You’re playing a casual Commander game. Your board state is beautiful. You’ve got a massive flyer, a couple of mana dorks, and that one enchantment that makes your deck actually function. Then, someone taps three mana for Teferi's Protection. Suddenly, their entire side of the table just... vanishes. They aren't dead. They aren't exiled. They’ve just stepped out of reality for a second. If you haven't played since the Mirage block in the mid-90s, you probably think Magic the Gathering phasing is some weird, forgotten relic. Honestly? You're right. It was a mess for decades. But thanks to some massive rules overhauls and a few high-powered staples, phasing is currently one of the most misunderstood and powerful ways to interact with the stack.
Getting your head around phasing is a rite of passage. It doesn't work like flickering. It doesn't work like blinking. It’s its own beast entirely.
What Magic the Gathering Phasing Actually Does Now
Back in 1996, phasing was a nightmare. The original rules involved triggers. You’d go to your untap step, things would trigger, and you’d spend half the game trying to remember if your Sandbar Crocodile was currently existing or not. It was clunky. It felt like doing taxes.
Today, it’s a status. It’s basically a toggle switch.
When a permanent "phases out," it stays on the battlefield but the game is instructed to treat it as though it doesn't exist. This is the crucial bit. The card doesn't leave the zone. If you have a creature with three +1/+1 counters, a Swiftfoot Boots equipped, and a Pacifism attached to it, all of that stays right where it is. When the creature phases out, the counters, the equipment, and the aura all phase out with it. They don't fall off. They don't go to the graveyard. They just take a nap in the void.
Then, during your next untap step—and specifically before you actually untap your permanents—everything that was phased out "phases in" simultaneously.
No triggers. No "enters the battlefield" (ETB) effects. If you phase out a Mulldrifter, you don't get to draw more cards when it comes back. It never left. It just stopped being perceived by the game rules for a turn cycle. This is why phasing is the ultimate protection. It dodges Farewell. It dodges Cyclonic Rift. It even dodges "player has protection" effects because the permanents themselves are simply not there to be targeted or swept away.
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The Rule Change That Fixed Everything
For a long time, the rules for phasing were a spaghetti-code disaster. The biggest shift happened around 2010 and was further refined with the release of Commander 2017.
The old way required tokens to just cease to exist if they phased out. If you phased out a 1/1 Soldier token, it was gone forever. That sucked. Players hated it. Wizards of the Coast eventually realized that "treated as though it doesn't exist" should apply to everything, including tokens. Now, tokens phase back in just like any other card.
Another weird nuance involves "indirect" phasing. If a creature phases out, everything attached to it phases out "indirectly." This matters for cards like Robe of Stars. If you use the Robe to phase itself out, it's gone. But if the creature wearing it phases out, the Robe goes with it. When they come back, they are still attached. This makes phasing arguably better than "flickering" (exiling and returning) because you don't have to pay the mana to re-equip your gear.
Why You Should Care About Teferi’s Protection and Out of Time
If you play Commander, you've seen Teferi's Protection. It's the gold standard. It’s the "emergency button."
But there are newer, meaner ways people are using Magic the Gathering phasing to ruin everyone’s day. Take Out of Time. This enchantment enters the battlefield, vanishes all creatures, and puts "time counters" on itself based on how many creatures it caught. Those creatures stay phased out as long as Out of Time is on the board.
Think about that for a second.
If your Commander is phased out this way, you are in trouble. Usually, if a Commander is destroyed or exiled, you can just move it back to the Command Zone. That’s the "Commander tax" loop. But phasing? Phasing doesn't move the card. The Commander is still "on the battlefield," it just doesn't exist. Because it never changed zones, you don't get the option to put it back in the Command Zone. You’re just stuck waiting for that enchantment to blow up. It’s a specialized form of removal that bypasses almost every safety net in the format.
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The Weird Corner Cases
- Batterskull and Living Weapon: If a Germ token phases out, it takes the Equipment with it. They both come back. Simple.
- Phasing while tapped: If your creature is tapped when it phases out, it stays tapped in the void. However, since things phase in during your untap step before the actual untap happens, it will immediately untap with the rest of your board.
- Global Effects: If someone plays Armageddon while your lands are phased out, you keep your lands. You win the game of social status at the table (and probably the actual game, too).
- Phasing out an opponent’s stuff: Cards like Oubliette (which was errata'd to use phasing) are back in style. It's the cleanest way to deal with a problematic Commander like Urza, Lord High Artificer because it shuts off the card without letting them recast it.
How to Play Around It
You can't really "interact" with a phased-out permanent. You can't blow it up. You can't target it. Your only hope is to interact with the spell or ability that causes the phasing.
Counterspells are your best friend here. If a player is clearly setting up for a Guardian of Faith or a March of Swirling Mist, you have to stop it on the stack. Once that creature is phased out, it's effectively in a witness protection program run by the Multiverse. You aren't finding it until their next turn.
Also, pay attention to the wording on cards. "Flicker" effects like Ephemerate are great for ETB value, but they reset your counters and tokens. Phasing is purely defensive. If you're building a deck that relies on a massive Hydra with forty +1/1 counters, you need phasing, not flickering.
Actionable Strategy for Your Next Game
If you're looking to upgrade your deck with Magic the Gathering phasing tech, don't just grab the expensive stuff. While Teferi's Protection is the big name, there are cheaper alternatives that do the job.
Slip Out the Back is a one-mana powerhouse from Streets of New Capenna. It gives a creature a counter and phases it out. It’s perfect for protecting your Commander from a board wipe for a single blue mana. Guardian of Faith is an actual creature that phases your whole board out, which is great because it leaves a 3/2 body behind once the smoke clears.
When you're playing, remember: phasing is the only way to save a token army from a "non-land permanent" wipe. If you're playing a Splicer deck or a heavy token strategy, you should be running at least two phasing effects.
Stop thinking of it as a weird 90s mechanic. Start thinking of it as the only way to make sure your board state actually exists when it’s your turn again. It’s the ultimate "no" in a game that’s increasingly full of "yes."
Keep your eyes on the board, but more importantly, keep an eye on what isn't on the board yet. That's where the real game is being played. Check your local meta; if people are leaning heavily on Farewell, it is time to put some phasing in your 99.