At it’s core, Totem Armor is a pretty simple mechanic. It appears on Auras, it it states that if the enchanted permanent would be destroyed, you remove all damage from it and destroy the Aura instead. Note that this isn’t you sacrificing the Aura – Totem Armor actually changes the effect of the spell or damage so that it destroys …

Rebound appears on instants and sorceries. When a spell that you cast from your hand with Rebound resolves, instead of going to the graveyard, it gets exiled. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you then may cast that spell without paying its mana cost and ignoring timing restrictions for sorceries. Cards with specific timing restrictions (like Savage Beating, which …

Level Up is the mechanic that Class was based on, and appears on creatures (known as Levelers). Level Up creatures enter the battlefield at Level 0, and have a Level Up ability on them, along with a text box split into three distinct sections, each with their own power and toughness. At level 0, they have the power and toughness …

Annihilator is a creature-based mechanic from Rise of the Eldrazi, and appears on the titular extra-planar monsters. Written as Annihilator N, it triggers when a creature with it attacks. When the trigger resolves, the defending player must then sacrifice N permanents. If they have less than what’s required, they sacrifice everything they can. This is brutal, and none of the …

Unearth is a graveyard mechanic from Shards of Alara block found exclusively on creatures. It’s essentially creature Flashback; a way for you to get a one-shot use out of the creature from the graveyard.  When a creature with Unearth is in your graveyard, you may, at sorcery speed, pay it’s Unearth cost. You then return the creature to the battlefield, …

Exalted is one of the most enduring combat mechanics to come out in a while. It literally exalts one of your creatures per combat.  Exalted is a combat mechanic that can appear on any permanent type. It triggers when a creature you control attacks alone. That creature will get +1/+1 until the end of the turn for each instance of …

Initiative essentially functions as a variation of Monarch. For someone to initially take the Initiative, someone has to play a card that grants it. Once the initiative is in the game, just like Monarch, it remains in the game until the game ends, and only one player at a time can have the initiative. When you take the initiative, or …