flashback without it having been successfully cast first?
For instance, if I try to cast Army of the Damned and my opponent uses Cancel to stop it, can I still cast Army of the Damned from the graveyard for it's Flashback cost?
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Can Morbid be triggered after the Morbid creature is cast?
I have a Deranged Outcast and no other creatures in play, and I have an Ulvenwald Bear in hand. I would like to:
Cast the Bear and put the Morbid trigger on the stack
Have the Deranged Outcast ...
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What ways are there for a Standard Werewolf deck to handle Ratchet Bomb?
What can a Standard (M12, Scars, Innistrad) Red-Green werewolf deck use, either in the main deck or the sideboard, to handle a deck with Ratchet Bomb?
Some back story: When a werewolf is in its ...
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What happens to loyalty counters on a double faced Planeswalker?
When a double faced planeswalker, like Garruk Relentless transforms into Garruk, the Veil Cursed there is no new loyalty symbol at the bottom of the card.
Does his current loyalty carry over or is ...
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2answers
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Does Cremate counter Flashback, Scavenge, and their ilk?
I'm looking at the card Cremate:
Cremate - {B}
Instant - common RTR
Exile target card from a graveyard.
Draw a card.
Now, can I use this to respond to a flashback or scavenge?
...
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1answer
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If my creature with deathtouch and 0 power blocks one of my opponent's creatures, does my opponent's creature die?
Deathtouch means that "any creature dealt damage by another creature with deathtouch is destroyed", but what if that creature with deathtouch is 0/1? I suppose a better title would be 'does a creature ...
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Undying vs first strike
What happens when an undying creature dies being dealt damage by a creature with first strike in a combat?
For example:
If Nearheath Stalker blocks an Abattoir Ghoul and dies will he deal combat ...
