Playtest card (MagicCon)/Mechanics L–Q

Playtest card

 

Mechanics A–K

 

Mechanics L–Q

 

Mechanics R–Z

 

Creature Types

 

Counters

 

Several mechanics are unique to playtest cards from Mystery Booster, Mystery Booster 2, and Unknown Events. This list includes all such mechanics alphabetically from L–Q. Many of them appear on only one card.

Land casualty

Land casualty is a casualty variant that allows the casualty mechanic to function when a land is played. In all other respects, the ability is the same as casualty. Land casualty appears on the card Maestros' Totally Safe Hideout (Mystery Booster 2).

Rulings

From the Release Notes for Mystery Booster 2 (October 3, 2024)

• You may sacrifice only one creature for Maestros' Totally Safe Hideout's land casualty ability, and you create only one token that's a copy of it.

Land planeswalker

Land planeswalkers are both lands and planeswalkers and therefore the rules for both apply to them. The only land planeswalker card is Wrenn and One (Mystery Booster 2).

Rulings

From the Release Notes for Mystery Booster 2 (October 3, 2024)

• Wrenn and One is played as a land. It doesn't use the stack, it's not a spell, it can't be responded to, it has no mana cost, and it counts as your land play for the turn.
• If Wrenn and One is changed into a basic land type, it continues to be a green Wrenn planeswalker, but it will lose its other abilities.
• If Wrenn and One gains flash, or you have the ability to play Wrenn and One as though it had flash, you can ignore the normal timing rules for when during your turn you can play a land, but not any other restrictions. You can't play Wrenn and One during another player's turn, and you can't play Wrenn and One if you don't have any land plays remaining.

Landship

Landship is an ability word that combines the landfall and kinship abilities. At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it's a land, you may reveal it. If you do, you can perform a certain action. It appears on the card Plane-Merge Elf (Mystery Booster).

Kinfall is kinship and landfall combined the other way around. While kinfall is a relatively common functional design, landship has only two cards with a similar design with Into the Wilds and Fisher's Talent.

Example

Plane-Merge Elf
Creature — Elf Warrior
3/3
Landship — At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it’s a land, you may reveal it. If you do, create a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token.
Kinfall — Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, if it shares a creature type with Plane-Merge Elf, creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.

Legacy

Legacy is a static keyword ability introduced in Mystery Booster that allows players to permanently change the rules text of a card by marking it with a pen. There are two applications of this: the two creatures with legacy are modified during deckbuilding, and as such do not change, though a player may modify them as part of their sideboarding plan. Gold Mine, however, changes during gameplay, and hence can vary its value as the match continues.

Legacy is a nod to Legacy-style board games. Cryptic Spires has similarities to this ability, with "As you create your deck..." being analogous to "Before the game starts..." or "During deckbuilding...". The plot booster is another concept derived from Legacy-style board games.

Rulings

From the Release Notes for Mystery Booster (November 11, 2019)

• Once you've marked a card, you can't change it, even between games. It remains part of that physical card.
• If an object becomes a copy of an object with a word blank, the value in that blank is copied.
• If an object without nodes becomes a copy of an object with nodes, the copy has no nodes. A cost to mark one of its nodes can't be paid.

Example 1

Inspirational Antelope
Creature — Antelope
1/3
Legacy — Before the game starts, choose a keyword or ability word and write it below.
Spells with __________ you cast cost less to cast.

Example 2

Gold Mine
Land
: Add .
Legacy — , Mark one of Gold Mine’s unmarked nodes: Add one mana of any color.
□,□,□,□,□

Legendary mana cost

A legendary mana cost, represented by , appears on the card Keeper of the Crown (Mystery Booster 2). The cost can be paid by one mana of any type produced by a legendary source, which can include any legendary permanent, legendary spell, or legendary card in any zone. This is a requirement of the cost itself. The mana produced by a legendary source has no special properties, effects, or restrictions derived from the legendary supertype and that mana is indistinguishable from any other mana of the same type.

Rulings

From the Release Notes for Mystery Booster 2 (October 3, 2024)

• is a mana symbol. It can be paid with one mana of any type as long as that mana was produced by a legendary source. Keeper of the Crown's mana value is 3.
• A "legendary source" is a permanent, spell, or card in any zone with the supertype "legendary." Notably, a creature that becomes legendary due to Coronation of the Wilds is a legendary source.

Library ninjutsu

Library ninjutsu is a ninjutsu variant that can be activated only from the library, and only while a player is searching their library. Rather than being returned to hand, the unblocked creature is shuffled into its owner's library. Library ninjutsu appears on the card Panglacial Shinobi (Mystery Booster 2).

