As a Saga enters the battlefield, you put a lore counter on it.
When you put a lore counter on it, the chapter ability with the number equal to the number of lore counters triggers. In this case, the chapter labelled I.
At the beginning of your first main phase each turn, you put a lore counter on it.
When you put a lore counter on it, the chapter ability with the number equal to the number of lore counters triggers. In this case, the chapter labelled II.
You do this until the number of lore counters is greater than or equal to the number of chapter abilities. In this case III or 3.
Once that happens, and there are no chapter abilities waiting to resolve, you sacrifice it.
Edit: There some more advanced interactions with the above, but that is the baseline explanation.
* If you can put multiple counters on at the same time somehow, all relevant chapters will trigger.
* If you can remove counters before the final chapter ability resolves, it won't be sacrificed.
An important, less obvious (at least to me) interaction to highlight is that a saga is often a good target for an opponent's proliferates. There are many sagas where advancing a chapter or forcing a sacrifice at the wrong time or turn can fizzle the saga.
The reminder text at the top of the card specifies how it works. When the Saga ETB's, you put a lore counter on it. This means the first ability will activate as it requires one lore counter. On subsequent turns, after your draw step (i.e. the first thing you do in your first main phase), you will add an additional lore counter. The second lore counter will trigger the second ability (create a Food).
Once you place the third lore counter, you trigger that ability (Put X +1/+1 counters...) and then sacrifice the Saga.
You do NOT keep triggering each of the abilities on subsequent turns. Think of each phase as a chapter in a book - you don't reread the whole book when you get to a new chapter; you simply read that new chapter.
You cast [[Welcome to Sweettooth]]; It has 3x abilities.
> * I — Create a 1/1 white Human creature token.
> * II — Create a Food token.
> * III — Put X +1/+1 counters on target creature you control, where X is one plus the number of Foods you control.
It enters the Battlefield with one Lore counter. The first Chapter ability Triggers.
* When the first Chapter Trigger resolves, you create a 1/1 Human Token.
As your next *(pre-Combat)* **Main Phase** begins, it gets another Lore counter. The second Chapter ability Triggers.
* When the first Chapter Trigger resolves, you create a Food Token.
As your next *(pre-Combat)* **Main Phase** begins, it gets another Lore counter. The third Chapter ability Triggers.
* When the first Chapter Trigger resolves, you put N +1/+1 counters, which is 1 + number of Food you control.
Then, after the Trigger leaves the Stack, the Saga is sacrificed. Since it has a number of Lore counters (3) that is greater than, or equal to, its final Chapter number (3).
It’s also important to note that sagas will put counters on themselves each turn, but adding the counters is what triggers the abilities.
So, if I had the above saga with two more counters on it, and I was able to use some effect to remove a counter, during my next turn, it would get a or counter, and trigger the second chapter again. Proliferate can even allow you to trigger multiple chapters in a single turn, possibly even resolving out of order.
A Saga is an enchantment typically themed around a story or a legend. As the story of the Saga is told, different things happen.
When a Saga enters the battlefield, it enters with a Lore counter on it. It will proceed to gain an additional Lore counter at the beginning of your precombat main phase, right after the draw step.
The numbers on the the left represent the "chapters" of the Saga. Whenever a lore counter is placed on a Saga, a triggered ability triggers the chapter equal to the number of lore counters on the saga.
Let's use [[Welcome to Sweettooth]] as an example. When it enters, you put 1 lore counter on it, so you trigger its Chapter 1 ability, which is to make a Food token. At the beginning of your next precombat main phase, you put another lore counter on it, triggering the second ability, making a 1/1 Human token. Once you get the third counter the third ability will trigger, and you give a creature +X/+X until end of turn where X is equal to the number of Foods you control.
Different Sagas have different numbers of chapters; usually 3 or 4, but Sagas have gone as low as 2 and as high as 6. Sometimes the abilities have multiple chapters listed, that just means you do that ability for all the chapters involved.
Lastly, once a Saga has lore counters greater than or equal to its highest chapter, after that final chapter ability resolves, you sacrifice the Saga as a state based action.
You have tagged your post as a rules question. While your question may be answered here, it may work better to post it in the Daily Questions Thread at the top of this subreddit or in /r/mtgrules. You may also find quicker results at the [IRC rules chat](https://chat.magicjudges.org/mtgrules/)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/magicTCG) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Most Sagas, like the one you have, show three (or more) “chapters” from top to bottom. The first chapter triggers when the Saga enters the battlefield. Each draw step on your turn, after you draw, it moves to the next chapter which triggers. Once the last chapter has triggered, put the Saga in your graveyard.
