Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Strategy”
With Innistrad: Crimson Vow coming up, we’re delving into the set’s mechanics, including an old favorite that first appeared in Dragons of Tarkir. Exploit perfectly encapsulated the Silumgar clan’s ruthlessness, and it complements the necromancers of Innistrad nicely. What is Exploit? Exploit appears on creatures as an “enter the battlefield” ability. Whenever a creature with exploit ETBs, you may choose …
Halloween may be behind us, but we’re covering another spooky MTG mechanic today: haunt! What is Haunt? Haunt appears on creatures, instants, and sorceries. For creatures, haunt triggers when the card goes to the graveyard from the battlefield; for instants and sorceries, it triggers after they resolve. When Haunt triggers, you exile the card with haunt from the graveyard “attached” …
Just in time for spooky season, we’re covering a mechanic that will make your creatures scary-big: bloodthirst! What is Bloodthirst? Bloodthirst works a little differently than most combat-focused mechanics. Instead of rewarding you for dealing damage with a specific creature, bloodthirst makes your creatures bigger if other creatures have dealt damage first. Bloodthist is always written as “Bloodthirst X.” If …
Ever wish you could exchange a card in your hand for another card in your deck? Now you can with transmute! What is Transmute? The transmute ability comes into play whenever you have a card with transmute in your hand. At sorcery speed (in your main phase with nothing on the stack), you may pay the transmute cost and discard …
Thanks for reading this week’s article! Make sure to tweet at me at @masoneclark with your thoughts. …Wait, that’s not how this article is supposed to start! Whether you’re writing an article, following a recipe, or playing a game of Magic, the order in which you do things matters. Otherwise, you might end up making mistakes that were totally avoidable. …
Today, we’ll review the most controversial graveyard mechanic in Magic: The Gathering: Dredge! What is Dredge? Dredge may be a powerful mechanic, but it’s actually pretty simple in practice. If a card with dredge is in your graveyard, and you would draw a card for any reason, you may instead return the card with dredge to your hand by putting …
Do you like saving mana on casting your spells? How about utilizing your creatures the turn they come into play? Today, we take a look at a Magic mechanic that allows your creatures to help you pay for your spells: convoke! What is Convoke? Convoke was first introduced in Ravnica: City of Guilds in 2005. As the signature mechanic of …
It wouldn’t be an Innistrad set without fun graveyard mechanics, and Midnight Hunt has a new one called disturb. If you’ve ever wished you could give a creature spell flashback, then these are the cards for you. What is Disturb? Disturb appears on double-faced creature cards, and it works from the graveyard. If you’re casting the creature normally or otherwise …
This week, we conclude our look at Kamigawa block mechanics with one of the more popular and enduring of them all. What is Ninjutsu? Ninjutsu is one of those rare mechanics that only works when the card is in your hand. When you attack with a creature and it isn’t blocked, you may pay the ninjutsu cost of a card …
We continue our foray into Kamigawa block this week with a mechanic that appeared on the Patron cycle in Betrayers of Kamigawa. These five creatures were playable at instant speed, but only if you made an offering. What is Offering? Offering comes into play when you cast a card that has it, although it can also modify the timing with …