Rulings

From the Release Notes for Mystery Booster 2 (October 3, 2024)

• Library ninjutsu is a variant of ninjutsu that can be activated only from your library. It can't be activated from your hand. Just as with regular ninjutsu, the Ninja enters attacking the player, planeswalker, or battle that the returned creature was attacking.
• Library ninjutsu ability can be activated only while you're searching your own library and only if you control at least one unblocked attacker. The effect that caused you to search needs to say "search" and "library". Examples of effects that let you activate library ninjutsu are Primal Growth and Buried Alive. Examples of effects that don't are Bribery and Halimar Depths.
• Activating a library ninjutsu ability while searching your library follows all the normal rules for activating an ability, except for timing (activating this ability always occurs during the resolution of another spell or ability). The ability goes on the stack. You have to pay the ability's listed costs and any applicable additional costs, which means you can activate mana abilities while you're activating a library ninjutsu ability even as you're searching your library.
• After you activate a library ninjutsu ability, you continue the search effect where you left off. Once the search effect finishes resolving, the active player gets priority with the library ninjutsu ability on the stack. Any abilities that triggered when the ability was activated are put on the stack now.
• If you have enough mana and unblocked attackers, you can activate the library ninjutsu abilities of multiple Panglacial Shinobi during a single search effect.
• If you want to activate a library ninjutsu ability while searching your library, you must do so before you find any cards with the search effect.
• While searching your library, you must keep your library in the same order until you shuffle it. This order could matter if you tap Millikin for mana, for example, to pay for a library ninjutsu ability.
• Ninjutsu abilities can be activated only after blockers have been declared. Before then, attacking creatures are neither blocked nor unblocked.
• As you activate a library ninjutsu ability, you reveal the Ninja card in your library and shuffle the attacking creature into your library. The Ninja card with library ninjutsu stays revealed and isn't put onto the battlefield until the ability resolves or otherwise leaves the stack. If it leaves your library before then, it won't enter the battlefield at all.
• Although the Ninja is attacking, it was never declared as an attacking creature (for purposes of abilities that trigger whenever a creature attacks, for example).
• The library ninjutsu ability can be activated during the declare blockers step, combat damage step, or end of combat step. In most cases (see below), if you wait until the combat damage step or end of combat step, it will be after combat damage has been dealt, so the Ninja won't deal combat damage.
• If a creature in combat has first strike or double strike, you can activate the library ninjutsu ability during the first-strike combat damage step. The Ninja will deal combat damage during the regular combat damage step, even if it has first strike.

Mana counter

Mana counters are a type of counter that can replace lands as a player's source of mana. They appear on the card The Snapstone Wielder (2025 Atlanta Unknown Event), which represents former Hearthstone Game Director and Marvel Snap developer Ben Brode. The legendary human gamer creates special rules for the player when it is their commander, and the deck has no lands in it. It causes their starting hand size to be 4 and gives the player a mana counter on each upkeep to compensate. The player can then spend mana of any color equal to the number of mana counters they have on each of their turns. However, the counters cannot be used on the opponent's turns, limiting the use of instance speed interactions. The counters are designed to replicate the Hearthstone mana crystals in a game of Magic. The restrictions on timing, use, and build-up represent Hearthstone's gameplay.

Manabond counter

A manabond counter is a type of counter that can be placed on a permanent, turning into a land with ": Add one mana of this card's color" and no other card types or abilities. They are used by the card Wrath of Sod (Mystery Booster).

Rulings

From the Release Notes for Mystery Booster (November 11, 2019)

• If each manabond counter is removed from a permanent, the manabond effect ends.
• Permanents with a manabond counter on them retain their colors and supertypes, while losing all other card types and subtypes.

Megalegendary

Megalegendary is a keyword that appears on the card Vazal, the Compleat (Mystery Booster) with the reminder text "Your deck can have only one copy of this card".

Rulings

From the Release Notes for Mystery Booster (November 11, 2019)

• If you're fortunate enough to have two copies of Vazal in a Limited event, you can still put only one into your deck. The other remains in your sideboard.

Megasunburst

Megasunburst is a variant of sunburst that doubles its effect. It causes a permanent to enter the battlefield with two +1/+1 counters on it for each color of mana spent to cast it. The mechanic appears on the card Sawtooth Avenger (Philadelphia 2023 Unknown Event) as a reference to both Sawtooth Thresher and Lunar Avenger.

Monk track

The monk track appears on the card Abbot of the Sacred Meeple (Mystery Booster 2). It is a scale that mimics the evolution of the Dungeons & Dragons class Monk. A monk creature usually occupies a space equal to its power on the Monk Track. This can be adjusted with sinecure.

