Published on 06/20/2016
Smashing!
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 Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes.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.
He thought he'd be getting something
more like this...
more like this...
*SMASH!*
Whew, that was a close one. Pity about that chair—it was my favorite. Turns out the reason Moko was so excited for the release of Eternal Masters was that he thought we were talking about an imminent zombie apocalypse, where his kind would rise up and enslave the living. Once he heard that Eternal Masters had been released, he tried waiting for these supposed masters to show up and let him join the undead hordes in revolt, but after a few days he got impatient and decided to take matters into his own hands. We've been back here since Wednesday evening, and every time we try to leave he throws more furniture at us.
The food supplies may be starting to run low, but that's no reason we can't be generous hosts. Saltine? And of course while you're here we'll be happy to answer any rules questions you may have. Really? None? Well, I suppose we'll just have to go through the backlog and answer those questions for you instead.
If you do think of any rules questions to ask any of us here at CI, remember that you can always send them to us using the "Email Us" button on the left or sending an email to moko@cranialinsertion.com , and the shorter ones can be sent to us over Twitter, @CranialTweet. Or, y'know, you can just ask, since you seem to be stuck here with us.
Q: How does Spirit of the Labyrinth affect dredging? I cast Careful Study, and my opponent used Aether Vial to bring in Spirit of the Labyrinth in response. Does dredging my Golgari Grave-Troll count as drawing a card?
A: Dredge replaces drawing a card with dredging instead, but if you've already drawn a card this turn, the Spirit's ability renders drawing a card an impossible action, so there's nothing that dredge can replace.
However, since dredging a card isn't drawing a card, dredging cards doesn't count towards the one card the Spirit allows you to draw each turn. So as long as you haven't drawn any cards already, you can dredge as much as you want right under the Spirit's nose.
Q: Say I cast Bloodbraid Elf, and cascade into Dualcaster Mage. Can I play an instant in response and copy it with Dualcaster Mage's ability?
A: Sadly for you, no. If you cast an instant in response to Dualcaster Mage, that instant will resolve first, and will be in the graveyard by the time the Mage resolves. And if you try to wait for the Mage to resolve, it will enter the battlefield and trigger, but since there aren't any legal targets for you to choose for its ability, the ability will be removed from the stack without doing anything before you have a chance to cast anything.
Q: If I have an Embermaw Hellion out, what happens if I cast Comet Storm with X = 0, but kicked a bunch of times? Does Embermaw boost the damage to one per target?
A: No, it does not. Dealing 0 damage isn't dealing any damage at all, so Embermaw Hellion has nothing to replace and won't cause any additional damage to be dealt. I recommend choosing one fewer target and having an X of at least 1 instead.
Q: If I cast Commune with the Gods and Gaea's Blessing is one of the cards that goes to the graveyard, does the graveyard get reshuffled, or does looking at the cards mean the Blessing isn't going there from the library?
A: The graveyard indeed gets shuffled in. When the game instructs you to look at (or reveal) cards from somewhere, they're still technically wherever they were before—you're just allowed to see them now. While you might physically pick the cards up and move them around in order to follow the game's instructions, that doesn't mean they're in another zone.
As such, the cards you look at with Commune with the Gods are still in your library, and being put into the graveyard off of Commune will indeed trigger Gaea's Blessing.
There's a solution, but are we supposed to
wear it, or are we supposed to get him to?
wear it, or are we supposed to get him to?
A: It gets shuffled into your library, and then you continue resolving the Helm's ability. Since the Colossus replaced going to the graveyard with being shuffled into the library instead, it doesn't count as a card "put into your graveyard this way" for the Helm, so you keep counting as though you never turned it up at all.
Q: ...But what if Blightsteel Colossus is the only creature in the deck?
A: If X is large enough, the game continues putting cards into the graveyard one by one, shuffling in Colossus each time it comes up, until there's nothing but Colossus left at all, and since the Helm still hasn't put X cards into the graveyard, it keeps trying, revealing and shuffling Blightsteel Colossus back in again, and again, and again, and again, and again...
There's no way out of the loop at that point, so the game will end in a draw.
Q: In a multiplayer game, I own Crown of Doom and give it to Allie, who then gives it to Bob. Then Bob loses the game. What happens to Crown of Doom? I know it stays in the game but does control of it go back to me or to Allie?
