Hot answers tagged magic-the-gathering
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All versions of a card are considered to be equivalent and are played with the same text: this text is known as the Oracle wording of the card. From the comprehensive rules:
108.1. Use the Oracle(TM) card reference when determining a card's wording. A card's Oracle text can be found using the Gatherer card
database at http://gatherer.wizards.com.
...
30
This is not so much about the stack, as the order of the turn:
Beginning Phase
Main Phase
Combat Phase
Beginning of Combat step
Declare Attackers step
Declare Blockers step
Damage step
End of Combat step
Main Phase
End Phase
After the main phase, there's a step where you can play abilities like tapping, but before they can attack you: Beginning of ...
27
From a strategy standpoint, my answer would be "You wouldn't".
The mathematics of probability in drawing from a 60 card deck vs a 61 or 62 card deck change (almost dramatically). Here's an interesting article.
However, I think that often you can start with more than 60 cards when 'testing' a deck. Often you find that a card doesn't fit or 'play nice with ...
27
P1 controls A: 4/4 attacker
P2 controls B: 1/1 blocker
Since Test of Faith has been cast and has resolved (probably during the declare blockers step, after declaring your blocker), it is not on the stack. When it resolves it creates a prevention shield that floats around, waiting for damage to prevent or the end of the turn to expire.
The declare attackers ...
25
Initially I forgot that Snapcaster Mage has Flash. Oops.
Yes you can do this. The resolution goes like this.
Fireball is cast, put on the stack.
In response, you put Snapcaster Mage on the stack. (Which you can only do, of course, because it has Flash and can be cast as an instant.)
You put nothing more on the stack, your opponent declines to put anything ...
24
Formerly, in combat, it would go something like this:
Declare Blockers -> (Players can do stuff) -> Stack Damage -> (Players can do stuff) -> Damage resolves
This allowed players to do various combat "tricks." Some examples:
You attack with a 2/2, and I block with my Mogg Fanatic. After damage was stacked, I could use Mogg Fanatic's activated ability, ...
24
Your mana base is the chief constraint, but it's not always as restrictive as you think.
This really depends on the format and your budget, but, sometimes, it's really not "substantially more difficult to get the mana you need to play the cards in your hand" with a three-color deck.
In something like 20 playtest games with Domain Zoo, which is (albeit ...
23
It helps to look at the whole set in Gatherer and think about what you don't see.
The only counterspell is Memory Lapse (this is actually better now than it was back then -- remember this was competing with Counterspell and Mana Drain).
There are no real card draw spells. There is one looting spell, Forget, and one search spell, Merchant Scroll; all the ...
22
Nope; it's a land (which is a special kind of not-a-spell card), not a spell. In particular, a land never goes on the stack (where all the spells go); it goes directly from your hand into the battlefield as a permanent.
(If you could, it would completely not be a waste to counterspell a land. Magic works on a steady acceleration of bigger and better ...
22
I think you've misunderstood the ruling:
If Koth's first ability animates a Mountain that came under your control that turn, it will have "summoning sickness" and be unable to attack. It will also be unable to be tapped to activate an ability with the {T} symbol in its cost, such as the Mountain's mana ability or the ability granted to it by Koth's ...
22
One color:
Most decks with a single color are not competetive in tournaments (due to the fact you're settling for the top ten cohesive cards in a color instead of two sets of the top five in two colors. The difference in power level between the top 1-5 and the top 6-10 can be massive and game deciding. The other colors also make up for each others ...
21
You can easily run yourself out of cards if you build a standard-sized deck based around card-drawing, decking mechanics (where you try and exhaust your opponent's deck), or graveyard-pilfering (where you want to get as much stuff into your graveyard as possible). This can quickly happen if you play with Recycle, Worry Beads, Anvil of Bogardan, Riptide ...
21
Have to say, I hated Portal. If someone can't cope with the word "block" (Portal used "intercept" instead) or the concept of playing a spell at instant speed, they're not going to get on with Magic in the long run. So why even bother with a watered-down version?
Modern Magic Core sets, like M11, are pretty well designed so that they contain everything ...
21
Basically it's because it buffers you very, very well against creature loss. If you're playing a weenie deck it protects you from deck-clearing spells. Or if you're sacrificing creatures, this card gives you extremely cheap, essentially unlimited new draws. The equip ability means you can just reuse it over and over again.
It's also very wide-ranging - ...
21
It does seem, from your description of your play style, that you do have a problem in consistently misinterpreting what things help people win Magic games. Let's have a look at some of the things you say you like, and that you underestimate:
LIKES
Lifegain - with a few rare exceptions, lifegain cards are TERRIBLE - they do nothing to help you win the ...
