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Published on 07/04/2016

Red, White, and Blue

or, Happy Fourth of July

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 Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes.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.

Greetings, and welcome back to another issue of Cranial Insertion. Today is the Fourth of July, which is Independence Day in the USA. If you are in the USA, I wish you a happy Fourth of July, and otherwise I wish you a happy Monday. Independence Day is usually celebrated with fireworks and the consumption of grilled meats and alcoholic beverages, but here at Cranial Insertion we mark the occasion by answering a fresh batch of Magic rules questions.

If you have questions you'd like us to answer, please email them to moko@cranialinsertion.com or tweet short questions at @CranialTweet. One of our writers will reply with an answer, and your answer might appear in a future article to educate readers like yourself.

Also, while Eldritch Moon previews are in full swing, we'd like to remind you that you're welcome to send in questions about officially previewed cards. If an answer to your question is already known, we'll reply with an answer, but the answer won't appear in an article until after the Eldritch Moon prerelease.

On that note, let's grab a cold beverage and dive into today's selection of rules questions.

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Q: If Kytheon, Hero of Akros is equipped with two Captain's Claws and attacks, does he transform?

A: No. Kytheon's ability counts how many creatures attacked along with him, which means how many creatures were declared as attackers. The Kor Ally tokens were put onto the battlefield attacking, but they weren't declared as attackers, so they don't count.

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Q: Let's say I use Ruinous Path to awaken Westvale Abbey, and then later I manage to transform Westvale Abbey into Ormendahl, Profane Prince. How big is Ormendahl?

A: You won't like the answer. The awaken effect lasts indefinitely, and Ormendahl is still the same permanent that was affected by the awaken effect, so it continues to be affected by it. The awaken effect overwrites Ormendahl's power and toughness with 0/0, and the four counters that are still on it make it 4/4.

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Q: Does Brain in a Jar's cast ability work with things like awaken, overload, buyback, and kicker? For example, if I have two charge counters on the Brain and I activate it to put the third counter on it, can I cast Ruinous Path with awaken?

A: It doesn't work with awaken or overload. Those abilities represent alternative costs, and the Brain's "cast a card without paying its mana cost" is also an alternative cost, and you can't apply two alternative costs to the same spell. Buyback and kicker work because they are additional costs, and there's no problem paying an additional cost on top of an alternative cost. However, you'll actually have to pay the additional cost if you choose to pay it. The Brain won't pay the additional cost for you.

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Q: If Hangarback Walker gets bounced with Profaner of the Dead, do I get Thopter tokens?

A: Nope. Hangarback Walker doesn't have a generic leave-the-battlefield ability. It has a "dies" ability that only triggers when Hangarback Walker dies, and being returned to your hand is not the same as dying.

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Q: Can Mizzium Meddler redirect Naturalize to itself to make it fizzle?

A: Nice try, but that doesn't work. Mizzium Meddler can only change a target to itself if it would be a legal target. Since Mizzium Meddler is neither an artifact nor an enchantment, it can't redirect Naturalize to itself.

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Q: If I copy Desolation Twin with Mirrorpool, does the "when you cast" ability trigger?

A: No. Casting a spell is a process that involves taking a card (or a copy of a card) from somewhere, usually your hand, and putting it on the stack. Mirrorpool's ability simply makes a token copy appear on the battlefield out of thin air. This Desolation Twin token was never cast, so its "when you cast" ability never had the chance to trigger.

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Q: What would happen if I used Essence Flux on Persistent Nightmare?

A: Well, you won't do anything crazy like put Startled Awake onto the battlefield. Essence Flux exiles Persistent Nightmare, which ends up in the exile zone with the front face up, as Startled Awake. Then the game tells you to return Startled Awake to the battlefield, but since a sorcery can't ever enter the battlefield, it stays where it is, in exile.

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Q: If Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger targets Reality Smasher, does Reality Smasher's ability trigger?

A: Nope. As a spell, Ulamog doesn't actually have any targets. It has a triggered ability that triggers when you cast it, and that triggered ability is what targets Reality Smasher. Reality Smasher is not being targeted by a spell, so its ability doesn't trigger.

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Q: Can you use Stifle to counter spell mastery abilities?

A: No. Spell mastery is an ability word that doesn't have any rules meaning. It's used to denote an ability of certain spells that checks on resolution whether there are two or more instant and/or sorcery cards in the spell's controller's graveyard, and the spell produces an "upgraded" effect if that condition is true. It doesn't represent a triggered ability, so it can't be Stifled.

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Q: If I Donate my Demonic Pact to my opponent, can my opponent choose any of the modes that I've already chosen?

A: No, the choices don't get reset, so your opponent will be limited to whichever mode(s) you didn't already choose, which is presumably only the "lose the game" mode. Donating the Pact doesn't cause it to leave and reenter the battlefield, so it's still the same Pact it was when you controlled it. Also, the mode choice is "choose one that hasn't been chosen", not "choose one you haven't chosen", so previously chosen modes are excluded regardless of who chose them.

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Q: I control Grip of Chaos, and I use Sorin, Lord of Innistrad's ultimate ability to destroy three creatures. There are other creatures and planeswalkers on the battlefield. What happens?

A: Fortunately for you, Grip of Chaos does nothing, so Sorin's ability resolves just how you intended it to resolve. Grip of Chaos only triggers if the spell or ability that was put on the stack has a single target. In this case, the ability has three targets, so Grip of Chaos is not interested in messing with it. If you had targeted only a single creature, Grip of Chaos would have you reselect the target at random from among all legal targets, so you'd randomly choose a creature or planeswalker.

