The way to win in Magic is to make all the other players lose. The most common way to do that is to reduce their life to 0, but there are other ways- and it adds yet more variety to an already diverse experience. Abbreviated from the official rules,
Conceding is often the best way forward when the board state [more on this next time] shows that victory is impossible. The 0 life total is the most common. Let's look at the others.
A player is required to draw more cards than are left in their library.
This is called 'milling,' taking its name from the millstone card from years ago:
Mill decks win by putting your opponent's library into the graveyard. There are a number of ways to do this, generally in blue:
A player has ten or more poison counters.
Some expansions have creatures and effects that give a player poison counters. The infect keyword achieved this in addition to other spells. The most recent set featuring this concept was the Scars of Mirrodin block in 2004. Some examples:
An effect may state that a player loses the game.
This means that an opponent has a permanent on the battlefield that presents an alternate loss condition (or remove the standard loss condition). A number of cards have been produced to this effect over the years; note that some make you lose the game, if you can't finish off your opponent that turn:
Of course, there are a number of cards that present an alternate win condition, too. Examples:
And finally, there are cards that enable you to stay in the game, even with 0 life, 10 poison counters, and more:
While the standard remains dropping your opponent to 0 life, be aware of these other options. And try them out! They can be really fun.
- 104.3. There are several ways to lose the game.
- 104.3a A player can concede the game at any time.
- 104.3b If a player’s life total is 0 or less.
- 104.3c If a player is required to draw more cards than are left in their library.
- 104.3d If a player has ten or more poison counters.
- 104.3e An effect may state that a player loses the game.
Conceding is often the best way forward when the board state [more on this next time] shows that victory is impossible. The 0 life total is the most common. Let's look at the others.
A player is required to draw more cards than are left in their library.
This is called 'milling,' taking its name from the millstone card from years ago:
Mill decks win by putting your opponent's library into the graveyard. There are a number of ways to do this, generally in blue:
A player has ten or more poison counters.
Some expansions have creatures and effects that give a player poison counters. The infect keyword achieved this in addition to other spells. The most recent set featuring this concept was the Scars of Mirrodin block in 2004. Some examples:
An effect may state that a player loses the game.
This means that an opponent has a permanent on the battlefield that presents an alternate loss condition (or remove the standard loss condition). A number of cards have been produced to this effect over the years; note that some make you lose the game, if you can't finish off your opponent that turn:
Of course, there are a number of cards that present an alternate win condition, too. Examples:
And finally, there are cards that enable you to stay in the game, even with 0 life, 10 poison counters, and more:
While the standard remains dropping your opponent to 0 life, be aware of these other options. And try them out! They can be really fun.
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