Summoning sickness is a term for the rule that a creature cannot attack or use activated abilities either with the tap (
) or untap (
) symbol if it has not been continuously controlled by a player since the beginning of that player's most recent turn.
Description[ | ]
MTGA icon.
The informal term "summoning sickness" was coined by Wizards of the Coast itself in the Revised Edition Pocket Players' Guide (p. 71), originally printed in 1994.
A creature gets Summoning Sickness as it enters the battlefield; it lasts until the beginning of its controller's next turn. A creature with Summoning Sickness is neither able to attack nor use any tap abilities. The idea behind the term is that the creature is so disoriented by the experience of being summoned that it has to rest before it can do anything more than defend itself or use simple abilities.
Creatures that have Haste do not suffer from the effects of summoning sickness and can attack as soon as they enter the battlefield.
A creature with Summoning Sickness is able to use any activated ability as long as that ability does not have or as part of its cost. Creatures with Summoning Sickness can also block as normal.
A creature also gets Summoning Sickness when control of the creature changes.
Rules[ | ]
From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (April 12, 2024—Outlaws of Thunder Junction)
- Summoning Sickness Rule
- Informal term for a player’s inability to attack with a creature or to activate its abilities that include the tap symbol or the untap symbol unless the creature has been under that player’s control since the beginning of that player’s most recent turn. See rule 302.6. See also Haste.
From the Comprehensive Rules (April 12, 2024—Outlaws of Thunder Junction)
- 302.6. A creature’s activated ability with the tap symbol or the untap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since their most recent turn began. A creature can’t attack unless it has been under its controller’s control continuously since their most recent turn began. This rule is informally called the “summoning sickness” rule.
Usage on cards[ | ]
The term actually appeared on 8 cards from Mirage through to Urza's Legacy, where it was used in the phrase "{cardname} is unaffected by summoning sickness", with the same meaning as the modern keyword ability haste (e.g. Viashino Sandscout). Summoning sickness stopped appearing on cards in Sixth Edition when the Haste keyword was introduced. However, as the term summoning sickness is highly flavorful, had been widely popularized through appearing on cards, and because the rules no longer gave a proper term for the effect, summoning sickness still remains in use as a colloquial expression.
Three cards relating to hybridizing of lands (specifically, all are Forests) and creatures reference summoning sickness in their full Oracle text through reminder text, which were the only ones to do so in a 28-year span. Two were in Time Spiral block - Dryad Arbor and Life and Limb - and the last was thirteen years later in 2020's Ashaya, Soul of the Wild in Zendikar Rising. Because of the latter use, Mark Rosewater would no longer call the term “informal”[1]. All of these were standalone references, so the term still does not seem to have been actual game term in the rules[2]. The Enlist ability of the 2022 set Dominaria United is the first instance where the term is used in the context of a mechanic (but still only in the reminder text).
References[ | ]
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (September 7, 2020). "Why is 'summoning sickness' used on cards like Ashaya when it is an informal term?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (July 17, 2022). "Hi mark is there a reason that the reminder text...". Blogatog. Tumblr.