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Published on 09/19/2016

The Gift of Gifting

By Carsten Haese, James Bennett, Callum Milne, and Nathan Long
This Article from: Nathan Long

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 Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes.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

Hi everyone, and welcome back. I'm in a giving mood this week, so I figured I could scrounge up some gifts for our readers. So once again, I borrowed the CI credit card (you'd think after the last time, they wouldn't let me use it again, and that's where you'd be wrong) and picked up some things off of the internet. Unfortunately, I was half asleep while doing so, and some of the things I ordered are...weird. I really don't know why I ordered a life sized yeti statue (much less three of them). I guess I need to call Amazon and see if they'll accept returns on some of these products.

While I'm making some phone calls, I can still go over some rules questions. And if you have a rules question yourself, you can send those to us. You can tweet short questions at @CranialTweet, while longer questions can be e-mailed to us at moko@cranialinsertion.com . You might even see your question used in a future article!

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Q: I control an Aegis Angel, which is currently giving my Blessed Spirits indestructible. My opponent targets my Angel with Gift of Tusks. Will my Spirits still have indestructible? Does the answer change if they targeted Blessed Spirits instead?

A: If they target the Angel, the Spirits will still be indestructible. That's because the condition of the Spirits having indestructible is "you control Aegis Angel". It doesn't matter if the Angel loses its abilities or not, what matters is if you control the Angel or not. Even if they're affected by the Gift, you still control Aegis Angel, so Blessed Spirits will still be indestructible.

However, had they targeted your Spirits instead, they would lose indestructible. The effect from the Gift has a later timestamp than the effect from the Angel, so the Gift will remove indestructible from the Spirits for the turn.

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Q: Can I target a tapped creature with Stitched Mangler's ability?

A: Yes you can! The target for the Mangler's trigger is "target creature an opponent controls". It doesn't matter if it's tapped or untapped. You're free to target a tapped creature with the trigger. When the trigger resolves, it won't tap the creature, but the other part of the effect (the creature not untapping during its controller's next untap step) will still happen, and the targeted creature won't untap for a turn.

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Q: My opponent casts a Distended Mindbender and targets me with its trigger. Can I wait to see if they'll pick my Spontaneous Mutation, and if they do, cast it before I have to discard it?

A: Nope, that's not possible. They don't start looking at your hand and choosing a card for you to discard until the triggered ability is resolving. While the Mutation does have flash, you cannot cast it while another spell or ability is resolving. You're free to cast the Mutation before the trigger resolves, but if you have another nonland card with a converted mana cost of three or less in your hand, they'll just have you discard that card instead.

Q: Ok, so I decided that I want to cast my Spontaneous Mutation before the trigger resolves. Can I target the Mindbender?

A: That's also a no. The trigger from the Mindbender triggers when you cast it, not when it enters the battlefield, so the Mindbender is still on the stack when we're dealing with its trigger. Since the Mindbender isn't on the battlefield yet, you cannot cast the Mutation targeting it.

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Q: I have a Lupine Prototype on the battlefield, with a Murder Investigation attached to it. My opponent sacrifices their Ratchet Bomb with two counters on it. Will I get the tokens from Murder Investigation?

A: Yes you will. The Bomb will destroy the Prototype and the Investigation at the same time. Even though they're being destroyed at the same time, the Investigation will see the enchanted creature dying at the same time as itself, and it will trigger, and you'll get five tokens.

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Q: I have a Brutal Hordechief and a Brimaz, King of Oreskos on the battlefield, and I attack with both creatures. How many Hordechief triggers do I get?

A: You get two triggers. The Hordechief triggers when you declare a creature as an attacker. The token made by Brimaz's trigger will be an attacking creature, but it was put on the battlefield attacking, not declared as an attacker, so the Hordechief will not trigger for it. Since you only declared two creatures as attacking creatures, the Hordechief will only trigger two times.

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Q: I have an Immolating Souleater in play, and I resolve Angel's Grace. Can I pump up my Souleater by paying 2 life as much as I want now?

A: You can activate it as many times as you want....until you reach 1 or 0 life. You cannot pay what you do not have, and to pay a cost that involves paying two life, you have to have at least two life. You're free to activate the Souleater's ability as many times as you want, and if you hit 0 life, the Grace will prevent you from losing that turn. But now that you're at 0 (or 1) life, you're not longer able to pay the cost to activate the ability, so you cannot pump it by paying 2 life anymore.

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Q: I have a Wild Pair on the battlefield, and I cast Might Sliver. Can I search for a Battering Sliver with the Pair's trigger?

A: You can! Wild Pair will check the combined power and toughness of the creature when the Pair's trigger resolves. It doesn't care what the creature's base power and toughness are, just what its current power and toughness are. Because of the Might Sliver's own ability, Might Sliver is a 4/4, so you'll search for a creature card with a combined power and toughness of 8. Battering Sliver fits that description, so you can search for it with the Pair's trigger.

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Q: I have three Liliana's Shade on the battlefield. If I pay , will all of my Shades get +1/+1?

A: Nope, just one of them. Activating the ability of one Shade does not mean you activate all of them. You can activate the ability of one Shade, and that Shade will get +1/+1 when the ability resolves, but the other two Shades won't get the +1/+1 bonus.

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Q: I have a Sage of Hours with five +1/+1 counters on it. I use Bioshift to move those counters to my Hinterland Logger. Do I get an extra turn?

