Fight
| Fight | |
|---|---|
| Keyword Action | |
| Introduced |
HarperPrism promo (mechanic) Innistrad (keyword) |
| Last used | Evergreen |
| Reminder Text | Fight [a creature] (Each deals damage equal to its power to the other.) |
| Scryfall Statistics | |
Fight is a keyword action introduced in Innistrad. The word appears in a phrase like "[Cardname] fights target creature." and it means that both creatures deal damage equal to their Power to each other.[1][2] Cards using fight appear primary in green and secondary in red.[3] They carry the flavor of an altercation.
Description
Fight is similar to the mechanic originally introduced with the Land Arena, though slightly altered. A few old cards (including Arena) with the same functionality received updated Oracle wording using the new terminology. Cards with similar, but not identical, functionality do not use the word "fight" — the most obvious effect would be due to wither and infect, which would reduce the counter-damage before it happens.
Fighting was introduced as a way for Green to interact with creatures in Limited, often at common. With other colors getting more abilities on their creatures, giving Green a way to leverage creature sizing was important for balance, and critically letting them answer utility creatures with 
abilities that can't be forced into combat with things like Provoke or Lure. However, it has many downsides both in application and design: the most obvious one is that it is extremely vulnerable to not only removal but also opposing combat tricks. It also tends to exacerbate tempo (the player ahead on board gets to fight with a stronger creature, while a player behind on board can't answer the biggest threat) and, as a consequence, tends to be played at the first safe opportunity regardless of impact. Fight spells are often coupled with pump effects to allow creatures to survive fighting, as creatures of the same mana cost tend to trade. These can either be temporary, use +1/+1 counters, or even flipped by having the fight be an enters effect on a pumping Aura. While this also leans into the forward-tempo aspect, it sometimes allows the player who is behind to recover. A notable play pattern with pump-fights is that a pumped creature that has fought usually can't profitably attack into a second blocker.
As such, the most basic fight effect of Prey Upon has been deemed worth less than a mana: one-mana sorcery Fight spells now have further flexibility, such as Bushwhack or Longstalk Brawl. Instant-speed fight is not common, as incentivizing players to fight into open mana tends to end poorly, so design favors giving players different upsides for the cost increase associated with making a fight spell instant speed.
Garruk Relentless has a unique effect where it deals 3 damage to a creature and the creature deals its power to him; this is functionally similar to a 3/3 that fights, but on a planeswalker.
Cards that care about fighting
- Foe-Razer Regent - adds +1/+1 counters
- Neyith of the Dire Hunt - draws cards
- Boxing Ring - creates Treasure
Winning a fight
The designed-for-digital card Skyshroud Ambush from Jumpstart: Historic Horizons introduced the concept of "winning a fight". The reminder claims it involves the caster's creature "surviving" the damage. However, the Comprehensive Rules currently don't define what "winning a fight" or "surviving" entails. Boxing Ring uses a more streamlined concept where the creature needs to have only fought, which Skyshroud Ambush couldn't use without digital assistance because its effect is a single spell ability.
Enters and fights
Starting with Foe-Razer Regent, green got an occasional creature that would fight another creature when it entered the battlefield. However, with Wicked Wolf and its ability to gain indestructible for no mana, R&D paused the creation of new entry-fighters after Kogla, the Titan Ape due to them being too close to something like Flametongue Kavu, an efficient anti-creature two-for-one, which would be a bend for green. Maro stated his position that weaker creatures would have access to it[4]. The red creature Markov Enforcer has access to the "standard" sizing, while green got the more specific Sawblade Slinger, both in Innistrad: Crimson Vow.
Bite
Green needed answers to creatures, but R&D wanted to make sure the solution to creatures involves creatures. Fight was the first step in that direction. However, it relied not only on high power but high toughness. The next step, as first seen on Nissa's Judgment, was a creature or creatures dealing damage equal to its power for green, which was later dubbed "bite" by R&D[5][6]. This gave green creatures design space to have lower toughness but other abilities, and largely removed the weakness to other pump spells.
Rules
From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (September 19, 2025—Marvel's Spider-Man)
- Fight
- When two creatures fight, each deals damage equal to its power to the other. See rule 701.14, “Fight.”
From the Comprehensive Rules (September 19, 2025—Marvel's Spider-Man)
- 701.14. Fight
- 701.14a A spell or ability may instruct a creature to fight another creature or it may instruct two creatures to fight each other. Each of those creatures deals damage equal to its power to the other creature.
- 701.14b If one or both creatures instructed to fight are no longer on the battlefield or are no longer creatures, neither of them fights or deals damage. If one or both creatures are illegal targets for a resolving spell or ability that instructs them to fight, neither of them fights or deals damage.
- 701.14c If a creature fights itself, it deals damage to itself equal to twice its power.
- 701.14d The damage dealt when a creature fights isn’t combat damage.
Rulings
- The damage is dealt simultaneously, and it is dealt by the creatures themselves, so abilities like deathtouch, lifelink, and infect will work as normal.
- Damage dealt while fighting is not combat damage, so abilities like first strike or Double strike won't have any effect.
- Fighting does not cause the creatures to become tapped.[1]
- Only creatures can fight.
- No more than two creatures can fight.
- If a creature somehow fights itself, it will deal damage to itself equal to its power twice simultaneously. This is different from cards that cause a creature to deal damage to itself, such as Solar Blaze.
Example
Example
Blood Feud 
Sorcery
Target creature fights another target creature. (Each deals damage equal to its power to the other.)
Fighting cards before the keyword action
- Arena from a special book promotion and Time Spiral
- Triangle of War from Visions
- Contested Cliffs from Onslaught
- Magus of the Arena from Planar Chaos
- Rivals' Duel from Morningtide
Some cards use a sequential-damage fight that is not errata'd:
- Cyclops Gladiator from Magic 2011
- Durkwood Tracker from Time Spiral
- Gargantuan Gorilla from Alliances
- Karplusan Yeti from Ice Age
- Predatory Urge from Zendikar
- Stalking Yeti from Coldsnap
- Tahngarth, Talruum Hero from Planeshift
- Tracker from The Dark
- Vein Drinker from Shards of Alara
A small number have a wording that works neither with fight nor bite, primarily due to the interaction with multiple targets.
- Living Inferno from Guildpact
- Polukranos, World Eater from Theros
- Master of the Wild Hunt from Magic 2010
- Ravenous Gigantotherium from Commander 2020
Trivia
- The fight keyword shares its name with half the card Prepare // Fight.
References
- ↑ a b Wizards of the Coast (August 28, 2011). "Innistrad Mechanics". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (June 8, 2015). "Evergreen Eggs & Ham". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (June 5, 2017). "Mechanical Color Pie 2017". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (March 14, 2022). "Are creatures which fight on ETB bends for green or perfectly fine?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (January 08, 2016). "Nissa's Judgment is green, but it doesn't let the targeted creature fight back?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (January 30, 2016). "What's all this noise I keep hearing about fight and "deals damage equal to its power"?". Blogatog. Tumblr.