Published on 01/04/2016
Dragon in the New Year
By Carsten Haese, James Bennett, Callum Milne, and Nathan Long
This Article from: Callum Milne
Cranial Translation
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Note: This article is over two years old. Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes. Proceed with caution.
They're so cute when they're little!
If you'd like to resolve to become more rules-knowledgeable, drop us an email with your questions; our address is moko@cranialinsertion.com . You'll receive an answer and potentially see your question show up in a future article. Short questions can also get answers from us via Twitter @CranialTweet, provided the answer is also short enough.
But one of my resolutions was to stop rambling so much and just get to the rules questions, so here you go!
Q: If I play Infest and Wild Ricochet together, do I get to choose where all the -2/-2s go?
A: No, you just end up giving all creatures -4/-4. The word "target" means something specific in Magic—the only things that an instant or sorcery spell targets are the things they specifically use the word "target" to describe. If such a spell doesn't use the word "target" to describe something, that thing isn't being targeted, no matter what the spell does to it.
Infest doesn't use the word "target" at all, so it doesn't target anything. And since it has no targets, Wild Ricochet doesn't accomplish anything when it tries to let you choose new targets for it.
Q: I control a Ruby Medallion and cast Epic Experiment with X = 5. Among the revealed cards is a Blaze. Since I'm not paying the mana cost I can't pay anything for X, but does the cost reduction from the Medallion allow the Blaze to deal 1 damage?
A: No, Blaze will still deal no damage. When you're casting an X-spell like Blaze, you don't set X based on what you pay for it—instead, you choose a value for X first, and then you need to pay whatever amount the spell will require with that value of X. However, if for some reason you're bypassing the normal mana cost of the spell, the rules say that the only legal choice for the value of X is 0.
Ruby Medallion never enters into the picture—you were forced to pick an X of 0, so no matter what the Medallion does, you're still not going to deal any damage.
Q: I've seen rulings that say that if a creature's toughness hits zero then it goes to the graveyard but that it is not technically destroyed. Does that mean it comes back at the end of a turn when all damage heals?
A: No, it doesn't—once the creature goes to the graveyard, it'll stay there. What the rulings you saw are talking about is that being "destroyed" has a very specific meaning in Magic, and isn't just a synonym for "put into the graveyard".
Reducing a creature's toughness to 0 will result in that creature going to the graveyard (and staying there), but this isn't called "destroying" the creature. This means that effects that specifically try to stop or replace the creature being "destroyed" won't kick in—being indestructible or being regenerated won't save a 0-toughness creature, for example.
Q: Do tokens have names? If I have a million 1/1 Elf tokens, do they all get the +2/+2 from Echoing Courage?
A: Yes, tokens have names; if the effect creating them doesn't copy something else or otherwise specify a name, then their name is the same as the creature type they were given as they were created—a 1/1 Elf token, for example, is named "Elf", and using Echoing Courage on one of them will boost all other tokens with that name, too.
Note that it's possible for different tokens created by different cards to have the same name, even if they vary wildly in other respects. For example, Birds. There are plenty of 1/1 white Bird tokens out there, but there's also 3/3s and 3/4s, not to mention the multiple different ones in other colors. But all of them, regardless of size or color, are named "Bird".
Q: Do the "Llanowar Elves" tokens created by Llanowar Mentor inherently have mana costs of
the same way token copies of the actual cards created by something like Cackling Counterpart would? Do all game objects named "Llanowar Elves" represent the same game piece and by extension have the same characteristics (with the exception of being a card vs a token), or if a player could theoretically have multiple different kinds of Llanowar Elves in play, some of which have a mana cost and others of which don't?A: Nope, the "Llanowar Elves" tokens created by Llanowar Mentor aren't the same thing as actual Llanowar Elves. Tokens don't have any characteristics other than the ones defined by the effect creating them, so since Llanowar Mentor doesn't bother giving its tokens a mana cost (because really, why would it bother?), they don't have one.
It's definitely possible for players to have multiple different permanents with the same name but otherwise different base characteristics—the game has no problems with that. Check the previous question to see the kind of variety you get out of Birds alone!
