Struggle for Project Purity 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
As this enchantment enters, choose Brotherhood or Enclave. • Brotherhood — At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent draws a card. You draw a card for each card drawn this way. • Enclave — Whenever a player attacks you with one or more creatures, that player gets twice that many rad counters.
Complete guide
Struggle for Project Purity is a versatile blue enchantment that forces you to choose a side between two distinct strategies: drawing massive amounts of cards or punishing attackers with radioactive waste. Whether you want to fuel your hand or drain your opponent's life, this card dictates the flow of the game based on your choice.
Choosing Your Path
As Struggle for Project Purity enters the battlefield, you must choose either Brotherhood or Enclave. This choice is made before the card is actually on the battlefield, so it cannot be responded to. If you choose Brotherhood, you create a symmetrical draw effect that benefits you significantly more in multiplayer games. If you choose Enclave, you create a defensive deterrent that generates rad counters based on the number of creatures declared as attackers against you.
The Enclave and Rad Counters
When Enclave is active, the number of rad counters an opponent receives is locked in the moment they declare attackers. Specifically, the ability checks how many creatures were declared as attackers; adding creatures to combat later or removing them after they are declared will not change the number of counters given. Rad counters then trigger at the start of that player's precombat main phase, causing them to mill cards and lose life for every nonland card milled, which is also the only way the counters are naturally removed.
Common Mistakes
A common mistake is forgetting that creatures that enter the battlefield attacking do not trigger the Enclave ability, as they were never 'declared' as attackers. Additionally, remember that if Struggle for Project Purity becomes a copy of another permanent or enters without a choice being made (due to certain copy effects), it will have neither ability. Finally, rad counters do not disappear at the end of the turn; they persist until a player mills nonland cards during their main phase or an effect explicitly removes them.
When to Play It
Select Brotherhood when you are behind on card advantage or playing a game with multiple opponents, as you will draw a card for each opponent, potentially drawing three cards for every one they get. Choose Enclave when you are facing aggressive decks or 'go-wide' strategies. The threat of receiving double the amount of rad counters for a large swing can often force an opponent to reconsider attacking you entirely.
Interaction examples
Struggle for Project PurityYou cast Struggle for Project Purity and choose Brotherhood. In a four-player game, at the beginning of your upkeep, each of your three opponents draws one card. Consequently, the Brotherhood ability triggers and you draw three cards—one for each card drawn by an opponent.
PropagandaYou have both Struggle for Project Purity (set to Enclave) and Propaganda on the battlefield. An opponent wants to attack you with five creatures. They must first pay 10 mana due to Propaganda. If they do, the Enclave ability triggers upon declaration of those five attackers. The opponent immediately receives 10 rad counters (twice the number of attackers).
RadiationAn opponent who was previously hit by the Enclave ability starts their turn with 4 rad counters. At the beginning of their precombat main phase, the inherent radiation triggered ability goes on the stack. They mill four cards. If they mill two lands and two nonland cards, they lose 2 life and remove 2 rad counters, leaving them with 2 rad counters for the next turn.
Rhystic StudyWith Brotherhood chosen, you use your upkeep to refill your hand. While Rhystic Study taxes your opponents for casting spells on their turns, Struggle for Project Purity ensures that even if they stop casting spells to deny you cards, you will still be drawing extra cards every time your own turn begins.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Struggle for Project Purity
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
The number of rad counters the attacking player gets when the “Enclave” triggered ability resolves is based on the number of creatures they declared as attackers. Removing creatures from combat won’t reduce the number of rad counters they get. Similarly, creatures that enter the battlefield attacking but weren’t declared as attackers won’t increase the number of rad counters they get.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
If you somehow control Struggle for Project Purity and no choice was made for it (perhaps because another permanent on the battlefield became a copy of it), it has neither of the two triggered abilities.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
Rad counters are a kind of counter that a player may have. They’re not associated with any specific permanents.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
Keep track of how many rad counters each player has. Potential ways to track this include writing them down on paper or using dice, but any method that is clear and mutually agreeable is fine.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
Rad counters don’t go away as steps, phases, or turns end. They only go away when an effect instructs a player to remove rad counters from themselves.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #6· Wizards of the Coast
There is an inherent triggered ability associated with having rad counters. This triggered ability has no source and is controlled by the active player. The full text of this ability is “At the beginning of the precombat main phase of a player with rad counters, that player mills cards equal to the number of rad counters they have. For each nonland card milled this way, that player loses 1 life and removes one rad counter from themselves.”
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #7· Wizards of the Coast
In a game using the shared team turns option, such as an Archenemy or Two-Headed Giant game, the inherent triggered ability associated with rad counters triggers once for each player on the active team that has rad counters. Each instance of that ability is controlled by one of those players.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #8· Wizards of the Coast
Any effects (such as proliferate) that interact with counters a player gets, has, or loses can interact with rad counters.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #9· Wizards of the Coast
The cards are milled all at once, which means abilities that trigger “whenever one or more nonland cards are milled” will trigger exactly once as long as at least one nonland card was milled.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #10· Wizards of the Coast
If a player has fewer cards remaining in their library than the number of rad counters they have when the triggered ability resolves, they’ll mill as many cards as they can.
No other card is named in this ruling.
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