Mono eminence

Mono eminence is an ability word that appears on a cycle of Unknown Event legendary creatures with partner. It is similar to eminence but applies the extra deck-building condition of having to stick to a specific monocolor color identity.

Motivate

Motivate is a keyword ability that allows a player to activate dormant creatures that had been cast cheaply first for a cheap effect. To motivate, a motivate cost has to be paid. The mechanic appears on the card Lazier Goblin (Mystery Booster).

Rulings

From the Release Notes for Mystery Booster (November 11, 2019)

• Paying a creature's motivate cost is a special action that its controller may take any time they have priority during their main phase with no spells or abilities on the stack.
• Once you motivate a creature, it remains motivated for you for as long as it remains on the battlefield. If another player gains control of it, that player must motivate it before it can attack or block, but if you regain control of it, it's still motivated for you.

Example

Lazier Goblin
Creature — Goblin
2/1
Motivate (This creature can’t attack or block unless you have paid its motivate cost once. Motivate only as a sorcery.)
When Lazier Goblin enters the battlefield, it deals 2 damage to any target.

Multicleave

Multicleave is a cleave variant. A card with multicleave includes more than one instances of bracketed text in its rules text; a player may pay the multicleave cost any number of times, ignore than many instances of bracketed text of their choice. Multicleave appears on the card Cleaver Blow (Mystery Booster 2).

Rulings

From the Release Notes for Mystery Booster 2 (October 3, 2024)

• Multicleave is an optional additional cost.
• There are 64 different ways to cast Cleaver Blow using its multicleave ability.
• If you paid Cleaver Blow's multicleave cost, that spell doesn't have any of the text in the chosen set (or sets, as appropriate) of square brackets while it's on the stack.

Negamorph

Negamorph is a parody of megamorph. It functions almost identically to megamorph, but the creature receives a −1/−1 counter instead of a +1/+1 counter when it's turned face up. Negamorph appears on Flavor Disaster (Mystery Booster 2).

Rulings

From the Release Notes for Mystery Booster 2 (October 3, 2024)

• Negamorph is a variant of the morph ability. A negamorph ability lets you cast a card face down by paying and announcing that you are casting it face down using a morph ability. Any time you have priority, you can turn a face-down permanent with negamorph face up by paying its negamorph cost.
• The face-down spell has no mana cost and has a mana value of 0. When you cast a face-down spell, put it on the stack face down so no other player knows what it is, and pay to cast it. This is an alternative cost.
• The creature spell is a 2/2 creature spell that has no name, mana cost, or creature types. The resulting creature is a 2/2 creature that has no name, mana cost, or creature types. Both the spell and the resulting creature are colorless and have a mana value of 0. Other effects that apply to the spell or creature can still grant it any characteristics it doesn't have or change the characteristics it does have.
• Any time you have priority, you may turn the face-down creature face up by revealing what its negamorph cost is and paying that cost. This is a special action. It doesn't use the stack and can't be responded to. Only a face-down permanent can be turned face up this way; a face-down spell cannot.
• As a permanent with negamorph is turned face up, put a −1/−1 counter on it if its negamorph cost was paid to turn it face up. If it's turned face up in any other way than paying its negamorph cost, you won't put a −1/−1 counter on it.

Nimble

Nimble is an evasion ability first introduced in Legends and officially keyworded on Brigid, Who's Seen Some Stuff (Mystery Booster 2). A creature with the keyword nimble can't be blocked by any creature with a power of 3 or greater. Nimble is a variation on the skulk mechanic but doesn't scale as the creature gets larger or smaller in power.

Oil Scavenge

Oil Scavenge is a keyword ability that allows a player to exile a card from their graveyard as a sorcery for a cost and then place oil counters equal to its power on a creature. The mechanic appears on the card Phyrexian Esthetician (Philadelphia 2023 Unknown Event). It is the equivalent of scavenge for oil counters instead of +1/+1 counters. As such, the cost is much more aggressive as fewer permanents can make use of them.

Oil Sunburst

Oil Sunburst is a variant of sunburst that causes a permanent to enter the battlefield with an oil counter on it for each color of mana spent to cast it. The mechanic appears on the card Oilskelion (Philadelphia 2023 Unknown Event) as a nod to the printing of Triskelion in Mirrodin and to the then-new oil counters developed for Phyrexia: All Will Be One.

Old Companion

Old Companion is a keyword ability that appears on The Companion of the Wilds (Unknown Event). Mimicking the original companion rules, its reminder text is "(You may cast this from outside the game if this is companion without paying first.)"

