Showdown of the Skalds card art

Showdown of the Skalds

Enchantment — Saga MV 4

Tracked across real Commander games played through TurnZero HQ.

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What it doesCombosRulingsIn the 99Every version

What it does

(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after III.)

I — Exile the top four cards of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play those cards.

II, III — Whenever you cast a spell this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control.

Combos with Showdown of the Skalds

Lines this card is part of — what it needs alongside it, and what the two of them do. An infinite result is the one that moves a deck's bracket.

Showing the 8 shortest and most explosive. This card appears in more than these — follow any of them through to Commander Spellbook to browse the rest.

Combo data from Commander Spellbook, the community-maintained database of Magic combos. Mirrored nightly.

Rulings

11 official rulings, in the order Wizards published them.

  • 2021-02-05

    If multiple chapter abilities trigger at the same time, their controller puts them on the stack in any order. If any of them require targets, those targets are chosen as you put the abilities on the stack, before any of those abilities resolve.

  • 2021-02-05

    Once a chapter ability has triggered, the ability on the stack won’t be affected if the Saga gains or loses counters, or if it leaves the battlefield.

  • 2021-02-05

    A chapter ability doesn’t trigger if a lore counter is put on a Saga that already had a number of lore counters greater than or equal to that chapter’s number. For example, the third lore counter put on a Saga causes the chapter III ability to trigger, but chapters I and II won’t trigger again.

  • 2021-02-05

    As a Saga enters the battlefield, its controller puts a lore counter on it. As your precombat main phase begins (immediately after your draw step), you put another lore counter on each Saga you control. Putting a lore counter on a Saga in either of these ways doesn’t use the stack.

  • 2021-02-05

    The cards you exile because of the chapter I ability are exiled face up.

  • 2021-02-05

    Once the number of lore counters on a Saga is greater than or equal to the greatest number among its chapter abilities, the Saga’s controller sacrifices it as soon as its chapter ability has left the stack, most likely by resolving or being countered. This state-based action doesn’t use the stack.

  • 2021-02-05

    Each symbol on the left of a Saga’s text box represents a chapter ability. A chapter ability is a triggered ability that triggers when a lore counter that is put on the Saga causes the number of lore counters on the Saga to become equal to or greater than the ability’s chapter number. Chapter abilities are put onto the stack and may be responded to.

  • 2021-02-05

    Playing a card this way follows the normal rules for playing the card. You must pay its costs, and you must follow all applicable timing rules. For example, if one of the cards is a sorcery card, you can cast it only during your main phase while the stack is empty.

  • 2021-02-05

    Under normal circumstances, you can play a land from among the exiled cards only if you haven’t played a land yet that turn.

  • 2021-02-05

    Removing lore counters won’t cause a previous chapter ability to trigger. If lore counters are removed from a Saga, the appropriate chapter abilities will trigger again when the Saga receives more lore counters.

  • 2021-02-05

    Any cards you don’t play by the end of your next turn will remain exiled.

Rulings are Wizards of the Coast's own, mirrored from Scryfall and refreshed nightly.

In the 99

Every deck whose current list includes Showdown of the Skalds, whatever its commander.

Decks running it 2
Games played 0
Win rate — Fewer than 5 completed games — not enough to publish a rate yet.
Confirmed on board 0 Games where a board photo caught it actually in play.

Most played under

Commander Decks Games Win rate
General Ferrous Rokiric 1 0 —

Colors it shows up in

  • Boros 1 deck

Every version of Showdown of the Skalds

4 printings, newest first. Prices are the market figures Scryfall publishes, refreshed nightly — a printing with no figure shows a dash rather than a zero, because Scryfall genuinely publishes none for some of them.

Prices from Scryfall, which tracks the TCGplayer and Cardmarket markets. They move daily and are a guide rather than a quote. Search TCGplayer for Showdown of the Skalds — a name search across every version, for the printings TCGplayer publishes no direct link to.

Aggregated from Commander games tracked in TurnZero HQ. Every figure counts decks and games only — no individual deck list, player or playgroup is identified. Win rates are withheld below 5 completed games, where the sample is too small to mean anything.