Wizards of the Coast Answer Magic: The Gathering Questions From Twitter

Cards will go through a lot of iterations, right?

And numbers change all the time.

Sometimes they change in the middle of games, right?

I've literally had play test games where I cast a spell,

we talk about it for a minute, decide this is crazy,

change one of the numbers as the spell is resolving.

Things happen quick here.

You gotta keep up.

Hi, I'm Matt Tabak.

I'm an editor and game designer with Wizards of the Coast

and this is Magic: The Gathering Support.

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@JosephBellCC, you have tweeted to me.

I have a legitimate question.

And again, this is good.

You should always be upfront

that your question is legitimate so I take it seriously.

Why does everyone hate mono white so much

in Magic: The Gathering?

I yearn to know the answer

or is this just some in joke that I'm too stupid to get?

I don't think everyone hates mono white.

One of the cool things about Magic

is there a lot of strategies, right?

There are a lot of things you can do.

Some are very aggressive, creature-based, rush decks.

You have combo decks that kind of aim

to finish off your opponent in one turn.

You have ones that are based on

casting instants and sorceries.

Ones that are creature-based.

Ones that feature lots of Planeswalkers.

Ones that feature no Planeswalkers.

So it's a million strategies out there

and everyone has their favorites and their least favorites.

Especially if you run into a kind of deck

that you lose to all the time,

that can easily become your least favorite.

Cool thing that Magic lets you do

is kind of change your strategy, right?

A good way to get better is to pay attention

to what you're losing to.

And I know most of the time it's just stupid luck

and I hate everything.

But if you move past that and look at what actually

your opponent did or what you didn't do during a game,

this is the key to getting better.

Recognizing that a wide variety of strategies are viable,

a wide variety of counter strategies are viable,

and that's how you become a more successful Magic player.

Is this some in joke?

I don't think it's an in joke.

I think it's popular to hate on successful strategies

and mono white has historically been a successful strategy.

It's had its ups and downs like everything.

Are you too stupid to get it?

I haven't met you.

I don't know it's possible.

I don't think it is.

And the fact that you play Magic

is a pretty strong indicator that you're not too stupid.

So I think you're doing okay, Joseph,

and thank you for your question.

All right, Shep in Training asks,

Random Magic: The Gathering question.

If you attack with a 2/2 creature

and are blocked by a 2/2 creature,

which creature or creatures are destroyed?

Let's talk about combat.

Okay, this is kind of the essence of the game, right?

Creatures battling each other.

Every creature has two important stats

when it comes to combat.

The first number to the left of the slash is its power

and that tells you how much damage the creature deals.

And the second number after the slash, that's its toughness.

It tells you if a creature is dealt

that much damage in one turn, it's destroyed.

So when creatures fight or when creatures battle in combat,

what's gonna happen is each creature is gonna deal damage

equal to its power to other one.

And that's gonna happen at the same time.

So in your example, you got two 2/2s battling it out.

Let's call them A and B just

to creatively name the creatures.

Creature A is gonna deal two damage because its power

is two to creature B.

Creature B is gonna deal two damage

'cause that's its power to creature A.

Both of them take two damage to be destroyed.

That's their toughness.

So in your example, both creatures are destroyed.

All right, let's check out our next question from Friar Tug

of Resist the Idiocrasy.

@wizards_magic question, opponent casts Act of Treason.

In response I cast Heroic Intervention.

In response op casts Lightning Bolt.

Stack resolves.

Three damage to creature with three toughness.

Creature gains indestructible and hexproof.

Act of Treason fizzles.

Does the creature die?

Friar Tug, first of all thank you for sending your question

in the form of a haiku.

That makes it just more entertaining for me.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can answer

in the form of a haiku.

I will, however, answer this question involving the stack

and how things resolve using interpretive dance.

Act of Treason.

Heroic Intervention.

Lightning Bolt.

So what happens is things are gonna resolve top to bottom.

The last spell or ability cast is gonna resolve first.

So lightning bolt is gonna resolve first

and it's gonna deal three damage to a creature

with three toughness.

Now right away, that creature is going to be destroyed.

This is gonna happen before Heroic Intervention resolves.

