Released November 2024

Foundations

What's Returning

⚔️RaidRETURNING

If you attacked with a creature this turn, a raid ability gives you a bonus — one yes/no check on the whole turn.

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Raid is an ability word — it has no rules meaning of its own and just ties together cards that check whether you attacked.
It's a binary check of the entire turn: it only cares that at least one creature was declared as an attacker, not how many attacked.
It doesn't track the target — attacking a player, a planeswalker, or a battle all satisfy raid equally.
The attacking creature doesn't have to survive or even stay on the battlefield; the game just remembers that an attack was declared.
End-step raid abilities trigger even if the raid permanent wasn't around during the combat phase, as long as you attacked that turn.
Most raid cards use an intervening "if" clause (CR 603.4): if you didn't attack, the ability never triggers and never hits the stack.

When is the raid condition checked?	By looking backward at the declare attackers step (CR 508) of the current turn.
Can opponents respond to a raid trigger?	Yes — both end-step and enters-the-battlefield raid triggers use the stack and can be responded to before they resolve.
If my only attacker is removed from combat, did I still attack?	Yes. It was declared as an attacker, and the game remembers that even after it leaves combat.
Does a creature that enters "tapped and attacking" satisfy raid?	No. It was never declared as an attacker during the declare attackers step, which is what raid checks for.

📖 Official rule text

Card text: (If you attacked this turn, [effect].)

Rule 207.2c

An ability word appears in italics at the beginning of some abilities. Ability words are similar to keywords in that they tie together cards that have similar functionality, but they have no special rules meaning and no individual entries in the Comprehensive Rules.

Likely interactions

⚡ Attacker removed

The creature you attacked with doesn't need to survive combat, stay on the battlefield, or stay under your control. Even if it's killed or bounced immediately, raid is still satisfied for the rest of the turn.

508

🔄 Flickered

If a permanent with a raid ability is blinked after combat, the game state still remembers that you attacked earlier in the turn — but whether the returning object counts that as its own attack is exactly the kind of thing worth confirming.

508

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⚡ End-step return

Alesha's raid ability triggers at the beginning of your end step. A creature it returns that must be sacrificed "at the beginning of the end step" enters after that moment has passed, so its sacrifice trigger waits until a later end step.

603.4

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🪦ThresholdRETURNING

Once you have seven or more cards in your graveyard, threshold cards get better.

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Threshold is an ability word now — it used to be a keyword, but it has no inherent rules meaning; the game simply counts cards in your graveyard.
The magic number is seven or more cards in your graveyard; the check is relative to the controller of the object.
Depending on the card, threshold can be a static, triggered, or activated ability — the card text tells you which.
Static threshold effects switch on the instant the seventh card enters and switch off the moment you drop to six or fewer.
Triggered threshold abilities check twice: once to trigger and go on the stack, and again on resolution — if you've fallen below seven, they do nothing.
For instants and sorceries, the count is checked on resolution, and the spell itself is still on the stack, so it doesn't count toward the seven.

Does a resolving instant or sorcery count itself toward seven?	No. While resolving it's still on the stack and isn't in the graveyard yet.
Do static threshold abilities use the stack?	No. They update immediately as a continuous effect the moment cards enter or leave your graveyard.
Can opponents respond to a triggered threshold ability?	Yes — triggered threshold abilities use the stack and can be responded to.
For an activated threshold ability, does graveyard size matter after I activate it?	No. The seven-card requirement is only checked to activate; later changes don't counter the ability on the stack.

📖 Official rule text

Card text: (As long as there are seven or more cards in your graveyard, [effect].)

Rule 207.2c

Likely interactions

⚡ Graveyard hate

An opponent can respond to a triggered threshold ability by exiling cards from your graveyard at instant speed. If the count drops below seven before resolution, the ability fails to do anything.

603.4

⚡ State-based

A creature with a static threshold toughness bonus and nonlethal damage marked on it can die the instant your graveyard is emptied — losing the bonus is a continuous change checked as a state-based action before any player gets priority.

613

⚡ Humility

When threshold grants an activated ability and Humility is on the battlefield, the layer system (CR 613) governs whether Humility strips that ability off — a dependency question worth walking through carefully.

613

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💀MorbidRETURNING

If a creature died this turn, morbid abilities get their bonus.

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Morbid is an ability word with no rules meaning of its own — it leans entirely on the word "dies," which means a creature was put into a graveyard from the battlefield (CR 700.4).
It's agnostic to control: any creature dying counts, whether it was yours, an opponent's, or a teammate's.
The condition is a binary true/false; even if several creatures die, a "if a creature died" morbid ability still fires just once.
Creature tokens count — they hit the graveyard before ceasing to exist as a state-based action, satisfying "dies."
A creature exiled instead of dying (for example under Rest in Peace) never touched the graveyard, so it did not die and morbid isn't satisfied.
End-step morbid uses an intervening "if" clause: the creature must have died before the step begins — sacrificing one after the step starts is too late.

Can opponents respond to a triggered morbid ability?	Yes — triggered morbid abilities use the stack. Spells with morbid apply their altered effect on resolution.
Does sacrificing a creature during my end step satisfy an "at the beginning of your end step" morbid ability?	No. The intervening "if" needs the condition true when the step begins; a later sacrifice is too late.
If a morbid spell's target becomes illegal before resolution, what happens?	The whole spell fails to resolve and the morbid effect is lost with it.
Does a creature reduced to lethal negative toughness satisfy morbid?	Yes. It's put into the graveyard as a state-based action, which satisfies "dies" for spells cast later that turn.

📖 Official rule text

Card text: (At the beginning of your end step, if a creature died this turn, [effect].)

Rule 207.2c

Likely interactions

⚡ Tokens

A destroyed creature token still satisfies morbid — it goes to the graveyard first and only then ceases to exist as a state-based action, which meets the definition of "dies."

700.4

⚡ Exiled

If a replacement effect sends a creature straight to exile instead of the graveyard, it never died, so no morbid ability is satisfied by it.

700.4

⚡ Doubling

An "at the beginning of your end step, if a creature died" morbid ability treats the death as a condition, not the event that triggers it — so death-doubling effects like Drivnod may not double it at all.

603.4

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Set Timeline

Lorwyn Eclipsed

January 2026

Archived →

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

March 2026

Archived →

Secrets of Strixhaven

April 2026