AI DraftFeb 26, 2026
Duskmantle Guildmage + Mindcrank
Overview
When you activate Duskmantle Guildmage’s first ability it creates a delayed triggered ability; that ability says “Whenever a card is put into an opponent’s graveyard from anywhere this turn, that player loses 1 life” (Ruling [2013-01-24]). If Mindcrank is on the battlefield, each time that delayed ability causes an opponent to lose life, Mindcrank triggers and mills that opponent for that many cards, which can put more cards into the graveyard and retrigger Duskmantle’s delayed ability, potentially creating a repeating loop that ends only when no more cards are put into a graveyard or a player loses the game by having 0 or less life () or attempting to draw from an empty library ().
Step 1
Activate Duskmantle Guildmage’s 
ability and let it resolve; doing so creates a delayed triggered ability that says “Whenever a card is put into an opponent’s graveyard from anywhere this turn, that player loses 1 life” (Ruling [2013-01-24]).
ability and let it resolve; doing so creates a delayed triggered ability that says “Whenever a card is put into an opponent’s graveyard from anywhere this turn, that player loses 1 life” (Ruling [2013-01-24]).Step 2
If you activate the same Duskmantle ability multiple times and each activation resolves, you create multiple separate delayed triggered abilities; each one will trigger for each card put into an opponent’s graveyard this turn (Ruling [2013-01-24]).
Step 3
Activate Duskmantle’s second ability (
) targeting an opponent to mill two cards. When those cards are put into that opponent’s graveyard, each delayed triggered ability you created will trigger, and each triggered ability will cause that opponent to lose 1 life when it resolves (Ruling [2013-01-24]).
) targeting an opponent to mill two cards. When those cards are put into that opponent’s graveyard, each delayed triggered ability you created will trigger, and each triggered ability will cause that opponent to lose 1 life when it resolves (Ruling [2013-01-24]).Step 4
Each time that opponent loses life, Mindcrank’s triggered ability will trigger because it reads “Whenever an opponent loses life, that player mills that many cards.” Mindcrank’s triggers are placed on the stack and, as each resolves, they cause the opponent to mill cards equal to life lost.
Step 5
The additional cards milled by Mindcrank are put into that opponent’s graveyard this turn, which in turn causes the remaining Duskmantle delayed triggers (or further copies if you created more) to trigger again for each card put into the graveyard, causing more life loss, which causes more Mindcrank triggers, and so on.
Step 6
This cycle continues until a stopping condition occurs: no cards are put into the graveyard by a trigger or effect, or a game-ending state-based action occurs such as the opponent reaching 0 or less life () or the opponent being required to draw from an empty library and losing for that reason ().
Resolution
Activating Duskmantle’s first ability creates one delayed triggered ability each time it resolves (Ruling [2013-01-24]). When those delayed abilities cause an opponent to lose life, Mindcrank’s triggered ability will trigger and mill that opponent for that much, which can cause additional cards to be put into that opponent’s graveyard this turn and therefore trigger Duskmantle’s delayed ability again. This can repeat until either no cards are put into a graveyard or a game-ending state-based action occurs (opponent at 0 or less life , or an opponent attempted to draw with an empty library ).
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