A: No you do not. The Sage's ability that can give you extra turns is an activated ability, not a triggered ability. You only get the extra turn if you activate the Sage's ability and remove at least five counters. If you remove the counters in any other way, you will not get an extra turn (but you do have a pretty big Logger).

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Q: Can I use Elvish Piper to put a Herdchaser Dragon face down on the battlefield?

A: Nope. Morph is only an option if you're casting the spell, not putting the card onto the battlefield. The Piper is putting the creature onto the battlefield, and since nothing says otherwise, it will enter face up, with no option for it to enter face down.

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Q: My opponent controls a Kulrath Knight. I activate the +1 ability of my Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. Can Gideon attack?

A: Nope, Gideon can't attack. The Knight doesn't care what kind of counter is on the opponent's creature: if the creature has a counter of any type on it, it can't attack or block. Once you've turned Gideon into a creature, he still has his loyalty counters on him, so the Knight will prevent Gideon from attacking.

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Q: I play a Boonweaver Giant, and with its trigger, I search my library for a Daybreak Coronet. What happens to the Coronet?

A: It's going to get shuffled back into your library. The Coronet can only be attached to a creature that has another aura attached to it. Unless you managed to flash in an aura in response to the Giant's trigger, the Giant does not have any auras attached to it, so the Coronet will remain in its previous zone (the library). Then the Coronet gets shuffled back in to your library.

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Q: I have an Archive Trap in my graveyard, and I've given it flashback with Snapcaster Mage. If my opponent has searched their library this turn, can I flashback the Trap by paying ?

A: No you cannot. When you're casting a spell, you can only use one alternate cost. You can't use multiple alternate costs. Flashback is an alternate cost, and so is casting it for . Since flashback is the only way you can cast it from your graveyard, you'll have to use the flashback cost to cast it, and that cost will be .

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Q: I have a Prodigal Pyromancer in play, along with Reconnaissance. Can I attack with my Pyromancer, then activate Reconnaissance's ability a hundred times and ping my opponent to death with my Pyromancer's ability?

A: Nope, that doesn't really work. You're free to activate Reconnaissance's ability multiple times targeting the same creature. However, Reconnaissance requires a target attacking creature, and the first activation to resolve is going to remove the Pyromancer from combat. The net result is that the first activation will resolve like normal, but the other activations will be countered since the Pyromancer is no longer an attacking creature.

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Q: I control Leovold, Emissary of Trest, and my opponent has some cards with dredge in their graveyard. If they're resolving something like Faithless Looting, can they still apply dredge to those draws?

A: That depends - has your opponent drawn any cards this turn? Leovold will prevent them from drawing if they've drawn a card this turn. Since it prevents them from drawing, they won't get a chance to apply dredge if they've drawn a card this turn. However, if they haven't drawn a card this turn (including during their draw step), they can still dredge, and they can continue to dredge instead of drawing this turn as long as they haven't drawn this turn.

If your opponent hasn't drawn any cards, they're free to use dredge to replace the draws they would normally be making while the Looting is resolving. But if they've drawn a card for any reason that turn, Leovold stops them from drawing and from using dredge.

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Q: I have a Mycosynth Lattice in play, and I cast Bane of Progress. Can I choose to destroy the Lattice before any of my other permanents, so my Bane isn't destroyed?

A: Nope, that's not an option. When the Bane's trigger resolves, all artifacts and enchantments are destroyed at the same time. You don't get to choose to destroy some before others. Because of the Lattice, everything is an artifact, so everything is destroyed - including the Bane of Progress.

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Q: I have Ruhan of the Fomori on the battlefield, with my Assault Suit attached to it. On my opponent's turn, they gain control of Ruhan and I'm selected as the opponent at random for Ruhan's trigger. Can my opponent still attack me with my Ruhan, despite the Assault Suit?

A: Nope, they can't attack you. You have to fulfill as many requirements as possible without violating any restriction. Ruhan has to attack you if able, but due to the Assault Suit, it can't attack you. If you're in a multiplayer game, your opponent is free to attack any other player besides you with Ruhan, or they can choose not attack with Ruhan at all.

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Q: How does Knight of the White Orchid work in two-headed giant?

A: The Knight is looking to see if an opponent controls more lands than you. You have two opponents in two-headed giant, so as long as either one of your opponents has more lands than you, the Knight's ability will trigger. You don't add up the lands the opposing team controls and compare them to your lands, and your teammate will also not affect the Knight's ability.

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Q: I'm in a tournament, and I have a combo that will let me mill cards from my opponent's library as many times as I want. Halfway through milling their library, I mill my opponent's only Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, and their graveyard gets shuffled back in. Can I shortcut my combo until my opponent's only card is Emrakul?

A: No, that is not a valid shortcut. To be able to shortcut something, you have to be able to tell us two things: you need to tell us what the game state will be at the end of the loop, and you need to be able to tell us how many iterations it will take to get to that position. You can tell us what the game state will be at the end of the loop, but you cannot tell us how many iterations it's going to take to get there (because every time you hit Emrakul, their graveyard gets shuffled back in and you have to start over). So no, that's not a valid tournament shortcut, because we don't know how many iterations it will take to arrive at your desired gamestate.

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And that's all the time I have for this week! Join us next week for our Kaladesh spectacular!

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