Biting

From Magic: The Gathering Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
It has been suggested that this page be merged into fight.
Half-Kitten, Half-
Merge to
It has been suggested that this page be merged into fight. Further information regarding this issue may be found on the discussion page.
“It is the nature of souls that they burn more brightly together than apart.”
Biting
Mechanic
Introduced Mirage
Last used Evergreen
Text Target creature deals damage equal to its power to another target creature.
Storm Scale 1[1]
Scryfall Statistics

Biting, also called one-sided fight or punch (from sucker punch), is the slang name for a creature mechanic functionally defined as "Target creature deals damage equal to its power to another target creature".[2][3][4]

Description

A target creature you control deals damage equal to its power to target creature you don't control. Biting is similar to fight but the removal comes with less risk.[5][6] As a general rule, either one or the other will be printed at common in green as its typical removal spell, but fighting has a wider design space due to its downsides.

Red, with direct damage being its forte, can deal its damage to any target or have an opponent's creature deal damage to another creature. It also has a large swath of sacrifice and dies effects for damage, but these Fling effects are considered another category.

History

Early uses of the mechanic were in the Laccolith mechanic, which was closer to a super-first strike ability than a removal effect. It also turned up in white through Sinstriker's Will and Spirit Flare as an extension of white's ability to affect combat. A later use of the mechanic resulted in Fling without sacrificing (Soul's Fire), before being limited to creatures in Fall of the Hammer and Tail Slash. Green's access to this was initially limited to anti-flying effects like Jagged-Scar Archers or Wing Puncture. During Oath of the Gatewatch design, R&D experimented with one-sided fighting in green,[7] especially seeing as red "with all its direct damage, doesn't really need one-sided fight".[8] The first instance of the color change was Nissa's Judgment, but the most elegant form was Rabid Bite printed in Shadows over Innistrad, which gave the mechanic its semi-official name.

A variant was printed in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths with Charge of the Forever-Beast, which deals damage equal to a revealed card’s power.[9] It also could target planeswalkers - while previously done with red cards (Domri's Ambush) and the Mythic Vivien, Arkbow Ranger, Master's Rebuke shows that it can be accessed at common. With the introduction of the new damageable card type battles in March of the Machine, the two bite spells printed also could target them.

A large proportion of bite spells are templated so that the creature deals the damage, which lets the effect benefit from creature abilities like lifelink or deathtouch. There are a series of alternatively designed spells that don't target the caster's creatures, further limiting exposure to counter-removal, which result in the spell dealing the damage instead. Monstrous Onslaught and Lukka, Bound to Ruin observe the greatest power controlled upon cast or activation, Bouncer's Beatdown looks at the greatest power controlled upon resolution, Kraven's Last Hunt uses the highest powered card in the graveyard, and Charge of the Forever-Beast reveals a creature from hand and uses its power. Monstrous Emergence and Close Encounter have a new nontargeted "additional cost" selection templating, which locks in the damage using the last known information of a chosen creature: if the creature is removed, the spell will remember its power, but if the power is reduced it will deal less.

List of Bite effects

White White mana

Black Black mana

Red Red mana

Green Green mana

Multicolored Multicolored

Colorless Colorless mana

References

  1. ↑ Mark Rosewater (2024-02-01). "Hi Mark, where do you consider the bite/one-sided fight mechanic on the Storm Scale these days?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  2. ↑ Mark Rosewater (June 24, 2019). "Does R+D have a name for the ability where your creature deals damage to another creature but the other creature doesn't deal damage back?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  3. ↑ Mark Rosewater (July 2, 2019). "Does R&D have a preference for Fighting vs Biting?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  4. ↑ Mark Rosewater (October 18, 2021). "Mechanical Color Pie 2021 Changes". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2021-10-18.
  5. ↑ Mark Rosewater (January 29, 2016). "Is one-sided fight (tail slash, nissa's judgment, etc.) going to become the norm?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  6. ↑ Mark Rosewater (June 5, 2017). "Mechanical Color Pie 2017". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  7. ↑ Mark Rosewater (January 08, 2016). "Nissa's Judgment is green, but it doesn't let the targeted creature fight back?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  8. ↑ Mark Rosewater (January 11, 2016). "Gatewatch Me Work, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  9. ↑ Mark Rosewater (April 06, 2020). "Does green really need it's mechanical space expanded?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
 
Other
 
Other
Digital only
Miscellaneous
Playtest
Unreleased
Former
Retrieved from "https://mtg.wiki/index.php?title=Biting&oldid=550213"