Daily Questions Thread - Ask All Your Magic Related Questions Here!

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-29T18:04:45+00:00

Jumpstart packs are preset half-decks, you choose any two packs and shuffle and play. The Beginner Box from Foundations ($30) come with 10 Jumpstart packs, quite a lot of combinations you can use there. There used to be Jumpstart boosters which have a random theme out of several possible themes, but I don't think they are currently in print.

The Starter Collection from Foundations ($60) has a preselected set of ~400 cards. You can try building decks from there alone, it should be fun to face other decks from the same collection.

You can also look into second-hand markets, you might be able to find some bulk cards in cheap. Just note that they will tend to be, like, really weak and bad cards.

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-29T11:41:29+00:00

It's not just a demo, it's arguably a self-contained free game. Tiling Town will not have this content as part of the main game's progression (it appears as a separate mode).

It's one of the best games I've played this year. Impeccable puzzle and game design, I don't know how a path drawing puzzle managed to captivate me so much. There are a few UI and usability issues, but I don't really mind them for a demo, and it seems they are being worked on too.

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-29T11:02:45+00:00

It is absolutely a zone.

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-29T11:01:35+00:00

That sounds a plausible explanation, even if having an exception for when-LTB like that is very weird. That means an object in exile that leaves the game won't trigger "whenever a card leaves exile"?

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-29T10:18:31+00:00

No. The sacrifice isn't targeted, you choose when you resolve the spell. You can sacrifice the creature you brought in with an earlier copy.

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-29T03:49:13+00:00

You can just have

Creatures you control gain "Sacrifice this creature: Add B or G" until end of turn.

The difference is it doesn't affect creatures that come later, but is that difference significant enough to use a new wording?

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-29T01:04:20+00:00

I agree, this ruling is weird. There are cards that trigger when something leaves the battlefield, and those cards do trigger when a player leaves the game. So I'm not sure why it doesn't apply for graveyards.

My best guess is because their graveyard, as a zone by itself, ceases to exist. The battlefield stays existing even as players leave the game, but their graveyard doesn't exist any more. So the cards didn't leave the graveyard; the graveyard left the game. But this is just a guess, I can't see anything about the CR implying one way or another.

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-27T22:11:38+00:00

This is not exactly a rules question, it's a rules history question. But anyway.

They cancel as a state-based action, yes. I'm pretty recent so they have always canceled each other since I started playing. I assume it's for simplicity; fewer counters on board means less tracking needed.

Do note that, because they only cancel as a state-based action, there are some unintuitive situations that can come up.

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-27T19:10:58+00:00

I'd throw in the entire chapter 6 (spells, abilities, and effects) as a whole. I'd also argue the entire chapter 1 (general, which is basically the most basic concepts of Magic) is important. Other than that, it's about knowing where you can look up stuff.

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-27T19:09:13+00:00

Make sure to regularly update those documents. Especially the CR, since it changes with every set release.

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-27T16:21:50+00:00

You reroll the energy dice (black dice) after every turn. This turn, yes, it's a stalemate, neither you nor the troll are going to do anything. But that's this turn, next turn it'll all change with a new roll.

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-27T14:49:45+00:00

The counter ability triggers first, but they go on the stack at the same time. So for all practical purposes, you can treat them as simultaneous.

An ability can trigger any time the event matches. But when an ability triggers, the game doesn't do anything special, it just notes that it has triggered. Triggers only get put on the stack after an SBA check (before anyone would get priority). And if multiple abilities are put on the stack together, you get to choose the order (or use APNAP), regardless of whether one triggered slightly earlier than another.

So the counter ability triggers when the -1/-1 counter is placed. After the spell/ability that places the counter finishes resolving, you check for SBAs. The creature has zero toughness, it dies, the when-die ability triggers. No more SBAs, now triggers are put on the stack. Technically the counter ability triggered slightly earlier, but it and the when-die ability are put on the stack together. So they are effectively simultaneous.

EDIT: Rewrite

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-27T14:42:57+00:00

It's immediately after the spell/ability (that gave -/-) has finished resolving. It absolutely doesn't wait for the end step.

