Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Strategy”
Aftermath appears on instants and sorceries and is a variant of split cards. It’s technically three abilities, which are 1) You may cast the half of this card that has Aftermath from the graveyard, 2) You may ONLY cast the half of this card that has Aftermath from the graveyard, and 3) if this spell was cast from the graveyard, …
Improvise is a static ability that can appear on any nonland card. When a card has it, it means that for each generic mana (mana written as a number in a gray circle) in that card’s mana cost, you can tap an untapped artifact to pay for one of that mana. So like a version of Convoke that works off …
The current Regional Championship season has just begun, and it is the first of the format locked seasons. This means every constructed RCQ for the next few months will be Pioneer. In many areas, Modern RCQs have had higher attendance than Pioneer RCQs during the last couple of seasons, so there is certainly a contingent of players who are looking …
Fabricate is a triggered ability that technically could appear on any permanent type, but so far is only on creatures. Written as “Fabricate N,” when a creature with it enters the battlefield, you get a choice: create N 1/1 colorless Servo artifact creature tokens, or put N +1/+1 counters on the creature with Fabricate. The way that it’s worded, if …
Kristen delivers an edict: haymakers are so last year in Commander. If you’re brewing these days, you want to focus on synergy. There are few things cooler than resolving a big, expensive creature. There’s a reason some of the most popular decks in Magic are Dragons, Angels and all things green and tramply. The splashiest creatures in Commander are commonly …
Compleated is a static ability found only on Planeswalkers, making it a bit unique. Every Planeswalker with Compleated will have at least one Phyrexian Mana symbol, in its mana cost (a topic we’ve covered previously). For each of those symbols for which you chose to pay life instead of mana as you cast the Planeswalker, the Planeswalker will enter the …
Backup is a triggered ability that appears on creatures, and goes off when they enter the battlefield. It is always written with a number next to it, and it means that when a creature with it enters the battlefield, a target creature gets that many +1/+1 counters. Now, that can certainly be the original creature that just entered the battlefield. …
Incubate is an ability that could appear on any card type, and will always be written with a number – so, “Incubate N.” When an effect or ability tells you to Incubate, you create a colorless artifact token named Incubator, and put a number of +1/+1 counters on it equal to the Incubate number. Incubator tokens are predefined, like food …
Battle is a new card type in Magic, something that hasn’t happened since Planeswalkers came out in Lorwyn. For now, every Battle that’s coming out in March of the Machine has the subtype Siege. In the future, different subtypes could work differently, but we’ll cross that bridge later. For now, here’s what we’re working with. All Siege battles are double faced …
Melee is a combat mechanic that appears on creatures. Whenever a creature with Melee attacks, it gets +1/+1 until the end of the turn for each different opponent being attacked that turn. So in one-on-one Magic, this will always be +1/+1. In a four-player Commander game, this could be +3/+3 if you send attackers at each opponent. It is possible …