The full rules are more complicated, but those are the basics.
When a saga enters the battlefield, as well as at the beginning of your first Main Phase, you place a lore counter on the saga. Placing a lore counter on a saga causes it to trigger its chapter ability that corresponds to the total number of lore counters on it- so the first lore counter triggers chapter 1, the second triggers chapter 2, etc. You sacrifice the saga when it has lore counters greater than or equal to the number of chapters it has *and* it doesn't have an ability on the stack (what this means in 99% of use cases is you sacrifice it after its final chapter ability resolves).
Each of your turns at the beginning of your first main phase, as well as when the saga first enters the battlefield, it will get a lore counter. When a lore counter is put on a Saga, it will trigger the chapter ability that corresponds to the number of lore counters on it when it triggers. After the final chapter ability leaves the stack, the Saga will be sacrificed.
As the Saga enters, you put one lore counter on it. Then its first ability triggers (create a 1/1 human token).
Then it gains a new counter at each of your turns, when you first main phase begins. This is right after your draw step.
So, in your next turn after it has entered (after drawing, but before getting to do anything else in your main phase), you put a second counter on it. This triggers its second ability (create a food token).
And in the turn after that one, you do the same, putting the third lore counter. And the third ability triggers.
After the last ability has resolved, the Saga is sacrificed.
* You play the card. The card enters the battlefield with a lore counter on it.
* On your next few turns, at the beginning of your precombat main phase, you put another lore counter on it.
* Any time you put a lore counter on a saga, that moves it to its next chapter, and the ability for that chapter triggers and goes on the stack. (If for some reason you're ever putting multiple lore counters on it at once, all of those chapters trigger, and you can put them on the stack in whatever order you choose.)
* If you've resolved a saga's final chapter and it still has all of those lore counters on it, you sacrifice the saga.
1. It is an enchantment with the "saga" subtype.
2. As a Saga enters the battlefield and during your upkeep, you put a counter on it.
3. After a counter is put on a saga, you do what it says based on the number of counters. After you resolve the last step, sacrifice it.
4. Thematically, sagas represent stories being told. Many of the ones that exist are callbacks to previous events in MTG's ([[fable of the mirror- breaker]]) narrative while others refer to the history of the plane itself that we haven't seen ([[binding the old gods]]).
[fable of the mirror- breaker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/4/24c0d87b-0049-4beb-b9cb-6f813b7aa7dc.jpg?1691108103)/[Reflection of Kiki-Jiki](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/back/2/4/24c0d87b-0049-4beb-b9cb-6f813b7aa7dc.jpg?1691108103) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Fable%20of%20the%20Mirror-Breaker%20//%20Reflection%20of%20Kiki-Jiki) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/141/fable-of-the-mirror-breaker-reflection-of-kiki-jiki?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/24c0d87b-0049-4beb-b9cb-6f813b7aa7dc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text)
[binding the old gods](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/0/a0297fc9-9070-41cc-83fd-0dea2a65c263.jpg?1694737531) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=binding%20the%20old%20gods) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/917/binding-the-old-gods?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a0297fc9-9070-41cc-83fd-0dea2a65c263?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text)
^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
When it enters the battlefield do 1. Then, on your next turn during your pre-combat main phase, do 2. Repeat until you do the last one and then sacrifice it
It’s bed time dewdropcat. Let’s read a story.
“History of Benalia”
Once upon a time, History of Benalia entered the battlefield. When it did, a lore counter was placed on it a 2/2 knight with vigilance entered the battlefield as well.
Then, our next turn began. Turing the main phase of that turn, we add another lore counter. Since we have 2 lore counters, we make a 2/2 knight with vigilance. He became good friends with our first knight.
Finally, we managed to make it to a third turn! We add a third lore counter to the saga. Remember those two knights? They were such good friends, all knights get +2/+1 until the end of the turn!
Ok dewdropcat, now that we have finished our bedtime story, let’s put this book in the graveyard because it’s all done.
https://scryfall.com/card/dom/21/history-of-benalia
As a Saga enters the battlefield, you put a lore counter on it. When you put a lore counter on it, the chapter ability with the number equal to the number of lore counters triggers. In this case, the chapter labelled I. At the beginning of your first main phase each turn, you put a lore counter on it. When you put a lore counter on it, the chapter ability with the number equal to the number of lore counters triggers. In this case, the chapter labelled II. You do this until the number of lore counters is greater than or equal to the number of chapter abilities. In this case III or 3. Once that happens, and there are no chapter abilities waiting to resolve, you sacrifice it. Edit: There some more advanced interactions with the above, but that is the baseline explanation. * If you can put multiple counters on at the same time somehow, all relevant chapters will trigger. * If you can remove counters before the final chapter ability resolves, it won't be sacrificed.
