Tersa Lightshatter wants a deck that fills its discard pile and plays cards back out of it. It also suits a deck that throws away its own cards on purpose for a reward.
Mana cost
Red ()
Power / toughness3 / 3
RarityRare
Haste
When Tersa Lightshatter enters, discard up to two cards, then draw that many cards.
Whenever Tersa Lightshatter attacks, if there are seven or more cards in your graveyard, exile a card at random from your graveyard. You may play that card this turn.
Picked for what they do in Tersa Lightshatter's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Tersa Lightshatter's color identity.Mana ValueThe total amount of mana a card costs, all added up. A card costing two generic and one green has a mana value of three. Wizards renamed this from "converted mana cost" in 2021, so older cards and articles may still use the old name.Open the full glossary
explain how Tersa Lightshatter works in tricky situations. They come from Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic.RulingThe official answer to how a card works in a tricky situation. Most rulings are written by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic, and a few are notes from Scryfall, the card database Magic players use. A ruling explains a card. It does not change what the card says.Open the full glossary
Wizards of the Coast4 Apr 2025
Tersa Lightshatter’s last ability checks your graveyard at the moment it would trigger to see if you have seven or more cards in your graveyard. If you don’t, the ability won’t trigger at all. If it does trigger, the ability will check again as it tries to resolve. If you don’t have seven or more cards in your graveyard at that time, the ability won’t resolve and none of its effects will happen.
Wizards of the Coast4 Apr 2025
You pay all costs and follow all timing rules for cards played this way. For example, if the exiled card is a land card, you may play it only during your main phase while the stack is empty.
Color identityEvery color of mana symbol on a card, in its cost and in its rules text. Your commander's color identity sets the limit for your whole deck: every other card has to fit inside it. A deck led by a green and white commander cannot play a card with any blue in its color identity.Open the full glossaryRPlayers write colors as letters: R for red.Graveyard/Self-MillGraveyard decks fill their own graveyard on purpose, then play cards from it as if it were a second hand. Moving cards from the top of your own deck straight into the graveyard is called self-mill.Open the Graveyard/Self-Mill pageGraveyard PayoffRewards you for having cards in your graveyard, or uses them straight from there. Your graveyard is normally where cards go once they are finished with; these turn it into a second hand, and the fuller it is the better they get. Golgari Grave-Troll, SplinterfrightOpen the Graveyard Payoff pageLootingDraws and discards in the same breath. Faithless Looting, Frantic Search. It does not gain you cards. It improves the ones you have, and fills your graveyard on purpose, which is exactly what a reanimator card like Animate Dead wants.Open the Looting pageMadness/DiscardDiscard decks throw away their own cards on purpose and play cards that reward each discard. Cards with madness can even be cast for a different, usually cheaper, cost at the moment you discard them.Open the Madness/Discard pageSelf-DiscardDiscards your own cards as a cost or an effect. Filling your own graveyard on purpose is the point: it feeds cards that bring things back, madness and channel abilities, and some cards are worth more there than in hand. Faithless Looting, Boseiju, Who EnduresOpen the Self-Discard pageCoin Flip / Die RollLeaves part of the outcome to chance: a coin flip, a die roll, or a choice made at random. A flip that can only hurt you, like the one on Mana Crypt, does not count, because no deck is built around it. Ancient Copper Dragon, Delina, Wild MageOpen the Coin Flip / Die Roll pageChaosChaos decks fill the game with random effects like coin flips, dice rolls and random swaps, so nobody's plan goes as expected. It is built for fun and big stories more than for winning quickly.Open the Chaos pageDrawDraws you extra cards. More cards means more choices every turn, and in a 100-card deck it is the main way to find the pieces you need. Rhystic Study, SkullclampOpen the Draw page
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