Battle

Game terms · intermediate

A battle is a card type that enters the battlefield with defense counters, can be attacked, and rewards whoever knocks its defense to zero.

How it works

• A battle is cast from your hand during a main phase of your turn with an empty stack, like a sorcery, and uses the stack. [310.1] On resolution its controller puts it onto the battlefield. [310.2]
• Defense is a characteristic battles have, [310.4] tracked with defense counters. [122.1g]
• Battles can be attacked, the same way planeswalkers can. [310.5]
• Damage dealt to a battle removes that many defense counters from it. [310.6]
• Each battle has a player designated as its protector. [310.9]
• Battle subtypes are a single word after a long dash, such as "Battle — Siege." [310.3] Sieges are subject to extra rules. [310.12]

Rules notes

• A Siege battle with 0 defense goes to its owner's graveyard unless it is the source of an ability that has triggered but not yet left the stack. A non-Siege battle with 0 defense goes to the graveyard outright. Both are state-based actions. [310.7] [310.8]
• If a battle that isn't being attacked has no valid protector, its controller picks one; if nobody can be chosen, the battle is put into its owner's graveyard as a state-based action. [310.11]
• A battle can't be attached to anything, even if it is somehow also an Aura or Equipment. If it ends up attached it becomes unattached as a state-based action. [310.10]

Rule reference

[310.1] [310.2] [310.3] [310.4] [310.5] [310.6] [310.7] [310.8] [310.9] [310.10] [310.11] [310.12] [122.1g]