Magic: The Gathering Foundations Mechanics
Welcome to the mechanics article for Magic: The Gathering Foundations! This is where we preview all the new keywords and mechanics in the latest Magic release.
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Okay, now that that's out of the way, let's take a look at some of the exciting returning keywords and mechanics in Magic: The Gathering Foundations. Plus, there's a combat rules change to explore. (If you're an experienced player, you may want to start there.) Let's dive in!
Flashback
While Foundations sets the stage for the game's future, it also draws from the past, including the fan-favorite keyword flashback. Casting a spell once is … well, what you'd expect. But twice? Now that's value.
You may cast a card with flashback from your graveyard. If you do, you pay its flashback cost rather than paying its mana cost. Flashback doesn't change when you can cast the spell, so a sorcery with flashback can still only be cast during your main phase. Also, casting a spell with flashback doesn't change its mana value. Mana value is always based on a spell's mana cost, even if you pay an alternative cost to cast it. For example, Think Twice's mana value is 2 no matter how you're casting it.
You can cast a card with flashback from your graveyard no matter how it got there. You don't necessarily have to cast it from your hand originally. Maybe you discarded it, maybe it was milled, or maybe another spell put it there.
Threshold
Your graveyard is evidence of a battle well fought. There, you'll find creatures that have bravely given their all, artifacts smashed during the fray, instants and sorceries unleashed to devastating effect, and more. The returning ability word threshold rewards you for a well-stocked graveyard.
Threshold abilities care about you having seven or more cards in your graveyard. Some threshold abilities are, like the one Crypt Feaster has, a triggered ability. Whenever Crypt Feaster attacks, its ability checks to see if there are seven or more cards in your graveyard. If there are, the ability triggers and goes onto the stack. Players can respond to this ability with instants or activated abilities. As Crypt Feaster's ability tries to resolve, it checks again to see if there are still seven or more cards in your graveyard. Assuming there still are, the ability resolves and Crypt Feaster gets +2/+0 until end of turn. Yum. If, for some reason, there are no longer seven more or more cards in your graveyard, the ability won't resolve nor have an effect. No yum.
Not all threshold abilities are triggered abilities. Some are just statements that are true as long as there are seven or more cards in your graveyard. These are called static abilities. In this set, only creatures have threshold abilities, but in previous sets, you can find instants and sorceries with threshold abilities. Those abilities might give a spell additional or alternative effects if you have seven or more cards in your graveyard as the spell resolves (not counting the spell itself, which won't be in your graveyard yet).
Prowess
Many games of Magic come down to combat superiority, and many combats come down to a simple rule: bigger is better. Prowess is a returning keyword that helps make sure your creatures are the biggest around.
Prowess is a triggered ability that gives the creature that has it +1/+1 until end of turn whenever you cast a noncreature spell. Any spell you cast that isn't a creature will cause prowess to trigger. Remember that lands aren't spells, so playing a land won't cause prowess to trigger. Casting a spell that's a creature and also another type (such as an artifact creature) is still casting a creature spell, so prowess won't trigger in that case either. But prowess can make instant spells into particularly potent combat surprises.
Raid
One question newer players often ask is "When should I attack?" Creatures with raid abilities help answer this question: whenever you can. Remember, your opponents can't make blocking mistakes if you never give them the opportunity.
While it is true that caution is sometimes warranted, Magic is often a game where aggression is rewarded. Raid abilities care in some way if you attacked this turn. It doesn't matter what happened during that attack. The hope is that your creatures got through and dealt some damage, or overcame some poor chumps sent to block them. But even if the attack didn't go so well and your attackers didn't survive, raid abilities will still see that you attacked
In Foundations, most raid abilities are triggered abilities like the one Searslicer Goblin has. At the beginning of your end step, if you attacked that turn, the ability will trigger. If you didn't attack that turn, the ability won't trigger. Simple as that.
Planeswalkers
Powerful, mercurial, and iconically Magic, planeswalkers are the plane-hopping stars of the show. If this is your first time calling upon these amazing allies, let's give you a quick primer.
Planeswalkers are cast as spells, just like any other nonland cards. There's a number in the lower-right corner of each planeswalker card. That's its loyalty. It enters with that many loyalty counters on it, whether you cast the planeswalker as a spell or if it entered some other way. It needs those loyalty counters to stay by your side. If a planeswalker ever has no loyalty counters on it, it's put into the graveyard.
Planeswalkers do a lot more than stand there and look loyal. Each planeswalker has a number of loyalty abilities—most have three, and a few have more! You can activate one of those abilities during your turn, specifically, during either of your main phases, at the same time you can cast sorceries or creatures. To activate a loyalty ability, you either add loyalty counters to a planeswalker or remove loyalty counters from it. If an ability requires that you remove loyalty counters, you can't activate that ability unless there are enough loyalty counters on the planeswalker to pay the full cost.
For example, Kaito enters with three loyalty counters on him. You can't activate his last loyalty ability yet because it requires that you remove nine loyalty counters. To activate his first loyalty ability, put a loyalty counter on Kaito. Remember, it's one loyalty ability only on each of your turns. Technically, you don't have to activate a loyalty ability during your turn at all, but most of the time, you'll want to at least activate the ability that adds loyalty counters so your planeswalker sticks around longer.