Onionfect

Onionfect is an infect variant that creates Food tokens instead of giving poison and −1/−1 counters. It appears on the card The Vegetable Car (Unknown Event). Its reminder text reads, "This creature deals damage in the form of giving you Food tokens".

Partner with itself

Partner with itself is a variant of partner with that appears on the card Mothers Yamazaki (Mystery Booster 2). The reminder text reads: "When this enters, target player may put Mothers Yamazaki into their hand from their library, then shuffle. A Commander deck can include two of this card, and they can be your commanders".

Rulings

From the Release Notes for Mystery Booster 2 (October 3, 2024)

• Mothers Yamazaki's "partner with itself" represents three abilities. The first is a triggered ability: "When this permanent enters, target player may search their library for a card named Mothers Yamazaki, reveal it, put it into their hand, then shuffle."
• The second and third abilities represented by Mothers Yamazaki's "partner with itself" keyword modify the rules for deck construction in the Commander variant and have no function outside of that variant. They are "A Commander deck can have two cards named Mothers Yamazaki" and "You can designate two cards named Mothers Yamazaki as your commanders."
• Both commanders start in the command zone, and the remaining 98 cards (or 58 cards in a Commander Draft game) of your deck are shuffled to become your library.
• Once the game begins, your two commanders are tracked separately. If you cast one, you won't have to pay an additional the first time you cast the other. A player loses the game after having been dealt 21 damage from one of them, not from both of them combined. Command Beacon's effect puts one into your hand from the command zone, not both.
• An effect that checks whether you control your commander is satisfied if you control one or both of your two commanders.
• The triggered ability of the "partner with itself" keyword still triggers in a Commander game. If your other commander has somehow ended up in your library, you can find it. You can also target another player, whether or not they have that card in their library.

Pass the ball

Pass the ball is a keyword action that appears on All-Star Kicker (Mystery Booster 2). Pass the ball only works between team members in a multiplayer game. To pass the ball, one of the players on the team gives a permanent or card in hand to another player on the team.

Example

All-Star Kicker
Creature — Orc Athlete
2/2
Assist kicker (You and up to one other player can spend mana to pay this kicker cost.)
When All-Star Kicker enters the battlefield, your team may pass the ball. Then if All-Star Kicker was kicked, creatures your team controls get +1/+1 and gain haste until end of turn. (To pass the ball, one of the players on your team gives a permanent or card in hand to another player on your team.)

Perform a magic trick

To perform a magic trick means to cast an instant, cast a spell with flash, or turn a face-down creature face-up. The term appears on the Preston's Stage plane card at the 2024 Las Vegas Planechase Unknown event.

Planeswalkerwalk

"Planeswalkerwalk" redirects here. Not to be confused with Planeswalker, Planeswalk, or Plainswalk.

Planeswalkerwalk makes a creature unblockable if the defending player controls at least one planeswalker. The ability is a pun on the homophonic sound of both "planeswalk" and "plainswalk". It appears on the card Plain Walker (Mystery Booster 2).

Example

Plain Walker
Creature — Kithkin Rogue
Plainswalk
Planeswalkerwalk (This creature can't be blocked as long as defending player controls a planeswalker.)
Whenever Plain Walker deals combat damage to a player or planeswalker, planeswalk. (If you're playing Planechase, proceed to the next plane.)
2/3

Planet

Planet is a keyword ability for world enchantments. When a world enchantment with planet enters the battlefield, you exile the top five cards of your library as its resources. Other card abilities may use the resources (put them in your hand) or replenish the resources (exile additional cards). Planet appears on the card Alberix, the Trade Planet (Mystery Booster 2).

Rulings

From the Release Notes for Mystery Booster 2 (September 20, 2024)

• Cards exiled as resources for Alberix are exiled face up.
• If two or more permanents have the world supertype, all of them are put into their owners' graveyards except the one that has had the world supertype for the shortest amount of time. If there's a tie for the shortest amount of time, all world permanents are put into graveyards.

Example

Alberix, the Trade Planet
World Enchantment
Planet (When this permanent enters, exile the top five cards of your library as its resources.)
Trade Routes — At the beginning of your precombat main phase, choose one —
• Discard a card. If you do, put two of Alberix’s resources into its owner’s hand.
• Exile the top card of your library as a resource.

Plot booster

A plot booster is a nonexistent mechanic referenced by the card Planequake (Mystery Booster). The reference is similar to the first mention of Contraptions, which did not exist when Steamflogger Boss (Future Sight) was printed. In Legacy-style board games, plot boosters are an unknown element added to a certain game and thereby changing certain rules that players are used to.

