Published on 06/06/2016
Where the Orange Barrels Bloom
or, Summer in Ohio
By Carsten Haese, James Bennett, Callum Milne, and Nathan Long
This Article from: Carsten Haese
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 Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes.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.
In Dominaria, Summer brings pretty flowers.
In Ohio, it brings orange barrels.
In Ohio, it brings orange barrels.
Undaunted by the traffic chaos, we here at Cranial Insertion continue to answer your Magic rules questions. If you have questions you'd like us to answer, please email them to moko@cranialinsertion.com or tweet short questions to @CranialTweet. One of our writers will get back to you with an answer, and your answer might appear in a future issue to educate readers like yourself.
Q: Let's say I control The Gitrog Monster and while activating Sinister Concoction's ability I mill a land card and I discard a land card. How many cards do I draw for the Monster's draw trigger?
A: You'll draw two cards. The Monster's draw trigger goes off every time one or more land cards go to your graveyard in a single action. Milling a card and discarding a card are two different costs that are paid separately, so they happen in distinct actions that trigger the Monster's ability separately.
Q: So there's this new rule 202.3b that makes the converted mana cost of a double-faced card's back face the same as the front face's converted mana cost. Does this also apply to calculating devotion?
A: No. The rule that tells you to pretend that the back face has the same mana cost as the front face only applies to determining its converted mana cost. In all other circumstances, the game looks at the back face's actual mana cost, which is "this space intentionally left blank," so the back face doesn't have any mana symbols to contribute to devotion.
Q: If I use Narset Transcendent's -2 ability and then cast Part the Waterveil, will Part the Waterveil rebound?
A: Not so much. It gains rebound, but the rebound ability won't do anything. Rebound only does something if the spell goes to the graveyard as the final step of its resolution. Since Part the Waterveil exiles itself, the rebound ability has nothing to replace, so you won't get a second extra turn out of this.
Q: Can I cast Tenacity after my combat phase to attack a second time?
A: No. Tenacity untaps your creatures, but those creatures being tapped is not the only reason why you can't attack with them again. If it were, vigilance would be ridiculously overpowered because you could attack with a vigilant creature arbitrarily often. The main reason why you can only attack once per turn is because there's normally only one combat phase per turn. There are effects that can create additional combat phases, but Tenacity is not one of them.
Q: If I have four Despoiler of Souls in my graveyard, can I return all four of them to the battlefield by paying two black mana and exiling two creature cards from my graveyard?
A: No. Each Despoiler of Souls has an activated ability that returns only that Despoiler of Souls to the battlefield, and one payment of the cost only pays for one of those abilities. To return all four Despoilers to the battlefield, you have to activate all four and pay the cost four times.
Q: What if I have four Deathmist Raptors in the graveyard and I turn a face-down creature face up? Do I get to return all four Deathmist Raptors to the battlefield?
A: Yes, that works. Unlike Despoiler of Souls, which has an activated ability, Deathmist Raptor has a triggered ability. Turning a face-down creature face up triggers the ability on all four Deathmist Raptors, so all four abilities resolve and return the Deathmist Raptors to the battlefield one by one.
Worst blind date ever.
A: It sure is. Olivia's effect is locked into the permanent that's represented by the card that entered the battlefield as Elusive Tormentor. As long as it remains on the battlefield, it is that permanent, regardless of what status changes it might undergo. When it transforms, it does so while on the battlefield, so it changes what it looks like, but it's still the same permanent, so Olivia's effect still applies to it.
Q: If my opponent targets Lotus Petal with Krosan Grip, can I sacrifice Lotus Petal for mana in response?
A: If it's untapped, sure. Krosan Grip has split second, which prevents a lot of responses, but not all. You can still activate mana abilities in response to a spell with split second, and Lotus Petal's ability is a mana ability.
Q: I control Zur's Weirding. If my library is empty, can I choose to replace my draws with paying life to avoid losing the game due to drawing from an empty library?
A: Not really. Only players other than the player who's about to draw a card get the option to pay life, so you can't choose to pay life for your own card draw. If a player other than you does choose to pay life after you reveal the nonexistent top card of your library, you mill that nonexistent card instead of drawing it and you stay in the game. This could happen in a multiplayer game if that other player is your teammate or they have political reasons for keeping you in the game. In a duel, on the other hand, it's very unlikely that your opponent would choose to make a life payment in order to keep you in the game.
Q: If my Phyrexian Negator is dealt damage and I choose to sacrifice Evolving Wilds to its ability, can I respond by sacrificing Evolving Wilds to its own ability?
A: Not really. The permanents for Phyrexian Negator's ability are only chosen once that ability starts to resolve, and then you have to choose and sacrifice permanents without the opportunity to do anything in between. You can respond to the ability by sacrificing Evolving Wilds, of course, but then you'll have to sacrifice something else when Phyrexian Negator's ability resolves.
Q: I control Thoughtpicker Witch and Myr Moonvessel. Can I activate Thoughtpicker Witch's ability by sacrificing Myr Moonvessel and then using the mana I get from Myr Moonvessel?
A: No, that doesn't work. The mana from Myr Moonvessel comes from a triggered ability that uses the stack, and that ability won't even go on the stack, let alone resolve, until after you've finished activating Thoughtpicker Witch's ability.
Q: If I sacrifice Solemn Simulacrum to Viscera Seer, do I draw first or scry first?