That doesn't last very long.
A: Absolutely. Myr Superion's ability says that you can only spend mana produced by creatures to cast it, but Animar isn't causing any mana to be paid, so that restriction doesn't matter—Animar's eliminating the need to pay any mana at all.
With nothing to pay mana for in the first place, your friend doesn't need to worry about a restriction on how some mana they wouldn't be using anyway can be produced.
Q: Does Ezuri, Claw of Progress keep pouring counters on my creatures even if I don't attack? Can I just sit for a turn or two doing nothing while my creatures grow?
A: Absolutely. Ezuri, Claw of Progress's ability triggers at the beginning of your combat step, and that happens on each of your turns regardless of whether you intend to declare an attack or not.
You don't even decide whether or not to declare attackers at all until the Declare Attackers step of combat, which happens after the Beginning of Combat step, and therefore after Ezuri has placed his counters on one of your creatures.
Q: If both Boros Reckoner and Hornet Nest are out when I cast Blasphemous Act, would I be able to stack the triggers to make 26 tokens?
A: I'm afraid not—there's no way to get more than 13 tokens here. You'll just have to be happy with hitting your opponent in the face for 13 instead of getting the extra tokens.
When Blasphemous Act resolves, it deals 13 damage to each creature, triggering both the Reckoner and the Nest, and then goes to the graveyard. The game now wants to put those triggers on the stack, but before it can do that it needs to check state-based actions. It does so, and finds (shock! horror!) that there are two creatures with lethal damage sitting on the battlefield. Obviously this terrible state of affairs cannot be left to stand, so the game puts both the Reckoner and Nest into the graveyard.
With that done and no more state-based actions to deal with, the game now moves on to putting any pending triggers on the stack. You put the Reckoner's trigger on the stack...but hey, the Nest's gone! There's no way you can choose it as a target any more—it's not on the battlefield. So you're forced to target something else instead. Probably your opponent.
Q: What happens when a player controlling Glissa, the Traitor casts All Is Dust and one of his opponents controls Ground Seal?
A: Exactly the same thing as happens if Ground Seal weren't there. The Seal gets sacrificed at the same time as all the other colored permanents on the battlefield, so it's definitely not going to be there later on when you're putting Glissa's triggers on the stack. And if it's not there, it can't stop anything from being targeted.
Q: If there is a Shared Fate in play and a player resolves Zur's Weirding, what happens in the next draw step? What if it's the other way around?
A: Well, you're in luck, because the timing of the Fate and Weirding entering the battlefield doesn't actually matter here—the only time the game cares about timestamps is when it's trying to determine what permanents and other game objects look like.
This, on the other hand, is a case of two different replacement effects each trying to replace the same event. In such cases, the player who's affected by the event being replaced gets to decide which replacement effect applies first. Then, if the other effect is still applicable, that one gets applied.
In this situation, if the player trying to draw a card chooses to apply Shared Fate first, everything's easy. Shared Fate replaces them drawing a card with them exiling the top card of an opponent's library, and you're done, because Zur's Weirding no longer has anything to replace.
If that player chooses to apply Zur's Weirding first instead, then they reveal the top card of their library, and each other player has a chance to pay 2 life to put that card into their graveyard. If no player does, then the Weirding tries to get them to draw a card, but Shared Fate kicks in once more and has them exile the top card of the opponent's library instead. Why anyone might want to go through any of that is left up for you to figure out.
Q: Everyone knows Tarmogoyf lives when it gets Lightning Bolted as a 2/3 with no instants in the yard. (It lives.) But that's with damage—how about cards that shrink toughness?
A: Toughness-reducing effects work exactly the same as damage in this scenario, since a creature dying for having 0 toughness is a state-based action just like one dying from lethal damage.
As a practical example, if Tarmogoyf is a 1/2 with no sorceries in the graveyard and Infest resolves, Tarmogoyf gets -2/-2 and briefly becomes a -1/0, but it doesn't die yet because state-based actions aren't checked while spells are resolving. Infest finishes resolving and goes to the graveyard, which means Tarmogoyf becomes a 0/1. And now it's big enough to survive on its own.