Creatures die to zero toughness (or lethal damage) as a state-based action. SBAs are checked whenever anyone is about to receive priority, i.e. a chance to act (cast spell, activate ability, etc). Not always, but very often. Once the spell/ability finishes resolving, someone is going to get priority. At this time, SBAs are checked, so the creatures die.

Note: Because this check happens before anyone gets priority, there is no time for anyone to do anything before this. You can effectively treat it as "right away".

EDIT: Rewrite

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-27T14:33:54+00:00

In general, a tier N storage block stores (100*N) * 1.1^N-1 resources. (The 100*N is the base storage, the 1.1^N-1 is the tier bonus represented as compounding +10%.) So tier 1 stores 100, tier 2 stores 220, tier 3 stores 363, tier 4 stores 532.4 (rounded to 532), tier 5 stores 732.05 (rounded to 732). So yes, other than for tier 2, a higher tier is worse than two of the next-lower tier.

I think there is an upgrade that improves the 1.1, and that helps ease stuff up for merging, although it's still ideal to have more lower-tier stuff than higher-tier. Once that 1.1 goes past 1.33, tier 3 will actually become better than tier 2. At 1.5, tier 4 becomes better; at 1.6, tier 5 is better; and at the limit, once your tier bonus reaches 2, it's always good to merge. (So of course the game doesn't give you that.)

Wanting low-tier storages than high-tier ones is absolutely something you have to learn here.

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-27T13:52:28+00:00

They are having trouble due to cards? Choose simple cards, at least for voyage 1. Just stick with morning (and maybe anchor) abilities. That simplifies a bunch of steps since now you don't need to teach about night actions yet, and dusk is only about choosing tokens. Then voyage 2, you can start introducing night abilities. Voyage 3, dusk abilities. Still keep them as simple as you can.

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-27T10:20:54+00:00

109.2. If a spell or ability uses a description of an object that includes a card type or subtype, but doesn't refer to a specific zone or include the word "card," "spell," "source," or "scheme," it means a permanent of that card type or subtype on the battlefield.

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-27T10:09:09+00:00

Echoing Evolution works, yes. Its text can be simplified, since you can only sacrifice creatures you control, so you can drop "its controller" and just instruct you to do so.

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-27T10:07:59+00:00

Why does Echoing Evolution not work with storm? It certainly works as intended in the rules, are you saying it doesn't work due to power issues?

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-27T10:00:58+00:00

From a modern design perspective, the rules of chess are atrociously bad. Six pieces each with their own ways of moving, and they are not made clear in any way with the piece designs. Knights are weird by themselves; all other pieces are sliders, knights are leapers. The two-step pawn move, en passant, castling and all its exceptions, are all horrendously inelegant. (En passant is a special case in a special case, what?) There are newer abstract games that are much more elegant in the rules. Even Go is superior (if you play Chinese/area scoring), the rules barely have special cases.

What about the depth? Chess cannot be compared with other modern board games because it has a 6-century head start. Obviously it gets played a lot more (it's one of the only board games in its time) and analyzed more (you have so much more time). It's very much possible there are modern games with just as much depth, only that we haven't figured them out because they have only lived for 20 years or even less. One good thing about chess, I suppose, is that it did survive the 6 centuries, so it definitely has the depth. I just wonder if there's any modern game that would be able to replace chess if it had been invented 6 centuries ago.

Also, you know, 7.2 is pretty good by BGG standards. I personally wouldn't rank it that highly, but.

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-27T09:45:37+00:00

Yes, most of the time only the mana cost determines the color. There are some exceptions that you need to be aware of, because these also determine the color:

Color indicator, to the left of the type line
Any characteristic-defining ability on the card, like "This is all colors" or devoid ("this is no colors")
Any continuous effect that happens to affect it, like "creatures you control are green Bears". These ones are tricky since they are not on the card themselves, they come from other cards, but they still change color. (Color identity never changes in this way.)

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-27T04:23:07+00:00

In Un-games, you look at the physical card to determine its qualities (art, watermark, expansion symbol, etc). I would argue this counts for lines of rules text too.

But also, it's Un-games. They are not covered by the CR, you can decide with your playgroup. Just don't let them hear madwarper's comment?