A: Control of the Crown goes back to Allie. The effect that gave her control of it never actually ended—it was just overwritten by the more recent effect that gave it to Bob.
Now that Bob has left the game, the effect that was giving him control of it will end, and the previous control effect that's giving it to Allie is now the most recent.
Q: I cast Ever After targeting Diregraf Colossus and a non-Zombie creature in my graveyard. How big will the Colossus be after entering the battlefield if no other Zombies are in my graveyard?
A: It will enter with one +1/+1 counter and be a 3/3. The Colossus entering the battlefield with +1/+1 counters is a replacement effect, and replacement effects must be applied before the event they replace occurs. As such, at the time the effect is applied, the Colossus is still in the graveyard, and is therefore included in the Zombie count.
Q: If all of my opponents are unable to be targeted, does that mean my Descendant of Masumaro will never lose counters?
A: It never loses counters, but it also never gains counters either. The Descendant only has one ability, which both gives it counters and removes counters from it. Since that ability is targeted, if you are unable to select a legal target for the ability while putting it onto the stack, the ability is removed from the stack and does nothing at all.
Congratulations on having what amounts to a three-mana Willow Elf.
Q: I and my opponent both have two creatures in play, and my opponent also has Brave the Sands. I cast Armed // Dangerous fused, Armed targeting one of my creatures and Dangerous targeting the other. Can my opponent still block both creatures or can he only block the one that's Dangerous?
A: Your opponent can declare any set of blockers they wish as long as they abide by the requirement set by Dangerous, and all that's required in order to fulfill that requirement is that his creatures all block the Dangerous creature. Since his creatures are capable of blocking other creatures in addition to the Dangerous one, your opponent is free to also block the Armed creature, should they wish to do so.
Q: I have a Lion's Eye Diamond out and a Lightning Bolt on top of my library. Am I able to sacrifice the LED during my draw step for red mana before I draw, and then cast the Bolt during my draw step?
A: Afraid not. The very first thing that happens in your draw step, before anyone has a chance to do anything else, is that you draw your card for the turn. So by the time you can activate Lion's Eye Diamond in your draw step, you already have the Lightning Bolt in hand, and would need to discard it if you wanted to use the Diamond.
And of course you can't sacrifice LED in your upkeep, before your draw step, in order to cast the Bolt, because the mana will be emptied from your mana pool as your upkeep ends.
Moko may be fuzzy,
but he's certainly not warm.
but he's certainly not warm.
A: It will last until the creature leaves the battlefield somehow.
Olivia, Mobilized for War's ability doesn't specify a duration for its effect, so it lasts indefinitely—that particular creature will forever be a Vampire. However, when things move from one game zone to another, the game considers them to be entirely different objects, unrelated to whatever object they used to be in their previous zone. This means that once the creature has left the battlefield, the creature it used to be—the one that Olivia turned into a Vampire—no longer exists. Instead there's this completely new card somewhere else, and since nothing's saying that that new card is a Vampire, it's not.
Q: I have a Benalish Hero with a Lure on it, and attack with it and Vortex Elemental, banding them together. My opponents are forced to block the Hero, but as a result Vortex elemental is also blocked. Can I activate the Elemental to put the blocking creatures on top and shuffle them away?
A: Absolutely. Any creature that blocks an attacking creature in a band also automatically blocks every other attacking creature in that band. This means that your opponent's creatures, in addition to blocking the Hero, are also blocking Vortex Elemental. And therefore will be affected by the Elemental's ability.
Q: If I have eleven cards in hand and discard four lands at the end of my turn, how many times will The Gitrog Monster trigger?
A: Just once. When you discard down to your maximum hand size, all of those cards are discarded simultaneously, so since there's only one instance of cards going to the graveyard, The Gitrog Monster can trigger only once, even if all of them are lands.
Q: If I have no cards in hand, can I activate Null Brooch?
A: Absolutely. "Discard your hand" means "discard all the cards that are in your hand", and you can do that even if you don't have any cards in your hand at all.
Q: Can I sacrifice Gilded Drake while the ability's on the stack to gain control of an opponent's creature without giving them Gilded Drake?
A: Definitely not. In Magic, you can't exchange something for nothing. If the game's instructing you to exchange two things, but part of that exchange can't be completed for some reason, the entire exchange fails and nothing happens.
