Cipher is a little strange, and appears on instants and sorceries. When you cast a spell with Cipher, if you are casting the actual card (more on this weird clause in a minute), you may exile the card encoded on a creature you control. When a card with Cipher is encoded on a creature and that creature deals combat damage …
If You’re Not Taking Explosive Turns in Commander, You Should Stop Them
One of the sure fire ways to win a game of Commander is to take explosive turns. Kristen is here this week to refocus your deckbuilding on either taking or stopping explosive turns. Among the easiest and most stylish ways to win a game of Commander, taking an explosive turn is something all players strive for and enjoy. It’s thrilling …
Unleash – MTG Keywords Explained
Unleash appears solely on creature cards, and gives you a choice when a creature with it enters the batlefield. As the creature enters the battlefield, you may have it enter with a +1/+1 counter on it. As long as the creature has a +1/+1 counter on it, it cannot block. Easy! A simple choice: have a bigger creature that can’t …
Assessing Unfinity in Legacy: Part 2
One of the most contentious sets in Magic history releases on Friday: Unfinity! While un-sets are historically just full of fun joke cards with cool basic lands thrown in, Unfinity is something more. The reason? About 40% of the cards in Unfinity are legal in Legacy and Commander! This is unprecedented, and it has caused a lot of hand wringing about …
Playing Rhinos in Modern
At the beginning of what I call the New Modern era (Modern Horizons and forward), Rhinos decks centered around cascading into Crashing Footfalls burst onto the scene and remained a top tier deck for some time. But at some point, Modern adjusted and Rhinos fell out of favor — replaced by Living End and Glimpse combo. However, Leyline Binding seems …
Scavenge – MTG Keywords Explained
Most creature based graveyard mechanics (like Unearth, for example) tend to revolve around somehow getting that creature back on the battlefield, but scavenge is different. It appears only on creatures, and can only be activated when that card is in the graveyard. At sorcery speed (on your turn in your main phase with nothing else on the stack), you may …
Modern Death’s Shadow: Neapolitan Style
Over the last couple of weeks, the Modern metagame has shifted. As certain decks give way to new pieces of tech, others rise to the top. And as new threats find a target on their back, combo decks like Death’s Shadow seem primed to feast. The initial pebble that caused these ripples is Leyline Binding, which has put pressure on …
Why You Shouldn’t Upgrade Your Commander Deck
It’s normal to want to upgrade your Commander decks over time. But is it really necessary? Kristen evaluates the process and offers an alternative. There are three* main aspects to engaging with Commander as a format: Deckbuilding, Gameplay and Upgrading your deck. We cover Deckbuilding and Gameplay quite often here at Card Kingdom, as do many creative Commander players across …
Overload – MTG Keywords Explained
Overload exists on instants and sorceries, and is actually two static abilities. The first says that as you go to cast the spell, you may instead pay the overload cost. The second says that if you do that, you then replace all instances of the word “target” on the card with “each.” If don’t pay the overload cost, the spell …
Modern Tier List: Sept. 2022
Modern Tier List: September 2022 Welcome back for the September 2022 edition of Card Kingdom’s Modern Tier List! In September, we have all of the normal MTGO challenges, a Modern Showcase on MTGO and the Grand Open Qualifier in Paris. Dominaria United has settled in now, and we’re beginning to see Modern shift along with those new additions. This has …