MTG : Invasion of Ikoria / Zilortha, Apex of Ikoria : Battle Siege

Until the release of March of the Machine, you couldn't attack your own permanents, but as the world goes crazy, MTG keeps pace. Let's break down the new card type Battle, learn about Defense, Protector, Siege, Battle attacks, and other delights that R&D has come up with.

Battle

So, Battle is a new type of card. Like all other permanent spells, you can cast Battle during your main phase when the stack is empty.

Like any other spell, a Battle spell can be countered. There are even special cards for that.

A Battle can enter the battlefield due to the effect of another spell or ability.

After resolving, the Battle enters the battlefield under the control of the player who controls the spell. Usually, this is the player who cast it, but there are quirky cases, like with the Cunning Chimera.

If you cast and successfully resolve Invasion of Ikoria without any responce from your opponent, then the Battle enters under your control. If you decide to destroy it using Beast Within for some reason, you will get the token.

Defense

Although it isn’t written on the card, every Battle has the ability: “This permanent enters with a number of defense counters on it equal to its printed defense number.” Unlike other permanents, Battles are oriented horizontally.

This ability creates a replacement effect that works regardless of how the Battle enters the battlefield: it doesn’t matter whether it entered because you cast it or if some effect placed it on the battlefield (except for those that put cards face down, like Manifest or Cloak).

As a result of Flickerwisp's trigger, Invasion of Ikoria will return to the battlefield with six defense counters (regardless of how many it had previously).

If you control Season of Doubling, then Invasion of Ikoria will enter the battlefield with 12 defense counters. Not very convenient.

While the Battle is on the battlefield, its Defense equals the number of defense counters on it. In any other zones, Defense is equal to the number printed on the card, i.e., for Invasion of Ikoria, it's 6.

A few SBAs have been added to the rules for Battles. One of them states:

704.5v. If a battle has defense 0 and it isn't the source of an ability that has triggered but not yet left the stack, it's put into its owner's graveyard.

If you activate Delirium Shifting Woodland and copy Invasion of Ikoria, then Game checks SBAs next time, it will see that there are no defense counters on this Battle, and no that Battle's triggers are on the stack, meaning Shifting Woodland will go to the graveyard. The intrinsic Siege trigger will not trigger because defense counters were not removed. They simply weren't there.

Siege

Currently, there is only one subtype of Battle — Siege.

310.11b. Sieges have the intrinsic ability "When the last defense counter is removed from this permanent, exile it, then you may cast it transformed without paying its mana cost."

If, using the ability of Nesting Grounds, you move the last defense counter from Invasion of Ikoria under your control to a Siege controlled by your opponent, then the intrinsic trigger of Invasion of Ikoria will activate, allowing you to cast Zilortha, Apex of Ikoria without paying its mana cost.

Note that the Siege trigger will not trigger if there were simply no defense counters on that Siege. Even if the Siege abitily triggers, there may be a situation where you cannot cast its transformed. This occurs if the Siege is represented by a token or a card that is not a transforming double-faced card. In this case, the card remains exiled, and the token ceases to exist as SBA.

If a transforming double-faced card becomes a copy of a Siege, then upon resolving its trigger, that card may be cast transformed:

If you cast Invasion of Ikoria with mana from The Myriad Pools, and choose as a target the trigger from Graveyard Trespasser that has a defense counter (Nesting Grounds can help with this), then Graveyard Trespasser becomes a copy of Invasion of Ikoria. When the last counter is removed from this Siege, its intrinsic abitily will triggers, allowing you to cast Graveyard Glutton without paying its mana cost.

Note that this only applies to transforming double-faced cards, not to modal double-faced cards that can be cast with either side. For example, it won't work with Valki, God of Lies.

Protector

At any moment, there exists a single player designated as the Protector of each Battle. Once another player is designated as the Protector of the Battle, the previous Protector stops to be one.

The controller of the Battle chooses the Protector when the Battle enters the battlefield.

Who may be the Protector is determined by the subtype of the Battle. Currently, there is only one subtype — Siege.

For Sieges, the Protector can only be an opponent. In 2HG, you cannot choose your second head as the Protector.

If the Battle has no subtype, its controller becomes the Protector.

If the Battle ceases to be a Battle or becomes a copy of another Battle, its Protector does not change.

At this time, there are no cards that designate or change the Protector of a Battle.

The word with the key ability Protector on the card Cryptothrall has nothing to do with Battles.

The controller of a Siege cannot be its Protector. If the Protector of a Siege gains control of it, they choose a new player as the Protector. This is an SBA.

When you cast Invasion of Ikoria, a cunning opponent gained control of the spell due to the trigger from the Cunning Chimera. Invasion of Ikoria entered the battlefield under your opponent’s control, and they designated you as the Protector. Later, you regained control of Invasion of Ikoria, for example, thanks to the ability of the second chapter of The Fall of Lord Konda. Now you control the Siege, for which you are designated as the Protector. Upon the next SBAs, you must choose your opponent as the Protector. In multiplayer games, you may have several opponents, and you can choose any of them as the Protector.

