A newMagic: The Gatheringset is just a few short weeks away andspoiler season is once again in full swing. As fans of the collectible card game get a first peek at many of the new cards appearing in Innistrad Crimson Vow, they’re also getting a first look at some exciting new (and returning) mechanics that will be a part of this set.
Transforming double-faced cards will be returning for part two of this return to Innistrad inMagic: The Gathering, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are also a handful of very cool new mechanics on the way, so it will be very important to review the rules before the pre-release tournaments and official launch arrive.
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Magic players have a handful of interesting new mechanics to manage on top of threefamiliar returning sets of rules. Innistrad Crimson Vow is going all out on the blood and gore and that’s reflected in these mechanics. Players can check out a summary of the new stuff here and get a high level explanation of the rules to help prepare for the set’s upcoming launch…
Training
Whenever a creature with training attacks alongside a creature of greater power, put a +1/+1 counter on the creature with training. The powers of the attacking creatures are checked only at the moment they attack. Once the training ability triggers, it doesn’t matter what happens to the other creature, nor does it matter what happens to the power of either creature. As long as the creature with training is still on the battlefield as the training ability resolves, it will get the +1/+1 counter, even if its power is now equal to or greater than the other creature, it’s no longer attacking, or even if the other creature is no longer on the battlefield.
Having more trainers doesn’t cause training to trigger additional times. Apprentice Sharpshooter could attack alongside one creature with greater power or fifty creatures with greater power, and training will trigger only once either way. But if you have the choice, go with the fifty.
Cleave
Cleave shows up on instant and sorcery cards, and it offers you an alternative cost. When casting a card with cleave, you can cast it for its mana cost as normal. If you do, the spell’s effect is processed as normal. That is, every single word of its rules text is followed, just like you’d expect.
But if players opt to pay the cleave cost rather than the mana cost, can ignore all the words in brackets. This will change some key aspect of the effect. For example, if you cast Dig Up for {G}, the spell reads “Search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.” If you cast it for {1}{B}{B}{G}, you treat it as if it said, “Search your library for a card, put it into your hand, then shuffle.”
No matter how you cast a card that has cleave, the resulting spell’s color and mana value are both based on the spell’s mana cost. Specifically, Dig Up is a green spell with mana value 1, even if you choose to cast it for its cleave cost. As it always has, Innistrad offers you plenty of opportunities to cleave your troubles behind.
Blood and Blood Tokens
Blood tokens are simple, versatile tokens that offer you a way to trade in cards in the late game for chances to draw something more useful. Maybe your hand is stocked with extra land cards or early drops that no longer have the impact you’re looking for. Maybe you have ways to leverage controlling extra artifacts. And some cards offer benefits beyond the inherent ability of a Blood token.
Returning Mechanics
Daybound and Nightbound
Day and Night are a brand new mechanic in MtG, even though something somewhat similar existed in the first trip to Innistrad. When the game starts, it’s neither day nor night. In most games, it will become day first. The most common way that will happen is if a permanent with daybound appears on the battlefield.
In some uncommon cases, it may become night first because a permanent with nightbound appears first. The important thing is that once it’s day or night, the game will be exactly one of those designations, day or night, going back and forth until the game ends. It can never return to being neither. And the whole game is either day or night. It’s not a per player thing.
If it’s day, each double-faced card with daybound and nightbound will enter the battlefield with its daybound face up. If it’s night, each of them will enter nightbound face up. Note that this doesn’t affect spells on the stack. Even during night, if you cast Tavern Ruffian, it will be Tavern Ruffian on the stack. As the spell resolves, it will simply enter the battlefield as Tavern Smasher.
Transforming Double-Faced Cards
Take note of how these transformations work - it is not the same as modal double-faced cards like other recent sets. As it becomes day, all double-faced cards with nightbound transform to their daybound faces. As it becomes night, all double-faced cards with daybound transform to their nightbound faces. In other words, these double-faced cards should always be in sync, no matter who controls them. What’s more, permanents with daybound and nightbound can’t transform any other way.
Disturb
Disturb allows you to cast these cards transformed from your graveyard. This is a pretty simple one actually. Players just need to keep in mind the second part of rules that apply to the back faces of cards with Disturb…
The back faces of cards with disturb have an ability that exiles them instead if they would be put into a graveyard from anywhere. Effectively, this means from the stack or the battlefield, the two zones where they can be back face up. So, if Hook-Haunt Drifter is countered, to exile it goes. If it would die once on the battlefield, it’s exiled instead.
Exploit
When a creature with exploit enters the battlefield, you may sacrifice a creature. Many creatures with Exploit have an additional ability that gives you some benefit when that creature exploits a creature, meaning when you sacrifice a creature to that creature’s exploit ability.
A few things to keep in mind: Exploit will allow you to sacrifice only one creature. You don’t have to sacrifice a creature, but if you do, you choose which one as the exploit ability resolves. You can sacrifice the creature with exploit to its own ability. If that creature has an ability that triggers “when [this creature] exploits a creature,” sacrificing itself to its own exploit ability will cause that ability to trigger. And finally, the creature with exploit needs to still be on the battlefield as you sacrifice the creature in order for that “when [this creature] exploits a creature” ability to trigger. If it’s not on the battlefield as its exploit ability resolves, you can still sacrifice a creature, but you better have another good reason, because that last ability won’t trigger.
Just like Midnight Hunt, there is definitely a bit of complexity here for players to wrap their heads around. The mechanics aren’t too difficult, but players should definitely take their time, read cards carefully, and review the rules ahead of time if they want to have a smooth experience when the cards are available.
Magic: The Gatheringis available now and the Innistrad Crimson Vow set releases digitally on June 26, 2025 and in stores the following week.
