Evergreen Keywords
Keywords in MTG relate to certain words in the text box on a card, usually with brackets next to them filled with Italics. Today I'm going to talk about Evergreen Keywords, meaning Keywords that appear at a very common level throughout all sets, explaining what each of them does and what they are used for.
First up is Deathtouch. Appearing as the Keyword for the first time in Future Sight, things similar to the Deathtouch effect had been seen in previous sets, often worded slightly differently. This mainly green/black Keyword shows up on creatures usually, with some spells or abilities granting it as well. The effect of Deathtouch is; Whenever a creature with Deathtouch deals combat damage to another creature, the damaged creature dies. Any amount of damage dealt by a creature with Deathtouch is lethal, which is what makes this Keyword very effective. You can use your creature with Deathtouch to sit back and eat up anything that dares to attacks, or go on the offensive while protecting your creature to ensure either damage or forcing a block from your opponent. It can be used in a lot of ways for example granting a creature you control with Deathtouch the ability to shoot a creature for one damage some how, now the creature you control essentially has; Tap: Destroy target creature. Pretty powerful.
First Strike/ Double Strike
I group these two together because they work in a very similar way.
When two creatures get into combat, the damage they deal to each other is dealt simultaneously. However if one of those creatures had First Strike it gets to deal damage to the opposing creature slightly sooner, possibly resulting in destroying that creature before it can deal its damage back. Although, if the opposing creature doesn't die initially from the First Strike damage, regular damage happens, where it deals damage back to the First Striking creature. First Strike is a red/white Keyword, with a small appearance in black, that appears consistently in almost every set.
Double Strike works in the same way with one acception; while your First Striking creature didn't deal damage when regular damage occurred, your Double Striker does. This is a very, very powerful Keyword, and because of that doesn't appear that often. Being able to do double damage to any creature that it blocks or that blocks it, or even to the player ensures a very big threat to deal with. Double Strike is more a red/white Keyword, not really bleeding into black like First Strike.
Flash
Flash is a nice, neat Keyword. It allows whichever card its on to be played at any time you could play an instant. So you can wait until the end of your opponents turn to play a card with Flash, or if it has a come into play ability, maybe playing it before you declare blockers as a surprise. Flash is very effective and appears fairly regularly among sets. Because of the nature of the Keyword, Flash requires a bit of skill to play correctly; just because you can play something at the end of your opponents turn to gain maximum efficiency with your mana, does that always make it the best time to play it? Mainly appearing in blue, with a slight green and white showing, Flash really fits the sneaky aesthetic of what blue represents.
Flying
Pretty straight forward this one. A creature with Flying cant be blocked by creatures without Flying, and can block creatures with Flying. Appearing in all colours a lot, its biggest numbers are in white and blue.
Haste
One of the longest running Keywords, Haste allows whatever card it appears on to attack or tap as part of its ability the turn it came into play. Usually not being able to attack the same turn it entered the battlefield, a creature with haste can give you a bit of the surprise factor when your opponent had made a plan based on how much damage you can currently do. Appearing in red/black/green, it's a cool Keyword that doesn't really have any application passed the first turn, but still can have quite an effect.
Hexproof
Originally this was named Shroud, but overtime Shroud was phased out due to the fact that; if a creature you control had Shroud, your opponent couldn't target it, but neither could you. Hexproof fixes that, allowing you to do what you like with your own creature. This proves very useful when you can equip your Hexproof creature or put an enchantment on it to boosting its power, leaving your opponent at the mercy of a big creature that they don't really have an answer to beyond chump blocking it. Obviously very powerful and shows up every now and again, appearing in blue/green/white/black.
Indestructible
This can be a confusing Keyword, the word Indestructible means that it cannot be destroyed, but what constitutes destroy?
A creature with Indestructible cannot be destroyed by lethal damage or cards that say "Destroy target creature", they can however be destroyed if they have zero toughness, so if you can give said creature -X/-X enough to get its toughness to zero or below, it dies. It would also be destroyed if it had to be sacrificed or by effect of the Legend Rule. This Keyword can appear on pretty much anything, mainly showing up on artifacts.
Lifelink
Almost seen as the antonym, in MTG's case at least, to Deathtouch, the effects aren't that similar. Deathtouch destroys any creature it deals damage to, whereas Lifelink means you gain life equal to the amount of damage dealt by the creature with Lifelink. This can create very big life swings, especially when the damage is dealt to your opponent, resulting in a sudo double damage scenario, because the damage your creature does both gains you life and deals them damage.
This is a white/black Keyword, focusing on the flavour of those colours.
