Fortify in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Darksteel Garrison | Illustration by David Martin

Best cards, plural, may be overstating this keyword ability a bit: as it turns out, there's exactly one card with the fortify keyword in all MTG.

The same is true for fortification, the artifact subtype associated with the fortify keyword, so closely associated that fortification and fortify coexist on the very same, very lonesome card.

Let's take a tour around this rampart and learn a bit about what hides behind this unique palisade: how does fortify work, what’s its history as a “futureshifted” mechanic, and why do the Magic designers think fortify is unlikely, but not impossible, to return someday.

How Does Fortify Work?

Fortify | Illustration by Christopher Moeller

Fortify is a keyword ability, representing an activated ability on artifacts with the fortification subtype. “Fortify X” means: “Pay X to attach this Fortification to target land you control,” and it works at sorcery speed.

Fortification and fortify work with lands in the same way that equipment and equip work with creatures. Every rule that applies to equipment is also true for fortification, with the sole difference being the type of permanent they can attach to.

A few more fortification caveats:

• If the artifact loses the fortification type, it can no longer fortify,
• If the artifact becomes a creature, it can no longer fortify a land (even if it's still a fortification),
• If the fortified land is removed from the battlefield or is no longer a land, the fortification becomes unattached but remains on the battlefield (and you can fortify another of your lands with it if you want, by paying the fortify cost),
• Who controls the fortification and who controls the fortified land don’t need to be the same. If your opponent steals your fortified land, you’re still the fortification's controller.
• A corner case that only applies to multiplayer games that choose to use the “controller's range of influence” rule: a fortification can’t fortify a land outside its controller’s range of influence. If Sally steals your fortified land, then John steals said land from Sally, and John is outside your range of influence, John keeps your land but the fortification becomes unattached and under your control.

The History of Fortify in MTG

The fortify keyword debuted in Future Sight (May 2007), the third expansion in the Time Spiral block. Fortify appears on just one card, Darksteel Garrison, as one of Future Sight's 81 “futureshifted” cards.

“Futureshifted” cards were all “pre-prints”: new cards that hinted at mechanics and settings from future sets, and in a way were previews of what later sets would contain. For example, among the “futureshifted” cards we find Narcomoeba, which a decade later was featured in Guilds of Ravnica, and Grinning Ignus as a glimpse of cards to come in Strixhaven: School of Mages.

Not every “futureshifted” mechanic came to pass, though.

“Fortify is one of the futureshifted mechanics I get asked about the most,” writes MTG's head designer Mark Rosewater, in an article published in August 2020 reviewing the Future Sight cards. “The biggest problem is that there's not enough difference between Fortifications and Auras that enchant lands. The two big differences between Equipment and Auras on creatures is that the Equipment sticks around when the creature dies, and that you can move the Equipment from creature to creature. Neither of these is very compelling when the item is attached to a land. Lands aren't destroyed often, and there aren't tons of reasons to want to move a Fortification between lands.”

According to Mark, MTG designers want to avoid making lands easy to destroy, which in turn limits how strong their attachments can be. He rates the return of fortify in a future set as “unlikely”, although perhaps possible under the right circumstances.

Is Fortify an Activated Ability?

Yep, it is.

The trick is to look for a colon (“:”) separating a cost and an effect. Activated abilities follow the general pattern of “Pay this cost: Generate this effect.”

With Darksteel Garrison, you pay 3 mana to fortify a land.

What if a Land Has Multiple Instances of Fortify?

No problem!

Always keep in mind that fortification works on lands exactly like equipment on creatures: You can have as many as you want on a single wielder. If in doubt, just ask Loxodon Punisher!

Fortify vs. Equipment

Fortification and fortify are to lands what equipment and equip are to creatures. They work the exact same way, with the only difference being the type of permanent (lands versus creatures) they can target.

Specifically, fortifications and equipment work the same when they become unattached: They stay on the battlefield, regardless of what happened to the permanent they were attached to. You can then re-attach them to another suitable target by paying their fortify/equip cost (at sorcery speed).

This is an important difference from how enchantments attached to creatures work (“auras“, like the role tokens from Wilds of Eldraine). If an aura is attached to a creature and said creature leaves the battlefield, the aura goes to the graveyard. Fortifications and equipment, on the other hand, stay on the field.

Does Fortify Trigger Equipment Attachment Triggers?

Short answer: no, but possibly.

Longer answer: Equip is a completely different keyword than fortify (even if they work very similarly), so any effect that specifically triggers when you equip a creature only cares about you equipping creatures. Nothing else. In this case, activating fortify has no effect on the equipment trigger.

But!

Equipment, like fortifications and auras, are all attachments. If there's an effect that triggers when you attach something to a permanent, then fortify triggers it, and so do equip (equipment) and enchant (auras).

For example, Heavenly Blademaster, when enters the battlefield, you may attach any number of auras and equipment you control to it. In this case, you’re attaching things to a permanent without actually activating the equip ability of an equipment or casting an enchantment. Effects triggered specifically by equip don’t trigger here, while effects triggered by attach do.

In other words: Equipping is attaching, but you can attach things besides equipment.

• If the effect in question cares about equip, only equip triggers it,
• If the effect cares about attaching, all forms of attaching (including equip and fortify) trigger it.

Gallery and List of Fortify Cards

As it may be of no surprise to attentive readers, the one and only fortify card thus far (and also the only equipment with the fortification subtype in all of Magic) is…

Darksteel Garrison!!

Best FortifyCards

As the single card in this category, Darksteel Garrison doesn't really have that many competitors for the “Greatest Fortify Card Of All Time” title. I mean, not exactly a race with a nail-biter finish, that's all I'm saying!

Darksteel Garrison is still an interesting card, though, so in case your deck may be interested in a bit of protection against land destruction:

• The fortification subtype and the fortify keyword have nothing to do with the effects that Darksteel Garrison itself provides. Making the land indestructible is a property conveyed specifically by Darksteel Garrison, not the fortification subtype.
• If Darksteel Garrison and the fortified land would be destroyed at the same time, only Darksteel Garrison is destroyed. In other words, if somebody at your table casts Jokulhaups or Obliterate, they only destroy the Garrison and leave the land unscathed.
• Indestructible never wears off from the land as long as Darksteel Garrison is still attached; your foes can hurl Stone Rains all day long, and both the Garrison and the fortified land will shrug it off.
• Darksteel Garrison‘s second ability is a triggered ability: It triggers whenever the fortified land becomes tapped (for any reason; not just when it’s tapped for mana), and its effect isn’t optional: you’ll have to buff one of your opponent's creatures if you don't have any suitable target under your control.

Wrap Up

Fortified Rampart | Illustration by David Gaillet

I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief exploration of this most unique stronghold!

As Mark said, more cards to shore up our lands aren’t part of Magic's most likely future, but perhaps some fortifications that provide other bonuses will show up someday. Or maybe, Wizards will introduce a similar keyword with a twist that lets them attach to your opponent's lands instead (more like a Siege Tower, so to speak, allowing you to bypass some defenses).

Did you like this deep dive into unique mechanics? If this is the type of article you'd like to see more of, please drop a comment below, or stop by the Draftsim Discord for a chat!

And may your lands bravely withstand Jokulhaups and Armageddons!