Q: If I have a 2/2 Scavenging Ooze and my opponent Lightning Bolts it, can I eat the Bolt from his graveyard before the Ooze dies? I would think yes based on the Tarmogoyf/Bolt interaction.
A: Nope. While you're right that there is a brief window in between Bolt resolving and your Ooze dying (as detailed above), that window isn't long enough for you to do anything in. State-based actions may not be checked during the resolution of spells, but they do get checked immediately afterward, before either player has a chance to do anything.
Q: If I use Remove Soul on something with Willbreaker out, would I get that creature?
A: No, it'll just go to the graveyard. When Willbreaker says "creature an opponent controls", it's only talking about creatures on the battlefield. Creature cards in the graveyard, creature spells on the stack, creature cards in some other zone—none of them are affected by Willbreaker.
This is for the same basic reason that you can't Murder a creature spell on the stack—it it makes perfect sense affecting things on the battlefield, and it doesn't say that it can affect things on the stack. (Or in the graveyard, or in your hand, and so on and so forth.) So it can't.
Has it really only been a year?
A: No, it does not. You carry out the instructions of Dromoka's Command in the order they're written on the card, and Avatar of the Resolute enters the battlefield immediately after Silkwrap leaves the battlefield, with no time in between. This means that by the time you go to carry out the next instruction, your Avatar is already on the battlefield. And since you controlled no other creatures with +1/+1 counters at the time it entered, the Avatar doesn't have any either.
Q: I had The Abyss and my opponent has Awakening Zone. She said she could stack triggers to sac nothing to my Abyss then still get the token from Awakening Zone. Is that true?
A: She doesn't control the order the triggers go onto the stack (since she doesn't control both), but that doesn't matter, because (assuming she controls no other creatures), it's impossible for her to destroy anything. No matter how the triggers are stacked, it's not legal for her to destroy the token Awakening Zone produces that turn with The Abyss.
At the beginning of your opponent's upkeep, both The Abyss and Awakening Zone trigger, and want to get put onto the stack. But unlike many similar cards, The Abyss's ability is targeted—your opponent has to choose a target to destroy as the ability is put onto the stack. And even if Awakening Zone's trigger was put onto the stack first (which it should be), the token itself isn't on the battlefield yet, and therefore isn't a legal target for The Abyss's ability.
Q: If I block with Witch Engine and tap it in response to declaring it as a blocker, what is the sequence of events that follow?
A: First you choose a target opponent for Witch Engine's ability, and then you finish paying the cost (tapping the Engine) and the ability is put onto the stack. (Witch Engine's ability is not a mana ability, because it has a target.) Both you and your opponent have a chance to respond, but assuming neither of you want to do that, the ability begins resolving.
You add
to your mana pool, and then your opponent you targeted gains control of Witch Engine. This causes Witch Engine to be removed from combat, so it's no longer a blocking creature. The stack is empty, and assuming no player wishes to do anything else, the game moves on to the Combat Damage step of combat. Whatever Witch Engine blocked is still blocked but no longer has any blocking creatures to assign combat damage to, so unless it has trample or a similar ability it won't get to deal any combat damage. And the game continues from there.Q: Suppose I'm at 20 life and sacrifice a Serra Avatar to Rite of Consumption, then Twincast the Rite. How much total damage/life gain will result once everything resolves? I'm not clear on whether the Avatar's power for the original Rite gets locked in for both spells or would be recalculated based on my new life total after the copy resolves.
A: You'll have to be content with "only" dealing a grand total of 40 damage, assuming your opponent lived through the first blow and the game didn't end. (If the game ended after the first Rite, you only dealt 20, because the second Rite never resolved.)
Rite of Consumption and cards like it only care about what the sacrificed creature looked like at the time it left the battlefield; they don't try to recalculate what the creature's power "would have been" if it had stuck around. And as a copy, your Twincasted Rite looks at the same thing the original Rite is looking at—the Avatar at the time it left the battlefield.
