Turf WarHow it works & interactions with other cards

Marking Your Territory

When Turf War enters the battlefield, its first ability triggers. You must choose one target land for every player in the game, including yourself. A contested counter is placed on each of these targeted lands. These counters serve as markers; they do not have any inherent rules on their own, but Turf War's second ability specifically looks for them to function.

Stealing the Land

The second ability is a triggered ability that occurs whenever a creature deals combat damage to a player. If the damaged player currently controls one or more lands that still have contested counters on them, the player who dealt the damage (the creature's controller) chooses one of those lands. They gain control of it immediately and untap it. Note that this only triggers on combat damage, not effect-based damage.

Common Pitfalls

A common mistake is thinking the land choice is random or assigned by the defender; the attacking player always chooses which contested land they want. Additionally, if a land loses its contested counter (perhaps via a card that removes counters), it can no longer be stolen by Turf War's ability. If Turf War leaves the battlefield, the contested counters remain on the lands, but they will no longer have any effect because the triggered ability that checks for them is gone.

When to Deploy

Turf War is most effective when you have evasive creatures or a wide board that can reliably connect with your opponent's life total. Since it untaps the stolen land, you can even use that mana during your second main phase, effectively refunding some of the five mana spent to cast this enchantment.

Interaction examples

Combat vs. Effect Damage

Purphoros, God of the Forge

If Purphoros, God of the Forge is a creature and deals combat damage to an opponent who has a contested land, you will steal and untap that land. However, if Purphoros deals 2 damage to each opponent because another creature entered the battlefield, Turf War will not trigger. Only damage dealt during the combat damage step by attacking creatures counts.

Scaling with Power

Warstorm Surge

Even though Warstorm Surge causes creatures to deal damage when they enter, this is not combat damage. If a creature enters and deals 5 damage to an opponent via Warstorm Surge, Turf War does nothing. You must still move to the combat phase and successfully strike the player with a creature to trigger the land theft.