Menace
Menace has been around for a while but wasn't a Keyword until Magic Origins. Before that it's probably most related to Fear; a creature cant be blocked unless its by a black or artifact creature, or Intimidate, similar to Fear but instead of just being black they had to share a colour or be an artifact creature to block. This very aggressive Keyword says that a creature with Menace can only be blocked by two or more creatures. Being able to attack through your opponents two creatures with two of your Menacing attackers is pretty sweet and will prove very effective if they cant find more than three blockers. Sitting pretty in black/red, being the colours with the scariest creatures.
Prowess
Not to long ago, in Khans of Tarkir as the Jeskai mechanic, we were introduced to Prowess. Themed around gaining effects just for playing spells, a creature with Prowess gets +1/+1 whenever you play a non-creature spell, resulting in finding the balance between creatures that can benefit from non-creature spells and non-creature spells themselves to be able to abuse said creatures. This Keyword can mess up some combat math, blocking with your Prowess creature, then playing some instants to trigger the Prowess and deal more damage. As I said, Prowess was first attributed to the Jeskai clan in Tarkir, so its main colours are blue/red/white.
Reach
Related to Flying, Reach grants the creature its on the ability to block creatures with Flying. More of a flavorful Keyword, this appears mainly in green and red, on creature types like elves and humans or other creatures that could wield bows, or goblins and other reckless creature types in red content with firing things at other things in the name of fun.
Scry
Mirrodin wasn't that long ago, but when it introduced us to Scry, the Keyword just felt right. Scry can be very powerful and incredibly useful, allowing you to look at the top X cards of your library and choosing to put any number of them on the bottom of your library in any order and the rest back on top in any order. It has even become part of the mulligan rule in recent years and is still heavily applied through sets printed since its origin in Mirrodin, and will be for sets to come.
Trample
This can be a confusing one. Say you have a 4/4 creature with trample and you attack, say your opponent blocks with a 2/2 creature. Your creature will deal two damage to the blocking creature and because of the trample will do the excess damage to the defending player. You can pump your creature with Trample before it deals damage but after its blocked, getting more damage out of the block.
This sits mainly in green, because it has the biggest dudes on average, but shows up in all colours.
Vigilance
Usually creatures tap to attack. A creature with Vigilance doesn't cause it to tap, you can attack with it and use it to block the next turn. Usually showing an attack with a Vigilance creature is represented by moving it above your other creatures, and declaring that you're attacking with it of course. This is a white mechanic through and through, but does show up in green.
That's my look at Evergreen Keywords, hopefully its given you a bit more information about how cards work or even just what they mean.
Keep checking back to Game Changers for more news and updates but until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Yeah. :)
Keywords in MTG relate to certain words in the text box on a card, usually with brackets next to them filled with Italics. Today I'm going to talk about Evergreen Keywords, meaning Keywords that appear at a very common level throughout all sets, explaining what each of them does and what they are used for.
First up is Deathtouch. Appearing as the Keyword for the first time in Future Sight, things similar to the Deathtouch effect had been seen in previous sets, often worded slightly differently. This mainly green/black Keyword shows up on creatures usually, with some spells or abilities granting it as well. The effect of Deathtouch is; Whenever a creature with Deathtouch deals combat damage to another creature, the damaged creature dies. Any amount of damage dealt by a creature with Deathtouch is lethal, which is what makes this Keyword very effective. You can use your creature with Deathtouch to sit back and eat up anything that dares to attacks, or go on the offensive while protecting your creature to ensure either damage or forcing a block from your opponent. It can be used in a lot of ways for example granting a creature you control with Deathtouch the ability to shoot a creature for one damage some how, now the creature you control essentially has; Tap: Destroy target creature. Pretty powerful.
First Strike/ Double Strike
I group these two together because they work in a very similar way.
When two creatures get into combat, the damage they deal to each other is dealt simultaneously. However if one of those creatures had First Strike it gets to deal damage to the opposing creature slightly sooner, possibly resulting in destroying that creature before it can deal its damage back. Although, if the opposing creature doesn't die initially from the First Strike damage, regular damage happens, where it deals damage back to the First Striking creature. First Strike is a red/white Keyword, with a small appearance in black, that appears consistently in almost every set.
Double Strike works in the same way with one acception; while your First Striking creature didn't deal damage when regular damage occurred, your Double Striker does. This is a very, very powerful Keyword, and because of that doesn't appear that often. Being able to do double damage to any creature that it blocks or that blocks it, or even to the player ensures a very big threat to deal with. Double Strike is more a red/white Keyword, not really bleeding into black like First Strike.
Flash
Flash is a nice, neat Keyword. It allows whichever card its on to be played at any time you could play an instant. So you can wait until the end of your opponents turn to play a card with Flash, or if it has a come into play ability, maybe playing it before you declare blockers as a surprise. Flash is very effective and appears fairly regularly among sets. Because of the nature of the Keyword, Flash requires a bit of skill to play correctly; just because you can play something at the end of your opponents turn to gain maximum efficiency with your mana, does that always make it the best time to play it? Mainly appearing in blue, with a slight green and white showing, Flash really fits the sneaky aesthetic of what blue represents.
