Released August 2026

The Hobbit

Provisional guide from preview-season sources — official Comprehensive Rules text for these mechanics hasn't been published yet. This page is upgraded to fully verified rule quotes when the rules go live.

What's New

📖StoriedNEW

Control three or more artifacts, legendaries, and/or Sagas to gain an enduring story for the rest of the game.

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Storied is a static ability that watches for two things: that you control a permanent with storied, and that you control three or more artifacts, legendary permanents, and/or Sagas.
The threshold is a combined total of three across those types — not three of each.
As soon as both are true, you gain an enduring story for the rest of the game.
An enduring story isn't an ability or an object — it's a designation, just something true about you that other cards notice.
Once earned, nothing can take it away — losing the storied permanent or your qualifying permanents doesn't matter.
Payoffs simply check that you have it: Thorin Oakenshield gives your artifacts and creatures ward {1} while you have an enduring story. Nothing is spent — the story fuels every payoff at once, forever.

Does gaining an enduring story use the stack?	No — it's a static ability that continuously monitors the game state.
Can opponents respond to me gaining an enduring story?	Not to the story itself. They must respond to the spell or ability that would put the third qualifying permanent onto the battlefield.
Do I need three artifacts plus three legendaries plus three Sagas?	No — three permanents in total, drawn from any combination of those three types.
Does the storied permanent itself count toward the three?	If it's an artifact, legendary permanent, or Saga itself — and most storied cards are legendary — yes. The official article simply counts what you control; nothing excludes the storied permanent.
How many times can I gain it?	Once per game. Once you have an enduring story, it lasts the rest of the game.

📖 Official rule text

Card text: (If you control three or more artifacts, legendaries, and/or Sagas, you have an enduring story for the rest of the game.)

Likely interactions

⚡ Board wipe

If you already have an enduring story and a board wipe clears your artifacts and creatures, you keep the enduring story — future permanents that care about it still benefit.

☠️ Counter removal

An enduring story is neither a counter, an emblem, an ability, nor an object, so effects that remove counters or emblems can't strip it away.

⚡ Changeling

Whether a creature with changeling helps the storied threshold turns on exactly which permanent types and supertypes the threshold checks — and how it treats subtypes like Army versus supertypes like legendary. That's rules-text territory.

⚖️ Ask the Judge →

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🪖RecruitNEW

Draw a card, then discard a card; if the discard was nonland, make a 1/1 Soldier.

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Recruit is a keyword action performed in a strict order: first draw a card, then discard a card.
After the discard, check the discarded card — if it was a nonland card, create a 1/1 white Human Soldier creature token.
It fills your graveyard and your battlefield at once while accelerating you through your library.
The Queen of Dale recruits whenever an opponent casts their first noncreature spell each turn.
Even with an empty hand you still draw first, then must discard that fresh card — a nonland discard still makes the token.

Does recruit use the stack?	No — it's a keyword action performed while the spell or ability that called for it resolves.
Can opponents respond to the draw, discard, or token?	No. They can only respond to the spell or ability that instructs you to recruit.
Can I recruit more than once a turn?	Yes — as many times as effects instruct you to, once per instruction.
What if my hand is empty when I recruit?	You draw a card, then discard that card. If it's nonland, you still get the token.

📖 Official rule text

Card text: (Draw a card, then discard a card. If you discarded a nonland card, create a 1/1 white Human Soldier creature token.)

Likely interactions

⚡ Token doublers

An effect like Anointed Procession replaces the one 1/1 white Human Soldier with two — the token creation is a normal replaceable event.

⚡ Graveyard hate

Whether you still get the token when a replacement effect sends the discarded card to exile instead of the graveyard depends on the exact definition of "discard" versus where the card ends up. Confirm before you count on the Soldier.

⚖️ Ask the Judge →

⚡ Draw replacement

Effects that replace the draw step of recruit still leave the discard requirement intact — but how a replaced draw interacts with the rest of the sequence is worth verifying.

⚖️ Ask the Judge →

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What's Returning

⚔️Hone countersRETURNING

Each hone counter on an Equipment gives the equipped creature +1/+0.

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Every hone counter on an Equipment gives +1/+0 to the equipped creature.
This is not an ability granted to the Equipment — it's true because of rules associated with the counter itself.
Various cards place hone counters, including Sting, Bilbo's Sword, which puts them on itself.
Sting buffs its wielder purely through this systemic rule, without a printed +1/+0 equip ability.
Only the equipped creature benefits — a hone counter placed on something that isn't an equipped Equipment does nothing.
Hone counters previously tracked turns on exiled cards; here they're repurposed to sharpen Equipment.

Does the +1/+0 use the stack?	No. Placing the counter uses the stack via a spell or ability, but the buff itself is a continuous effect that doesn't.
Can opponents respond?	They can respond to the spell or ability placing the counter, or remove the Equipment before your creature attacks.
Is there a limit to hone counters?	No — there's no theoretical cap on how many an Equipment can hold.

📖 Official rule text

Card text: (Every hone counter on an Equipment gives +1/+0 to the equipped creature.)

Likely interactions

📈 Proliferate

Proliferate can add another hone counter to an Equipment that already has one, permanently increasing the power boost to the equipped creature.

⚡ Old cards

Cards that put hone counters on exiled instant and sorcery cards don't gain the Equipment buff — those counters aren't on an Equipment, so the +1/+0 rule doesn't apply.

⚡ Animated

If an Equipment with hone counters becomes a creature and is no longer attached, the counters stay on it — but whether the +1/+0 applies to anything when there's no "equipped creature" needs the counter's rules text to confirm.

⚖️ Ask the Judge →

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🧭AdventureRETURNING

Cast the creature normally, or cast its Adventure spell first and cast the creature from exile later.

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Each adventurer card has a permanent part and an inset instant or sorcery Adventure part.
As you play the card you choose one path: cast the permanent normally, or cast the Adventure spell.
If the Adventure resolves, it's exiled instead of going to the graveyard.
From exile you may later cast the permanent part — but never the Adventure again this way.
In your hand, library, or exile the card has only the permanent's characteristics, not the Adventure's.
Searching for a sorcery can't find an adventurer card, even if its Adventure is a sorcery.

Do Adventures use the stack?	Yes — both the permanent and the Adventure go on the stack like any other spell and can be countered.
Can opponents respond?	Yes, with priority exactly as they would to a normal creature, instant, or sorcery spell.
Instant or sorcery speed?	The Adventure uses its printed card type for timing; the permanent uses its own printed type.

📖 Official rule text

Card text: (As you play an adventurer card, choose to play it normally or as an Adventure. An Adventure spell is exiled instead of going to the graveyard, and you may later cast the permanent part from exile.)

Likely interactions

☠️ Countered

If your Adventure spell is countered it never resolves, so whether it still reaches exile — and whether you can cast the creature later — hinges on the exile-on-resolution rule.

⚖️ Ask the Judge →

🔄 Flicker

Blinking the permanent exiles and returns it as the permanent. Whether you get a fresh crack at the Adventure afterward depends on how the exile-and-return is treated.

⚖️ Ask the Judge →

⚡ Bounce

Returning an adventurer permanent to hand puts a fresh card back where you can play either half — confirm you may again choose the Adventure once it's back in hand.

⚖️ Ask the Judge →

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👹AmassRETURNING

Put +1/+1 counters on an Army you control, creating a 0/0 Goblin Army token first if you have none.

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To amass Goblins N, first check whether you control an Army creature.
If you don't, create a 0/0 black Goblin Army creature token.
Then choose an Army you control and put N +1/+1 counters on it.
If you already control an Army, no new token is made — the counters go on an existing one.
The subtype (Goblin here) can vary card to card, but the token is always black.
Bolg of the North amasses Goblins X off excess damage, and Army is a normal creature type — a changeling can be your Army and take the counters.

Does amass use the stack?	No — it resolves as a keyword action within the spell or ability that called for it.
Can opponents respond?	Amass doesn't target, so opponents respond to the overarching spell or ability, before they know which Army gets the counters.
Can I make a second Army token if I already have one?	No — if you control an Army, amass only adds counters to an existing one.
What if my only Army is destroyed before amass resolves?	Amass sees no Army, creates a new 0/0 token, and puts the counters on it.

📖 Official rule text

Card text: (Put X +1/+1 counters on an Army you control. It's also a Goblin. If you don't control an Army, create a 0/0 black Goblin Army creature token first.)

Likely interactions

⚡ Changeling

Because Army is a creature type like any other, you can play a changeling to serve as your Army and soak the counters — spreading power off a lone token that's vulnerable to bounce.

⚡ Token doublers

If an effect like Parallel Lives makes two 0/0 Army tokens instead of one, only one can be chosen to receive the counters — what happens to the other 0/0 depends on the state-based action rules.

⚖️ Ask the Judge →

☠️ Removal in response

Since amass doesn't target, destroying the intended Army in response should leave amass to make a fresh token — but confirm the sequencing when multiple Armies are in play.

⚖️ Ask the Judge →

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Set Timeline

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

March 2026

Archived →

Secrets of Strixhaven