| Fateful Hour | |
|---|---|
| Ability Word | |
| Introduced | Dark Ascension |
| Last used | Dark Ascension |
| Typical Text | Fateful hour — If you have 5 or less life, ... |
| Statistics |
7 cards 71 %  29 % |
| Scryfall Search | |
| keyword:"Fateful Hour" | |
Fateful hour is an ability word introduced in Dark Ascension.[1][2]
Description
Fateful hour abilities work as long as you have 5 life or less. As soon as your life total drops to 5 or less, they immediately kick in. So you could pay some life to an Immolating Souleater in the middle of combat to suddenly give your team a boost with Thraben Doomsayer. As soon as your life total becomes 6 or higher, fateful hour abilities stop working—so gaining life with Thraben Doomsayer on the table might cause your creatures to get smaller in the middle of a turn.
Other fateful hour abilities may be triggered abilities, static abilities, or abilities that change what an instant or sorcery spell does.
Fateful hour was probably the most unpopular named keyword of the original Innistrad block, so it didn't return in Shadows over Innistrad.[3]
Rulings
- Some fateful hour abilities that appear on instants and sorceries use the word "instead". The spells have an upgraded effect if you have 5 or less life at the time they resolve. You receive only the upgraded effect, not both effects.
- Other instants and sorceries have fateful hour abilities that don't use the word "instead". They provide an additional effect if you have 5 or less life at the time they resolve.
- Some fateful hour abilities (like Gavony Ironwright's) are static abilities. These abilities constantly check whether you have 5 or less life to see if the bonus applies. These abilities function only on the battlefield.
- A creature whose toughness is being increased by a fateful hour ability loses that bonus as soon as its controller has 6 or more life. If damage marked on the creature is greater than or equal to its toughness after the fateful hour ability stops applying, the creature is destroyed and put into its owner's graveyard.
Examples
References
Template:Keywords and abilities