explain Old Fogey card abilities magic

[kiosko]

Hello,

Bought a big box of magic cards last week and I thought I pretty much taught myself how to play

but then I looked at old fogey and I dont undertand how any of its ability works except for protection and cumulative upkeep lol

can someone explain:
Phasing
echo
fading 3
bands with other dinosaurs
snow-covered plainswalk
flanking
rampage 2

[Arix]

Phasing: At the very beginning of your turn, just before you untap, the permanent "phases out". While it's phased out, treat it as though it doesn't exist - it can't attack, block, use abilities, be the target of abilities, be affected by something like Day of Judgment, and so on. During your next turn - again, just before you untap, it "phases in". And so it continues - if it's phased out it phases in, if it's phased in it phases out.

Echo: At the beginning of your next upkeep after it comes into play, you have to sacrifice it unless you pay its mana cost.

Fading 3: It comes into play with three fade counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a fade counter from it. If you can't (because there are no counters left on it), you sacrifice it.

Bands with other Dinosaurs: Oh dear god just ignore this.

Snow-covered Plainswalk: If your opponent controls a snow Plains, it's unblockable.

Flanking: When it becomes blocked by a creature without flanking, that craeture gets -1/-1 until end of turn.

Rampage 2: Whenever it becomes blocked, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn for each creature blocking it, after the first (so it gets +2/+2 if blocked by two creatures, +4/+4 if it's blocked by three, and so on).

[tate]

whoa that card is crazy

[kiosko]

thanks for the explanations! Will have to print it lol no way I Can remember all that

but what about the banding with other Dinosaurs?

[Kenji]

It's not too important, but it should be noted that Old Fogey is from the Unhinged set, which is full of "joke" cards. The joke here is that Old Fogey is old, and therefore has a bunch of abilities that are rarely, if ever, used by the design team anymore.

"Bands with other dinosaurs" will usually be pointless, because Old Fogey is the only creature with the dinosaur type. So, multiple Old Fogeys could band together. I hate explaining the rules for banding (because it's a crappy keyword that should never come back), so here's the comprehensive rules regarding it:

702.19. Banding

702.19a Banding is a static ability that modifies the rules for combat.

702.19b "Bands with other" is a special form of banding. If an effect causes a permanent to lose banding, the permanent loses all "bands with other" abilities as well.

702.19c As a player declares attackers, he or she may declare that one or more attacking creatures with banding and up to one attacking creature without banding (even if it has "bands with other") are all in a "band." He or she may also declare that one or more attacking [quality] creatures with "bands with other [quality]" and any number of other attacking [quality] creatures are all in a band. A player may declare as many attacking bands as he or she wants, but each creature may be a member of only one of them. (Defending players can't declare bands but may use banding in a different way; see rule 702.19j.)

702.19d All creatures in an attacking band must attack the same player or planeswalker.

702.19e Once an attacking band has been announced, it lasts for the rest of combat, even if something later removes banding or "bands with other" from one or more of the creatures in the band.

702.19f An attacking creature that's removed from combat is also removed from the band it was in.

702.19g Banding doesn't cause attacking creatures to share abilities, nor does it remove any abilities. The attacking creatures in a band are separate permanents.

702.19h If an attacking creature becomes blocked by a creature, each other creature in the same band as the attacking creature becomes blocked by that same blocking creature.
Example: A player attacks with a band consisting of a creature with flying and a creature with swampwalk. The defending player, who controls a Swamp, can block the flying creature if able. If he or she does, then the creature with swampwalk will also become blocked by the blocking creature(s).

702.19i If one member of a band would become blocked due to an effect, the entire band becomes blocked.

702.19j During the combat damage step, if an attacking creature is being blocked by a creature with banding, or by both a [quality] creature with "bands with other [quality]" and another [quality] creature, the defending player (rather than the active player) chooses how the attacking creature's damage is assigned. That player can divide that creature's combat damage as he or she chooses among any number of creatures blocking it. This is an exception to the procedure described in rule 510.1c.

702.19k During the combat damage step, if a blocking creature is blocking a creature with banding, or both a [quality] creature with "bands with other [quality]" and another [quality] creature, the active player (rather than the defending player) chooses how the blocking creature's damage is assigned. That player can divide that creature's combat damage as he or she chooses among any number of creatures it's blocking. This is an exception to the procedure described in rule 510.1d.

702.19m Multiple instances of banding on the same creature are redundant. Multiple instances of "bands with other" of the same kind on the same creature are redundant.

In a nutshell, banding allows you to put 2 or more of your creatures into a "band", which gives you the advantage of assigning the blocking creature's combat damage, should your band become blocked. However, the mechanic was thoroughly confusing to many players, and not well liked, so it's probably never going to be used again.


Oh, one other thing: cards from the Unglued or Unhinged expansions (such as Old Fogey) are never legal for tournament play. However, this doesn't really matter if you're only playing for fun with friends, etc.