Spell differences: are there any?
Asked by V017r0n 4 years ago
Hello! 1st post on the site! I hope I’ve got the right place...
So, my problem is this: I was looking at Gatherer, seeing the Enchantments. Now, everywhere I look, every page, there’s at least one Tribal or World spell. I keep looking up what these are and what they do, but to no avail. Please, please answer my question. What is the difference between your average spell ( Fireball ) and a tribal spell ( Tarfire )? What about World Spells ( Arboria )?
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #2
"World Enchantments are enchantments that affect the ENTIRE boardstate, not just your half of it. For example, Concordant Crossroads gives ALL creatures haste. It doesn't matter who controls them; They have Haste. Compare this to Hammer of Purphoros : Now only YOUR creatures have Haste."
It's worth noting that while iirc that was the original design philosophy behind World Enchantments, it doesn't really hold true these days, with things like Mass Hysteria having been printed.
World Enchantments were from a much older time in MTG's history, and have not been printed in a long time. Things that would theoretically have been relegated to World Enchantments during the time they were in print are just designed as regular Enchantments now.
July 28, 2019 11:24 p.m.
It's also worth noting that while it was a design philosophy, it wasn't strictly followed at the time, as Land's Edge is not at all a symmetrical effect.
To clarify things, World is a supertype. It only appears on enchantments (much like basic only appears on lands). Tribal is a type (like artifact or instant). It shares the subtypes list as creatures, and has the distinction of appearing on both permanent and non permanent cards, which no other card type does (as other card types define the card as being a permanent or non permanent.
July 29, 2019 2:51 a.m.
In the future, please remember to hit the green “mark as answer” button to indicate your question has been resolved. Since this question has been answered for a couple of days with no follow-up questions, I have gone ahead and marked an answer on your behalf.
August 2, 2019 10:26 a.m.
Thanks! I didn’t know I had to, and when I came back, I must’ve not seen my post because I thought it just didn’t. Thanks everyone!
Tyrant-Thanatos says... Accepted answer #1
Tribal spells have a creature type tied to them, and count as that type.
In your example, Tarfire can be targeted by Boggart Birth Rite , where Fireball cannot.
World enchantments are a bit unique, and there's not a whole lot of them, but:
So basically, only one World card can exist on the battlefield at a time, and if a new one is played, the old one is put into its owner's graveyard.
July 28, 2019 11:07 p.m.