Planeswalkers are very powerful, and if your opponent controls one, you usually would prefer they didn't. Fortunately, you have a few ways to get those opposing planeswalkers off the battlefield. Any damage dealt to a planeswalker causes it to lose that many loyalty counters. Some spells and abilities that deal damage will mention planeswalkers specifically, and anything that says "any target" can target a planeswalker.
Another way to combat planeswalkers is, well, combat. Normally you just send your creatures at your opponent. Get 'em! Planeswalkers change things a bit. If your opponent controls a planeswalker, each of your attacking creatures can attack your opponent or it can attack that planeswalker. Get both of 'em! As always, the defending player decides if their creatures block and how they block. Any creatures attacking a planeswalker that aren't blocked deal combat damage to that planeswalker.
Notably, some planeswalkers, like our friend Kaito above, have abilities that aren't loyalty abilities. These abilities work just like they do on other cards. Kaito's triggered ability triggers and helps keep Kaito around a little longer if your attacking creatures deal combat damage to a player. Take special note there, though—that ability does not trigger if a creature you control deals combat damage to a planeswalker.
Finally, some planeswalkers, including Kaito, give you emblems. An emblem is a sign of a planeswalker's fealty and kinship with you. It's a colorless object that sits in the command zone. An emblem isn't on the battlefield, and it isn't an artifact, an enchantment, or a permanent at all. It can't be touched once you have it. It has an ability that will last until the game ends. Kaito's emblem ensures your battlefield will be populated with Ninjas as long as players are casting spells.
Removal of Damage Assignment Order
Welcome, all, to the experienced players checking in. With Foundations, we are taking the opportunity to streamline one part of combat. Note that if you learned combat with Magic: The Gathering Foundations Beginner Box, this change isn't a change.
So, what are we changing? We're removing the concept of damage assignment order.
What was damage assignment order? Damage assignment order was used whenever an attacking creature was blocked by more than one creature. (It was also used whenever a single creature somehow blocked multiple attackers, but normally single creatures can't do that, so examples below will focus on the far more common single attacker, multiple blockers case.)
Why are we doing this? Damage assignment order was put in place to emulate the system that came before it, when combat damage went onto the stack as an object players could respond to. In many ways, it was enacted to lessen post-Magic 2010 shock, but it hasn't aged particularly well. It's somewhat unintuitive, adds a fair bit of rules baggage, and losing it means more interesting decisions and less double-dipping if you know the tricks. We decided to move away from it for many of the same reasons we moved away from damage on the stack many years ago. Damage assignment order just got noticed a lot less because it appears only in scenarios where one attacker is taking on multiple blockers, or vice versa.
Previously, if an attacking creature was blocked by multiple creatures, the attacking player would put those blocking creatures in an order of their choice. During the combat damage step, attacking creatures can't assign combat damage to a creature that's blocking it unless each creature ahead of it in line is assigned lethal damage. This happened immediately after blockers were declared, before combat damage was assigned and dealt.
For example, if I attacked with a 5/5 creature and you blocked with a 3/3 and a 4/4, I would put your creatures in one of the two possible orders. Let's say I put the 3/3 first because I really want it gone. You're holding a spell that can save one of your creatures, such as Giant Growth. After the order is set, knowing the 3/3 is first in line, you cast Giant Growth on the 3/3. During the combat damage step, I need to assign at least 3 damage to the 3/3-now-6/6 before I can assign any to the 4/4. My creature, simply put, is doomed.
Here's the change: Damage assignment order no longer exists. If a creature is facing multiple opposing creatures in combat, that creature's combat damage is assigned and dealt as its controller desires during the combat damage step. Other players won't necessarily know what's going to happen.
Revising the earlier example under the new rules, my 5/5 attacker gets blocked by your 3/3 and your 4/4. It's now the declare blockers step, after blockers are declared, our last opportunity to do anything before combat damage is dealt. I pass priority. You have that Giant Growth in hand. You can still save the creature of your choice. We'll say you want to save that 3/3, probably for the same reason I wanted it gone, so you pump it up to a 6/6. We move on to combat damage, and now I get to assign my creature's 5 damage any way I want. Most likely, I'll take out your 4/4, as it's the best I can do. But maybe I have, you know … plans and would rather deal 3 damage to the 6/6 and 2 damage to the 4/4. That's okay, too.
The ability to "double block" or sometimes "entire team block" gives the defending player a lot of strength in many combat scenarios, and this change shifts some of that power back to the attacker. As we've seen above, the defense is not left helpless, as combat tricks like Giant Growth are still valuable. They're just not get-out-of-combat-free cards. More than anything, it simplifies and streamlines some rules that are complex and anchored a bit in the past. Although damage assignment order didn't come up in every game, we've been playing without it for over a year now and are very happy with the results. We're excited to have everyone join us.
Magic: The Gathering Foundations is a flashback to the best part's of Magic's history, and a flashforward to its exciting future. Follow along with all the previews and discover your new favorite cards. Magic: The Gathering releases on November 15, 2024. The set is available for preorder now from your local game store, online at retailers like Amazon, and elsewhere Magic: The Gathering products are sold.
