Thousand Moons Smithy // Barracks of the ThousandHow it works & interactions with other cards

Building the Army

When Thousand Moons Smithy enters the battlefield, you immediately get a white Gnome Soldier artifact creature token. This token has a characteristic-defining ability where its power and toughness are equal to the total count of artifacts and creatures you control. Importantly, if a permanent is both an artifact and a creature, it is only counted once. Because the Gnome Soldier counts itself, it will always be at least a 1/1.

The Transformation Process

At the start of your first main phase, you have the option to tap five untapped artifacts and/or creatures you control to transform Thousand Moons Smithy into its land side, Barracks of the Thousand. This transformation happens during the resolution of the triggered ability. Once it becomes a land, it can tap for white mana, which triggers a new ability whenever that mana is spent to cast artifact or creature spells.

Resolving the Land Trigger

When you spend mana produced by Barracks of the Thousand to cast an artifact or creature spell, a triggered ability goes on the stack. This ability resolves before the spell that triggered it. This means you will receive a new Gnome Soldier token on the battlefield before your original spell even finishes resolving, potentially increasing the power of your existing Gnomes immediately.

Common Strategic Mistakes

Players often forget that the Gnome Soldier's power and toughness are dynamic; they change instantly as your board state grows or shrinks. Another common mistake is attempting to tap the Smithy to transform it outside of the first main phase. The transformation trigger only occurs at the specific beginning of your first main phase, so you cannot choose to transform it during combat or your second main phase.

Interaction examples

Entering the Battlefield

Thousand Moons Smithy // Barracks of the ThousandCommander's Sphere

If you control a Commander's Sphere and cast Thousand Moons Smithy, the Smithy enters and triggers its ability. When the ability resolves, you create a Gnome Soldier token. Since you now control two artifacts (Smithy and Sphere) and one artifact creature (the Gnome), the Gnome Soldier's power and toughness will be 3/3.

Scaling with Solemn Simulacrum

Solemn Simulacrum

With Barracks of the Thousand on the battlefield, you tap it for White mana to help cast Solemn Simulacrum. This triggers the land's ability. First, a new Gnome Soldier token is created. Then, Solemn Simulacrum resolves and enters the battlefield. The Gnome Soldier's power will increase twice: once when the token is created and again when the Simulacrum enters.