Magic: The Gathering/Gameplay Tropes: Difference between revisions

** A less "meta" example is the Orzhov guild from ''Ravnica'' block, whose primary strategy is to gradually "bleed" the opponent by combining lifegain effects with repeatable incremental damage.

* [[Griefer]]: The ''New Phyrexia'' expansion was [[Intentional Trope|intentionally designed with Griefing in mind]], and contains many cards that are intended to make your opponent feel bad. For example, [http://magiccards.info/nph/en/23.html Shattered Angel] takes something they normally feel happy about (getting more mana) and makes them feel bad about it (by making you gain life every time they play a land); there's a similar dynamic with cards like [http://magiccards.info/mbs/en/21.html Consecrated Sphinx], [http://magiccards.info/nph/en/25.html Suture Priest], [http://magiccards.info/nph/en/87.html Invader Parasite], and so on.<br /><br />And while most sets have spells that kill or disable your opponent's stuff, in ''New Phyrexia'' they have added effects that rub your victory in their face, as with [http://magiccards.info/nph/en/40.html Numbing Dose], [http://magiccards.info/nph/en/99.html Victorious Destruction], [http://magiccards.info/nph/en/43.html Psychic Barrier], [http://magiccards.info/nph/en/110.html Glissa's Scorn], [http://magiccards.info/nph/en/58.html Enslave], [http://magiccards.info/nph/en/41.html Phyrexian Ingester], etc.<br /><br />Or, as development team member Tom LaPille [http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/140 puts it]:

* [[History Repeats]]: Literal example in the ''Time Spiral'' block, which brought back lots of old cards and themes as part of its "time" gimmick.

* [[Hit Points]]: 20 for each player to start, though it can get very low, very high, and some cards even let the player [[Determinator|keep going]] [[Only Mostly Dead|with 0 or less]]. Creatures also have these (in the form of toughness), but theirs reset each turn as long as they take less-than-fatal damage. Planeswalkers have Loyalty points which work a lot like the player's hit points.

** [http://magiccards.info/lg/en/118.html Shelkin Brownie]'s special ability is to remove the "Bands with other" ability from creatures. In the history of ''Magic'', there are ''two'' cards with the "Bands from other" ability: the 1/1 tokens created by [http://magiccards.info/lg/en/108.html Master of the Hunt], and the ''Unhinged'' card [http://magiccards.info/uh/en/106.html Old Fogey], which is illegal in every format and only has the ability as a joke (the only creatures he can band with, aside from creatures that have the regular Banding ability, are other copies of himself). Oh, plus a cycle of lands that are serious contenders for "Worst card in the game" and probably shouldn't count. Good old Shelkin Brownie, keeping the world safe from four-mana 1/1s and legendary lands that don't produce mana!

** The infamously bad card [http://magiccards.info/lg/en/186.html Great Wall] is an enchantment that stops creatures with the Plainswalk ability. At the time of its printing, this included exactly two cards, both of them craptastic: [http://magiccards.info/lg/en/203.html Righteous Avengers], a 3/1 for 5 mana with no other abilities; and [http://magiccards.info/ch/en/5.html Giant Slug], which could only gain Plainswalk by paying 5 mana a turn. Good thing we built that wall, right?

* [[Wooden Stake]]: [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=226880 Wooden Stake].

* [[Xanatos Gambit]]: