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An easy guide to one of Magic’s most common and confusing abilities
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Regenerate is a notoriously nuanced and counterintuitive ability in Magic: The Gathering, so don’t get irritated if you’re newer to the game and you don’t immediately get it—even seasoned players regularly get mixed up on this one. Basically, regenerate shields a creature from lethal damage or “destroy” effects. We’ll cover how it works and explain all of the weird nuances.
Things You Should Know
- Regenerate is an activated ability and a replacement effect.
- A creature with regenerate basically gets a shield from one instance of death, but only from “destroy” effects or combat damage.
- Regenerate removes a creature from combat, so an attacker that regenerates won’t deal damage, and a blocker that regenerates won’t be assigned damage.
Steps
Section 4 of 4:
An Example of How Regenerate Works
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You attack with a Rakshasa Deathdealer. Let’s say you’ve got a Rakshasa Deathdealer on your board. It doesn’t have summoning sickness, and you decide to attack with it. You declare attackers and turn Rakshasa Deathdealer sideways to tap it. [6] X Research source
- Rakshasa Deathdealer’s regenerate ability costs one black and one green mana. If its regenerate ability required tapping itself, like a Crypt Sliver on an empty board, you wouldn’t be able to activate it after attacking.
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Your opponent blocks with a larger creature. Let’s say your opponent has a Siege Rhino on board and they decide to block the Rakshasa Deathdealer with it. They put the 4/5 Rhino in front of your 2/2 Deathdealer and say, “Move to damage?” to signal that they’re done blocking and ready for damage assignment.
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You activate the Deathdealer’s regenerate ability. Siege Rhino is a 4/5, so normally, it would kill the 2/2 Rakshasa Deathdealer. So, you tap one forest and one swamp to pay the mana needed to activate the regenerate ability. You announce, “I’ll regenerate” and you move to damage.
- Remember, activated abilities can be activated at instant speed, so you can activate the Deathdealer’s regenerate ability whenever you’d cast an instant.
- Your opponent has an ability to respond to your regeneration trigger! If they cast Fatal Push before the regeneration ability resolves and you’re out of mana, the Deathdealer will die.
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The regenerate effect removes the Deathdealer from combat. This is where people get mixed up. Regenerate removes the creature in question from combat. So, in this instance, the Deathdealer is taken out of combat and no damage takes place. The regenerate “shield” is still on the creature! [7] X Research source
- If the Rhino were the one attacking and the Deathdealer were blocking, the Rhino would still be considered blocked even though the Deathdealer was removed from combat.
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Your opponent casts two removal spells to kill the Deathdealer. Okay, so now let’s say your opponent is really annoyed and just wants to get rid of the Rakshasa Deathdealer more than anything in the world. They cast two copies of Hero’s Downfall . Here’s what happens:
- The regenerate ability is still protecting the Deathdealer, so the first Hero’s Downfall resolves and the Deathdealer survives. It remains tapped and the “shield” is removed.
- The second Hero’s Downfall resolves and the Deathdealer dies the same way it normally would.
- Note that if you had another forest and swamp available, you could regenerate it in response to the second Hero’s Downfall to protect it again.
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Tips
- The designers of Magic have stopped using regenerate as a core mechanic because it’s just a little too confusing for newer players. It still helps to know how it works since it has been printed on so many cards, though. [8] X Research source In fact, Mark Rosewater—the lead designer of Magic—has explicitly said it’s never coming back in newer sets. [9] X Research sourceThanks
- Regenerate is primarily a green or black ability. Flavor-wise, it’s meant to represent nature or death breathing “new life” into something.Thanks
- There are a lot of enchantments that grant creatures the regenerate ability, but they’re generally not considered very strong. Regenerate is a lot weaker than keywords like hexproof or indestructible, so there are usually better enchantments if you’re building a creature-focused deck.Thanks
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References
- ↑ https://blog.cardkingdom.com/regenerate-mtg-mechanics-explained/
- ↑ https://blog.cardkingdom.com/regenerate-mtg-mechanics-explained/
- ↑ https://blog.cardkingdom.com/regenerate-mtg-mechanics-explained/
- ↑ https://blog.cardkingdom.com/regenerate-mtg-mechanics-explained/
- ↑ https://blog.cardkingdom.com/regenerate-mtg-mechanics-explained/
- ↑ https://blog.cardkingdom.com/regenerate-mtg-mechanics-explained/
- ↑ https://youtu.be/K6zDC8iB8Ro?t=46
- ↑ https://blog.cardkingdom.com/regenerate-mtg-mechanics-explained/
- ↑ https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/181696329768/hi-mark-happy-2019-to-you-and-all-the-magic-team
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