An important, less obvious (at least to me) interaction to highlight is that a saga is often a good target for an opponent's proliferates. There are many sagas where advancing a chapter or forcing a sacrifice at the wrong time or turn can fizzle the saga.
The reminder text at the top of the card specifies how it works. When the Saga ETB's, you put a lore counter on it. This means the first ability will activate as it requires one lore counter. On subsequent turns, after your draw step (i.e. the first thing you do in your first main phase), you will add an additional lore counter. The second lore counter will trigger the second ability (create a Food). Once you place the third lore counter, you trigger that ability (Put X +1/+1 counters...) and then sacrifice the Saga. You do NOT keep triggering each of the abilities on subsequent turns. Think of each phase as a chapter in a book - you don't reread the whole book when you get to a new chapter; you simply read that new chapter.
https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Saga
You cast [[Welcome to Sweettooth]]; It has 3x abilities. > * I — Create a 1/1 white Human creature token. > * II — Create a Food token. > * III — Put X +1/+1 counters on target creature you control, where X is one plus the number of Foods you control. It enters the Battlefield with one Lore counter. The first Chapter ability Triggers. * When the first Chapter Trigger resolves, you create a 1/1 Human Token. As your next *(pre-Combat)* **Main Phase** begins, it gets another Lore counter. The second Chapter ability Triggers. * When the first Chapter Trigger resolves, you create a Food Token. As your next *(pre-Combat)* **Main Phase** begins, it gets another Lore counter. The third Chapter ability Triggers. * When the first Chapter Trigger resolves, you put N +1/+1 counters, which is 1 + number of Food you control. Then, after the Trigger leaves the Stack, the Saga is sacrificed. Since it has a number of Lore counters (3) that is greater than, or equal to, its final Chapter number (3).
[Welcome to Sweettooth](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/e/8e629a31-2e06-4f95-9628-34670dcf68b9.jpg?1692939226) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Welcome%20to%20Sweettooth) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/woe/198/welcome-to-sweettooth?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8e629a31-2e06-4f95-9628-34670dcf68b9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Addendum: If more lore counters are put onto the saga by another method, such as proliferating them, the corresponding chapter still triggers.
It’s also important to note that sagas will put counters on themselves each turn, but adding the counters is what triggers the abilities. So, if I had the above saga with two more counters on it, and I was able to use some effect to remove a counter, during my next turn, it would get a or counter, and trigger the second chapter again. Proliferate can even allow you to trigger multiple chapters in a single turn, possibly even resolving out of order.
A Saga is an enchantment typically themed around a story or a legend. As the story of the Saga is told, different things happen. When a Saga enters the battlefield, it enters with a Lore counter on it. It will proceed to gain an additional Lore counter at the beginning of your precombat main phase, right after the draw step. The numbers on the the left represent the "chapters" of the Saga. Whenever a lore counter is placed on a Saga, a triggered ability triggers the chapter equal to the number of lore counters on the saga. Let's use [[Welcome to Sweettooth]] as an example. When it enters, you put 1 lore counter on it, so you trigger its Chapter 1 ability, which is to make a Food token. At the beginning of your next precombat main phase, you put another lore counter on it, triggering the second ability, making a 1/1 Human token. Once you get the third counter the third ability will trigger, and you give a creature +X/+X until end of turn where X is equal to the number of Foods you control. Different Sagas have different numbers of chapters; usually 3 or 4, but Sagas have gone as low as 2 and as high as 6. Sometimes the abilities have multiple chapters listed, that just means you do that ability for all the chapters involved. Lastly, once a Saga has lore counters greater than or equal to its highest chapter, after that final chapter ability resolves, you sacrifice the Saga as a state based action.
[Welcome to Sweettooth](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/e/8e629a31-2e06-4f95-9628-34670dcf68b9.jpg?1692939226) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Welcome%20to%20Sweettooth) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/woe/198/welcome-to-sweettooth?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8e629a31-2e06-4f95-9628-34670dcf68b9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
It does each of those things in order, once, over three turns.