Flying
Pretty straight forward this one. A creature with Flying cant be blocked by creatures without Flying, and can block creatures with Flying. Appearing in all colours a lot, its biggest numbers are in white and blue.
Haste
One of the longest running Keywords, Haste allows whatever card it appears on to attack or tap as part of its ability the turn it came into play. Usually not being able to attack the same turn it entered the battlefield, a creature with haste can give you a bit of the surprise factor when your opponent had made a plan based on how much damage you can currently do. Appearing in red/black/green, it's a cool Keyword that doesn't really have any application passed the first turn, but still can have quite an effect.
Hexproof
Originally this was named Shroud, but overtime Shroud was phased out due to the fact that; if a creature you control had Shroud, your opponent couldn't target it, but neither could you. Hexproof fixes that, allowing you to do what you like with your own creature. This proves very useful when you can equip your Hexproof creature or put an enchantment on it to boosting its power, leaving your opponent at the mercy of a big creature that they don't really have an answer to beyond chump blocking it. Obviously very powerful and shows up every now and again, appearing in blue/green/white/black.
Indestructible
This can be a confusing Keyword, the word Indestructible means that it cannot be destroyed, but what constitutes destroy?
A creature with Indestructible cannot be destroyed by lethal damage or cards that say "Destroy target creature", they can however be destroyed if they have zero toughness, so if you can give said creature -X/-X enough to get its toughness to zero or below, it dies. It would also be destroyed if it had to be sacrificed or by effect of the Legend Rule. This Keyword can appear on pretty much anything, mainly showing up on artifacts.
Lifelink
Almost seen as the antonym, in MTG's case at least, to Deathtouch, the effects aren't that similar. Deathtouch destroys any creature it deals damage to, whereas Lifelink means you gain life equal to the amount of damage dealt by the creature with Lifelink. This can create very big life swings, especially when the damage is dealt to your opponent, resulting in a sudo double damage scenario, because the damage your creature does both gains you life and deals them damage.
This is a white/black Keyword, focusing on the flavour of those colours.
Menace
Menace has been around for a while but wasn't a Keyword until Magic Origins. Before that it's probably most related to Fear; a creature cant be blocked unless its by a black or artifact creature, or Intimidate, similar to Fear but instead of just being black they had to share a colour or be an artifact creature to block. This very aggressive Keyword says that a creature with Menace can only be blocked by two or more creatures. Being able to attack through your opponents two creatures with two of your Menacing attackers is pretty sweet and will prove very effective if they cant find more than three blockers. Sitting pretty in black/red, being the colours with the scariest creatures.
Prowess
Not to long ago, in Khans of Tarkir as the Jeskai mechanic, we were introduced to Prowess. Themed around gaining effects just for playing spells, a creature with Prowess gets +1/+1 whenever you play a non-creature spell, resulting in finding the balance between creatures that can benefit from non-creature spells and non-creature spells themselves to be able to abuse said creatures. This Keyword can mess up some combat math, blocking with your Prowess creature, then playing some instants to trigger the Prowess and deal more damage. As I said, Prowess was first attributed to the Jeskai clan in Tarkir, so its main colours are blue/red/white.
Reach
Related to Flying, Reach grants the creature its on the ability to block creatures with Flying. More of a flavorful Keyword, this appears mainly in green and red, on creature types like elves and humans or other creatures that could wield bows, or goblins and other reckless creature types in red content with firing things at other things in the name of fun.
Scry
Mirrodin wasn't that long ago, but when it introduced us to Scry, the Keyword just felt right. Scry can be very powerful and incredibly useful, allowing you to look at the top X cards of your library and choosing to put any number of them on the bottom of your library in any order and the rest back on top in any order. It has even become part of the mulligan rule in recent years and is still heavily applied through sets printed since its origin in Mirrodin, and will be for sets to come.
Trample
This can be a confusing one. Say you have a 4/4 creature with trample and you attack, say your opponent blocks with a 2/2 creature. Your creature will deal two damage to the blocking creature and because of the trample will do the excess damage to the defending player. You can pump your creature with Trample before it deals damage but after its blocked, getting more damage out of the block.
This sits mainly in green, because it has the biggest dudes on average, but shows up in all colours.
Vigilance
Usually creatures tap to attack. A creature with Vigilance doesn't cause it to tap, you can attack with it and use it to block the next turn. Usually showing an attack with a Vigilance creature is represented by moving it above your other creatures, and declaring that you're attacking with it of course. This is a white mechanic through and through, but does show up in green.
That's my look at Evergreen Keywords, hopefully its given you a bit more information about how cards work or even just what they mean.
Keep checking back to Game Changers for more news and updates but until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Yeah. :)
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