Published on 09/30/2019
Not-so-Grimm Fairy Tales
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, Charlotte Sable, and Andrew Villarrubia
This Article from: Charlotte Sable
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 Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes.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.
Our story begins like so many others...
Before we crack open our this book of fairy tales, I'd like to remind you that if you'd like the CI team to answer your question, please send it to us via email at moko@cranialinsertion.com or tweet it to us @CranialTweet. We'll make sure to send you a reply and your question might also appear in a future CI column.
Eldraine is a beautiful place full of wonder and creatures fine and foul. Come with me as we delve deeper into this storybook world and unravel its secrets together.
Once upon a time...
Q: What exactly are Adventure cards? Are they split cards? How do they work?
A: Adventure is a new instant and sorcery subtype and a mechanic that appears on some creature cards. These cards can be cast normally from anywhere you could normally cast a creature, but if you can cast the creature, you can also choose to send it on an adventure (if it hasn't already been on one).
The adventure page of the card is an instant or sorcery spell that you can cast this creature spell as instead of casting it as a creature. When you cast the card for its adventure cost, it's a normal instant or sorcery spell with the name and mana cost of the adventure page of the card's text box. When that spell resolves, you exile it instead of putting it into its owner's graveyard. An exiled card that was put there from going on an adventure can be cast (only as a creature) from exile following normal timing rules. You can cast it on the same turn or a later turn. The permission to grant it lasts for as long as the card remains exiled.
Adventures aren't split cards. Unless you've cast the adventure page of a spell and it's on the stack, that card's characteristics are only the ones of its main creature portion. It doesn't have the name, mana cost, or card types of the adventure page.
For example, Merchant of the Vale in your graveyard is just a creature card, not a creature card and an instant card. Its mana cost is
and its converted mana cost is 3.Similarly, when an Adventure is on the stack, it only has the characteristics of the adventure page. It's not a creature spell and doesn't have the main card's name or other characteristics. (e.g. On the stack, Haggle is just an instant spell and has a mana cost of
.)Q: What sort of permission do I need to cast an Adventure from my graveyard? Can I do it with Muldrotha, the Gravetide? Kess, Dissident Mage?, Snapcaster Mage? What exactly is going on with this sort of interaction?
A: The first step to casting a spell is to put it on the stack. When you cast an Adventure this way, it immediately becomes just an instant or sorcery spell and no longer a creature spell. These characteristics are used when determining if you were legally allowed to cast it, so you would be able to cast an Adventure from your graveyard with Kess but not with Muldrotha, since the spell isn't a creature once you've cast it. Snapcaster Mage doesn't work because it has to target an instant or sorcery card in your graveyard and a card with an Adventure is just a creature card when it's in your graveyard.
Q: When exactly do Adventures exile themselves? For example, if I target Feather, the Redeemed with Boulder Rush, will the card stay exiled on an adventure or return to my hand with Feather's ability?
A: Feather's ability creates a replacement effect that changes where the card would go when it goes to its owner's graveyard as a result of the spell resolving. Adventures have a similar replacement effect as part of their own resolution. Since there are two competing effects that want to replace the same event, the controller of the spell chooses which effect to apply. This means that you can exile the card so you can cast it as a creature later or you can exile it with Feather and have it go back to your hand later. You have to choose one or the other as the spell resolves, though.
Q: How does Doom Foretold work in Two-Headed Giant? What happens when one player on a team can sacrifice a permanent and the other can't?
A: When your opponents' team's upkeep begins in a 2HG game, Doom Foretold will trigger for each of them and you can put the two triggers on the stack in the order of your choice. Each trigger will resolve separately, with only the player it triggered for being required to sacrifice a nonland, nontoken permanent if able. If that opponent can't, then the rest of Doom Foretold's effect will happen and you'll sacrifice it. If neither opponent can sacrifice a permanent to Doom Foretold, then you'll get double the benefit even though Doom Foretold has already been sacrificed by the time the second trigger resolves.
Q: I cast Repeated Reverberation followed by Slaying Fire, which I spend
to cast. Do the copies deal 3 or 4 damage each?A: The copies will only deal 3 damage each.
When a spell or ability copies a spell, that copy is created directly on the stack. The copy wasn't cast so no mana was spent to cast it and any Adamant effect it might have won't occur.
Q: I control both Torbran, Thane of Red Fell and Dictate of the Twin Gods. When Torbran deals combat damage to my opponent, do they take 6 or 8 damage?
A: Your opponent gets to choose, so probably 6 damage.
When multiple replacement effects want to modify the amount of damage that will be dealt to a player, creature, or planeswalker, then that player or the controller of that creature or planeswalker is the one that gets to choose the order in which the replacement effects will apply. This means that, generally, the minimal amount of damage will be dealt. In this case that means that Torbran's 2 damage will be doubled by Dictate before his own ability adds 2 to the value.
