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Sure Strike has the text

Target creature gets +3/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn.

I don't understand what "first strike until end of turn" means. Does this mean the creature gets first strike until my opponent starts his turn, and then the "first strike" effect is canceled forever? Or does the creature get first strike every time I start my turn?

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    I don't think it's a duplicate of that question. Certainly when the turn ends is relevant, but there's a lot going on in this question that isn't simply covered by that one, which a good answer would explain. Duplicates are for when questions are fundamentally the same and have fundamentally the same answers -- neither test passes here for this question & that potential duplicate. Alternately, they're for when this question is a subset of another question and is obviously answered by that other question -- also not the case here. Mar 28, 2018 at 17:59
  • @BiteRook Welcome to Board Games Stack Exchange. Check out our tour to see how we work here. I've removed the bit about "as long as it's attacking" since that text doesn't appear on this card at all. If you mean to ask about what that text means on another card, like one of these I'm guessing, please ask that as a separate question. Mar 28, 2018 at 18:32
  • I think the questions are the same. The specific mechanic (first strike or +1/+1) has no bearing on what "until end of turn" means. Aside from that, the only other content in this question that is unique are guesses about what the answer might be.
    – Rainbolt
    Apr 3, 2018 at 1:59
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    I think that the "Or does the creature get first strike every time I start my turn?" makes it a distinct question. This user does not seem to be wondering when the "end of the turn" is, but rather what the rules implications of something only lasting until the end of turn are.
    – GendoIkari
    Apr 3, 2018 at 20:07
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    Or put another way, the other question is a somewhat advanced one about the specific order that things happen in during the cleanup step. This one is a question for beginners, explaining what it means that something only works until the end of the turn.
    – GendoIkari
    Apr 3, 2018 at 20:09

2 Answers 2

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Yes, the "first strike" ability will be canceled "forever". The creature which had the ability "until end of turn" will lose this ability exactly at the end the current turn, and not at the beginning of the next turn.

To answer your question more clearly, a few things must be laid out first as a basic understanding of the game's structure:

A turn is composed of several phases (and their respective steps). The step that is relevant to your question is quoted here. All quoted text is taken from the Comprehensive Rules of Magic: the Gathering. I strongly suggest your do your own reading about phases and steps, as it will greatly improve your understanding of the game.

Here, we'll be looking at the ruling on effects that happen "until end of turn". That's CR514, which deals with the last step of a turn, the Cleanup Step:

  1. Cleanup Step

    [...] 514.2. Second, the following actions happen simultaneously: all damage marked on permanents (including phased-out permanents) is removed and all “until end of turn” and “this turn” effects end. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack.

As you can see, nothing about this rule states that these kinds of effects ever come back into action. This means that, once your turn reaches the cleanup step, all effects that happen "until end of turn" cease to happen.

Note that at the beginning of this answer, I quoted the word "forever". I did that because, naturally, if at any other point in the game you once again give your creature any ability "until end of turn", it will once again have that ability until the next cleanup step is reached.

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    This could do with also up-front answering the querent's questions straightforwardly. Currently it's just saying "here's a bunch of relevant rules to read", and that's all well and good... but should come as part of also providing a straightforward answer. Boil it down for them: what do those rules mean for their situation? What should their key take-aways be? Mar 28, 2018 at 17:54
  • You're completely right. I left the answer as-is until a consensus had been reached as to whether or not this was a duplicate, though, since what I've put in the answer so far is relevant to only part of the question.
    – J. Sallé
    Mar 28, 2018 at 17:56
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    If it does get closed as a duplicate I'll be voting to reopen. There's a lot going on in this question that isn't covered by "when's the end of turn", like, the player thinks the spell repeats for example. Mar 28, 2018 at 17:58
  • I'll be updating the answer to fit it to the question in a few, then. Thanks for the heads-up.
    – J. Sallé
    Mar 28, 2018 at 18:38
  • @doppelgreener FWIW I don't think it is a dupe either so I would throw in a re-open vote as well.
    – Malco
    Mar 28, 2018 at 19:10
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It will permanently lose the power boost and the First Strike ability at the end of the current player's turn.


There are two kinds of effects in Magic: One-shot effects, and continuous effects. An effect that deals damage is a one-shot effect, but an effect that modifies a card or its controller is a continuous effect. Continuous effect perform temporary changes that end when the continuous effect ends.

Sure Strike creates a continuous effect that grants modifies the target creature in two ways:

  • The creature gains three power.
  • The creature gains the First Strike ability.

The creature only gains these benefits as long as the continuous effect only lasts, and this particular continuous effect only lasts until the end of the current player's turn. When the turn ends, the effect will end, and it will stop granting the benefits to the creature.

  • The creature's power will be reduced by three.
  • The creature will lose the First Strike ability (unless some other source provides it).

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