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- Combat damage and protection
Magic: The Gathering The multiverse can be a violent place. Conflict is central to the game, whether it’s a small-scale brawl between individuals on Zendikar or a full-blown planar invasion by the Phyrexians on New Kapena. This is perhaps best represented by Battle, a card type introduced in the 2023 March of the Machines set.
Battles can be incredibly confusing as they fly against a lot of what you may already know about Magic: The Gathering. Luckily, the power of battle is yours when you wrap your head around it.
What is Battle?
Battle is a card type, creatures, artifacts, enchantments, lands, and planeswalkers. This makes him the first all-new card type introduced to MTG in almost 16 years since Planeswalkers appeared in Lorwyn in 2007.
In essence, combat is permanent, Enter the battlefield with a certain number of defense countersWhenever you take damage in combat, whether it’s a direct damage spell or an attack by a creature, you remove that number of defense counters from itAnd when the last defense counter is lost, the battle is put it in your graveyard.
Combat can have abilities similar to those found on other permanents. The most common are: ability to enter the battlefieldbut also for some subtypes of combat, such as siege warfare An ability that triggers when the final defense counter is removed.
Combat damage and protection
This is all very similar to planeswalker loyalty counters, with one important difference: You can attack battles you control with your own creatures. This is because when a battle enters the battlefield, one player (defined by the battle’s subtype) is tasked with becoming that battle. protector.
Note that protectors are not the same as controllers. For example, if you play Innistrad Invasion and define your opponent as a protector, you still control the fight.
If you are defined as a combat guardian, use your own creatures to Blocking creatures attacking combatIt’s your job to stop the combat’s final counter from being removed.You can also use proliferate Increase the number of counters in battlethe opponent will work hard to beat it.
If you can attack combat (in Sieges, all players who are not guardians can attack, but this may differ for other combat subtypes), you can: attack with your own creaturesor use direct damage spells that can specifically target combat or just say “any target”.
No matter who deals the damage that removes the final defense counter, Controller gains the benefit stated on the cardFor example, a siege card like Lorwyn’s Invasion is exiled and can be cast by its controller without paying its mana cost, even if another player loses the battle.
What is siege warfare?
At the time of its debut in March of the Machines, there is only one Battle Card subtype. Siege. All battles in March of the Machines are two-sided siege warfare. It caused some confusion as to what the difference between the two is.
The enclosing subtype defines war keeperand What Happens When the Last Defense Counter Is RemovedFor Sieges, combat must always be protected by the controller’s opponent. If the protection leaves the game, the controller must choose another opponent to protect it instead. Siege battles allow non-guardian players to attack and deal damage. Including the controller for the battle itself.
When Siege loses its last defense counter, two things happen:
- Instead of going to the graveyard, Siege is exiled.
- Its controller can cast the other side of the card without paying its mana cost. Transform into the battlefield.
A siege is exiled only if the last defense counter is removed. If a combat is destroyed, sacrificed, exiled, or otherwise removed from play, its counters are not removed and Cannot be cast from exile.
What color is the battle?
as card type Battles are seen in all colors. However, they red and green ghoul colors.
Note that in Commander, combat must match your commander’s color identity. both sides.
There are 36 battle cards in total. Monocolor includes:
- five red
- five green
- Shihaku
- four blue
- four black
- One colorless sheet.
Multicolor cards have at least one battle for every 10 color combinations. white/black, two (Invasion of New Capena, and Invasion of Tentovada).there is also Battle of Five ColorsAlara’s Invasion requires 1 each of white, blue, black, red, and green mana to cast.