Gisela, Blade of Goldnight is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
Flying, first strike If a source would deal damage to an opponent or a permanent an opponent controls, that source deals double that damage to that player or permanent instead. If a source would deal damage to you or a permanent you control, prevent half that damage, rounded up.
Complete guide
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight is a powerful legendary Angel that dictates the flow of battle by manipulating how damage is dealt. Her presence on the battlefield ensures your strikes hit twice as hard while the enemy's efforts are significantly weakened. Whether you are attacking or defending, Gisela provides a massive swing in life totals and board presence.
Understanding the Damage Modification
Gisela features two static abilities that create replacement effects. The first effect doubles damage dealt to your opponents or their permanents, regardless of the source. The second effect prevents half of the damage, rounded up, that would be dealt to you or your permanents. Because these are replacement effects, they do not use the stack and happen immediately as the damage occurs.
Resolution Step by Step
When damage is about to be dealt, the game checks for replacement effects. If the damage is headed toward an opponent, Gisela's doubling effect applies. If it is headed toward you, her prevention effect applies. If multiple effects apply (for example, if a player has another damage-doubling effect), the player being dealt damage or the controller of the permanent taking damage chooses the order in which to apply those effects.
Common Mistakes
A frequent error involves dividing damage from creatures with trample. You must assign the original damage first before any doubling occurs. For example, you cannot use a 5-power creature to deal 10 damage and then distribute it; you distribute the 5 power, and then those individual amounts are doubled. Additionally, remember that Gisela rounds up the damage prevented. This means if 1 damage is dealt to you, half of 1 rounded up is 1, so all 1 damage is prevented, resulting in 0 damage taken.
When to Play Gisela
Gisela is best played when you have a board presence that can capitalize on the doubling effect. Since she costs seven mana, she is a finisher. Dropping her when you have flyers or high-power creatures like Giants and Dinosaurs can end the game in a single combat phase by effectively quadrupling the relative gap between your health and your opponent's.
Interaction examples
Sun TitanIf you attack an opponent with Sun Titan while Gisela, Blade of Goldnight is on the battlefield, Sun Titan's 6 power will be modified by Gisela's ability. The opponent will be dealt 12 damage instead of 6. If the opponent tries to block Sun Titan with a creature, the damage dealt to that creature is also doubled.
Etali, Primal StormIf Etali, Primal Storm is given trample and is blocked by a 2/2 creature, you first assign damage from Etali's 6 power. You must assign at least lethal damage (2) to the blocker and the remaining (4) to the opponent. Gisela then doubles these assignments: the creature takes 4 damage and the opponent takes 8 damage.
If an opponent casts a spell meant to deal 3 damage to your Sun Titan, Gisela's prevention effect kicks in. Half of 3 is 1.5, which rounds up to 2. Therefore, 2 damage is prevented, and your Sun Titan only takes 1 damage total.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
Gisela doubles damage dealt to opponents and permanents your opponents control from any source, including sources controlled by those opponents.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
If multiple replacement effects would modify how damage would be dealt, the player being dealt damage (or the controller of the permanent being dealt damage) chooses the order in which to apply those effects.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
If damage dealt by a source you control is being divided or assigned among multiple permanents an opponent controls or among an opponent and one or more permanents they control simultaneously, divide the original amount and double the results. For example, if you attack with a 5/5 creature with trample and your opponent blocks with a 2/2 creature, you can assign 2 damage to the blocker and 3 damage to the defending player. These amounts are then doubled to 4 and 6 damage, respectively. You can't double the damage to 10 first and then assign 2 to the creature and 8 to the player.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Popular combos
Real combos played by the community, sorted by popularity.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight + Heartless Hidetsugu
- 1Activate Heartless Hidetsugu by tapping it, causing it to deal lethal damage to each opponent with an even life total, nearly lethal damage to each opponent with an odd life total, and damage to you equal to a quarter of your life total.
Brion Stoutarm + Malignus + Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
- 1Activate Brion by paying
, tapping it and sacrificing Malignus, dealing damage equal to two times Malignus's power to target opponent and causing you to gain that much life. - 2The opponent loses the game due to having 0 or less life.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight + Malignus + Warstorm Surge
- 1Cast Malignus by paying
. - 2When Malignus enters the battlefield, Warstorm Surge triggers, dealing an amount of damage equal to twice Malignus' power to an opponent.
- 3The opponent loses the game due to having zero or less life.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight + Blade of Selves + Mirror Box
- 1Attack with Gisela.
- 2Gisela's myriad ability triggers, creating a copy of itself for each other opponent that is tapped and attacking that opponent.
- 3Each Gisela deals at least forty-eight combat damage to each opponent.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight + Malignus + Chandra's Ignition
- 1Cast Chandra's Ignition by paying , causing Malignus to deal damage equal to twice its power to each other creature and each opponent.
- 2Each opponent loses the game due to having zero or less life.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight + Malignus + Terror of the Peaks
- 1Cast Malignus by paying .
- 2When Malignus enters the battlefield, Terror of the Peaks triggers, dealing an amount of damage equal to twice Malignus' power to an opponent.
- 3The opponent loses the game due to having zero or less life.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight + Blade of Selves + Mirror Gallery
- 1Attack with Gisela.
- 2Gisela's myriad ability triggers, creating a copy of itself for each other opponent that is tapped and attacking that opponent.
- 3Each Gisela deals at least forty-eight combat damage to each opponent.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight + Blade of Selves + Sakashima of a Thousand Faces
- 1Attack with Gisela.
- 2Gisela's myriad ability triggers, creating a copy of itself for each other opponent that is tapped and attacking that opponent.
- 3Each Gisela deals at least forty-eight combat damage to each opponent.
Legal formats
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