MTG Salvation

At the LGS just now, I noticed a player using Terastodon to destroy creatures. I immediately pointed the mistake out.

After the game they were in ended, we found ourselves in the same pod. I was playing my new Estrid, the Masked deck. I claimed my commander's ultimate only put enchantments from the top seven cards put into the yard on the field, that it wasn't a Replenish. This other player had me look at the card & assured me it was in fact a full Replenish.

So yeah, we all screw up.

What card-reading blunders have you made or witnessed?

Recently, I cast Vizier of the Menagerie and promptly flipped the top card of library to reveal it, then got immediately pointed out only I was privy to the top deck.

In my defense, I have not played a game in months and I actually think that was the first time I managed to draw and cast Vizier after getting a copy (and I got it almost immediately on release, so that's how little I play), so I'll blame the (already-defunct) Garruk's Horde for that one.

Boring common one, but I see people very frequently miss the "sorcery speed only" clause when it appears in a big block of text. Happened recently with transmogrifying wand but it's happened at least a couple times before.

Funnier one - my girlfriend cast dream cache while bashing precons together, and after drawing 3 cards proceeded to thoughtfully sort out 2 piles of 2 cards each, so she could put one pile on top and the other pile on bottom of the deck draw 3 lose 4, seeeeems pretty bad.

Then she miracled entreat the angels next turn and kicked my ass, so I guess she didn't need the help.

I misread a cards mana cost as 1UR I stead of 2UR. So when she died and I had helm of awakening. I thought 2ur could recast her.i have won two games due to that mistake.

I nearly had a game stalemate because both my opponent and I forgot that defenders without reach can't block flying creatures. Luckily, I remembered the next turn.

I cast a discounted Torgaar, Famine Incarnate causing my opponent to attack resulting in the death of one of his creatures. Then he tried to Fatal Push Torgaar.

I caught a player (twice) misplaying Muldrotha, the Gravetide by casting spells without paying their costs or respecting any timing restrictions. I personally feel the player was cheating because I caught the player doing the same thing at pre-release (forgivable) and again the following week at FNM (not forgivable). Judge says it was an honest mistake both times so I guess I'll include it here.

For some reason, I thought Lost Legacy let the target opponent draw a card for each card exiled from hand, library and graveyard so I ignored it for a long time.

I tend to get Yavimaya Sapherd (which I always read as Shepherd) and Sporecrown Thallid mixed up. Lots of screwed up plays. Not sure why....

More of a rule change, rather than a card reading error. I didn't know there was a short period time when you couldn't turn off Howling Mine. On an unrelated note, I think it sucks that all continuous affect artifacts can't be switched off.

I've more than once missed death triggers on evoke creatures.

Assuming that creatures with wings in their art can fly....

I once sac'ed Bonds of Mortality to GIVE MY creatures indestructible until EOT once.

The first time I used Sunbird’s Invocation in my Vial Smasher/Thrasios deck, I had Rashmi, Eternities Crafter out. I don’t recall what spell I cast first, but I cast the revealed card off Rashmi’s ability and tried to trigger Sunbird’s Invocation. Reading is hard, apparently, because I missed the “from your hand” clause.

This past Sunday I tried to use Light of Sanction along with stealing my opponent's Ruric Thar to protect me from his trigger...

Another player had somehow misread Trophy Mage's ability as 'cmc 3 or less' in a blink deck. Between eating too many chips and focusing on another opponent no-one caught it initially, and by the time we'd clued on, he'd cast Sol Ring, Bloodforged axe, etc. Suffice to say he was very embarrassed.

Quote from Lithl »

This past Sunday I tried to use Light of Sanction along with stealing my opponent's Ruric Thar to protect me from his trigger...

I like using Loxodon Warhammer to protect myself from Ruric Thar. If you're in white, like Mayael the Anima or something, Story Circle is also an option.

Loxodon Warhammer, by the way, brings up how many times I've had players think deathtouch and lifelink are triggered abilities and not just inherent to the damage. (True of wither and infect as well, but most people figure out those because they have immediate game consequences. Lifelink, the fact that you lose 6 life and gain 6 life at the same time means that if you're at 6 life or less, you never go down to 0 or less when state-based actions are checked. Yay!)

In 1994 I was playing multiplayer with some friends and I had Sword of the Ages in play. I activated it and sacrificed my opponent's creatures. The original wording said "Sacrifice Sword of the Ages and as many creatures as you choose." We didn't know you couldn't choose your opponent's creatures

A few years ago I cast Primal Command and put my opponent's Grimgrin, Corpse-Born on top of his library. Neither of us noticed the mistake during the game, but I realized it later.

Once I let my opponent block and kill my Serra Ascendant when I was at 30+ life with an artifact he animated and gave deathtouch and lifelink with Sydri, Galvanic Genius. I forgot my creature had flying and his didn't

More recenlty I tried to activate Mistveil Plains with only one white permanent in play, but an opponent caught the mistake.

And most recently I tried to exile two artifacts with Return to Dust when I cast it with Sunforger on my opponent's turn, but an opponent caught the mistake.

The last two mistakes were because I hadn't played in a while and forgot the wording on Mistveil Plains and Return to Dust.

I screw up things for a long time when playing a new deck. It's 100 cards, one copy of each. It may take 20 games to see all the cards once. So, I don't have the text memorized yet and sometimes I forget what a card does because I haven't seen it in a month.

Was playing an old Weatherlight print of Aura of Silence with the text "Artifact and enchantment spells cost target opponent an additional 2 to play."

Opponent was arguing that because it said target, I had to choose a target for the cost increase to apply to when I originally played the card. Newer versions have the corrected text of "your opponents".

Not so much a reading error, but I won two games while drafting a friend's cube by redirecting Mana Crypt damage to planeswalkers (before the Dominaria rules change). Turns out you were only allowed to redirect noncombat damage dealt to opponents.