Demystifying Summoning Sickness: Is it a Full Turn of Inaction?
The short answer is yes, summoning sickness effectively lasts until the beginning of your next turn. A creature entering the battlefield under your control is generally “sick” – meaning it can’t attack or use activated abilities with the tap or untap symbol in their cost – until your next turn begins. It’s a fundamental rule in Magic: The Gathering that prevents players from immediately leveraging newly summoned creatures for offense or certain activated abilities. However, there are plenty of nuances and exceptions to keep in mind! Let’s dive deeper into understanding this important concept.
Understanding the Core of Summoning Sickness
The term “summoning sickness” isn’t actually rules language anymore; it’s a colloquial term for what the rules call the state of a creature that hasn’t been under its controller’s continuous control since the beginning of their most recent turn. The key is that “continuous control since the beginning of your most recent turn” part. If a creature enters the battlefield under your control after your turn has already started, it will be summoning sick until your next turn begins. This delay gives your opponent a chance to react to the creature before it can impact the game through attacking or certain activated abilities. This is one of the many ways Magic manages power and balance, and can be examined using the principles of game-based learning, explored at sites such as the Games Learning Society.
It’s also important to know what summoning sickness doesn’t do. It doesn’t prevent a creature from blocking. It doesn’t prevent a creature from using activated abilities that don’t require tapping. And it certainly doesn’t prevent a creature from dying! So, summoning sickness affects when and how a creature can impact a board, but it doesn’t make it immune to removal spells.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Summoning Sickness
Here are some common questions players have about summoning sickness and related interactions:
1. What exactly can’t a creature with summoning sickness do?
A creature with summoning sickness cannot:
- Attack: This is the most commonly known restriction.
- Activate abilities with the tap symbol (tap to do something): If an ability’s cost includes “{T}” (the tap symbol), a summoning sick creature can’t use it.
- Activate abilities with the untap symbol (untap to do something): Similar to the tap symbol, the untap symbol “{Q}” in an ability cost also makes the creature ineligible to activate it.
2. Does summoning sickness prevent blocking?
No! Creatures with summoning sickness can absolutely block. This is a crucial distinction. Summoning sickness only restricts attacking and certain activated abilities.
3. Can I use a creature with summoning sickness to pay for Convoke?
Yes, you can! Convoke allows you to tap untapped creatures you control to help pay the mana cost of a spell. Importantly, the creatures aren’t being tapped as a cost of an ability, but as an effect of the convoke spell. Thus summoning sickness doesn’t impact the ability to convoke.
4. Does flickering (exiling and returning) a creature cause summoning sickness?
Yes, flickering a creature effectively makes it a “new” creature entering the battlefield. Therefore, it will be affected by summoning sickness unless it has haste or remains on the battlefield under your control until the beginning of your next turn. If you flicker the creature on your turn, it has summoning sickness until your next turn.
5. How does Haste interact with summoning sickness?
Haste negates the effects of summoning sickness entirely. A creature with haste can attack and use tap abilities the turn it enters the battlefield. Haste effectively bypasses the restriction imposed by summoning sickness. It is crucial to have haste abilities in most red decks so that a creature can be immediately utilized.
6. Do lands entering the battlefield have summoning sickness? What about lands that become creatures?
Lands themselves don’t experience summoning sickness. However, if a land transforms into a creature (for example, via an ability), then it becomes subject to summoning sickness. You can’t attack with a land that became a creature on the same turn it transformed or use tap abilities on it.
7. Can I crew a Vehicle with a creature that has summoning sickness?
Absolutely! You can crew a Vehicle with a creature that has summoning sickness. Crewing only requires tapping the creature, but not as a cost of an ability. This interaction demonstrates that summoning sickness doesn’t stop a creature from being tapped for other game effects.
8. What if I steal an opponent’s creature? Does it have summoning sickness?
Yes. A stolen creature will have summoning sickness unless it was under your continuous control since the beginning of your most recent turn. If you steal it during your turn, it can’t attack or use tap abilities that turn.
9. Do Planeswalkers have summoning sickness?
No, only creatures have summoning sickness. You can use a Planeswalker’s loyalty abilities the turn it enters the battlefield. A Planeswalker’s abilities can be activated the turn they come into play, as long as A) it’s your turn (abilities are used as sorceries), and B) the Planeswalker has sufficient loyalty to activate the ability.
10. Does Deathtouch negate summoning sickness?
Deathtouch has nothing to do with summoning sickness. They are entirely unrelated. Deathtouch causes any amount of damage from that creature to be sufficient to destroy another creature. It’s an offensive combat ability, where summoning sickness is a temporary restriction on a newly summoned creature’s actions.
11. Can you use a tap ability during your opponent’s turn?
Yes, you can use a tap ability during your opponent’s turn, provided the creature doesn’t have summoning sickness and the ability can be activated at instant speed (i.e., it doesn’t have a restriction like “Activate only as a sorcery.”).
12. Do Incubator tokens have summoning sickness when they transform?
When an Incubator token transforms into a Phyrexian creature on the same turn it entered the battlefield, the resulting creature does have summoning sickness. However, if the Incubator token entered on a previous turn, you can transform it and attack with the Phyrexian creature on the same turn.
13. What is the difference between Flash and Haste?
Flash allows you to cast a creature spell any time you could cast an instant, making it a surprise play. Haste allows a creature to attack or use tap abilities the turn it enters the battlefield, negating summoning sickness. Both are valuable for different strategies.
14. If I blink a melded creature, what happens?
If you blink a melded creature, it returns as its separate component cards, not the melded creature. Each of those components will have summoning sickness as if they just entered the battlefield. Melded creatures are a special case because they are formed from two separate cards combining.
15. Can summoning sickness be untapped?
No, untapping a creature with summoning sickness will not remove summoning sickness. While summoning sickness prevents your creature from using any tap abilities or attacking, a creature with summoning sickness is not tapped when it enters the battlefield, it can still block on your opponent’s turn.
Mastering Summoning Sickness
Understanding summoning sickness and its nuances is crucial for playing Magic effectively. Knowing when your creatures can attack, when you can block with them, and how to use activated abilities strategically are vital for your success. While it might seem restrictive, summoning sickness ultimately contributes to the balanced and strategic gameplay that defines Magic: The Gathering. The GamesLearningSociety.org offers excellent resources that demonstrate how games help us better understand complex systems, much like summoning sickness!