Elspeth sun champion
Asked by Jcrowell 10 years ago
I got elspeth and wondering how to use her abilities I'm getting back into Magic after 9 years I understand uncan play as a sorcery but since she has 4 loyalty points can I use it four time to put the 1/1's out and how do I use her -1 and -7 abilities? So I can still use the plus 1 counter 4 times and then use her negative counters as long as she is in my graveyard?
filledelanuit says... #2
I guess I didn't actually answer your question. Also please link all the cards in your question. Elspeth, Sun's Champion
After you play her you can use either the +1 or -3 ability immediately. You can only use this ability once this turn.
You can use the -7 ability once you have gotten 7 or more loyalty counters on her.
March 15, 2015 4:46 p.m.
So elspeth has 4 loyalty counter how would I use the -7
March 15, 2015 4:46 p.m.
As lordoftheshadows said: "If an ability says +X or -X then you add or remove X loyalty counters on the walker."
So you'd need to use her + ability several times in order to have enough counters to remove to use the -7 ability.
March 15, 2015 4:59 p.m.
The number in the corner is just how many they start with, not how many they have each turn or something like that.
March 15, 2015 4:59 p.m.
You can only activate a planeswalkers loyalty ability once per turn and you can only activate a minus ability if your wallet has that many or more loyalty at the time so you will have to activate her +1 at least 3 times before you can use the -7 (or use other ways to add more counters on her like Doubling Season will make her come out with 8 to start)
March 15, 2015 5:06 p.m.
So I can play her then put my 1/1's on the board next turn I can use her -3 then next turn her minus -7
March 15, 2015 5:09 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #8
The loyalty symbols on the left side of the card are all costs. If you look, you'll notice there's a colon between the cost and the effect. Loyalty abilities are therefore activated abilities.
In order to activate an ability, you need to be able to make legal choices for it and pay its cost. You can always activate a + ability as long as nothing else is restricting it, but you can't activate a - ability unless you have enough loyalty counters on the permanent to pay for that cost.
For example, a +1 ability has the cost "Put one loyalty counter on this permanent, and a -7 ability has the cost "Remove seven loyalty counters from this permanent." You can't activate the -7 unless you can remove seven loyalty counters from the source permanent.
Further, you may activate only one loyalty ability of a permanent on each of your turns. You can't activate a single permanent's loyalty abilities multiple times on the same turn (unless you're using The Chain Veil).
Loyalty abilities can't be activated from the graveyard. Unless otherwise specified, an ability written on a permanent card functions only while that card is a permanent (i.e., while it's on the battlefield). Additionally, planeswalker cards in other zones don't have loyalty counters on them, so you couldn't activate - abilities anyway.
March 15, 2015 5:49 p.m.
She starts with 4 the + ability adds counters and the - removes counters when she hits 0 she dies
March 15, 2015 7:40 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #11
There's only one kind of loyalty counter. + and - are used to refer to the costs.
+1 means the cost is "Put a loyalty counter on this permanent."
-1 means the cost is "Remove a loyalty counter from this permanent."
Planeswalkers enter the battlefield with the number of loyalty counters listed in their bottom right corners. From then on, the number of loyalty counters is influenced by the choices you make. You add or remove counters by activating loyalty abilities. Some other abilities, such as Doubling Season's counter ability or Vampire Hexmage's ability, also interact with loyalty counters and allow you to add or remove counters without activating loyalty abilities. Planeswalkers can also be attacked, and any damage dealt to a planeswalker will cause that many loyalty counters to be removed from that planeswalker.
March 15, 2015 7:46 p.m.
Guess I'm not understanding once she comes into play she has 4 on the bottom. That's how many loyalty counters she has correct? Then I can use 1 to activate her first ability and put out 3 1/1's. Then next turn can I use the +1 again and then the next turn putting out little 1/1's then she should have 0 counters how would I then activate the -3 and -7 abilities?
March 15, 2015 8:02 p.m.
No your adding 1 to put out tokens, so you cast her she ETB with 4 you +1 to put out 3 tokens now he has 5 counters you do that for the next 2 turns bringing her upto 7 counters then on the third turn after you cast her (provided no one deals her any damage) you can then do the -7
March 15, 2015 8:06 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #14
As I said, + abilities mean that you add a loyalty counter (or multiple counters) to the permanent. Only - abilities require you to remove loyalty counters.
The + and - are just there to tell you whether you're adding or removing loyalty counters.
March 15, 2015 8:08 p.m.
And she gets cast to the hrave yard after I use her 4 ? So I each turn put out the 1/1's until she is at 4 and the she goes to the grave yard and I can use the all get 2/2 and flying
March 15, 2015 8:10 p.m.
I've said every thing there is to say if your still not getting it go here look under 306 and 606
March 15, 2015 8:20 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #17
"Casting" is a process that involves taking a spell card or a copy of a card from its current zone and putting it onto the stack, making choices for it, and paying its costs so that it will eventually resolve and have an effect. You don't cast things to the graveyard, and an object moving from the battlefield to the graveyard doesn't involve casting.
