Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Strategy”
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 …
The first RCQ season is coming up, and Mason is here to give some advice on how to prepare for the mental game that is tournament Magic. Regional Championship Qualifiers start this weekend for Atlanta. Being the first big paper thing back that people can qualify for from Wizards, thousands of Magic players will start going to their local LGS …
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 …
Background is a subtype of Enchantments, and flavorfully represents a Commander’s backstory — or at least an aspect of it. They do function as normal enchantments, so if they are in a deck they can be drawn and cast normally, although as they specifically only affect Commanders, it’s very unlikely you’ll ever encounter one in any other format. But the …
Jordan Aisaka was the winner of our latest Legacy 1K at Mox Boarding House, and gives us a rundown of his experience. I am not nearly as practiced as I once was at these sorts of things (thanks, pandemic). I used to be able to recall my keeps and even the early turns of most of my games. This is …
Myriad is a creature-based multiplayer mechainc. I mean, you could play it in a 1-vs-1 game, but it wouldn’t do a whole lot of anything. Here’s why: When a creature with Myriad attacks, for each opponent other than the one you attacked, you create a token copy of the myriad creature that enters the battlefield tapped and attacking those opponents. …
