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Published on 11/14/2016

Masters of Commander

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 Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes.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! It's November, and you know what that means: a new Commander set! For the first time, we have four color commanders, as well as dozens of new cards and old favorites being reprinted. This week, we're going to take a look at some of those new cards and answer some of the more common questions we've been seeing pop up since the spoilers went up.

Did we not answer your Commander question, or maybe you have another Magic rules related question? Feel free to contact us! You can send us short questions at @CranialTweet, while longer questions should be e-mailed to us at moko@cranialinsertion.com . We might even use your question in a future article!

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Q: I see a bunch of new cards have the ability "partner". What's that?

A: Partner is a new ability in commander that some of the new legendary creatures have. Normally, in a game of commander, you can only have one legendary creature as your commander. With partner, you can now have two commanders! If you have two commanders, that will take two slots out of your deck, so you'll have 98 cards left to fill out the rest of your deck. And you take both commanders into account to determine what cards you can include in your deck. For instance, if your commanders are Akiri, Line-Slinger and Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa, then you can include cards that have a color identity of white, red, and/or green in your deck.

Q: Does that mean I can have any two creatures as my commanders? Can I run Vial Smasher the Fierce and Kaervek the Merciless as my commanders?

A: Nope, that doesn't work. In order to have two commanders, both commanders have to have partner, and older legendary creatures will not be getting errata to have partner. Vial Smasher has partner, but Kaervek does not, so you cannot run those two as your commanders.

Q: Ok, so that doesn't work. Can I run two copies of Vial Smasher the Fierce then?

A: Nope, you can't do that either. Commander still only lets you have one copy of a card in your deck (besides basic lands and Relentless Rats-type effects). This also applies to your commander, so you can run one Vial Smasher as your commander, but not two.

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Q: So how does the commander tax work with them? If I cast Thrasios, Triton Hero from the command zone, if I want to cast my other commander Vial Smasher the Fierce, will it cost or ?

A: You'll just need to pay . The commander tax is tracked separately for each commander. You've cast Thrasios once, so if you cast it again from the command zone, it will cost an additional two mana. But since you haven't cast Vial Smasher yet, the commander tax won't make you pay any extra to cast her the first time.

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Q: Let's say I have Tymna the Weaver and Tana, the Bloodsower as my commanders. I've dealt 12 points of combat damage to one opponent with Tymna and 10 points of combat damage to the same opponent with Tana. Are they dead?

A: Nope! Just like the commander tax, the commander damage is tracked separately among your commander. In order for a player to lose the game, they have to take 21 or more points of combat damage from the same commander, not 21 or more points of combat among your two commanders. Since they haven't taken 21 or more points of combat damage from one of your commanders, they're still in the game.

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Q: How does Saskia the Unyielding work with Panharmonicon? Can I select two players? Or the same player twice?

A: No and no. Saski does not work with Panharmonicon at all. Saskia's ability that lets you choose a player is not a triggered ability. You can tell it's not a triggered ability since it does not use the word "when", "whenever", or "at". Since it's not a triggered ability, Panharmonicon won't apply to it and you'll only be able to select one player, not two players.

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Q: I used the basic landcycling ability on Treacherous Terrain. Can I search for a Wastes?

A: Yes you can. With basic landcycling, you search your library for a basic land and put it into your hand. Wastes, while they don't have a basic land type, are basic lands, so if you want to search for a Wastes with basic landcycling, you can.

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Q: I have an Evolutionary Escalation in play, along with a Chasm Skulker. However, none of my opponents have a creature. Can I still put three +1/+1 counters on the Skulker with the trigger?

A: Nope. The Escalation has two targets: a target creature you control and a target creature an opponent controls. In order to put the trigger on the stack, we have be able to choose two legal targets. You can choose a creature you control, since you control the Skulker, but since none of your opponents have any creatures, you're unable to choose a second target for the trigger. Since you can't choose legal targets for the trigger, the trigger is removed from the stack and will not resolve (and your Skulker will not get any counters).

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Q: Do I have to pay to cast the artifact that I targeted with Silas Renn, Seeker Adept's ability?

A: Yes you do. Nothing on Silas Renn says you can cast it without paying its mana cost. If you targeted something like Myr Battlesphere, you'll have to pay seven mana if you want to cast it

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Q: I control two Faerie Artisans. What happens when a creature enters the battlefield under an opponent's control?

A: Each Artisan tracks the token made by that Artisan. It doesn't care about tokens made by any other Faerie Artisan. If you have two Faerie Artisans in play, you'll get two copies of that creature, one from each Artisan trigger. Each Artisan only cares about the token it made, not the token made by the other Artisan, so you'll be able to control both tokens.

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Q: I didn't attack with any creatures during my combat phase. During my second main phase, I cast Charging Cinderhorn. Will I take damage from the Cinderhorn's trigger?

