Braids, Conjurer Adept AvatarHow it works & interactions with other cards

Choosing Your Acceleration

Braids features three distinct activated abilities that allow players to place cards directly from their hands onto the battlefield. You can pay two mana for lands, three mana for noncreature artifacts, and four mana for creatures. It is important to note that these are 'may' abilities; no player is forced to put a card onto the battlefield if they do not wish to or if they have no valid cards in hand.

The Resolution Process

When you activate one of these abilities and it resolves, the active player (the player whose turn it is) first chooses whether to put a card from their hand onto the battlefield. Then, each other player in turn order does the same. All chosen cards enter the battlefield simultaneously. If you choose the land option, those lands enter the battlefield tapped, whereas artifacts and creatures enter untapped unless another effect states otherwise.

Timing and Restrictions

A common mistake is trying to activate these abilities on an opponent's turn. The card explicitly states 'Activate only as a sorcery,' meaning you can only use these abilities during your own main phase when the stack is empty. Furthermore, because you are putting cards onto the battlefield rather than casting them, these cards cannot be countered by spells like Counterspell, and they do not trigger 'when you cast' abilities.

Strategic Deployment

Use Braids when you have high-cost permanents in hand that you want to resolve before your opponents can set up their defenses. Since the creature ability costs four mana, it is often more efficient than casting a six- or seven-mana creature normally. Just be wary of activating the artifact or land abilities if you suspect your opponents have more impactful cards to drop than you do.

Interaction examples

Fast Mana Setup

Command TowerSol Ring

During your main phase, you pay two mana to activate the first ability. You and your opponents may each put a land card, such as Command Tower, onto the battlefield tapped. Later, you pay three mana for the second ability. You can then put Sol Ring directly onto the battlefield. Unlike the land, Sol Ring enters untapped and is ready to be used for mana immediately.

Deploying the Frontline

You have a high-cost creature in hand. By paying four mana to activate the third ability of Braids, Conjurer Adept Avatar, you put that creature onto the battlefield. This doesn't use your normal 'one land per turn' limit, and it bypasses the mana cost of the creature entirely. Remember that your opponents also get this opportunity, so they might put their own threats into play simultaneously.