This type of card is designed to give the player advantages or combat tricks in the combat phase, usually in an encounter with the opponent’s creatures.
This group includes cards of various types: cards that temporarily increase the power and/or toughness of one or more creatures; cards that prevent damage to one or more creatures; cards that enable the player to rescue the creature(s) after suffering fatal damage (returning it to the hand, regeneration, etc.). There is not room to list them all here, but you can discern common denominators among them:
- They affect a creature or group of creatures.
- The most common use is in the combat phase, even if they can be used in other situations, mainly in saving a creature from being eliminated by the opponent.
- These are almost always Instant Spells.
Feat of Resistance
mana costs:
mana amount: 2
complexity: 1
Suit Up
mana costs:
mana amount: 3
complexity: 1
Uncaged Fury
mana costs:
mana amount: 3
complexity: 1
Sensitivity to mana cost
Combat tricks (CT) are typically known for being highly sensitive to their mana cost. This is because of their reactive nature. When a player uses a CT that is expensive in terms of mana, she must often forgo casting a creature on that turn. This sometimes results in sacrificing tempo. The reason for this is that the effectiveness of CT usually depends on decisions made by the opponent, such as whether they assign creatures as attackers or blockers.
If the player using the CT is the attacker, the drawback on tempo isn’t as severe. If the desired encounter between the player’s creature and the opponent’s does not happen, the player can use the unused mana to cast a creature after the combat phase and maintain tempo. However, what about using CT in defense? In this case, the player must take a gamble and give up casting a creature on their turn in order to leave mana available for the CT. It’s a gamble: if the opponent chooses not to attack with the targeted creature, then the player weakens her position on the board by avoiding casting a creature and loses tempo.
A similar situation arises when conserving unused mana to deal with a removal spell that the opponent may use on the player’s creature. Even in this case, the player may pay the price in terms of tempo. The lower the mana cost of casting CT, the better the ability to use them without sacrificing tempo.
Combat tricks cost in cards
CT help maintain card balance with the opponent in two main scenarios: (1) by destroying an opponent’s creature and preserving your own creature when they engage in combat; and (2) by safeguarding your creature from an opponent’s removal spell. Due to the fewer opportunities for CT to exchange themselves for an opponent’s cards compared to removal spells, they are generally seen as more situational.
However, are there other situations in which CT can be useful? Certainly. Yet, a wise use of these cards typically involves not altering the card balance against you (players often forget that CT are not bonus cards to be spent lightly). For instance, sacrificing your creature to block an attacking creature without eliminating the attacking creature itself would generally be considered a mistake. Similarly, if you have an instant spell that grants +3/+3 and you cast it on your unblocked attacking creature, it would be wasteful unless it helps reduce the opponent’s life points to zero.
An opposite example manifesting the same problem is the well-known hesitancy to make an attack or blocking move when it is highly probable that the opponent is preparing a ‘surprise’ (CT or removal). If the fear of a surprise by the opponent paralyzes your game, the opponent has earned a double profit: she gets an advantage on the battlefield without wasting the threatening card. It is important to remember that the ‘surprise’ prepared by the opponent costs her a card and therefore has a price. Even if you lose a creature as a result, the balance has not changed to your detriment. Therefore, one must play prudently, taking calculated risks.
Combat tricks under the stability tests
Assessing the usefulness of CT is more complex than that of creatures, removals or finishers. This is due to a certain lack of certainty about the role they will play in the game. Creatures and removals are designed to confer an advantage on the battlefield. The job of finishers is to deliver the coup de grace. But what is the role of a card that increases a creature’s power and toughness by 3 until the end of the turn? Players don’t always bother clarifying this question, and there is a tendency, especially among beginners, to evaluate these cards based on intuition or trial and error. However, a systematic evaluation of such cards requires a deeper understanding of their function in the game. In general, it can be said that CT are mostly used as removals or as finishers.
Giant Growth
mana costs:
mana amount: 1
complexity: 1
Combat Tricks as removals:
The main role of CT is to gain an advantage on the battlefield by getting rid of the opponent’s creatures. This may raise an eyebrow. How can we say about a card that prevents 3 damage to a creature that its main function is to be used as a removal? In fact, we can. An effective use of this card in combat would be saving my creature while inflicting lethal damage on the opponent’s creature. If I use a CT only to save my creature while the opponent’s creature remains alive, then I lose a card without gaining any advantage. Such use will be considered defective, in most cases. The same is true for a CT that increases power/toughness, gives creatures abilities such as regeneration or first strike and more. Adequate use of these cards should achieve a quantitative or qualitative advantage. The above gives us a basis for evaluating CT as a group. Like creatures or removals, they help us gain an advantage on the battlefield, but they only do so under certain conditions. What are these conditions?
- The existence of creatures that can be a target for these cards.
- An encounter (during battle) between my creatures and the targets I wish to eliminate.
Combat Tricks
It is important to understand that these conditions turn CT into situational removals in terms of the frequency of their ultimate use: certain conditions must be met in order to be able to convert them into an advantage on the battlefield. As an example, let’s look at Giant Growth. Suppose I wish to convert this spell into a card advantage on the battlefield. For this I must control a creature: indeed, only a creature can be a target for the CT. But this is not enough. I must wait for or try to initiate a play that will lead to an encounter between my creature and the opponent’s creature. This becomes more complicated if I want to eliminate a specific creature. Sometimes the creature I want to eliminate benefits from the evasion, making it difficult for me to create an encounter with it in the first place. Sometimes the creature does not take part in combat at all. So, Giant Growth is a potential removal, but the emphasis is on the word potential. It is attractive because under the right conditions it may eliminate a large creature at a ridiculous cost (1 mana) and because of its ability to function also as a finisher or anti-removal tech (see below) and thus enjoy some flexibility.
Combat Tricks as finishers:
Certain CT can be used as finishers. Giant Growth is one example, Fist of the Anvil is another. Cards of this type increase the power of a creature(s) and thereby allow the final blow to be dealt to the opponent. Here too they should be treated as potential finishers since at least two conditions must be met in order for them to win the game:
- The player must control the creature(s) used as the target.
- These creatures must penetrate the opponent’s defense (i.e., not be blocked).
If we define finishers as situational cards, then CT that function as finishers are even more situational, and this is due to the conditions detailed above. In other words: they are situational because the frequency of their optimal use is lower than that of normal finishers. I will give a brief example:
Lava Axe and Fist of the Anvil are two spells capable of dealing additional damage to the opponent. However, Lava Axe does this directly while Fist of the Anvil needs a target (creature) to penetrate the opponent’s defense. This conditioning makes the latter a more situational finisher. This explains its lower cost (in mana).
Fists of the Anvil
mana costs:
mana amount: 2
complexity: 1
Combat Tricks as anti-removal tech:
In addition to their role as situational removal spells or finishers, CT can also be used to counter the opponent’s removal spells. This is one of their most valuable benefits since saving a crucial creature (the one likely targeted by the opponent’s removal) can become a decisive factor in securing victory. As this function of CT is reactive, their mana cost becomes a significant factor, which explains why CT, as a group, are sensitive to their mana costs.
