What is the Point of Exiling in MTG?
Fast answer first. Then use the tabs or video for more detail.
- Watch the video explanation below for a faster overview.
- Game mechanics may change with updates or patches.
- Use this block to get the short answer without scrolling the whole page.
- Read the FAQ section if the article has one.
- Use the table of contents to jump straight to the detailed section you need.
- Watch the video first, then skim the article for specifics.
The core purpose of exiling in Magic: The Gathering (MTG) is to provide a more permanent and difficult-to-recover removal option compared to simply sending cards to the graveyard. In essence, it’s designed to be a way of taking a card out of the game with fewer readily available methods of retrieval. While the graveyard acts as a sort of temporary holding area from which cards can often be resurrected or otherwise manipulated, the exile zone represents a more significant hurdle for opposing strategies. It’s a powerful tool that forces players to consider the long-term implications of their card usage. The impact of exile is multifaceted, disrupting specific strategies that rely on graveyard recursion or interactions and offering a clean, almost final, solution to problematic permanents.
The Power of Permanent Removal
Beyond the Graveyard
Traditional methods of removal in MTG, like destruction or dealing damage, send cards to the graveyard. This presents a host of opportunities for players to utilize cards from this zone, with reanimation, card advantage and graveyard-based synergies becoming common strategies in various formats. Exile sidesteps these mechanics, making the removed card significantly harder to access. This is crucial in formats where graveyard manipulation is prevalent or where specific creatures that have “death triggers” are present. By exiling, you deny opponents the resources and opportunities that would otherwise be available to them if the cards were simply placed in the graveyard.
Disruption of Specific Strategies
Many decks in MTG are built around the graveyard, using it as a second hand or a strategic resource. Decks that leverage creatures with “when this creature dies” effects are especially vulnerable to exile effects. This strategic element allows players using exile to disrupt these builds significantly by invalidating crucial card interactions, such as card advantage engines, resurrection combos and graveyard based strategies. By using exile spells strategically, players can neutralize key elements of their opponent’s strategy while also gaining a significant advantage by keeping their own graveyard strategies intact.
Clean Solution for Problematic Permanents
Some permanents in MTG are incredibly difficult to deal with via traditional methods. Indestructible creatures, for example, can’t be destroyed by lethal damage. Exile offers a way to remove such permanents, circumventing their resistance to destruction effects. This makes exile a vital tool for controlling the board state, enabling players to efficiently deal with resilient threats that would otherwise dominate the game, and opening up pathways to victory by removing the opposing player’s board control.
The Strategic Considerations of Exile
Risk vs. Reward
While exiling a card is a powerful act, it’s also a deliberate choice that involves a certain risk. Some cards can benefit from being exiled, such as those with effects that trigger when they are exiled, or cards that can be brought back from exile using other card effects. Therefore, players need to assess the potential downsides in comparison to the immediate advantage of removing the card in question. In the process of removing a card, players have to consider what specific interactions or strategies the opposing player is using, and how that decision impacts their own board control.
Tempo Advantage
The removal power that comes with exiling cards translates to a tempo advantage for the players wielding that ability. Exile provides a faster and more permanent way to remove threats, which can often halt an opponent’s progress and prevent them from using key strategies. This leads to a huge shift in momentum as tempo advantage is often the key to victory in MTG games. This makes exiling a critical tool to gain and maintain that tempo advantage.
Resource Management
Exile helps players manage both their own and their opponent’s resources. While some cards benefit from being exiled, the permanent removal that exile usually provides significantly limits the resources that can be accessed by players, preventing them from accessing graveyard synergies or utilizing cards that would otherwise be available. This helps players control the flow of the game and limits the scope of the strategies available for opposing players.
A Necessary Tool
In short, exile serves as an important check and balance mechanism in MTG. It is a powerful way to remove cards, and it’s not overpowered due to the fact that, although there are some methods of interacting with cards in exile, they are more rare and difficult to utilize compared to graveyard strategies. This makes exile a tool that is both powerful and strategic, with implications for both players.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Does exiling count as dying?
No. When a creature or planeswalker is exiled, it is sent to the exile zone and not the graveyard. Therefore, effects that trigger upon a creature’s death will not activate. This is a key distinction when strategizing board control options.
2. Does exiling remove enchantments?
Yes. When a permanent is exiled, any enchantments attached to it are detached and go to the graveyard, unless the enchantment has bestow, in which case it becomes a creature and remains on the battlefield.
3. Can you exile indestructible permanents?
Absolutely. Indestructible only protects permanents from being destroyed by lethal damage or spells that say “destroy.” It doesn’t prevent them from being exiled, sacrificed, or bounced.
4. Does exiling a creature bypass shield counters?
Yes. Shield counters only prevent damage and destruction effects. They do not stop a creature from being exiled, returned to your hand, or sacrificed.
5. Is exiled the same as removed from the game?
Yes. Removed from the game was the term for what is now known as being exiled. They both refer to moving a card to a separate zone where it is difficult to access.
6. Does deathtouch affect indestructible creatures?
No. Deathtouch deals “lethal damage”, and indestructible prevents the creature from being destroyed by “lethal damage”. Thus, it does not kill the creature.
7. Can you return cards from exile?
Yes, while it’s more challenging than graveyard recursion, some cards have effects that specifically return cards from the exile zone. These spells are more limited, thus adding to the permanency of exile as an option.
8. Does exiling cause summoning sickness?
Yes. If a creature is returned from exile, it returns as if it was just played. So, if you play it from exile, it will have summoning sickness.
9. Does totem armor prevent exile?
No. Totem armor only protects against destruction effects. If the enchanted permanent gets exiled, the aura doesn’t do anything special. It would then go to the graveyard if it had no other effects.
10. Does exiling count as drawing?
No. Exiling a card is not the same as drawing it. You are not drawing, therefore cards that have effects triggered by drawing will not activate from exiling a card.
11. Does exiling a card count as it dying?
No. When a card is exiled, it is not considered dying. Effects that specifically activate when a card dies will not activate when that card is exiled.
12. Does exiling a card count as gaining it?
No. Exiling a card from the supply is not considered “gaining” that card, and will not cause abilities that trigger when you gain a card to happen.
13. How does exiling work in Dominion?
In Dominion, exiling a card means placing it onto a specific exile board. The next time you would gain a copy of a card you have in exile, you get all copies from your exile pile into your discard pile.
14. Can exile be voluntary?
Yes. Though exile often implies forced removal, there are some situations where a player may voluntarily exile one of their own cards as part of a card ability or effect.
15. What is the benefit of exiling cards in MTG?
The main benefit of exiling is its permanence. It is a powerful removal option that is difficult to recover from. This can be strategically used to counter opponents and maintain control of the flow of the game.