A: Yes you will. At the beginning of the end step, if the active player didn't attack with a creature, the Cinderhorn's ability will trigger. It doesn't need to be on the battlefield when attackers are declared, just as long as it's on the battlefield when the end step begins in order to trigger. Since you didn't attack with a creature, the Cinderhorn's ability will trigger and you'll put a fury counter on the Cinderhorn and take one damage.

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Q: I have an Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker in play, who is currently a 2/2. My opponent casts Whipflare. Does Ishai survive?

A: Yes it does! Ishai's ability triggers when an opponent casts a spell, and that trigger will resolve before the spell that triggered it. Ishai will get a +1/+1 counter, making it a 3/3, then Whipflare resolves. Since Ishai is a 3/3 with 2 damage marked on it, it will survive.

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Q: I have two creatures in play. One of them has Conqueror's Flail attached to it. I want to move it from one creature to the other with the equip ability. Will my opponent get a chance to cast a spell before it becomes attached to the second creature?

A: Nope, there's no chance for them to cast a spell here. When the equip ability resolves, it moves from the first creature to the second creature. There's not a time when your opponent will have priority and the Flail is not attached to one of your creatures, so they're still prohibited from casting spells on your turn.

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Q: It's my turn, and I control a Brass Squire and a Conqueror's Flail, currently unattached. My opponent casts Terminate targeting my Squire. If I respond by activating the Squire's ability and attaching the Flail to my Squire, will that counter my opponent's Terminate?

A: Nope, their spell is still going to resolve like normal. A spell is considered cast when costs are paid, modes and targets are chosen (if needed), and it's put onto the stack. By the time you get priority to activate the Squire's ability, the spell has already been cast, and getting the Flail attached to one of your creatures in response won't do anything to that spell they already cast. Their Terminate will still resolve and your Brass Squire will still bite the dust.

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Q: I'm attacking with a bunch of creatures, and my opponent blocks with a bunch of their creatures. After they block, I cast Benefactor's Draught. Am I going to draw a bunch of cards?

A: If by "a bunch", you mean one, sure. When the Draught resolves, a few things happen. First, all creatures untap. Second, the Draught sets up a delayed trigger that triggers when a creature an opponent controls blocks this turn. Finally, you draw a card. The delayed trigger has to be set up before blockers are declared in order to trigger, not after. Casting the Draught after blockers are declared means you've already passed the point when the delayed trigger would have triggered, and it won't trigger for creatures that are currently blocking. You'll draw a card from the Draught resolving, but not from any creatures blocking.

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Q: I cast Manifold Insights in a five player game. Unfortunately for me, I reveal seven land cards and three nonland cards. What happens?

A: The Insight does as much as it can. While you have four opponents, only three of them will be able to make a choice. The fourth player doesn't get to do anything, since there are no nonland cards that haven't been selected by another player. Then you'll put those three cards into your hand and those seven lands go on the bottom of your library in a random order.

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Q: My opponent just activated their Boompile. Can I wait to see what the result of the flip is, then respond by casting Boros Charm to save my permanents?

A: Nope, that doesn't work. They don't flip the coin until the ability is resolving, and if they win the flip, all nonland permanents are destroyed. No one gets priority to do anything after the flip has happened but before everything is destroyed. If you want to cast the Charm, you have do so before the ability resolves, and before knowing the result of the flip.

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Q: I have Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder in play. I attack with it, it gets double strike from my opponent's Duelist's Heritage, and hits my opponent twice. If I cast Army of the Damned from my hand after combat, how many times will I cascade?

A: Twice! Since you dealt combat damage with Yidris twice, the spells you cast from your hand will get two instances of cascade. This works a lot like Maelstrom Wanderer, where you'll resolve one cascade trigger, then resolve the spell you cascaded into, then you'll resolve the second cascade trigger, then the spell you cascade into, and then you'll finally resolve the original spell.

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Q: I'm in a five player game, and I just tapped out to cast Coastal Breach for three mana. In response, one of my opponents concedes. What happens to my Breach?

A: Nothing. The cost is locked in and paid for as part of announcing the spell. An opponent leaving the game before the spell resolves won't do anything to your Breach, since its cost has already been paid for. Your Breach will still resolve and will still bounce all nonland permanents back to their owner's hands.

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Q: Alvin is in a game with Simon and Theodore, and Alvin controls Orzhov Advokist. On Alvin's previous turn, Simon chose to put two +1/+1 counters on one of their creatures, but Theodore did not. On Simon's turn, Simon gained control of one of Theodore's creatures with Grab the Reins. Can Simon attack Alvin with the creature they just stole?

A: Nope, they can't attack Alvin with it. When it comes time to declare attackers, none of the creatures that Simon currently control can attack Alvin. It doesn't matter if the creature was under the control of Theodore (who could attack Alvin) earlier, Simon is unable to attack Alvin or Alvin's planeswalkers with any of their creatures, including ones they stole from another player.

That's all I have for you this week. We'll see you all next week!

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