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Magic: The Gathering Discussion
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Post by
Heckler
Here's a question for the pros about how spells resolve, it happened on MTGO last night and proved to me I don't understand the rules entirely.
I had a Phantasmal Bear out (2/2, When Phantasmal Bear becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it.) and my opponent put an Enchantment on it in order to kill it, I countered the Enchantment, but I still had to sacrifice the Bear.
I thought I could do this:
Enemy casts Enchant, targetting Bear.
I cast Counterspell (thus preventing the Bears triggered ability from triggering)
But I think it went like this.
Enemy casts Enchantment.
Bear's triggered ability is immediately placed on stack because he is targeted by a spell.
I counter Enchantment.
Enchantment is succesfully countered.
Bear is sacrificed as the triggered ability resolves.
Was there any way to save the bear?
Post by
91278
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Heckler
There was no way to save the bear. The act of targetting is what causes the sacrifice -- and that isn't something that can be countered.
Aha, good to know, next time I will save my Counterspell. I'm sure my opponent got a giggle out of that.
Post by
Jubilee
Bear is sacrificed because the bear's sacrifice goes on the stack upon being targetted, not upon resolution. So no matter what happen to that enchantment after it gets cast, the bear will still get discarded. In fact the bear gets sacrificed before the enchantment resolves anyways, even without a cancel, so the enchantment never resolved either way.
I type slow =/
Post by
238331
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
gnomerdon
I want the most powerful legal deck. what is it?
Post by
gnomerdon
can someone please tell me about cards being outdated? are there new cards every 3-4 months? are all cards in the past banlisted? how does the system work. i only read bits and pieces of it. is it a money sink playing magic the gathering/ it feels ilke one.
Post by
Jubilee
can someone please tell me about cards being outdated? are there new cards every 3-4 months? are all cards in the past banlisted? how does the system work. i only read bits and pieces of it. is it a money sink playing magic the gathering/ it feels ilke one.
What cards you can use is dependent on what format you are playing. The most common tournament format is called Standard which uses the latest core set (Magic 2012) and all the sets from the latest 2 blocks (Scars of Mirrodin, Mirrodin Besieged, New Phyrexia, Innistrad as of this Thursday). The format is complicated a bit once or twice a year between blocks, where sometimes you will have 2 core sets standard legal. For right now (from this Thursday on), just stick with the sets I mentioned above. Standard decks have a minimum of 60 cards. The may or may not be a ban list for any particular standard rotation. As of Thursday there are no banned cards.
Another format is Extended. As of Thursday this will be Shards of Alara, Conflux, Alara, Reborn, Magic 2010, Zendikar, Worldwake, Rise of the Eldrazi, Magic 2011, Scars of Mirrodin, Mirrodin Besieged, New Phyrexia, Magic 2012, and Innistrad, that is, the last 4 blocks and the corresponding core sets. The minimum decksize is 60 cards. There is no ban list at the moment, but as of October 1 of this year it will be Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Mental Misstep, Ponder, Preordain, and Stoneforge Mystic.
A new format is Modern. That includes all sets from (and including) Eighth Edition. Minimum is again 60 cards and the banned list is a bit more extensive, but you can look it up if you want.
Vintage and Legacy are the final two formats, which both include all sets, but they both have different banned and restricted lists, so they play slightly differently.
Those are all the "regular" formats. There are many other ways of playing, and if you are just playing with your friends you can always make up your own house rules.
I want the most powerful legal deck. what is it?
There is no best deck! :) Even less so now that a whole block is rotating out of standard and no one has any idea what they are doing.
How sad is it that discussing things like this is my favorite thing about magic?
I had the entire rulebook
read before my second game =P
Post by
pezz
I got the demo on Steam. It's really hard. I had some success with the flying around with a bunch of equipment or whatever deck, though.
Post by
Jubilee
I got the demo on Steam. It's really hard. I had some success with the flying around with a bunch of equipment or whatever deck, though.
It is hard if you're starting fresh because mtg involves thinking about the playing field in a way much different from most games. Once you understand the practical side of things like mana curves and card advantage, it's much easier and a lot of fun.Was there any way to save the bear?
I forgot to mention this, but there are possible ways to save the bear like Evacuation. It goes onto the stack on top of the bear's sacrifice ability and so the bear will have left play before it can resolve.
Post by
pezz
My biggest beef, and maybe this was just a feature of the decks it let me use in the demo, was how heavily the advantage rests with defenders during normal attack rounds. That was the chief reason I liked the flying-type* deck. I tried to use the grass-type deck and kept getting into giant stalemates with 16 monsters aside. At least with flying type
pokemon
KOR AND HUMAN SOLDIERS you can skip the stalemate.
*Here is the exact moment where I give up trying to use MTG speak and resort to referring to the decks by their analogous pokemon types.
Post by
Monday
Shadow > flying, imo. Also, try and get spells that let you add "Protection from X" to your creatures. Helps a TON.
Post by
pezz
Dark> flying
Fixed. What I found worked was combining vigilance with creatures that could take out an attacker without being removed themselves. So I could attack with impunity but my opponent would eventually run out of monsters if he went on the offensive.
Post by
Jubilee
My biggest beef, and maybe this was just a feature of the decks it let me use in the demo, was how heavily the advantage rests with defenders during normal attack rounds. That was the chief reason I liked the flying-type* deck. I tried to use the grass-type deck and kept getting into giant stalemates with 16 monsters aside. At least with flying type
pokemon
KOR AND HUMAN SOLDIERS you can skip the stalemate.
*Here is the exact moment where I give up trying to use MTG speak and resort to referring to the decks by their analogous pokemon types.
Getting 16 creatures out is really quite rare. I would say you're doing something wrong, but I didn't see the game so I can't make that call, it could have just been a really interesting game :)
For the green deck in particular, you'll want to use your spells that buff your creatures strategically. You can attack with one to draw the blocker and then pump your creature for the kill, or attack with a couple to draw a few blockers and then pump one of your guys who is not being blocked for a bigger hit than your opponent was planning on. Or save them for when you're blocking, so you can block and take out his bigger creatures when he thinks he's safe. Green is also a creature-heavy deck, so trading creatures 1 for 1 with your opponent will usually work to your advantage.
Post by
Monday
Dark> flying
Fixed.
What?
Post by
Jubilee
Dark> flying
Fixed.
What?
He's using pokemon terminology :)
Post by
Monday
Dark> flying
Fixed.
What?
He's using pokemon terminology :)
But... those two terms... interchange... but... they aren't...
what?
Post by
Jubilee
Pezz, are you playing dotp 1 or 2? I can take a look at the green deck in whichever one and try to explain the strategy behind it if you want.
Post by
pezz
I have no idea. I'm playing the only free demo that popped up on Steam when I typed in magic the gathering.
The worst stalemates were against the same green deck though, that may have been it. When both sides have that spider and two of those vines out it's just silly.
Post by
Jubilee
I have no idea. I'm playing the only free demo that popped up on Steam when I typed in magic the gathering.
They both have demos. You should try both. they might have different color decks for you to try :)
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