Nature's Will — ruling 1

The lands are tapped and untapped once each time combat damage is dealt (usually once each turn, but first strike, double strike, and multiple combat phases can change that), not once for each creature that deals combat damage.

Nature's Will : règles, fonctionnement et interactions (MTG)

Nature's Will 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

Whenever one or more creatures you control deal combat damage to a player, tap all lands that player controls and untap all lands you control.

Complete guide

Nature's Will is a powerful green enchantment that turns your successful attacks into a massive resource advantage. By simultaneously depriving your opponent of mana and refreshing your own, it allows you to dominate the post-combat main phase.

What Nature's Will Does

Nature's Will features a triggered ability that activates whenever your creatures successfully deal combat damage to an opponent. When this happens, two things occur: every land your opponent controls is tapped, and every land you control is untapped. This effect is mandatory and does not target the lands or the player.

Step-by-Step Resolution

First, you must move to the combat damage step and successfully deal damage to a player with one or more creatures. Once damage is dealt, the ability triggers and goes on the stack. When it resolves, the game checks which player was damaged; all lands they currently control are tapped, and then all lands you currently control are untapped. If you hit multiple players in the same combat step, the ability triggers once for each player damaged.

Common Pitfalls

The most important rule to remember is that this ability triggers once per player damaged, not once per creature. If you attack one opponent with five creatures and they all connect, you only get one trigger. Additionally, since the untap happens during the combat damage step, you must spend any mana you currently have in your pool before the ability resolves, or it will be lost as the phase changes.

When to Play It

Nature's Will is most effective in decks that can reliably bypass blockers or those that want to cast expensive spells during their second main phase. It effectively doubles your available mana for the turn while preventing your opponents from casting spells on your turn or their own following turn.

Interaction examples

Trampling Through for Value

Garruk's Uprising

With both enchantments out, your creatures gain trample from Garruk's Uprising. This makes it much easier to ensure at least one point of combat damage hits the opponent. As soon as that trample damage is dealt, Nature's Will triggers, untapping your lands and allowing you to use the mana from those lands to cast the creatures you drew from Garruk's Uprising's other ability.

Single Combat Trigger

You attack an opponent with two 1/1 Elf tokens. Both are unblocked and deal a total of 2 combat damage. Even though two creatures dealt damage, Nature's Will only triggers once because the damage happened simultaneously. You tap your opponent's lands and untap your own just one time.

Mana Doubling Synergies

Doubling Season

While Doubling Season does not interact directly with Nature's Will's mechanics, having Nature's Will allows you to tap out to cast a large spell like Doubling Season in your first main phase, attack to trigger Nature's Will, and then have all your mana available again in your second main phase to generate double tokens or counters.

Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.

How it works : Nature's Will

Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall

#1December 1, 2004· Wizards of the Coast
The lands are tapped and untapped once each time combat damage is dealt (usually once each turn, but first strike, double strike, and multiple combat phases can change that), not once for each creature that deals combat damage.
No other card is named in this ruling.