So there are rules in the game called state-based actions

and what these do, they're kind of like

the janitors of Magic, right?

They come through and they clean up any situation

that needs cleaning up.

So after any spell or ability resolves,

the game is checked to see,

is there a creature with lethal damage

still on the battlefield?

Is there a creature with zero toughness hanging out

on the battlefield?

And if so, it's gonna clean it up

and get it off the battlefield.

So after Lightning Bolt resolves,

the creature is destroyed

before the other two spells get a chance to resolve.

So Heroic Intervention will still resolve

and give permanents you control indestructible and hexproof.

But the creature that was destroyed by the Lightning Bolt

is no longer there.

The Act of Treason will also not resolve

because its target is now sitting in the graveyard.

And I hope what I have done here Friar Tug

clears things up for you.

Okay, let's check out another question.

This time from @TheSeraphmin.

Question for MTG Twitter.

That's me.

Does anyone remember any other specific card nicknames?

The ones I got are Bob, Gary, Skittles, and Mom,

but I know there's more I'm forgetting.

There are in fact, a lot more that you may be forgetting.

Of course Bob is Dark Confidant.

It was given that nickname because the art,

the original art of Dark Confidant was an image

of Bob Maher, pro player that won the Magic Invitational

which was an event.

The prize for that was to get his likeness on a magic card.

Gary of course is the Gray Merchant of Asphodel.

Skittles is Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon

and Mom is Mother of Runes.

So these are nicknames

for cards that have developed over the years.

Probably the most popular nickname of all time

for a magic card is Tim for Prodigal Sorcerer.

This is of course a creature that tapped to deal damage.

Given the nickname Tim based on its kind of likeness

to a wizard in Monte Python.

So they call me Tim.

This spawned of course Tim on a Stick,

Tim on a Boat, basically anything that tapped

to deal one damage got a Tim-related nickname.

Some older cards have nicknames.

Hypnotic Specter is Hippie.

There were the Pump Knights, two white, two black knights.

Order of Leitbur and a couple others that had abilities

that where you could pump mana into them

to increase their power.

So those were collectively called the Pump Knights.

There are a lot.

Yeah, do some Google searching.

There are quite a few out there.

Some not super appropriate for this video

and we're just gonna end this question on that one.

All right, Christian Calligraphy Corner asks,

To all Magic: The gathering plays.

I'm a play.

Let's see what the question is.

Question of the day.

Are there any mono red creature cards that work only

if you have a Snow-Covered Mountain?

Comment below.

Now some of you may be watching this video

and you're looking to get into Magic

and you don't know all the terms yet.

So you're like, what is mana?

What is lands?

What's he talking about?

So mana is basically the system of energy

that we use in the game.

So it's kind of a resource system.

A game of Magic is all about, you know,

wizards casting spells and to cast those spells,

you need to have enough energy to do it

and that's called mana.

The very easiest way to get mana is through your lands.

Each turn you play one land from your hand

onto the battlefield and it's kind of a land

you have it, you control it

and you can tap that land, which means, you know,

turn it to kind of indicate that it's used for the turn.

And that gives you the energy that you need,

the mana you need to be able to do other things

in the game like summon creatures, cast spells,

activate abilities, kind of do things to interact

with your opponent and further your goal

of beating you're that opponent.

My search didn't turn up any cards

that any red creature cards that work only

if you have a Snow-Covered Mountain.

There are gonna be a lot of creatures out there

that get better if you have a Snow-Covered Mountain.

So for example, Ohran Yeti.

That can give your creature's first strike.

So look for cards that require snow mana

of some kind or ones that care

about having snow lands on the battlefield.

So none that you need

but there are definitely some ones out there

that get better.

And our next question is from Yuly Bambooly,

Blazing Archon is our card of the day

because I have a legality question.

All right, hit me.

Creatures can't attack you.

Check.

So does that mean me as a Planeswalker directly

or in general they cannot not attack

unless targeting a specific creature?

All right, Bambooly Yuly.

Let's get a couple things straight just to make sure

we're all on the same here.

While creatively and in some of our marketing

we kind of sell that you the player are a Planeswalker,

that's a thing.

