Intensity
| Intensity | |
|---|---|
| Mechanic | |
| Introduced | Alchemy: Kamigawa |
| Last used | Alchemy: Thunder Junction |
| Statistics |
14 cards  7.1%  14.3%  7.1%  21.4%  14.3%  7.1%  7.1%  21.4% |
| Scryfall Search | |
| fulloracle:"Intensity" | |
Intensity is a designed-for-digital, MTG Arena-specific mechanic introduced in Alchemy: Kamigawa.[1]
Description
Intensity is a card designation that starts at a certain value ("Starting Intensity") and will perpetually change based on the card's rules text — e.g. attacking or tapping a card. It is a form of marking numerical values on a card, functioning much like the old charge counter mechanic but phrased in a way to be perpetually tracked across zones as only digital cards can. Several cards also increase the intensity of all copies that a player owns, making them similar to kindle effects. Whenever a card's intensity increases , you'll see a badge on MTG Arena and updated rules text on the card to show the current intensity.
When Intensity was introduced, the card Static Discharge, having used counters in its first digital release, was retroactively errataed to use Intensity.[1] On the other hand, Dragonspark Reactor is one of the more recent paper designs that uses regular charge counters.
Alchemy: Ixalan introduced the keyword action Intensify for the act of increasing Intensity. The wording of all Alchemy cards with starting intensity was erratad to use the "intensify"/"intensifies" wording.
Rules
The Intensity mechanic is not included as part of the Comprehensive Rules.[2] It operates according to the programmed rules of Magic: The Gathering Arena.
Example
Example
Bellowsbreath Ogre 
Artifact Creature - Ogre Shaman
3/3
Starting Intensity 1
Whenever Bellowsbreath Ogre attacks, it deals damage equal to its intensity to any target, then perpetually increase its intensity by 1.
References
- ↑ a b Megan O'Malley and Jay Parker (March 16, 2022). "MTG Arena: State of the Game – Alchemy: Kamigawa". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Matt Tabak (August 2, 2021). "The Comp Rules aren’t being updated to explicitly support the Arena-only cards at this time.". Twitter.