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Magic: The Gathering/Gameplay Tropes: Difference between revisions
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* [[Action Bomb]]: Blowing oneself up is a favorite tactic of red cards, particularly among goblins. Examples include but are not limited to [http://magiccards.info/evg/en/46.html Mudbutton Torchrunner], [http://magiccards.info/sh/en/91.html Mogg Bombers], [http://magiccards.info/rav/en/151.html War-Torch Goblin], [http://magiccards.info/evg/en/43.html Ib Halfheart]'s suicide troops, and whichever schmuck ends up carrying the [http://magiccards.info/fe/en/114.html Goblin Grenade].
* [[All There in the Manual]]: The Gatherer Web site includes all rulings on cards. As the game goes on and rules get refined, the company almost constantly changes the way game abilities are printed on cards:
** This was particularly bad early on when the company was still learning what worked well in the game and there was no set standard on how to phrase anything, but every set introduces new rules terms and longstanding parts of the game may have their names or the related rules changed if necessary. The concept of the "exile" zone, for example, has been in the game since the
** The general rule is to rely on the most recent printed text of a card to determine what it does, even if someone is playing with an older copy on which its abilities are phrased differently. Without that rule, for example, casting [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=3842 three versions] [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=14593 of exactly] [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=107278 the same card] would mean ''none of them'' could actually attack.<ref>This is because the first card prevents every creature type but Evil Eyes attacking. The second is a Horror, not an Evil Eye, so it can't attack. It says only cards called Evil Eye of Orms-By-Gore can attack (though it could potentially be read as saying only ''it'' can attack). The first card ''is'' called Evil Eye of Orms-By-Gore, so it can still attack. But wait! The third card says only "Eyes" can attack. The first isn't an Eye, it's an ''Evil'' Eye, and the third isn't an Evil Eye, it's an Eye. Therefore, ''none'' of the three can now attack.</ref>
** Subverted by the [[Lethal Joke Character|joke card]] [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=73967 R&D's Secret Lair], which explicitly bans using later printed text, errata or the rules to 'update' cards. It's, naturally, illegal in all competitive play, and rapidly makes friendly games very unfriendly.
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** [http://magiccards.info/ala/en/210.html Lich's Mirror] allows you to start the game over with 20 life if you die with it in play. Of course, ''you'' start over with nothing in play, but your opponent gets to keep all the cards they already have out.
** ''Shadowmoor'' block had Persist, and ''Innistrad'' has Undying, both of which are abilities that return dying creatures to play with a counter on it (-1/-1 and +1/+1 respectively), if it didn't already have one.
* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: Many cards have spectacular, awe-inspiring effects that will almost certainly win you the game - '''if''' you ever get enough mana to actually cast them before your opponent kills you, '''and''' your opponent doesn't have a counterspell or some other cheap, efficient answer. For specific examples, see [[Awesome but Impractical/Tabletop Games/Magic: The Gathering]].
* [[Awesome Yet Practical]]: The game designers like powerful, tournament-dominating cards to be exciting and fun to play, so it's common to see exciting and fun cards intentionally pushed up in power level. Planeswalkers are a great example: their characters are designed to be the face of the game, so the developers make sure to give them powerful abilities. [http://magiccards.info/wwk/en/31.html Jace, the Mind Sculptor] in particular quickly gained a dominating presence in multiple tournament formats.
* [[Back Stab]]: The "Prowl" ability of Rogues in ''Morningtide'' functions as one of these.
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