So to continue from the prior article where i discussed the major abilites now let's discuss some of the more interesting abilites in which the game possessess, including shroud, protection, first strike, indestructible, double strike, first strike as well as quite a few more so let's go.
Shroud - Now this is pretty basic of a ability, a creature with this ability cannot be targeted by spells or abilites, let's provide a example for this one shall we let's say you got Algae Gharial on the field, he has the ability known as shroud which means he cannot be targeted by anything, spell, ability, he can still be damaged by creatures when he is blocked or when he blocks, however most of the time he's untargetable, it also is the same for you, since shroud can't be targeted by anything, means you can't enchant him, or equip him with anything, this is the only downside to this ruling.
Protection - This ability is labeled as the following [This Creature cannot be blocked, targeted, dealt damage or enchanted by the colour it is protected from], now most would say this is bad, not really it's actually a good ability, it means it cannot be damaged by a source that is that colour, spells of that colour CANNOT target it, as well as pretty much anything else you'd see in the game including enchantments, abilites and the like, so as a prime example let's take Black Knight and use it as a example, if it attacks and all your opponent has is a white side of the board, chances are it's gonna go right through since it's unblockable by white creatures, it can't be dealt battle damage, it cannot be removed from cards such as Path to Exile or enchantments such as Journey to Nowhere, protection is actually a pretty cool ability, however anything else that isn't white can target this creature and remove it, same goes with other creatures with similar protection abilites, one colour may not be able to target it, but other colours sure as hell can.
First Strike - This is actually a combat damage ability believe it or not, a creature with this ability always deals it's damage first regardless, such as Student of Warfare when it is leveled up of course, or perhaps even White Knight which states clear as day [This creatures deals it's combat damage before creatures without first strike] now let's say you had a student of warfare that was leveled up to level 2 and you were using White Knight to defend, first strike wouldn't kick in since both creatures have first strike, meaning it would deal normal combat damage, meaning of course the Knight would die to the warfare due to 3 combat damage and the student of warfare would survive the encounter since it had 1 more point of toughness cool eh?
Double Strike - Another cool combat damage step ability that deals twice the normal number of damage a cool example is when student of warfare is powered up to it's maximum level 7 potential, it gets two abilites, first strike and double strike, first strike i've already explained just a second ago and double strike which would mean it can deal damage to two different sources say you had a creature to defend against this, the student would do it's first strike damage to the creature, killing it off, then it would do the other strike of damage to the player controlling the creature in this case it would be 6, it's a pretty simplistic ability if i do say so myself, though the rules surrounding it are sometimes blurred.
Indestrucible - This is a pretty basic ability, normally when combat damage is dealt to a creature with this state based ability, if it's lethal it's destroyed right, wrong combat damage doesn't apply to a creature with this ability such as Transcendent Master when it is leveled up to level 12 of course, so when it attacks it is pretty much invincible to combat damage or damage in general, meaning most spell cannot do a thing, except for removal spells such as Journey to Nowhere and Oblivion Ring, still it's a pretty unique ability that is hard to come by.
Lifelink - Another basic ability which doesn't state much, but lifelink is simple, when you attack and the creature hits anything in general let's say you have a Rhox War Monk since it has lifelink and your opponent has Totem-Guide Hartebeest combat damage of course resolves when the two clash, one dealing 3 damage and the other dealing 2 damage to the other in return now the attack power of the monster you attacked with aka the war monk hit something right, well you get it's attack power back added onto your life total, meaning you just gained 3 life by attacking with a single creature, there are lots of cards with this ability on it, it's more common then most would think.
Defender - It's a simple state based ability meaning a creature with this cannot attack, but merely defend, it is more common in current standard then most since there are a lot of cards out there in which have this state based ability, most of the time though there is usually one or two instances in which defender can be dropped, i need not really explain this ability since of course it's basic enough to figure out, most cards though will be pretty obvious in stating it.
Haste - A creature with this ability can attack right away with this ability for example Goblin Guide which has haste can attack right away, you'll see this on more red cards then anything since red is the most common colour to have this state based ability, so if you are on turn 1 and holding a haste creature in hand play it, it won't get beaten up and you'll get a free damage bonus outta it on it's first turn.
Vigilance - This is another pretty straight forward ability meaning a creature with this as when it attacks attacking does not cause it to tap meaning it can block the very next turn, so for example let's say you got a Serra Angel on the field which also has another state based ability which i will discuss later on in this article, when it attacks it does not tap, meaning you still get to block with this creature even after the attack step is declared, not bad huh?
Trample - Another during combat damage stated ability, more or less green's pick of the litter as you'll see this on more green cards then anything, including Duskdale Wurm and spells such as Overrun and even as a ability on planeswalkers such as Garruk Wildspeaker, it's pretty basic it means after a creature is destroyed and a creature has this ability, the remaining points of damage is dealt to the opponent as damage points, so for instance if you have a duskdale wurm attacking say a Llanowar Elves 1 point of damage is already absorbed due to the elves blocking, but the remaining points of damage in this case which is 6 is dealt as life total damage to the opponent player.
Well that covers the state based abilites on current standard and such, tommorow i hope to bring you the types of spells you'll encounter as you play the game, till next time ciao.
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