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Q: If Child of Alara is enchanted with Lignify, does its death trigger still happen when it dies?

A: No, you'll be spared the tantrum. Death triggers are special cases of leave-the-battlefield trigger, which are the most common category of triggers that look back in time to determine whether they trigger. In other words, leave-the-battlefield triggers trigger from the battlefield. Since the Child didn't have any abilities when it was on the battlefield, its death trigger didn't exist and couldn't trigger when it died.

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Q: Can I counter Stingscourger's bounce ability with Eight-and-a-Half-Tails by making Stingscourger white and giving the target protection from white?

A: Sure, that works. When Stingscourger's ability tries to resolve, it rechecks whether its target is still legal. Stingscourger is now white, so its ability is now an ability from a white source. As such, it can't target a creature that has protection from white, so the ability is countered on resolution.

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Q: My opponent uses Scapeshift to get two Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and six Mountains. If I respond to the damage triggers by destroying one of the Mountains, will the Valakuts deal any damage?

A: Yes, but it'll be far less damage than what they would have dealt otherwise. Each Mountain that enters the battlefield causes two triggers that check whether their controller controls five Mountains beyond the one that triggered the ability. This check is done both when the ability originally triggers and when the ability resolves. Let's say you destroyed Mountain 1. When the triggers that were triggered by Mountain 1 resolve, they still see five other Mountains (Mountains 2 through 6), so those triggers still resolve. The triggers that were triggered by the other Mountains only see four other Mountains now, so they won't do anything. In the end, the Valakuts end up dealing a total of only 6 damage, as opposed to 36 damage.

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Q: What's the current ruling on Reconnaissance and Maze of Ith? Can they be used on an attacking creature after combat damage has been dealt?

A: Assuming that the creature survived any damage that may have been dealt to it, sure. According to their Oracle text, both Reconnaissance and Maze of Ith target attacking creatures, and an attacking creature stays an attacking creature all the way through the end of combat step.

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Q: If my opponent cast Celestial Archon for its bestow cost, can I Commandeer it?

A: Absolutely. When your opponent chose to cast Celestial Archon for its bestow cost, it ceased to be a creature spell and became an Aura spell. The fact that the word "creature" is printed on the type line doesn't matter. The Celestial Archon that's on the stack is a noncreature spell, so you can Commandeer it.

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Q: Can Bitterheart Witch's "dies" trigger find Infectious Curse?

A: Nope. Infectious Curse is the back face of a double-faced card, and the back face only exists when the card is transformed on the battlefield. In the library, only the front face exists, and Accursed Witch is not a Curse.

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Q: Can I target two lands my opponent controls with Shifting Borders so that I end up gaining control of both lands?

A: No, that's not what exchanging control means. "Exchange control" does not mean "change the controllers however you want." To exchange control of two permanents, the controller of the first permanent becomes the controller of the second permanent, and vice versa. If you target two of your opponent's lands with Shifting Borders, I'm afraid nothing at all happens.

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Q: Suppose I imprint a creature card on Chrome Mox, and then I animate the Chrome Mox and an Isochron Scepter and use Mirrorweave to turn Chrome Mox into Isochron Scepter. If I activate the Isochron Mox's ability, does that allow me to cast a copy of the creature card?

A: No, that doesn't work. The activated ability on Isochron Scepter is linked to its imprint ability, so when it looks for "the exiled card," it can only find a card that was exiled by Isochron Scepter's first ability. The object that was Chrome Mox has no such exiled card, since the creature card was exiled with Chrome Mox's first ability, so the ability copies nothing and won't allow you to cast anything.

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Q: How does Doubling Season interact with lands like Vivid Creek?

A: It interacts strangely. Doubling Season only cares when counters are placed by an effect, and an effect is something that happens due to a resolving spell or ability. When you play Vivid Creek as your land for turn, that's not a spell or ability that's resolving, so Doubling Season doesn't care, and Vivid Creek enters with two charge counters. However, if you get Vivid Creek with something like Primeval Titan's ability, you have an effect that's putting the land onto the battlefield and placing counters on it, which Doubling Season doubles, so the land enters with four charge counters. You're probably yelling at the screen right now that this is totally weird and unintuitive, and I agree, but that's the result that follows from the rules and the card text.

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Q: If Zurgo Bellstriker is my commander, can I dash it from the command zone? If so, do I have to pay the commander tax?

A: Yes and yes. Dash is an alternative cost that isn't tied to casting the card from a particular zone, so you can choose to pay it when casting Zurgo from the command zone. However, additional costs still apply on top of this alternative cost, and the commander tax is an additional cost that you can't avoid by dashing Zurgo.

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Q: If I control a planeswalker and my opponent declares attackers without indicating that he's attacking my planeswalker, can I assume that his creatures are attacking me?

A: Yes. There's a standard tournament shortcut that a player is attacking another player, and not a planeswalker, unless the attacking player specifies otherwise. If your opponent is hoping to redirect the damage to your planeswalker in the combat damage step, he'll be very disappointed, since damage redirection only works for noncombat damage. To deal combat damage to a planeswalker, he has to specify at the time he declares his attackers which creatures are attacking the planeswalker.

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And that's all the time we have for today. Please come back next week when James presents the last pre-Eldritch Moon issue. Until then, I hope you have a safe Fourth of July, and please celebrate responsibly.

- Carsten Haese

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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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