How do abilities that let defenders attack work with Season of the Witch

Asked by RedundantLogmaster 8 months ago

While looking over old cards I came upon Season of the Witch and the card text (and it's offical wordings) are extremely confusing. On the offical MTG website the ruling says "A creature won't be destroyed if it was unable to attack that turn, even if you had a way to enable it to attack. For example, a creature that had summoning sickness wouldn't be destroyed even if you had a way to give it haste."

My question is to what extent does this apply? Creatures like Arcades, the Strategist allow cards with defender to attack, and creatures like Novice Knight allow themselves to attack under certain circumstances.

Will Season of the witch destroy them at end step or do they get by?

Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #1

Season of the Witch's effect looks at creatures that could have been declared as attackers during the Declare Attackers step but weren't. The ruling you found means you won't be penalized for not taking any additional actions to enable a creature to attack if it is currently unable. For example: if you choose not to activate Tidewater Minion's first ability, then it can't attack, so Season of the Witch won't destroy it. However, an enchanted/equipped Novice Knight who doesn't attack will get destroyed, because it could have been declared as an attacker. Likewise for any Defender while Arcades, the Strategist is around.

May 20, 2024 11:56 a.m.