Lord of Shatterskull Pass 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
Level up(
Complete guide
Lord of Shatterskull Pass is a powerful leveler creature that transforms from a simple Minotaur Shaman into a one-man army. By investing mana over several turns, you can unlock a devastating triggered ability that wipes your opponent's board every time you swing for combat.
How Level Up Works
The Level up ability allows you to pay {1}{R} as a sorcery to place a level counter on Lord of Shatterskull Pass. As it gains counters, its power, toughness, and abilities change based on the level tracks printed on the card. It is important to note that the creature always retains its Level up ability, regardless of how many counters it has. If the creature loses its counters or gains more via external effects, its stats and abilities update immediately to match the current count.
Reaching the Final Tier
Once Lord of Shatterskull Pass reaches level 6 or higher (meaning it has six or more level counters), it gains its signature triggered ability. This ability triggers the moment you declare it as an attacker. It deals 6 damage to each creature the defending player controls. Because this happens in the Declare Attackers step, the damage is dealt before your opponent has the chance to declare any blockers, often clearing the way for a direct strike.
Strategic Timing and Rulings
Common mistakes involve forgetting that Level up is a sorcery-speed action; you cannot add counters during combat or in response to a spell unless you have an effect that allows sorcery-speed abilities at instant speed. In multiplayer games like Commander, the damage only hits creatures controlled by the specific player you are attacking. If you attack a planeswalker, the damage hits the creatures controlled by that planeswalker's controller.
Interaction examples
Solemn SimulacrumIf your opponent has a Solemn Simulacrum on the battlefield and you attack with a level 6 Lord of Shatterskull Pass, the triggered ability goes on the stack first. It deals 6 damage to the Solemn Simulacrum, destroying it before the opponent can use it to block. The opponent will still get to draw a card from the Golem's death trigger, but they cannot stop the 6 combat damage coming their way.
Roaming ThroneIf you have Roaming Throne on the battlefield and chose 'Minotaur' as it entered, it will interact with your level 6 Lord of Shatterskull Pass. When the Lord attacks, its ability triggers. Roaming Throne sees a triggered ability of a Minotaur triggering and causes it to trigger an additional time. This results in two separate instances of 6 damage being dealt to each creature the defending player controls, for a total of 12 damage.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Lord of Shatterskull Pass
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
The abilities a leveler grants to itself don’t overwrite any other abilities it may have. In particular, they don’t overwrite the creature’s level up ability; it always has that.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
Effects that set a leveler’s power or toughness to a specific value, including the effects from a level symbol’s ability, apply in timestamp order. The timestamp of each level symbol’s ability is the same as the timestamp of the leveler itself, regardless of when the most recent level counter was put on it.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
Effects that modify a leveler’s power or toughness, such as the effects of Giant Growth or Glorious Anthem, will apply to it no matter when they started to take effect. The same is true for counters that change the creature’s power or toughness (such as +1/+1 counters) and effects that switch its power and toughness.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
If another creature becomes a copy of a leveler, all of the leveler’s printed abilities — including those represented by level symbols — are copied. The current characteristics of the leveler, and the number of level counters on it, are not. The abilities, power, and toughness of the copy will be determined based on how many level counters are on the copy.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
A creature’s level is based on how many level counters it has on it, not how many times its level up ability has been activated or has resolved. If a leveler gets level counters due to some other effect (such as Clockspinning) or loses level counters for some reason (such as Vampire Hexmage), its level is changed accordingly.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #6· Wizards of the Coast
The last ability triggers and resolves during the declare attackers step, before blockers are declared.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #7· Wizards of the Coast
In a multiplayer game, the only player affected by the last ability is the one Lord of Shatterskull Pass is attacking (or the one who controls the planeswalker Lord of Shatterskull Pass is attacking).
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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