21
Yes, Wrath of God will kill all creatures with shroud. It will also kill all creatures that have protection from white. It won't kill creatures that are indestructible.
To understand why this is, you have to look at the definitions of the terms.
Shroud means: "this creature can't be the target of spells or abilities".
Protection means (among other ...
21
It depends on the card in question. If it can't be determined use 0.
208.2a The card may have a characteristic-defining ability that sets its power and/or toughness according to some stated condition. (See
rule 604.3.) Such an ability is worded "[This creature's] [power or
toughness] is equal to . . ." or "[This creature's] power and
toughness are ...
20
I'm old and tired, and I haven't played Magic much in the last 15 years. With that as a caveat, my recollection is that the harsh penalty for declaring a mulligan was to prevent excessive "gaming" of declaring a mulligan. Part of the point of M:tG was to create a deck that was playable despite the fact that the order of the cards would be random. Being ...
20
The main reasons for rarity are:
To allow for complex cards without overwhelming new players. Rich interactions are part of what make Magic great, but the sheer volume of rules can be overwhelming. By limiting complex cards to uncommon, rare and mythic, it reduces the amount that new players need to worry about it.
To allow for interesting limited ...
20
Take it from the horse's mouth:
The short explanation of banding is that if your creatures attack or block in a band, the controller of any creatures that deal combat damage to them doesn’t get to assign that damage -- you do. Pretty cool. Everything else about banding, though, elicits a “huh?” It works differently when attacking and defending. (In an ...
19
Since you asked for some citations from the official rules:
111.1. A spell is a card on the stack. As the first step of being cast (see
rule 601, “Casting Spells”), the card
becomes a spell and is moved to the
top of the stack from the zone it was
in, which is usually its owner’s hand.
(See rule 405, “Stack.”) A spell
remains on the stack as ...
19
No
The player takes no damage as the Dragon remains blocked. See the Compendium
509.1h An attacking creature with one or more creatures declared as blockers for it becomes a blocked creature; one with no creatures declared as blockers for it becomes an unblocked creature. This remains unchanged until the creature is removed from combat, an effect says ...
19
First, the source: section 8 of the Comprehensive Rules covers multiplayer games, and rule 800.4a deals with the consequences of one player being eliminated:
800.4a. When a player leaves the game, all objects (see rule 109) owned by that player leave the game, any effects which give that player control of any objects or players end, and all spells and ...
19
Opening hand:
Leyline of the Void
Helm of Obedience
2 Dark Rituals
1 Swamp
Turn 1:
Start with Leyline of the Void on the battlefield. Play a Swamp, then a Dark Ritual. Use one black mana to play another Dark Ritual. You will now have BBBBB in your pool. Play the Helm of Obedience and activate it for 1 mana. Your opponent's entire deck will be milled out ...
19
You do not get to choose whether or not to keep a permanent tapped during the Untap Step of the Beginning Phase unless a specific card's ability provides that choice.
The word "determine" in this context does not mean choose, it means to evaluate whether or not there are any abilities preventing a permanent from untapping, and evaluating the decision to ...
18
There are two basic reasons to use a tutor:
1) You have a card that you want more than 4 of, but there is no similar substitute available.
2) To be able to have a 'toolbox' of 1-of answers to different types of threats.
So what is the card in your deck that you wish you could have more than 4 of? What are possible substitutes for it in the format you're ...
18
ALPHA cards are black bordered and have very very rounded edges ( 2mm radius ) compared to all other kinds of magic cards ( 1mm radius ). Just pick up a white bordered card and overlay them ontop of each other. If the corners are VERY different then you have ALPHA, otherwise you have BETA.
There are several cards that were corrected between alpha and beta ...
18
Eldrazi and colorless artifact creatures serve different roles
I address this first because I think it's the source of some selection bias.
Many sets include fairly weak (colorless) artifact creatures for Limited purposes, as last resorts. The idea is that these are less valuable than similarly-costed beaters in your colors, but serve as a fall-back for a ...
18
Yes, you can. Relevant rule:
302.6. A creature’s activated ability with the tap symbol or the untap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since his or her most recent turn began. A creature can’t attack unless it has been under its controller’s control continuously since ...
17
I am not aware such a rule ever existed - infinity combos have been around from the very beginning of MTG.
What you are probably referring to is this: if there is a (potential) infinite loop that does not change the game state, then this loop may only be performed once, if the involved players have a choice about it. Since your opponent clearly changed the ...
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