There’s a lot here, so let’s get to it. First, soulbond is actually two triggered abilities; the first triggers as the creature with it enters the battlefield, and states that you may pair it with another unpaired creature you control – more on that in a minute. The second states that whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, …
Read Ahead – MTG Keywords Explained
Read Ahead is a mechanic that appears only on Sagas. Sagas normally get a lore counter when they enter the battlefield, and then another lore counter at the beginning of your precombat main phase, triggering the appropriate chapter each time. Once it has as many lore counters as it does chapters and the final chapter trigger resolves, the Saga gets …
Enlist – MTG Keywords Explained
Enlist is a combat mechanic that involves two creatures. When a creature with it attacks, you may tap a non-attacking creature you control that has already gotten over its “summoning sickness.” In other words, a creature with haste or that you’ve controlled since at least when your turn began. When you tap a creature this way, the creature with Enlist …
Miracle – MTG Keywords Explained
Miracle appears on instants and sorceries and provides an alternative cost for casting the spell…if you can jump through one little hoop. This is technically two abilities; the first states that you may reveal the card if it’s the first card you draw in a turn. The second is a triggered ability that goes off when you reveal the card …
Undying – MTG Keywords Explained
Undying is creature-based recursion mechanic that is essentially the mirror of persist. If a creature with it dies, it will return to the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it. If it already had a +1/+1 counter, it will stay dead in the graveyard. So yes, it is very much like persist, but with +1/+1 counters instead of -1/-1 counters. …
Living Weapon – MTG Keywords Explained
Drawing a piece of equipment when you don’t have any creatures on board can sometimes be a bit of a letdown, as while you can get the equipment on the board, it can’t really help you out right away. Living Weapon from Scars of Mirrodin Block solves that potential problem. When you cast an Equipment with Living Weapon, as it …
Battle Cry – MTG Keywords Explained
Battle Cry is a combat mechanic that appears solely on creatures, and is a little unique in that it’s an attack-encouraging mechanic that affects every attacking creature except for the one that has it. When a creature with Battle Cry attacks, each other attacking creature gets +1/+0 until the end of the turn. This means that if you have multiple …
Infect – MTG Keywords Explained
All right. This is a pretty divisive mechanic, but for now, we’ll just stick with how it works. So: Infect is a static ability that can appear on any card type, and modifies the manner in which it deals damage. To wit: damage dealt by a source with Infect does not cause a play to lost life, but rather gives …
Totem Armor – MTG Keywords Explained
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 – MTG Keywords Explained
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 …