Why do red cards have "attacks each turn if able"?
Asked by Quickspell 4 years ago
I've barely played red. I'm wondering why so many red creature cards have "attacks each turn if able". Isn't that a very disadvantageous card rule? As a player, what's the benefit?
This section isn't really for "why" questions, btw. This is specifically a section for how the rules work and mechanical questions on how to play the game.
In the future, you'd be better off asking something like this in one of the forums.
July 1, 2019 2:44 p.m.
Quickspell says... #3
@ LordBlackblade, thank you for the explanation!
@ sonnet666, thank you the guidance.
LordBlackblade says... Accepted answer #1
In my experience, this clause on cards isn't designed as an advantage, but rather a balancing/flavor choice. The idea behind it is that red is so aggressive that it will entirely neglect defense in favor of offense. As a balancing mechanic, its usually found on cards that R&D considers to produce too much value for red ( Goblin Rabblemaster ) or would be too efficient otherwise ( Akoum Firebird ). Usually red wants to attack anyway, so this "drawback" can sometimes be completely irrelevant.
A similar clause to consider is zombies that enter tapped. From a flavor standpoint, they enter tapped because they're shambling and slow. From a balance standpoint it let's you print things like Diregraf Ghoul which would be overpowered as a vanilla 2/2 for one otherwise.
June 30, 2019 6:03 p.m.