In the game it's important to note

that you are a player and Planeswalkers the cards,

are the only things that are Planeswalkers.

So when you attack, you don't attack creatures directly.

When I'm saying I control a creature

and I'm going to attack you.

What I'm doing is I'm basically just sending the creature

in your direction.

I'm saying it's either going to attack you

or it's going to attack a Planeswalker you control.

I can't attack your creatures directly.

What you can do as the defender

is decide how your creatures are gonna block my creature

or if they're gonna block it.

So as the defender, you kinda have active control

over how combat is gonna go.

You're gonna decide whether my attacking creature

gets blocked or not and if it is blocked, by which creature.

So I can't attack your creatures directly.

So if an effect says I can't attack you,

that means exactly that, it can't attack you.

It can still attack a Planeswalker you control unless

the effect says will specifically say if you can't.

But Blazing Archon doesn't say that

because Blazing Archon is from a time before Planeswalkers

so it just can't attack you.

Your Planeswalkers are fair game.

Your creatures can never be attacked, Blazing Archon or no.

I hope this helps.

All right, we have a question from eldercleric who says,

@wizards_magic, I have a judge question.

If you attack with a Colonnade

or a Nissa land, Mobilized District,

can I tap it for mana during combat and keep it in combat?

Okay, so what eldercleric is asking about

is cards like a Celestial Colonnade, Mobilized District,

and then the character Nissa.

One of her kind of in her power suite

is she turns the lands into creatures.

So we're talking about cards that turn lands into creatures

which presumably you then smash face with.

So the basic rule is this,

there's a rule called summoning sickness

which says a creature cannot attack or tap

for any of its abilities that use the tap symbol

unless you've controlled it from the beginning

of your most recent turn.

So the question is, if I have a land

and I turned it into a creature, can it then attack?

A lot of these turn the land into a creature with haste.

So you get to ignore summoning sickness completely.

Haste is an ability that says

as soon as I hit the battlefield on my turn, I can attack.

I can use my tap abilities.

No problem.

If the land entered the battlefield under your control

that turn and you then turned it into a creature,

it hasn't been under your control since

the beginning of the turn.

So in that case, once it becomes a creature,

it can't attack that turn and it can't be tapped

for mana that turn.

Unless again, it has haste.

If you turn a land that you've controlled

for the entire turn, you turn it into a creature,

that new creature can attack

because the rule doesn't care whether it's been

a creature or not,

it only cares how long you've controlled that permanent.

So as long as you controlled it

from the beginning of your turn until now,

it can attack and it can tap for mana if it's a creature.

Now, can you keep it in combat?

If the land attacks,

most of the time it's gonna become tapped.

So you can't also tap it for mana.

But if the land has vigilance,

which is an ability that lets you attack

without becoming tapped,

you'll be an attacking creature that's untapped.

And then you can tap for mana.

So yes, you can do both if you have vigilance.

Hope this helps.

Let's go to our next question

from @thiefs_magic.

A question for @wizards_magic.

Wait, are we related?

We're like cousins or something.

That's wild.

That's our last name.

How does changeling tribal work with Coat of Arms?

Help me out here.

All right.

All right, thiefs_magic, a great question.

Coat of Arms, historically a very popular card,

but sometimes misunderstood.

What Coat of Arms says is that each creature

on the battlefield gets +1/+1

for each other creature that shares a creature type with it.

Now Coat of Arms doesn't really care

how many creature types you share with another creature.

So if you have two goblins on the battlefield,

they'll see each other and say, Hey, I'm a goblin,

you're a goblin, let's each get +1/+1.

If I have a changeling on the battlefield,

now changeling is an ability that says a creature

is every creature type.

So it's a goblin, it's an elf, it's a dragon,

it's a wizard, it's a coward, it's a dragon.

It's like 180 of these things.

It's everything.

If it sees a goblin on the battlefield,

it says I'm a goblin, you're a goblin.

Let's each get +1/+1.

If there's two changelings on the battlefield,

they say, I am everything.

You're also everything.

They each still only get +1/+1

'cause it's the number of creatures

that share a creature type,

not the number of creature types.

Moving onto our next question.

It comes in from @1SacredSeraph.

I have a Magic: The Gathering question.

