One aspect of Magic that always seems to cause confusion are the so-called freeze effects. Suddenly players don’t remember that you can’t untap the creature. Today I’m taking a look at how this new mechanic came to be and what it’s trying...
Read moreParents: Get your kids some books. Or an e-reader. Or a library card. Just get your kids reading, because it’s the easiest way to transport them to other worlds without leaving home. How else would I have learned the word “spelunking” as a...
Read moreDescend and its related mechanics (descended, descend X, and fathomless descent) are some of the new abilities introduced to Magic: The Gathering in its latest set, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan (LCI).
Read moreMarch of the Machine introduced the MTG community to the first transforming double-faced token. And incubators turned out to be pretty cool!
Read moreSimilar to cascade, discover X lets you exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card with a mana value of X or less. Then, you may cast it for free or put it into your hand, and you put the rest of the cards on the...
Read moreWhen I came back to playing Magic around the Innistrad and Return to Ravnica era, I met populate for the first time. I’m very fond of Selesnya decks and mechanics and, despite loving convoke more, there’s a lot to like about populate.
Read moreLife is an important resource in Magic. We’ve seen how using your life total as a resource can break the game countless times over the years, from Necropotence to Gitaxian Probe. Lifegain is an underappreciated stratagem, and the history of...
Read moreDevotion is a fun, flavorful mechanic that rewards your, well, devotion to a color. It’s been in MTG for a little while, but it’s a popular and successful mechanic at the kitchen and tournament tables alike. What’s notable about this success is...
Read moreMagic’s history is full of experiments and mechanics that haven’t returned much since they were introduced. Cipher is a pet favorite of mine, and the arcane spell type associated with spirits is another weird relic from the past. Magic players...
Read moreMagic: The Gathering is an ever-changing thing. Each edition sees the terminology and the rules of the cards evolve as the game designers see fit. MTG boomers out there remember terms like “bury” and “remove from play,” or what we now call...
Read moreOnce Upon a Time, there was this game called Magic: The Gathering. The creators of this game decided to take fairytale-type stories and mend them with this game. The result was Throne of Eldraine. And with the fairytale-MTG mashup came an awesome...
Read moreSome cards have restrictions placed on them in their text that prevent them from attacking, but still allow them to defend you or use their abilities. That’s what we call the defender mechanic, and that’s what today is all about.
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