Published on 08/15/2016
Back at Last
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 Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes.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.
For the sake of the multiverse,
I'm going to need a really big hammer.
I'm going to need a really big hammer.
For now, I'd just like to get back into the swing of things by sitting back, relaxing, and answering a few rules questions. If you'd like to send us your own questions, you can do so via email at moko@cranialinsertion.com , or via Twitter @CranialTweet. You'll get an answer and potentially see your question in one of our future articles.
Q: Do artifact creatures pump Vile Aggregate, or only devoid creatures?
A: Vile Aggregate counts all colorless creatures you control, not just ones with devoid. Most artifact creatures are colorless, so they'll boost your Aggregate accordingly.
However, just being an artifact doesn't necessarily mean that something's colorless. There are artifact creatures that aren't colorless, such as Ethercaste Knight, and those ones won't boost your Aggregate.
Q: I have two 1/1 Elf Warrior tokens, one of which has Reins of the Vinesteed on it. I attack with both, and my opponent blocks the unenchanted one with a 2/2 Zombie. Can I use Mercy Killing to kill my enchanted creature and move the Reins to the other one, making it big enough to kill the Zombie and survive?
A: Absolutely. After blockers are declared both players have a chance to cast spells and abilities before combat damage happens, and if you use Mercy Killing at that point, your enchanted creature will die and the Reins will trigger, returning them to the battlefield attached to whichever Elf or Warrior you choose. If that's the blocked creature, it'll be a 3/3 when the time comes to assign and deal combat damage.
Q: What happens when my opponent uses Simic Guildmage to move Imprisoned in the Moon onto my Progenitus? Does the protection remove the Aura, or does the Aura remove the protection?
A: Nothing happens because that can't happen as described; Simic Guildmage can't move Imprisoned in the Moon onto Progenitus in the first place, because Progenitus has protection from the Aura, and you can't attach an Aura to something that has protection from that Aura. Your opponent will have to attach their Imprisoned in the Moon to something else instead.
Let's say they find some other way to get Imprisoned in the Moon onto Progenitus that actually works, though—say, by using Sudden Spoiling and then the Guildmage. Once the turn ends you'll have a Progenitus that's Imprisoned in the Moon...and it'll stay that way, because the Imprison removes Progenitus's protection and without protection there's no reason to remove the Aura.
There's no way that thing's
coming off without leaving a mark.
coming off without leaving a mark.
A: You're right that the equipment being unattached happens when Stitcher's Graft isn't on the battlefield any more, but it will still trigger.
Regular readers of this column may remember a few months back I answered a question about Zulaport Cutthroat by explaining that leaves-the-battlefield triggers "look back in time" to determine whether or not they should trigger. At the time I mentioned that a few other kinds of triggers with similar problems did the same, but glossed over what they were. Well, Stitcher's Graft is one of them. Abilities that trigger when something becomes unattached from a permanent fall under the same exception that leaves-the-battlefield abilities do, for exactly the reason this question was asked. Like leaves-the-battlefield triggers, they "look back in time" before the trigger event to determine whether or not they were supposed to trigger.
Before the Graft left the battlefield, it was attached to your creature, and after it was destroyed, it was no longer attached to your creature. Therefore, it became unattached, which triggers its ability.
Q: What happens if I cast Tragic Arrogance with Hive Mind out? If my opponent chooses different things than I do, will everything die?
A: Not quite. What actually happens is that first your opponent's copy of the Arrogance will resolve just the way Tragic Arrogance normally does; for each player, they'll choose an artifact, a creature, an enchantment, and a planeswalker that player controls, and then everything that wasn't chosen this way will be destroyed.
Then the original Tragic Arrogance, the one you control, will resolve. It'll ask you to make the same set of choices...but the copied Arrogance just destroyed most of the permanents on the battlefield, so there won't be many options left. Most likely you'll be forced to choose the same permanents your opponent did, because those will be the only ones around to choose from. Ending up the victim of your own Tragic Arrogance may be a flavor win, but it probably won't feel very good.
Q: If an opponent has Spellskite on the battlefield, can I use Vines of Vastwood on it, and after that resolves play spells on my creatures without Spellskite being able to redirect them?