I'll walk you through an example to demonstrate what happens.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion enters the battlefield. It has 4, so it enters with four loyalty counters.
You activate Elspeth, Sun's Champion's +1 ability. The cost of this ability is adding a loyalty counter to Elspeth, Sun's Champion, so Elspeth, Sun's Champion now has five loyalty counters on it (the four it had and the one you added for this ability's cost). When the ability resolves, you'll put three 1/1 tokens onto the battlefield, per the ability's effect.
On your next turn, you activate Elspeth, Sun's Champion's +1 ability again. You add another loyalty counter during the activation process, so you now have six loyalty counters on Elspeth, Sun's Champion.
On your opponent's turn, you cast Volt Charge. You decide to proliferate the loyalty counters on Elspeth, Sun's Champion, so Elspeth, Sun's Champion now has seven loyalty counters.
On your next turn, you activate Elspeth, Sun's Champion's -7 ability, removing seven loyalty counters from Elspeth, Sun's Champion. Elspeth, Sun's Champion will be put into your graveyard as a state-based action because it now has zero loyalty counters on it. When the loyalty ability resolves, you'll get an emblem.
March 15, 2015 8:21 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #18
@Kozelek: If someone is having trouble understanding something, you should approach with a different angle or a more detailed answer. You should not insult that person, and you shouldn't make the claim that you've "said everything there is to say." That's rarely the case.
March 15, 2015 8:22 p.m.
Oh I see you can be blunt and rude all you want but when I give the link to the rules and quit trying to explain it cause I've gone over it several times now I'm insulting him hmmm ok I'll keep that in mind
March 15, 2015 8:25 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #20
At no point in this thread have I been rude.
Further, Magic is a complicated game. It's a very enjoyable game, but it takes a while to learn, even if you're coming back after a hiatus. It's hardly fair to lose your temper with someone who is actively trying to learn the rules and interactions.
That applies to anything in life. It's always better to teach someone the right way than to discourage them from trying to learn.
March 15, 2015 8:29 p.m.
whatever you know what I'm talking about but if you choose to ignore that that's fine I'll just go back to ignoring you like I've been doing for the last several months
March 15, 2015 8:40 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #22
@Kozelek: Please avoid bringing drama into the community, and please also stay on topic.
March 15, 2015 8:53 p.m.
I'm not trying do doany of that I am just getting back into the game and I was confused on ruling and how exactly to play the card but I will look over the card again and see if it makes sense if not no big deal I'll trade her for some thing no big deal
March 15, 2015 9:19 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #24
It's good to try to understand the rules, regardless of what you decide. You may well end up playing against other players who use planeswalkers, and you'll still need to know how they work for those situations.
If you need further clarification, don't hesitate to ask.
March 15, 2015 9:20 p.m.
Jcrowell I'm going to try and simplify this a bit. When you have six mana, and two of then can produce white mana, you can cast Elspeth, Sun's Champion. Ok, now she is on the field. You still have priority at this point.
So, she's on the field. See the number four? Take a dice, and put it on her (anywhere you want), with the number 4 facing up.
Now as I've said, you still have priority, so you can activate an ability now (at sorcery speed).
You can "plus 1", which makes the dice go to five, and you get three soldier tokens. OR! You can "minus 3", move the dice from 4 to 1, and kill all creatures with power 4 or more.
That is your Elspeth activation for the turn. You cannot use her again until your next one.
Let's say you used the "plus 1" to make the dice go to five. The next turn, she's still at five. You can "plus 1" again, and move the dice to six, or you can "minus three", and move the dice to 2. Making sense now?
Ok, so after three turns of "plus 1", her dice will be at 7. At that point, and not before then, you can "minus 7". This will give all creatures "+2/+2 and flying", until the game ends. This includes creatures you have on the field currently, and any that you cast afterwards.
Her loyalty, the dice, is also her health pool. People can choose to attack her instead of you. Say she's at six, and gets attacked for four. you take the dice, move it from six, and put it to two. Make sense? They can also use burn spells. If she's at six, and I use Lightning Bolt, she goes to three. You take the dice showing six, and move it to three.
She doesn't reset to 4 loyalty every turn, she keeps her counters. I hope this helped.
filledelanuit says... #1
So here is how planeswalkers work.
-Normally you can only cast planeswalkers as sorceries.
-They enter with X loyalty counter where X is the number in the lower right hand corner.
-You can only activate one ability per planeswalker per turn. Theses abilities can only be activate at sorcery speed.
-If an ability says +X or -X then you add or remove X loyalty counters on the walker. These go on as a cost so your opponent cannot respond to the putting on of the counters.
-If an ability say -X you can only activate the ability if you have at least X counters.
-If a planeswalker has 0 loyalty counters then it dies.
March 15, 2015 4:41 p.m.