Friendly Reminders to Mildly Confusing Interactions in MTG

Confusing interactions are a staple of card games, and MTG is no different when resolving certain wacky effect combinations. Rain of Gore versus lifelink creatures, Opalescence and Humility, Blood Moon and Urza's Saga, the list goes on.

But we can all agree that mildly unintuitive ones can be just as surprising. You won’t question how they work after that fact, but you will certainly be dumbfounded for the first few seconds when realizing the result of the interaction for the very first time.

This list isn’t the definitive, expansive list for all of them within the recently released sets. But these are, at least, some of the commonly occurring ones from recent games. A brief PSA-like selection of them, if you will, that would help prevent another unintended misplay in the near future.

Deathtouch and First Strike (or Double Strike)

Keep in mind that each point of damage dealt immediately “triggers” deathtouch, and would destroy slower creatures outright. As a rule of thumb, if the defending creatures do not have first strike, count the amount of power the attacking creature has, plus one creature dealing lethal damage. For example, Glissa Sunslayer needs to be blocked by three creatures, plus one creature (four total) dealing at least 3 damage in order to slay her in combat without first strike.

Copying Modal Double-Faced cards (MDFCs)

One notable rules change with the advent of Incubate tokens is the state of copied MDFCs. Originally, tokens cannot transform, or more specifically, don’t have a modal side to transform into. But with double-sided tokens, the rules are now updated so that copied MDFC permanents can now transform. This does not apply if the permanent leaves the battlefield first before coming back transformed (such as battles or saga enchantments).

Dissimilar copy states

As was already discussed in detail prior, Archfiend of the Dross and Metamorphic Alteration creates a nasty combo that turns any of your opponent’s creatures into an auto-loss engine. The concept is simple, since Metamorphic Alteration simply changes the permanent into the target copy, no ETB effect triggers, thus, your opponent’s fresh Archfiend of the Dross will not come with oil counters. During their next upkeep, it’s game over.

Other counters can stack on Ward

As a way of exhausting more resources or siphoning more advantages out of your opponent, you may always choose to trigger the Ward effect first, and then cast a counterspell. This way, you can potentially gain a 2-for-1 against opponents if you initially were not able to push significant advantages earlier. Perhaps an easier way to remember this is that Ward can stack with other Ward effects.

Ward costs can be paid, even if you can’t

While cards like Void Rend and Lier, Disciple of the Drowned can completely ignore Ward effects, the casting player may still pay the costs should they want to. If strategically appropriate, for example, you can still discard a card for Graveyard Trespasser // Graveyard Glutton.

Tax cards and Convoke

When your spell with Convoke is taxed by something like Anointed Peacekeeper or Invasion of Gobakhan // Lightshield Array, you actually get to go a bit more ham on its bonus effects since the added cost can still be convoked. For something like Ancient Imperiosaur, you can potentially add even more +1/+1 counters per increased point of mana cost.

Battles are cast when transformed

Prowess easily showcases this point, but it is always important to remember that battles are cast again once they transform. This is important for cards like Phyrexian Censor and Soulless Jailer (as rare as they may be seen in typical matchups), which causes the battle cards to instantly fizzle upon removing the last defense counter.

The legend rule still activates death triggers

Not a complex ruling, but occasionally forgotten in the heat of certain moments. This is particularly noticeable with cards like Hidetsugu and Kairi or Vraan, Executioner Thane. If better removal options are not on hand, you can just recast a second copy to (re)trigger its effect. Or cast multiple tokens of the same legendary creature to create lots of death triggers.

Same turn privileges

We already know that the The Wandering Emperor can immediately slash n’ dash the moment she drops. But technically, her reaction speed still works so long as it is the same turn, even if she was reanimated by a slower spell like Invasion of Tolvada // The Broken Sky. The slight delay between her appearance on the battlefield and the instant speed of her loyalty effects (on that same turn) could confuse some opponents, who are already used to seeing her be activated immediately as soon as she is cast.

Madness + convoke = fancier flash

Markov Baron reinvigorates the spirit of high-speed madness with the tastier, and more "cautionary" flavor of convoke. Not only do you have to be wary of the wider mana pool presented by untapped vampires. But you still need to watch out for potential discard sources. That being said, if you are careful enough, you will be able to consistently notice these elements and prevent a potential brain fart move.

BONUS: Opponent always "mysteriously" not going all out at Eternal Wanderer

Not really confusing mechanics-wise. But I've lost count of how often both sides forget about her passive ability. Of course, in MTG Arena, the opponent would always "remember", since they are not allowed to attack more than once to her. Not the same with her users, who are generally bewildered 1-out-of-3 times at the apparent "misplay" that their opponent just did.