Q: Does Necrotic Ooze get the activated ability of Gigantoplasm if that card is in the graveyard?
A: No, because Gigantoplasm doesn't actually have any activated abilities while it's in the graveyard.
Gigantoplasm grants itself an activated ability when it turns itself into a copy of something, but if that hasn't happened and the 'Plasm isn't a copy, like when it's in the graveyard, it doesn't have that ability at all.
Q: What happens if a land animated with the Awaken mechanic is sent to the graveyard with Marchesa, the Black Rose on the battlefield? Does the land come back, or does it stay in the graveyard since it's no longer a creature?
A: It comes back. (Assuming nothing had removed the +1/+1 counters from it, so that Marchesa cared in the first place.) Marchesa looks for creatures with +1/+1 counters on them dying, and an Awakened land is indeed a creature and does have +1/+1 counters on it, so if it goes to the graveyard it matches that description perfectly.
Once the land has left the battlefield it stops being a creature, but Marchesa doesn't bother checking what may or may not have happened to the creature it saw dying—it just tries to return it, whatever it may look like now. And since there's nothing preventing the land from returning, it does so just fine.
Q: If my opponent casts Surgical Extraction or something else that lets him search my library, I can't lay my deck out on the table face up for him, right?
A: Correct. Whatever effect is allowing your opponent to search your library allows him to see its contents, but unless that effect says otherwise it doesn't grant you the same freedom. You can't normally look through your library just because you want to, so you can't do it here either.
However, it would be legal for your opponent to show you what's in your library if they really wanted to, just as it would be legal for them to show you their hand. Since the contents of your library is currently hidden information they have legal access to, they can choose to reveal it. Try asking really nicely.
Q: There is a shop where I live that wants to run Friday Night Magic, including drafts and things, but right now does not have an official judge. Does the shop need a judge to start and run sanctioned events or can they go ahead and do these things right away until they get one?
A: While certain premier event types, such as GPTs and PPTQs, do require that their Head Judge be certified judge, most events especially more-casual ones like FNM, have no such requirements and can be run without any certified judges on staff at all. For such events, while the knowledge and experience of a certified judge may lead to a better play experience overall, they're not strictly necessary.
Q: Does graveyard order still matter? None of my friends mind in casual, but in a tournament setting or around sticklers I'm sure it matters a bit more. Cards like Ghoulraiser especially would make it difficult to randomly choose a zombie creature without separating all of them out of your graveyard first.
A: While maintaining your graveyard order is still in the game rules, as far as tournaments are concerned graveyard order only matters when it might actually matter. Wizards stopped printing cards that cared about graveyard order long, long ago, and the rules for maintaining your graveyard order are only enforced in tournaments that may contain cards that care about it. These days, that pretty much just means Legacy and Vintage, since nobody's really playing all that much Mirage Sealed or the like.
In casual play, go with whatever your playgroup is comfortable with. Usually, that's going to mean not caring about graveyard order unless someone tells you their deck includes cards that care about it.
Let's see—that's three...four...five, no six resolutions broken. I think I have two left unbroken—looks like an all-time record! I better stop now before I break any more, though, so I'll be cutting things off here. Be sure to come back next week, when Nathan will be back with another fresh batch of rules questions for you.
Until then, may you resolve to never stop learning.
- Callum Milne
About the Author:
Callum Milne is a Level 2 judge from British Columbia, Canada. His home range is Vancouver Island, but he can be found in the wild throughout BC and also at GPs all along the west coast of North America.
Thrawcheld
Commander and Tiny Leaders also care about graveyard order.
#1
• Date: 2016-01-05 • Time: 08:15:30 •
@Thrawcheld: They do, but not any more than what has been mentioned. I gather that the answer was talking about sanctioned tournament play specifically (except for the last two sentences), and there's no sanctioned EDH or Tiny Leaders tournaments, so that's why it most likely isn't on the list.
#2
• Date: 2016-01-05 • Time: 15:28:55 •