A: You'll draw first. You start activating Viscera Seer's ability by putting the ability on the stack, and then you pay for the ability by sacrificing Solemn Simulacrum. This triggers Solemn Simulacrum's ability, which goes on the stack above Viscera Seer's ability, so Solemn Simulacrum's ability resolves first.
Q: If I put Giant Adephage onto the battlefield with Fated Return and it copies itself, does the copy have indestructible, too?
A: Nope. Copy effects only copy the copiable values of the thing they're copying, which is essentially just what's printed on the card (with a few exceptions that don't matter here). The indestructible ability that's granted by Fated Return's effect is not part of Giant Adephage's copiable values, so the copies will be somewhat more fragile than the original.
Q: I control Aether Rift and I randomly discard Incorrigible Youths to its upkeep trigger. What happens?
A: First off, you discard Incorrigible Youths into exile because of its madness ability. Before anything else happens, Aether Rift's ability has to finish resolving, so the game asks around the table if anybody wishes to pay 5 life. If nobody does, Aether Rift's Oracle text tells the game to return Incorrigible Youths from the graveyard to the battlefield, but the card is not in the graveyard, so nothing happens to it. If somebody chooses to pay 5 life, Aether Rift doesn't even try to move the card, so nothing happens to the card in that case, either. Finally, the madness trigger resolves, and you get to choose whether to cast Incorrigible Youths for its madness cost.
Weather forecast:
Cloudy with a chance of Dragons
Cloudy with a chance of Dragons
A: Assuming that you don't control any Dragons before Descent of the Dragons starts to give you Dragon tokens, you'll deal four packets of 4 damage each, for a total of 16 damage. Descent of the Dragons gives you four tokens all at once, and each of those tokens triggers Dragon Tempest's second ability. When each ability resolves, it counts how many Dragons you control at that time, so each ability will count four Dragons unless your opponent does something sudden and deadly to your Dragons in response to those triggers.
Q: Does Sigarda, Host of Herons stop board wipes like Supreme Verdict or Damnation?
A: No. Sigarda's ability doesn't make your creatures indestructible. The ability makes it impossible for you to sacrifice creatures due to spells and abilities that your opponents control, but Supreme Verdict and Damnation destroy creatures. There's no sacrifice involved, so Sigarda is not interested.
Q: If I Fork or Commandeer a modal spell, such as Cryptic Command, can I choose new modes for the copy? Similarly, if I Commandeer Cryptic Command, can I choose new modes for it?
A: No in both cases. Fork and Commandeer spell out exactly what you're allowed to change about the copy it made and the spell you're taking over: You're allowed to change the targets, and that's it.
Q: Does the discount from Mizzix of the Izmagnus apply to buyback costs?
A: Yes or no, depending on how you look at it, but in the practical sense the answer is mostly yes. Clear as mud? Okay, let's clarify. To calculate the total cost of a spell, you start with the base cost, which is its mana cost or an alternative cost, then you add additional costs and cost increasing effects, and finally you apply cost reduction effects. Mizzix's effect is a cost reduction effect that reduces the sum of all the other costs regardless of where that sum came from. Simply saying that this reduction applies to the buyback cost is misleading, because you might be led to believe that you can apply the full reduction to the mana cost and to the buyback cost each individually, which is not correct. Mizzix's effect works like a "get $5 off your entire order" coupon at a restaurant: The discount applies after adding together all the courses you had, rather than being applied to any particular course.
Let's wrap this up with an example: Let's say you control Mizzix and you have four experience counters, and you cast Reiterate with buyback. The total cost for this spell is
+ 
- 
, which works out to just . Q: I control Mizzix of the Izmagnus and I have no experience counters, and I also control Inexorable Tide. If I cast an instant or sorcery spell with a converted mana cost greater than 0, do I get two experience counters?
A: You can, yes. Casting the spell triggers both abilities, Inexorable Tide and Mizzix, and both abilities want to go on the stack at the same time. Since you control both abilities, you get to choose the order in which you put them on the stack. If you let Mizzix's ability resolve first by putting it on the stack last, you'll have an experience counter that you can proliferate into a second experience counter when Inexorable Tide's ability resolves.
Q: How does attacking work in Commander games? Do I have to send all attackers at the same player, or can I split up my creatures among multiple opponents?
A: By default, a multiplayer Commander game uses the attack multiple players option, so you're allowed to split up your creatures and attack multiple opponents. Your play group may decide to play by different house rules, but that is the default in the comprehensive rules.
Quote:
|
903.2. A Commander game may be a two-player game or a multiplayer game. The default multiplayer setup is the Free-for-All variant with the attack multiple players option and without the limited range of influence option. See rule 806, "Free-for-All Variant." |
Q: Arya controls Liliana of the Veil and announces that she's activating Liliana's -6 ability targeting Nymeria. Nymeria points out that she has hexproof due to Orbs of Warding. Does Arya have to target herself with Liliana's ability?
A: No. Arya has activated Liliana's ability illegally by choosing an illegal target for the ability. The illegal activation gets rewound all the way, and Arya can then take any other legal action. She won't be forced to activate the ability on a target she didn't intend. In a tournament setting, a judge may get involved and issue a penalty to Arya, but regardless of the setting (casual play, Regular REL tournament, or Competitive REL tournament), the game proceeds as though Arya had not activated the ability at all.
And that's all the time we have for now. Please join us again next week when James celebrates the release of Eternal Masters.
- Carsten Haese
About the Author:
Carsten Haese is a former Level 2 judge based in Toledo, OH. He is retired from active judging, but he still writes for Cranial Insertion and helps organize an annual charity Magic tournament that benefits the National MS Society.
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