704.5w. If a battle has no player in the game designated as its protector and no attacking creatures are currently attacking that battle, that battle's controller chooses an appropriate player to be its protector based on its battle type. If no player can be chosen this way, the battle is put into its owner's graveyard. See rule 310, "Battles."

If Shifting Woodland has a defense counter due to Nesting Grounds and Invasion of Ikoria is in your graveyard, then by activating Delirium, you make Shifting Woodland a copy of it. Unlike the previous example, you now control a Siege with a defense counter. It is not being attacked, and it has no Protector, meaning you must designate an opponent as the Protector.

In a multiplayer game, if the Protector of a Battle that is currently not being attacked leaves the game, the controller of the Battle chooses a new Protector for it upon the next execution of SBAs.

If the Protector of a Battle leaves the game during the Battle's attack, a new Protector will only be chosen at the end of the combat phase. In this combat, the Battle continues to be attacked and can take combat damage.

A Battle Can Be Damaged

Damage dealt to a Battle removes defense counters from it equal to the amount of damage dealt. The manner and characteristics of the damage in this case do not matter, provided the Battle is not simultaneously a Creature.

A Battle Can Be Attacked

The Defender cannot attack the Battle, and only they can block creatures attacking that Battle. Any player for whom the Defender is the defending player may attack the Battle.

When declaring attacking creatures, the active player chooses who each creature is attacking: the opponent, the Battle, or Planeswalkers under their control. If the attacking creature deals combat damage, that damage results in an equivalent number of defense counters being removed from the Battle.

Strangely enough, the Siege is attacked by its own controller.

Direct Damage to the Battle

Some spells can target Battles and deal them damage:

The first ability of Ayara, Widow of the Realm can deal damage to a Battle.

Damage “to any target” means a player, creature, Battle, or Planeswalker.

Battle Creature

A Battle cannot attack or block, even if it becomes a creature.

If an attacking or blocking creature somehow also becomes a Battle, it is removed from combat.

If the controller of a Battle changes right in the middle of combat, it is removed from combat.

If a Battle becomes a creature, it can receive damage like a regular creature.

Ability of Invasion of Ikoria

When Invasion of Ikoria enters, search your library and/or graveyard for a non-Human creature card with mana value X or less and put it onto the battlefield. If you search your library this way, shuffle.

The value of X is not defined by the card's text, so if you cast Invasion of Ikoria “without paying its mana cost,” the only possible value for X is 0. However, you can always find Dryad Arbor, which has a mana value of zero.

If you are searching your library for a card with the specified characteristics, you may "not find" it if you need to for some reason. For example, to shuffle the library.

Upon resolving the EtB trigger of Invasion of Ikoria, you may search only in the graveyard, only in the library, or in both zones.

If an opponent controls Opposition Agent, then when searching the library, they will make the decisions. So, this is a strong reason to limit yourself to just the graveyard.

Zilortha, Apex of Ikoria

Oracle Text:

Legendary Creature — Dinosaur

Reach

For each non-Human creature you control, you may have that creature assign its combat damage as though it weren’t blocked.

Reach — a static ability that allows Zilortha to block creatures with Flying.

Zilortha's second ability is much more interesting. As you probably know, an unblocked creature deals combat damage equal to its power to the player, Battle, or Planeswalker it attacks. A blocked creature distributes combat damage to the blocking creatures. Creatures with Trample distribute combat damage in a special way: first, the player must assign lethal damage to all blockers, and then the remainder can be assigned to the player or object being attacked

If you control Zilortha, Apex of Ikoria, for any blocked creature you control that doesn’t have the Human subtype, you can choose one of two options:

Assign combat damage as usual, i.e., to the blockers;
Or assign combat damage as though the blockers weren’t there.

Note that the option similar to Trample is not available.

You control Zilortha, Apex of Ikoria, and attack your opponent with Toxrill, the Corrosive. Your opponent blocks with a 2/2 Boar token. You can choose to have Toxrill assign combat damage as if it were unblocked and deal 7 damage to opponent. Alternatively, you can choose to assign combat damage normally, meaning Toxrill will deal all 7 damage to the Boar. There is no option to assign 2 damage to the Boar and 5 damage to the player.

If your non-Human creature has trample, it has two options:

Assign at least lethal damage to the blockers, and the remaining damage to the defending player or object.
Or assign all combat damage to the defending player or object.

You control Zilortha, Apex of Ikoria and are attacking your opponent with Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider. Your opponent blocks with a 2/2 Boar token. You can declare that Vorinclex assigns combat damage as though it were unblocked and deal 6 damage to your opponent. Alternatively, you can choose the standard combat damage assignment, dealing at least 2 damage to the Boar, and the remaining damage to the player.

How your attacking blocked non-Human creature assigns combat damage is decided right before it happens. For each such creature, you can make an individual choice: sometimes it's better to get rid of the blocker, and sometimes it's more advantageous to deal more damage to your opponent, Battle, or Planeswalker.

Keep in mind that even if you choose to ignore blockers when assigning damage, the blockers will still deal damage to the blocked creatures as usual.

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