Metazoo Rulings you Probably Didn’t Know About!

Metazoo Rulings you Probably Didn’t Know About!

Hey there Casters! Resident Master Metazoologist truK backwards back with a very important topic, uncommon but very handy Metazoo rulings! Being knowledgeable about game mechanics and card interactions is pivotal to being a better player in every card game, Metazoo is no exception! This list will give you a nice refresher on rulings you may have forgotten or teach you a thing or two about the intricacies of the game we all love!

Thunderbird checks for a lightning spell that has been played for its Arena Effect AT ANY POINT during your turn.

Thunderbird from the Nightfall set is a staple in any Lightning player’s arsenal. With a persistent effect of being treated as Quetzalcoatlus, allowing it to be pulled out of the Spellbook with cards like Call of the Storm, as well as a devastating arena ability that allows it to grant Lightning Storm & Raining when a Lightning spell is played. What many players do not know is that the check for the lightning spell can occur without Thunderbird being in the Arena! For instance, Caster A players a Lightning Bolt then plays a Bookmark to draw 2 cards. Caster A then plays a Thunderbird for 3 Lightning Aura and gains the benefit of its arena effect, granting Lightning Storm & Raining for the turn! This increase in damage can be exactly what you need to control the Arena or that last bit of extra damage to secure a game!

You only have to assign 55 LP worth of Damage to Wallowa Lake Crustacean when it Defends against an attack.

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of playing against a Loveland Lockdown deck, you will be familiar with the Wallowa Lake Crustacean from the Nightfall Set. This monster of a Beastie has a plethora of positive traits, including the arena effect to take half damage from any combat damage it receives, effectively doubling its LP Pool from 55 to 110. What many players do not know is that you are only required to assign the maximum LP printed on the card, despite any arena effects, before assigning the rest of your damage elsewhere. This is especially important when the feisty crab is defending its best pal Loveland Frogman! Any damage over the 55 LP the Crab has can be allocated to the original target, making him slightly less effective at being the big strong bouncer we all know he is.

First Anniversary Celebration Nullifies traits, but does not remove them.

First Anniversary Celebration has been a staple in most casters’ Spellbooks since the card was released. The ability to nullify traits is one of the strongest effects in the game, not to mention the unavoidable 25 Damage it deals! An important distinction with the card, however, is that although all traits are nullified for the spell’s duration, they are NOT removed! This is important for quite a few interactions. A popular combination utilized by Water Spellbook players is First Anniversary Celebration, followed by Flood the Earth the following turn to completely wipe out the opponent’s side of the Arena. Since First Anniversary Celebrations only nullifies the traits, Flood the Earth, which does not affect Flying Pages, would not remove the Flying Pages since it does not remove the trait! Another application would be utilizing Hateful Demise, which can only be cast on Beasties with 2 traits or magiproof while under the effects of First Anniversary Celebration. Last but certainly not least, a common misconception involving First Anniversary Celebration removes Burrow. A Popular Frost Card, Ami-kuk from the Nightfall set, utilizes Burrow to keep itself safe only surfacing to deal heavy damage! The burrow trait applies the ‘Burrowed’ effect which means that although the Burrow trait is nullified, if a Beastie is already burrowed, it would not unburrow them BUT it would prevent the Beastie from burrowing on the following turn, as the trait has been nullified!

Zero Damage Dealt is No Damage Dealt

From the title it may seem like a no-brainer, of course Zero damage is No Damage! This is an important distinction for a few cards but most notably Gumberoo. Gumberoo is a powerful card introduced in Cryptid nation that has the ability to return Pages back to the controlling caster’s chapter while also taking zero combat damage! Gumberoo can be stopped however, by inflicting Gumberoo with the Burn status effect, or dealing Fire Damage to it, Gumberoo is immediately sent to the afterlife and the controlling caster is dealt 50 damage! Where the ruling distinction lies is this: Since Gumberoo reduces all Combat Damage to zero, simply attacking it with a Fire Beastie would not trigger the Arena effect sending it to the afterlife! The Beastie in question would need to also apply burn on its attack to destroy Gumberoo, otherwise Gumberoo would not be destroyed as any combat damage would be reduced to zero!

I hope that these lesser known rulings will serve you well as you sling your Spellbooks against opposing casters in the Arena! If you have any other rulings you are curious about, or have questions feel free to reach out to me on discord truK#0001 and I will be happy to help in any way that I can! Thank you for reading!