If a person has a hand with no lands

and no cards that can be played, can they burn their hand?

@wizards_magic.

Couple things I wanna talk about here with this question.

So the first is mulligans.

At the beginning of the game, you draw seven cards.

Now, for any reason, if you don't like those seven cards,

if you have too many lands, if you have not enough lands,

if you've built your deck around a particular strategy

and your important cards aren't there.

Whatever, if you don't like what you see,

you can shuffle it back into your library.

Draw another seven.

See if you like those.

Now, when you're done as many times

as you've shuffled your hand back in,

you have to take that many cards

from your hand and put it on the bottom of your library.

So if I mulligan once, I'm gonna start the game

with a six card hand, that's kind of the balancing factor.

I get another shot to get what I want

but I lose a card in the process.

And if I mulligan again,

I'm gonna draw seven and say, okay, these seven I like,

I need to take two cards

and put them on the bottom of your library.

So however many times you shuffle back in,

that's how many cards you're gonna lose

before you actually start the game.

So that's a mulligan system that lets you sort of

have a little bit more control over your opening hands.

Make sure you get something you're happy with it

so the game plays out well for you.

What you might be talking about

in your question is there used to be,

still is probably in some cases,

a house rule that said if at any point during the game

if my hand has no lands or nothing I can play,

I can then like either shuffle it in and draw more cards.

I can put it in the graveyard and draw more cards.

I can do something like that.

And those are not official rules.

That is a house rule thing that some groups embraced.

But according to the official rules of Magic,

once the game starts, you're in.

You can't just get rid of your hand and draw more cards

because you don't like what you have in hand.

And we have a question here from @slumber_spirit.

What is the weirdest, most obscure,

interesting MTG rules interaction you know?

It's not the most complex thing in the world

but it's just cute.

The card that I will point to

is a card called Faith's Fetters.

It's an aura and it has enchant permanent

which means it can be attached to any permanent.

Now generally you put this on creatures

because what the aura does is it stops them

from attacking or blocking.

It also stops their abilities.

Generally this is a defensive aura

that you're gonna put on things threatening you.

So what you do is you get two of them

and you put them on whatever.

It doesn't matter what they're on to begin with.

The important thing is

is Faith's Fetters says enchant permanent.

Which means you can use a card to move that aura

onto a different permanent.

So let's say I have Faith's Fetters one,

Faith's Fetters two, it doesn't matter what they're on.

I'm gonna move Faith's Fetters one.

That's a hard card to say.

So the fact that I picked this tells you how much

I love this interaction.

And I'm gonna change it, I'm gonna move it

so it is enchanting Faith's Fetters number two.

So now I have Faith's Fetters one

enchanting Faith's Fetters two enchanting something else.

Doesn't matter.

Find a spell, find a card that can move an aura.

I'm gonna cast another one.

And this time I'm gonna move Faith's Fetters two

so it is enchanting Faith's Fetters one.

So now I have Faith's Fetters one

enchanting Faith's Fetters two.

Faith's Fetters two enchanting Faith's Fetters one.

Why did I pick this card I have to say 17 million times?

I don't know, but I did.

So now the two auras are attached to each other.

They're hugging each other for life.

They're sitting on a battlefield that is defined by chaos.

Creatures are running past them at full speed

in an effort to destroy other creatures

and deal damage to your enemy.

And these two Faith's Fetters are sitting

there hugging each other, clinging to life.

They have no ties to any other permanent.

They have no connection to anything happening around them.

They're just relying on each other for life,

for safety, for security.

And at the end of the day, isn't that what we're all doing?

Just clinging to safety and security and life,

finding another person or thing or people.

I don't judge, whatever, but holding onto them.

Isn't that what it's all about?

Right there in your game of Magic

while you're throwing lightning bolts

at your opponent's head and destroying all their creatures

and stone raining their lands

'cause you're some kind of jerk,

but here are those Faith's Fetters holding onto each other.

It's beautiful.

It has a beautiful rules interaction.

I'm sorry, what was your question?

Let me look at it again.

And we're done.

Thank you so much for your questions.

I had a blast, I hope you did too.

This has been Magic: The Gathering Support.