Rulings

From the Release Notes for Mystery Booster (November 11, 2019)

• If you don't have the appropriate unopened plot booster when instructed to open one, that part of the spell or ability's effect is ignored.
• Creatures and planeswalkers dealt lethal damage by Planequake won't be destroyed until state-based actions are performed, after you've opened the "Uncovered Cavern" plot booster if applicable.

Example

Planequake
Sorcery
Planequake deals X damage to each creature without flying and to each planeswalker. If X is 10 or more, open the “Uncovered Cavern” plot booster.

Poison Modular

Poison Modular is a keyword ability that appears on the card Arcbound Mamba (Unknown Event). A creature with poison modular enters the battlefield with two +1/+1 counters on it. When it dies, the player may put its +1/+1 counters on target player or artifact creature. If they’re put on a player this way, they become poison counters.

Poison Tolerance

Poison Tolerance is a static keyword ability that appears on a cycle of six cards from Philadelphia 2023 Unknown Event. The reminder text for Poison Tolerance reads "It takes an additional N poison counters for you to lose your game to poison", where N is the number printed on the card; for example, Poison Tolerance 3 means "It takes an additional 3 poison counters for you to lose your game to poison."

A permanent with Poison Tolerance allows the player to temporarily accumulate more poison counters than the normal 10 that would cause them to lose the game. It is an additive effect with each permanent having the ability on the battlefield to add a varied number of Poison Tolerance to the player. The effect only remains while the permanents remain on the battlefield so one of them leaving the battlefield could trigger a loss of the game if the tolerance drops below the number of poison counters. It has been featured on artifacts, creatures, and enchantments on Unknown Event test cards.

Example

Rosewater's Nemesis
Creature — Monkey Cleric
4/6
Vigilance, protection from Phyrexians
Poison Tolerance +3 (It takes an additional three poison counters for you to lose your game to poison.)

Positioning

Positioning is a keyword ability that appears on Defender of the Queue (Mystery Booster 2). As a creature with positioning enters, you lock your creatures in order from left to right for as long as you control a creature with positioning. Each time a creature enters or comes under your control, position it to the left or right of another creature you control. The creature with positioning may grant benefits to adjacent creatures.

Rulings

From the Release Notes for Mystery Booster 2 (September 20, 2024)

• If multiple creatures enter or come under your control at the same time, position them individually.

Example

Defender of the Queue
Creature — Centaur Soldier
3/3
Positioning (As this creature enters, lock your creatures in order from left to right for as long as you control a creature with positioning. Each time a creature enters or comes under your control, position it to the left or right of another creature you control.)
Adjacent creatures to the left and right of Defender of the Queue get +1/+1 and have vigilance.

Primeval counter

Primeval counters are a type of counter that causes creatures to lose their abilities. Primeval counters provide two intrinsic effects. First, a creature with a primeval counter loses all its abilities. Second, if a creature with a primeval counter would gain one or more abilities, it doesn't instead. They are granted by the card Muraganda Eldrazi (Mystery Booster 2). The effects are references to the plane of Muraganda and its unique association with vanilla creatures.

Rulings

From the Release Notes for Mystery Booster 2 (October 3, 2024)

• Primeval counters have their effect whether or not Muraganda Eldrazi is on the battlefield.

Example

Muraganda Eldrazi
Creature — Eldrazi Dinosaur
Devoid (This card has no color.)
Deworded (This creature counts as having no abilities.)
When you cast this spell, put a primeval counter on target creature. (A creature with a primeval counter loses all abilities and can’t gain abilities.)
6/5

Proliferatelink

Proliferatelink is a keyword ability that appears on the Phyrexian Seedling (Mystery Booster 2). The reminder text reads, "Damage dealt by this creature also causes you to proliferate that many times. You proliferate before checking for lethal damage on creatures". The mechanic name plays off lifelink, while the ability itself is a reference to Knightlifelink.

Rulings

From the Release Notes for Mystery Booster 2 (October 3, 2024)

• Just like lifelink, proliferatelink doesn't use the stack and can't be responded to. It's just part of the results of damage dealt by Phyrexian Seedling.
• Because proliferatelink lets you proliferate before checking for lethal damage on creatures, Phyrexian Seedling (and other creatures you control with +1/+1 counters on them) may be able to survive combat damage that would otherwise be lethal. For example, if a Phyrexian Seedling with one +1/+1 counter on it attacks and is blocked by a 1/1 creature, it would deal 1 damage to that creature and take 1 damage from that creature. Before checking for lethal damage, the Seedling's controller would proliferate one time and could choose give the Seedling another +1/+1 counter. Then when state-based actions are checked, the Seedling would be a 2/2 with 1 damage marked on it and would survive.