From the first time I played a Magic game, I enjoyed running Fog, Holy Day, and Darkness. Why?

Because it is hilarious to watch someone swing all out for tons of combat damage and refute it all with one green, white, or black mana. The “prevent all combat damage” line has saved me time and again from certain doom, leaving me with just one turn to come back from the brink–and sometimes, that one turn is all I need.

I really enjoy running damage prevention and have made it a large part of my “style” in Magic: the Gathering. Since I run a lot of Green and White, I came across Fog and Holy Day early in my M:TG career (I only later found Darkness when I tried my hand at building a Black/White deck), and soon included at least two copies in every deck I built because I found it to be so useful.

In my humble opinion as an M:TG player, there are 3 reasons why running “prevent all combat damage” is an excellent choice for a Green, White, or Black deck.

Reason #1: Protection

When you run a longer-game deck (like most of the decks I build for casual play), stalling cards like Fog, Holy Day, and Darkness allow you to last one or two more turns so your deck can have a chance to go off. Especially when you’re playing against hyper-aggressive creature combat decks, these cards can provide you with one more turn to draw a Wrath of God/Day of Judgment, two more turns to put into play a Story Circle, or a turn to draw that last combo piece you’re missing.

Knowing I have a damage-prevention card in my hand is like a safety net or security blanket. I know that if all else fails and I’m about to lose this turn, I can possibly stave it off with one mana.

Reason #2: Mind Games

Imagine this scenario: I pretend to be weak and unable to play anything of import (except for leaving one green, white, or black mana open). Then, the hyper-aggressive opponent grows overconfident and strikes with full force, tapping all his/her creatures for combat. I play Fog/Holy Day/Darkness, and their full-strength strike is negated. Next turn, I counter-attack with nearly all my forces (I say “nearly” because I want to be able to block next time around), because in their haste to kill me, they left themselves completely undefended. Thus, I succeed in knocking their life points down by a good chunk.

Preventing all combat damage allows for these mind games, because you do look incapable and cornered, until they swing for lots of damage and you tap your last remaining land. (My boyfriend knows this very well now, and knows what I’m about to do when that last land gets tapped…LOL)

You can also leave one land untapped and one card in hand to fake an opponent out, so that they think you have a Fog/Holy Day/Darkness in hand when you really don’t. Believe me, it can work; it’s a psych-out move just like playing the actual card can be.

Reason #3: Board Control

I will admit, “preventing all combat damage” by itself is a stopgap move, a way to last just a little longer till your deck goes off. But if you add an Isochron Scepter…

…it becomes a board-control move. Suddenly, just by leaving 2 mana sources available every turn, you have a constant source of damage prevention. It may not completely save you against direct-damage decks, but for creature-combat decks, this reads “THE END.” Only your own player error or a good Disenchant/Shatter/Naturalize can wreck this.

I find this to be an excellent stall maneuver–with this combo, I no longer have to worry about combat damage, and I can focus on gaining back whatever life I lost before this combo hit the table. I can also frustrate the opponent and possibly force some player errors that wouldn’t normally have happened under regular conditions.

(Frustrating the opponent with a Teflon life total is just as much “board control” as it is “mind games;” you are subtly influencing how they play what they play, and as irritated as life-gain and damage prevention makes some players, they’re bound to start making mistakes. As the stall player, you can capitalize on that weakness as if it were a card on the field.)

Why Is This Funny?

Because it’s a less-expected way to win. Most M:TG players win by blatant control in-game, huge amounts of damage, or tricky combos; this, by contrast, involves subtle control/manipulation tactics outside the game, resistance to said damage, and simple but effective combos.

And because it’s unexpected, one can eke out a win, proving that ingenuity can triumph where brute force and “doing what everyone else does to win” doesn’t always work. I don’t know about you, but I find it hilarious and awesome when the perceived “underdog” wins…especially when that underdog is me. 😛