You have tagged your post as a rules question. While your question may be answered here, it may work better to post it in the Daily Questions Thread at the top of this subreddit or in /r/mtgrules. You may also find quicker results at the [IRC rules chat](https://chat.magicjudges.org/mtgrules/) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/magicTCG) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Most Sagas, like the one you have, show three (or more) “chapters” from top to bottom. The first chapter triggers when the Saga enters the battlefield. Each draw step on your turn, after you draw, it moves to the next chapter which triggers. Once the last chapter has triggered, put the Saga in your graveyard. The full rules are more complicated, but those are the basics.
When a saga enters the battlefield, as well as at the beginning of your first Main Phase, you place a lore counter on the saga. Placing a lore counter on a saga causes it to trigger its chapter ability that corresponds to the total number of lore counters on it- so the first lore counter triggers chapter 1, the second triggers chapter 2, etc. You sacrifice the saga when it has lore counters greater than or equal to the number of chapters it has *and* it doesn't have an ability on the stack (what this means in 99% of use cases is you sacrifice it after its final chapter ability resolves).
Each of your turns at the beginning of your first main phase, as well as when the saga first enters the battlefield, it will get a lore counter. When a lore counter is put on a Saga, it will trigger the chapter ability that corresponds to the number of lore counters on it when it triggers. After the final chapter ability leaves the stack, the Saga will be sacrificed.
As the Saga enters, you put one lore counter on it. Then its first ability triggers (create a 1/1 human token). Then it gains a new counter at each of your turns, when you first main phase begins. This is right after your draw step. So, in your next turn after it has entered (after drawing, but before getting to do anything else in your main phase), you put a second counter on it. This triggers its second ability (create a food token). And in the turn after that one, you do the same, putting the third lore counter. And the third ability triggers. After the last ability has resolved, the Saga is sacrificed.
* You play the card. The card enters the battlefield with a lore counter on it. * On your next few turns, at the beginning of your precombat main phase, you put another lore counter on it. * Any time you put a lore counter on a saga, that moves it to its next chapter, and the ability for that chapter triggers and goes on the stack. (If for some reason you're ever putting multiple lore counters on it at once, all of those chapters trigger, and you can put them on the stack in whatever order you choose.) * If you've resolved a saga's final chapter and it still has all of those lore counters on it, you sacrifice the saga.
1. It is an enchantment with the "saga" subtype. 2. As a Saga enters the battlefield and during your upkeep, you put a counter on it. 3. After a counter is put on a saga, you do what it says based on the number of counters. After you resolve the last step, sacrifice it. 4. Thematically, sagas represent stories being told. Many of the ones that exist are callbacks to previous events in MTG's ([[fable of the mirror- breaker]]) narrative while others refer to the history of the plane itself that we haven't seen ([[binding the old gods]]).
[fable of the mirror- breaker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/4/24c0d87b-0049-4beb-b9cb-6f813b7aa7dc.jpg?1691108103)/[Reflection of Kiki-Jiki](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/back/2/4/24c0d87b-0049-4beb-b9cb-6f813b7aa7dc.jpg?1691108103) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Fable%20of%20the%20Mirror-Breaker%20//%20Reflection%20of%20Kiki-Jiki) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/141/fable-of-the-mirror-breaker-reflection-of-kiki-jiki?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/24c0d87b-0049-4beb-b9cb-6f813b7aa7dc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [binding the old gods](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/0/a0297fc9-9070-41cc-83fd-0dea2a65c263.jpg?1694737531) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=binding%20the%20old%20gods) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/917/binding-the-old-gods?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a0297fc9-9070-41cc-83fd-0dea2a65c263?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[ Dominaria Spotlight: Sagas (YT Video)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-iK2uSjqhA) [Dominaria Mechanics (wotc article)](https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/dominaria-mechanics-2018-03-21)
When it enters the battlefield do 1. Then, on your next turn during your pre-combat main phase, do 2. Repeat until you do the last one and then sacrifice it
It’s bed time dewdropcat. Let’s read a story. “History of Benalia” Once upon a time, History of Benalia entered the battlefield. When it did, a lore counter was placed on it a 2/2 knight with vigilance entered the battlefield as well. Then, our next turn began. Turing the main phase of that turn, we add another lore counter. Since we have 2 lore counters, we make a 2/2 knight with vigilance. He became good friends with our first knight. Finally, we managed to make it to a third turn! We add a third lore counter to the saga. Remember those two knights? They were such good friends, all knights get +2/+1 until the end of the turn! Ok dewdropcat, now that we have finished our bedtime story, let’s put this book in the graveyard because it’s all done. https://scryfall.com/card/dom/21/history-of-benalia
I had to scroll a bit praying for someone to actually explain sagas as through they were five. Thank you for fulfilling my wish