Incubate in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards
March of the Machine introduced the MTG community to the first transforming double-faced token. And incubators turned out to be pretty cool!
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Discover in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards
Similar 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...
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Populate in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards
When 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.
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Lifelink in MTG: Rules, History, and FAQ
Life 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...
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Devotion in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards
Devotion 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...
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Tribal Card Type in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards
Magic’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...
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Play vs. Cast in MTG: Rules, History, and FAQ
Magic: 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...
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Adventures in MTG: Rules, History, and FAQ
Once 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...
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Defender in MTG: Rules, History, and FAQ
Some 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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Background in MTG: Rules, History, and FAQ
Commander Legends: Baldur’s Gate brought plenty of awesome cards, flavor, and characters to the Magic table in a draftable EDH experience. But it also brought something new with it: backgrounds
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Deathtouch in MTG: Rules, History, and FAQ
Deathtouch is bound to appear in your games as one of MTG’s evergreen mechanic. It shows the flavor of venom or poison or just a deathly gaze.
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Monarch in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards
Monarch is a mechanic that shines the brightest in multiplayer games, particularly for Commander. It’s a great way to give your game a more “political” dynamic. It creates incentives to build alliances and causes everyone to take action as soon...
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