A: Nope, because Vines of Vastwood is weird. Unlike Ranger's Guile and similar cards, it doesn't actually grant its target hexproof. Instead, it says that that creature can't be the target of spells and abilities controlled by players other than the one who controls the Vines.
Since you're the one who cast Vines of Vastwood, your spells can target your opponent's Spellskite just fine, and your opponent is free to redirect as they wish. Your opponent won't be able to cast spells or activate their own abilities targeting their Spellskite until the end of the turn, but they probably didn't want to do that in the first place anyway.
Q: If my opponent has Spell Quellered my spell and I use Eldrazi Displacer on it, can she counter the spell again?
A: No, she can't. After Eldrazi Displacer's ability finishes resolving, it's time to place the two triggers from Spell Queller onto the stack, both the leaves-the-battlefield trigger and the enters-the-battlefield trigger.
The Queller's controller can choose to put those triggers onto the stack in any order, but neither way will allow her to re-counter the previously Quellered spell, because she needs to choose a target for the ETB trigger at the time it's placed onto the stack, and the spell can't possibly have been re-cast at that point yet.
Since the original spell has not been re-cast yet, it's not a legal target for the ETB ability, and therefore the Queller's controller will have to choose something else; if there's nothing for them to target, the ETB ability will simply be removed from the stack and do nothing.
Q: If I sacrifice Geist-Fueled Scarecrow for an emerge cost, does the cost increase from the Scarecrow still apply to the emerge cost?
A: It does indeed. The amount you need to pay in order to cast a spell becomes "locked in" before you actually pay any of the costs of casting that spell. This means that by the time you sacrifice the Scarecrow, the cost of your Eldrazi emerging from within the Scarecrow has already been set, and will not be altered by the Scarecrow's ugly demise.
Q: If I'm unable to contribute mana for Collective Voyage, do I still get to search for lands when it resolves?
A: Absolutely. Collective Voyage says that "each player" searches their library, not "each player who paid mana this way", so it applies to all players, no matter whether they helped join forces and contributed mana or not.
Q: I control Portcullis and cast Living Death. Both players have multiple creatures in the graveyard, so what happens?
A: As Living Death resolves, all the creatures from all graveyards return to the battlefield at the same time. Portcullis sees them entering, and for each of those creatures, it asks, "Hey, are there two or more creatures other than this one on the battlefield?" Well, since the creatures all entered the battlefield at the same time—and there's more than two total—there are indeed going to be more than two other creatures around every single time Portcullis asks that question. As such, Portcullis will trigger for every creature that was returned.
Since you control Portcullis, you choose the order in which those triggers will be placed on the stack, and they'll resolve one by one in the order you chose. As the trigger for each creature resolves, it'll quickly check whether or not there are still two or more other creatures on the battlefield, and seeing that there are, it will exile the creature it triggered for.
...Until there's only two triggers left because there's only two creatures left on the battlefield. The remaining triggers resolve, seeing that hey, wait a minute, there aren't two other creatures any more! So they won't exile anything.
The end result? All the creatures get exiled except for whichever two you, the controller of Portcullis, want to remain. Pretty good.
Q: I +1 Liliana, the Last Hope targeting a 1/1 and my opponent responds with a pump effect that lasts until end of turn. I know that if nothing else happens the 1/1 will die, since Liliana's ability lasts until my next turn, but when exactly does their creature die? And is there is a point my opponent can use another pump effect to save their creature?
A: The boost from the pump spell wears off during the cleanup step of your turn, so that's when your opponent's creature will die. There's nothing your opponent can do to avoid it, either—if they play a second "until end of turn" pump spell before that happens, it'll wear off at the same time as the first, and after it happens is too late—the creature will die as a state-based action before any player has a chance to do anything about it.
Q: My friend cast Pentad Prism for two counters. If I use Flickerwisp on it, it'll come back with none, right?
A: Correct. Sunburst normally puts counters on Pentad Prism as it enters the battlefield for each of the colors of mana spent to cast it. But if the Prism's wasn't cast as a spell and is instead entering the battlefield from some place that's not the stack, sunburst doesn't work.
