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Funeral Charm and the math of combat damage

Black’s instant-speed flexibility has always been a hallmark of MTG’s tempo-driven edge, and Funeral Charm is a perfect playground for exploring combat math in real time. This Time Spiral Timeshifted gem costs a humble one mana and presents three options, all of which tug on the balance between aggression and board presence. Whether you’re trying to disrupt your opponent’s resources, turn the tide in a clutch combat moment, or simply swing through with a swampy wink, the card asks you to measure risk with the precision of a master strategist 🧙‍♂️.

At its core, Funeral Charm is an instant that says: choose one of three effects. A player discarding a card can swing momentum by emptying an opponent’s hand; a targeted creature getting +2/-1 until end of turn reshapes combat math in a flash; or giving a creature swampwalk until end of turn can unlock a path to the battlefield’s centerpiece—the unblocked attack. Each mode threads into the math of damage calculation in meaningful, sometimes subtle, ways 🔥💎.

Breaking down the combat math, one mode at a time

Buff, then swing (target creature gets +2/-1 until end of turn) 🧙‍♂️

The most spellbinding use of Funeral Charm in a creature fight is the +2/+ (-1) boost. Suppose you attack with a 2/2 creature and cast Funeral Charm targeting it. The creature becomes a 4/1 until end of turn. In combat, you must assign damage equal to the creature’s power to the blockers if blocked, and then, if you have trample, to the defending player. Without trample, that extra two power is mostly about killing a blocker more cleanly or trading a favorable amount of damage when two creatures clash. The trade becomes a matter of ratios: 4 power versus a 2-toughness blocker yields a clean kill for the attacker, but the defending creature still strikes back for 2 damage, and your 1-toughness after would fall if it doesn’t survive the exchange. The takeaway is that the buff shifts the math toward favorable trades, but it does not automatically guarantee a damage-through to the player unless you’ve got trample or multiple blockers to chew through. It’s a tempo play that can turn a trade into a favorable outcome, especially when you’re behind on cards and want to force a double-dip on the opponent’s board 🧲🎲.

Hand disruption 🧠

Discard effects in the same card pull can influence the long-term combat math by shrinking the opponent’s available answers. If you’re racing to a moment where you must pressure life totals, stripping a key answer can prevent a creature from reappearing on defense or remove a removal spell that would otherwise ruin your next combat step. It’s not as flashy as a big pump, but disrupting the math of what your opponent can cast on their turn is a critical piece of the puzzle. When you mix this with a late-game board state, the choice to force a discard can tilt the balance in your favor in ways that become obvious in hindsight but require micro-optimizations in the moment 🧙‍♂️✨.

Swampwalk for the surprise factor ⚔️

The swampwalk mode adds a stealthy edge to the combat calculator. If you suspect your foe has a handful of fliers or a stubborn ground pounder, giving your creature swampwalk tilts the odds toward unblocked damage in matches where the opponent’s mana base leans into swamps. This is a tactical flip: you’re not necessarily increasing power, but you’re increasing the probability that your attacker actually connects. In a meta where creatures block anxiously with even modest removal on the stack, swampwalk can turn a tentative swing into a decisive offense, especially when life totals are razor-thin and every point counts 🧙‍♂️🎯.

Practical scenarios you can try at the table

• Attack with a 2/3 creature and cast Funeral Charm targeting the blocker to push its damage past the blocker’s toughness, ensure a clean kill, and set up favorable post-combat positions.
• Hold a swampwalk buff for a surprise attack when your opponent has a board state that looks safe on defense—suddenly your best attacker becomes unblockable, delivering a crack of damage you didn’t see coming.
• Combine the discard mode with a creature that benefits from opponents overextending—discarding a key answer at the wrong moment can tilt the battlefield in your favor and reshape subsequent combat math.

Even though Funeral Charm is a single mana, instant-speed tool, its true value lies in how you wield it alongside other pieces in your deck. It’s a deceptively simple spell with multi-dimensional impact: a quick tempo play, a disruption tool, and a sneaky way to shape the outcome of a single combat phase. The card’s special rarity and its adaptation across Modern, Legacy, and certain other formats give it a quirky place in the history of black’s toolbox 🧙‍♂️💎.

“In MTG, the smallest tempo tweak can unlock the biggest swing.”

When you’re building a deck that wants to balance aggression and control, Funeral Charm invites you to think in terms of damage per moment rather than raw power alone. The math isn’t about brute force; it’s about the consent of the combat step—the moment you decide which option to pick and how to align that choice with your longer game. In that sense, the charm lives up to its name, guiding you through the fog of blockers, discounts, and evasive paths with a black-clad wink 🖤⚡.

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