In this case, the game tells you to exchange control of your opponent's creature and Gilded Drake. That requires you gaining control of your opponent's creature and your opponent gaining control of the Drake, but since the Drake isn't on the battlefield any more it's impossible for your opponent to gain control of it. Since part of the exchange can't happen, the exchange fails, and your opponent gets to keep their creature.
Q: My opponent casts Past in Flames and I Flusterstorm it. She lets it get countered by the first copy. If I have Surgical Extraction in hand, can I Surgical Past in Flames before she gets a chance to cast it again, in response to the remaining Flusterstorms, or do the other Flusterstorms go away when their targets become illegal?
A: Lucky for you, a spell will only gets countered for having illegal targets when it tries to resolve. This means that your remaining Flusterstorms will still be sitting on the stack waiting to resolve.
While your opponent gets priority immediately after the first Flusterstorm finishes resolving, they won't be able to recast Past in Flames from their graveyard because the stack isn't empty, giving you the opportunity to Surgical Extraction Past in Flames.
Q: I Wastelands my opponent's Volcanic Island and she floats red in response. I want to animate my Mishra's Factory and attack with it. Can I do that without her being able to use the red to Lightning Bolt the Factory?
A: You can absolutely do that—all you need to do is specify that you're animating the Factory in the beginning of combat step.
Mana is emptied from each player's mana pool at the end of each step or phase, so your opponent can't produce mana in your main phase and then spend it in your beginning of combat step—it'll disappear as soon as the main phase ends. If she wants to use her red mana before it disappears, she'll have to speak up and let you know that that's what she's doing, but since at that time you haven't activated your Factory yet, she's not going to be able to Bolt it.
Be aware that if you want to act in the beginning of combat step, you need to say that's what you're doing from the start, rather than saying something like "Combat?" and waiting for your opponent before doing what you want. Saying "Combat?", "Attacks?"—or anything like them—is a standard tournament shortcut that basically boils down to "I want to declare attackers and have nothing to do before then—is there anything you want to do in the beginning of combat step before that happens?". If your opponent doesn't want to do anything, you're stuck declaring attackers immediately...without having animated the Factory.
Q: If I pre-register a decklist for a Competitive tournament with a fifteen card sideboard, but arrive and find that while my main deck is exactly as listed, two cards are missing from the sideboard somehow. Is my deck legal?
A: There's no possible advantage you can gain from missing cards in your sideboard, so it's not something that Magic tournament policy is particularly interested in penalizing, so you're not going to be issued a penalty for missing some cards from your sideboard.
If you manage to find your cards (or maybe buy replacements from a vendor) later in the tournament, great! Stick them in your sideboard where they belong and you're golden. If not...maybe cross your fingers and hope you don't end up in a matchup where those cards would be needed.
Q: I have a Watcher in the Web, and my opponent attacks with a 3/3 and a 3/3 with trample. If we both pass through to damage and I put my Watcher into the graveyard and my opponent doesn't note any life total change, did I take trample damage? What's the assumed tournament shortcut here? They could have just chosen to deal extra damage to the Watcher instead of trampling, so it technically is possible to not have taken trample damage...
A: There's no assumed tournament shortcut for trample damage. There used to be one, but it was removed when the rules changed so that players were required to announce any changes in their life totals. If you and your opponent are informing each other about life total changes (And you are doing that, right? Right?), then it should become immediately obvious to both players whether or not you take trample damage from your opponent's creature.
Aha! Looks like our efforts have paid off—we've managed to dig a tunnel out of the building with these spoons. Well, I suppose only this one's a spoon now—the rest are more stubs.
Guests first, so you head on out—I'm going to try to get Moko to calm down one last time before breaking out the baseball bat. Be sure to join us next week for another exciting edition of Cranial Insertion!
- 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.
blacob
The 9th question (the answer mentions "the descendant") seems to be cut off for me. Not sure if anyone else is having this problem but it just says "If all of my opponents are unable to be targeted, does that mean [c]"
#1
• Date: 2016-06-20 • Time: 06:23:07 •
GrifterMage
That's exceedingly weird; I swear it wasn't cut off like that before. Well, it's been corrected now. Thanks for letting us know!
#2
• Date: 2016-06-24 • Time: 09:59:15 •
