Given the sheer volume of complex, interlocking rules the game has, it’s frankly impressive that Magic: the Gathering functions at all. 30 years of iteration and innovation have created a clockwork monolith, terrible to behold. As anyone who has attempted to read the comprehensive rules will tell you. Sometimes, adjustments to that monolith need to be made. One such adjustment has arrived with Bloomburrow, specifically a change to the way the Postcombat Main Phase works.
Postcombat Main Phase No More
You might have noticed this change as Bloomburrow cards were revealed during preview season. You’d equally be forgiven for missing it, however. It only appeared on a few cards, and it’s subtle enough that only long-time players were really likely to pick up on it.
In the past, the two main phases of the MTG turn were referred to as the ‘Precombat Main Phase’ and the ‘Postcombat Main Phase.’ A sensible approach, given that the two phases do, indeed, sit on either side of the Combat Phase. In Bloomburrow, though, this has changed. The Precombat Main Phase is now known as the ‘First Main Phase,’ while the Postcombat Main Phase is now called the ‘Second Main Phase.’ You can see examples of this new templating on Muerra, Trash Technician and Fireglass Mentor.
So far, there hasn’t been an official explanation given for this change. That said, any players suspect that it was made in the interest of space in card text boxes. Both ‘First’ and ‘Second’ use fewer characters than ‘Precombat’ and ‘Postcombat,’ thus freeing up room. Given that Bloomburrow is also changing ‘Enters the battlefield’ to just ‘enters’ for the same reason, it’s safe to assume that this is the case.
Caught In The Crossfire
Unlike the switch to enters, changing the templating of Magic’s Main Phases actually has gameplay ramifications. Because of the way certain cards are worded, this templating shift is also a functionality shift in some cases. Perhaps most notable among these is Chancellor of the Tangle. This is a card that already referred to the ‘First Main Phase,’ meaning the first Main Phase of the game. To function with the new templating, and not grant you a free green mana every single turn, this card will be receiving an errata.
This was confirmed by WotC’s Principal Magic Editor, Matt Tabak, on Twitter. Thanks to the errata, Chancellor of the Tangle will continue to work as intended. Unfortunately, as the rest of the thread revealed, some other cards won’t be so lucky.
Creatures that have abilities relating to the ‘Postcombat Main Phase’ will now only count the ‘Second Main Phase,’ and no additional Main Phases that come after. This was confirmed by Tabak in the thread and subsequently shared on the r/MagicTCG Subreddit by TajTellick. Under normal circumstances, this is unlikely to come up, but for some Commanders it’s practically a death sentence. Neheb, the Eternal in particular is largely viable thanks to his interaction with extra combat step cards like Aggravated Assault. This new templating change is, therefore, a major nerf to the deck.
This is an unfortunate situation to be sure. Most players would agree that streamlining rules templating is a net good for the game. But not at the cost of card functionality. Players invest a lot of time and money in Commander decks, so having them suddenly crushed out of the blue is not really acceptable. Hopefully, Neheb gets its own errata to address this injustice.
Read More: The Best Bloomburrow Cards For Commander MTG