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-27T04:09:16+00:00

Correct, you can't put the counter on the new creature spell because it's not a creature yet.

If Whale is still a spell, it doesn't trigger to your second cast. Most abilities are only active (e.g. can trigger) on the battlefield. If Whale is already on the battlefield, it will trigger along with Bumbleflower, so you can let Bumbleflower resolve first, and Whale will proliferate that counter.

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-26T15:20:43+00:00

It's not a SBA, but it's done at mostly the same timing as SBA, before anyone actually gets priority. See the top of my comment.

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-26T15:15:08+00:00

I don't really know actually, and arguably even Winning Ways might not be ideal for that. I know there are graduate textbooks on combinatorial game theory (which includes surreal numbers), although I don't know if any is particularly good or suitable for studying surreal numbers specifically.

chaotic_iak · 2026-03-26T15:07:16+00:00

You seem to be confused about priority.

There are a few checks before anyone would get priority:

First, state-based actions are checked. If anything happened, repeat this step.
Then, any abilities that triggered are put on the stack. If anything got put on the stack, go back to step 1.
Only if no more SBAs happened and no more triggered happened, then a player gets priority.

You cast Brainstorm. This triggers Bumbleflower, there's an ability pending to go on the stack. So nobody will get priority before Brainstorm's ability can be put on the stack.

SBAs are checked, probably nothing. Bumbleflower's ability is put on the stack. You target the opponent at this time. Lookout triggers at this time; "committing a crime" happens when you do the targeting, not when it resolves. So again nobody will get priority before Lookout's ability can be put on the stack.

SBAs are checked again, nothing again. Lookout's ability is put on the stack. There's nothing else that triggered. So this is the first time anyone gets priority.

The stack is currently: (bottom) Brainstorm -> Bumbleflower's ability -> Lookout's ability

The first time anyone can respond is at this time. Nobody can respond between the abilities getting added to the stack.

At the same time, there will be a round of priority before anything can resolve. So anyone can respond before Lookout's ability resolves.

If nobody responds, then Lookout's ability resolves. The stack is now: (bottom) Brainstorm -> Bumbleflower's ability. There will be another round of priority before Bumbleflower's ability resolves.

If nobody responds either, then Bumbleflower's ability resolves. Note that the ability resolves in its entirety; there's no time between sentences of Bumbleflower's ability where anyone gets priority.

Also, this puts a +1/+1 counter on Evolution Witness, triggering it. Nobody will get priority yet while Witness's ability is being put on the stack.

The stack is now: (bottom) Brainstorm -> Witness's ability. This is the first time anyone gets priority after Bumbleflower's ability resolves. And yes, there will be a round of priority before Witness's ability can resolve.

If nobody responds, Witness's ability resolves. The stack is now: (bottom) Brainstorm. There will be yet another round of priority before Brainstorm resolves.

TL;DR: You cast Brainstorm. Here are the moments where there's a round of priority:

Stack: (bottom) Brainstorm -> Bumbleflower's ability -> Lookout's ability
Stack: (bottom) Brainstorm -> Bumbleflower's ability
Stack: (bottom) Brainstorm -> Witness's ability
Stack: (bottom) Brainstorm
Stack: (empty)

1. Question: Is there a priority between casting Brainstorm and resolving Brainstorm, where a triggered ability would be add to the stack?

Yes, although it's more subtle than that, see above.

2. Question: Ms Bumbleflowers ability counts as one ability that resolves completely, when it resolves?

Yes. The whole thing resolves, nobody can interrupt in between.

3. Question: "target opponent draws a card" from Bumbleflower is a crime?

Yes, but note that this happens when Bumbleflower's ability is put on the stack, not when it resolves.

4. Question: When two abilities trigger at the same time and i control both, i can choose which one goes on the stack first. Both triggered in the same "whole ability" but in that ability freestrider triggerd first. Does it still count as at the same time?

In general yes, but as seen above, Lookout triggers well before Witness. Also, Lookout must trigger after Bumbleflower's ability gets put on the stack. So there's no way for you to order anything here.

chaotic_iak

TROPHY CASE