Combat rules

Watchtower Combat
written by DahkSinol

Combat begins with the proper Turn Order. A turn order is the organized arrangement of combatants, giving us the following information: Who Goes First and Who Takes Priority. A turn order in the following order: Player/Creature with the Highest Speed, Player/Creature with the Second Highest Speed, Player/Creature with the Third highest Speed, and so on and so forth.

After the Turn Order has been established, the first player/creature on the turn order takes his or her turn. During this time, most players simply cast creature, enchantment or artifact spells due to ‘technical summoning sickness’, but some who have haste may attack during their first turn. Note that all players’ mana pools are filled mana equal to their channeling stat before the first turn but do not channel DURING their first turns. They do, however channel as normal in consecutive turns.

For Example:
So a raging goblin, a 1/1 goblin with a life of 2, and a speed of 1 with haste is summoned and commanded to attack my Tail-Weaver. Now, since Tail-Weaver has a channeling of 6 and since he channels it BEFORE his turn, he can then decide to cast Ethereal Haze, in exchange for one white mana, but if he does this, he’ll have no choice but to start his first turn with 5 mana. So, deciding to be damn conservative of his spell juice, Tail-Weaver simply blocks the haste-n00b before anyone has a say on it, killing it instantly with 8 damage and double strike.


Whenever an action is done, any player may post for an answer. Note that not every action will likely follow through, so never assume that fireball will hit its mark immediately. It can be countered, redirected or even nullified by another planeswalker’s spell, especially if it’s against them. But, also remember that you don’t need to post you actions one by one. Simply posting a full turn and waiting if someone will post ‘in response’ to your action will do.

For Example:
My Tail-Weaver is attacked by Shatashi’s Shatashi and a group of Archons of the Triumvirate. With his Ghostly Prison and all three of his samurais detained, Tail-Weaver has no choice but to cast Ethereal Haze, or to face them all by himself. In post, it’d look like this:

<Shatashi>
Mana: 3W 4U 1C
Shatashi summons his Cerebral Scepter for {4} and then, with his two Archons of the Triumvirate, attacks Tail-Weaver. The Archons detain the three devoted retainers, and Tail-Weaver’s ghostly prison.
Mana: 2W 2U 0C

<DahkSinol>
Mana: 2W 1R
Tail-Weaver casts Ethereal haze for {W}, preventing all damage dealt to him.
Mana: 1W 1R

<Shatashi>
Mana: 2W 2U 0C
Shatashi casts Mana Drain for {W}{W}, countering Ethereal haze.
Mana: 2W 0U 0C

<Dahksinol>
Mana:1W 1R
Tail-Weaver takes more than enough damage to be felled. He before he loses consciousness, he planeswalks back to his fortress-capital in Kamigawa, where he can be resuscitated by his subordinates.
Mana:1W 1R

<GM>
Shatashi wins.

During full on combat, things go on normally as the card game. Player characters may aim for players, or alternatively, aim for creatures and players may take on opposing players or have them be blocked by other creatures. Note that damage on Toughness and Life works similarly to trample and toughness only returns to its full default once you’ve successfully reached 0 toughness.

For Example:
My Tail-Weaver (life: 4) is a 6/6 samurai with Bushido 2 and Double Strike and Drago’s Drago (life:20) who is a 10/10 draco-werewolf with Flying and Frenzy 1 attacks him.

Instantly, Tail-Weaver deals 8 damage to Drago because of Double strike before the Draco-Werewolf can even say anything, and another 8 damage for normal combat damage. Drago however is able to land 10 damage to Tail-Weaver as he survives the Daimyo of Kamigawa’s first blow. Now in total, Drago’s Toughness is 10, but he is dealt 16 damage all in all. Drago’s life now becomes 14 because of the extra 6 damage Tail-Weaver’s attack left on him. Tail-Weaver, however, only has a toughness of 6 (plus 2 because of Bushido 2) and is therefore 8. This means his life is brought down to 2 as Drago had an extra 2 damage to leave upon him. Both characters would then return to being 6/6 and 10/10, as their toughness had reach 0.

However if Tail-Weaver were facing a 3/3 Demon with Flying and First Strike, then he would be left with being a 6/5 for the rest of the encounter until his toughness is brought to 0, which will in the end push it back to 6/6.

Now, hopefully this short explanation has eloquently explained to you how the WT combat works. Thank you for your attention, and we hope you follow our basic rules.