The Prism that's entering the battlefield now is considered a different object than the original, and no colors of mana were spent to cast this new Prism at all, because it was never cast in the first place. No counters for your friend, which is probably what you wanted to happen.
What is the sound
of one Ninja not attacking?
of one Ninja not attacking?
A: It does not, because "to attack" in Magic terms specifically means "to be declared as an attacking creature as the Declare Attackers step of combat begins". A creature that enters the battlefield already attacking, such as a creature that's been ninjustu'd onto the battlefield, is not considered to have "attacked" in this manner, even though it is an "attacking creature".
Yes, this is kind of weird, but that's the way it is.
Q: I have a Memory Jar and a Words of Waste on the board. If I use the Words three times, then crack Memory Jar, what happens?
A: What happens depends on whose turn it is when you crack Memory Jar, because Words of Waste replaces you drawing cards with your opponent discarding them, and when multiple players are instructed to draw cards at the same time, the active player performs their draws first, and then the remaining players each draw theirs in turn order.
This means that if it's your turn, after both you and your opponent exile your hands the game has you draw cards first. The first three of those draws will be replaced, but your opponent already has an empty hand, so they won't end up discarding anything. Then they'll draw seven. Probably not what you wanted to happen.
If it's your opponent's turn, however, your opponent will draw seven cards first. Then, you'll be instructed to draw cards, and the first three of those draws will be replaced with discards for your opponent. Both of you will end up with four cards in hand.
Q: If my opponent steals my creature, and I use Faith Unbroken to exile that creature, whose control does that creature come back to when Faith Unbroken leaves the battlefield?
A: You own the creature, so it will enter the battlefield under your control. By default, effects that exile permanents "until" some specified condition will return them to the battlefield under their owner's control. In order for them to return it under your opponent's control, they'd have to say that they're doing that.
Q: I control Concerted Effort, a creature enchanted by Spectra Ward, and another creature enchanted by a colored Aura. Once Concerted Effort's ability resolves, will the Auras fall off either of my creatures?
A: Yes, both Auras will fall off of your creatures. The "this effect doesn't remove Auras" part of Spectra Ward's ability isn't an inherent part of the protection it grants—it's a separate part of the same ability that stops protection from doing everything it would normally do.
The protection granted by Concerted Effort has no such limitations applied to it—it's just straight-up protection from all colors, and since nothing says that that instance of protection doesn't remove Auras, it works just fine. Neither of your creatures can be enchanted by colored Auras any more, so both Spectra Ward and the other Aura fall off.
Q: Can Dromoka's Command prevent Kozilek's Return's damage when it is triggered from the graveyard?
A: Afraid not. Dromoka's Command can prevent damage from an instant or sorcery spell, but the Kozilek's Return that's in the graveyard is neither of those things—it's not a spell at all at the moment.
Spells are specifically cards that are currently on the stack after having been cast by a player (or copies thereof). The Return in the graveyard isn't on the stack, so it's not a spell, and therefore not a legal target for Dromoka's Command.
Q: Does Master of the Wild Hunt's tap ability only affect creatures named "Wolf", or is it for every creature with the Wolf creature type?
A: It affects every creature with the Wolf creature type. Whenever a card in Magic uses a word that's a creature type in its text, it's always referring to that creature type. Any time a card intends to reference something else by name, it will specifically say that it's checking the object's name, as on cards like Cylian Sunsinger, or more recently, Gisela, the Broken Blade.
Q: If I control Sigarda's Aid, can I cast Nimbus Naiad as though it had flash?
A: If you're bestowing it, sure. When you're casting a spell, you first propose the spell you plan on casting—including the decisions you're going to make as part of casting it. Then the game determines whether or not it's legal for you to cast the spell as proposed. If it is, great! Then you finish the casting process.
In other words, the rules for checking whether or not it's legal to cast a spell take into account the choices you make during the proposal that will make it legal for you to cast that spell. If you're bestowing the Naiad, it will be an Aura spell, so Sigarda's Aid will allow you to cast it just fine.
That's all from me for this week; be sure to tune in again next week when Nathan will be back to answer another fresh batch of rules questions, hot off the presses!
- 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.
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