Q: If I were to copy Gadwick, the Wizened with an effect such as Inalla, Archmage Ritualist's eminence ability or Spark Double, would I still draw X cards equal to the original value for X?
A: No. If Gadwick enters the battlefield and wasn't cast, then the value of X for his first ability is 0 and no cards will be drawn when that trigger resolves. This is true for copies of Gadwick as well, such as token copies or clones.
No Mokos were harmed in the making of this talisman.
Q: If I control Cerulean Drake and my opponent casts Stomp targeting another player and then casts Cosmotronic Wave, will my Drake die?
A: Yes. When damage can't be prevented, that prevents all forms of damage prevention, including the damage prevention that's part of what Protection does. Since the damage from Cosmotronic Wave to Cerulean Drake can't be prevented, it will take the damage and die the next time state-based actions are checked just like any other 1-toughness creature.
Q: If I control two basic Islands and two Mystic Sanctuary and I cast Ghostly Flicker targeting both Mystic Sanctuaries, will they enter the battlefield untapped and trigger?
A: No, they won't.
Mystic Sanctuary's first ability to enter the battlefield tapped (or not) is a replacement effect which modifies how it enters the battlefield. That means that the game state is examined at the moment before it would enter the battlefield to see if the replacement effect should be applied or not. At that moment both of your Mystic Sanctuaries are in exile and you control two other Islands and so the Mystic Sanctuaries will both enter the battlefield tapped and their last ability won't trigger.
Q: Is Food a creature type because of Gingerbrute? Are all changelings Food now?
A: No. Food is an artifact type, not a creature type. Gingerbrute can be Food because it's an Artifact Creature with Food as a subtype of Artifact and Golem as a subtype of Creature. Changelings aren't suddenly all delicious food (no matter how tasty Game-Trail Changeling looks) and you can't choose Food for cards like Adaptive Automaton.
Q: How does Deafening Silence work with Adventures? Does casting an adventure count against my noncreature spell for the turn since it's on a creature card?
A: When you cast an Adventure, it's an instant or sorcery spell and not a creature spell. This means that Deafening Silence counts it as your one noncreature spell for the turn and prevents you from casting any more noncreature spells, be they Adventures or otherwise.
Q: Is Grumgully, the Generous as good with Persist creatures as I think it is?
A: Yes, he is.
When a creature returns from your graveyard to the battlefield via its Persist trigger, it will enter the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it. Grumgully will also cause it to enter the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it. These two counters will annihilate each other the next time state-based actions are checked and leave your Persist creature without any counters on it. This means that when it dies, its Persist trigger will trigger, and it will return to the battlefield again… and again… and again...
Q: What happens when my Murderous Rider dies while it's enchanted with my Unholy Indenture? Do I get it back or does it go to the bottom of my library?
A: When Murderous Rider dies, both its own trigger and the trigger from Unholy Indenture will trigger. Since you control both triggers, you can put them on the stack in the order of your choice. If you have Unholy Indenture's trigger resolve first, then Murderous Rider will return to the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it and its own trigger will have no effect. If you have Murderous Rider's trigger resolve first, then it will tuck itself away on the bottom of your library and Unholy Indenture's trigger will have no effect.
Q: Can I play Once Upon a Time in a non-green deck? It feels a bit broken if I can just get a free spell even though I could never pay to cast it.
A: Yes, you can, unless you're playing Commander.
Once Upon a Time doesn't give you any restrictions to cast it for free other than it being your first spell of the game, so it can go into any deck that wants it. Just realize that if you draw it later in the game, you'll be stuck with an unplayable card in your hand.
In Commander, of course, all cards must fit within your commander's color identity, so a deck with a non-green commander can't play Once Upon a Time.
Q: I hit my opponent with Rankle, Master of Pranks and he triggers. Can I choose what order his effects happen in? For example, if my opponent has no cards in hand, can I have everyone draw before everyone discards?
A: No, you can't do this. While you're free to choose any number of Rankle's modes to execute when his ability triggers, you have to perform the chosen modes in the order they're printed. This means that players will always discard before they draw and always draw before they sacrifice creatures.
Q: How many copies of Seven Dwarves can I play in my sealed or draft deck? If I get eight copies can I play all of them or am I limited to seven?
A: While you can normally play all copies of a card you open or draft in limited, Seven Dwarves is the first card to have a self-imposed upper limit of copies. This effect applies in all formats and so you can never play more than seven of them, even in draft or sealed deck. Your eighth dwarf will just have to cheer the other seven on from your sideboard. (And no, you can't sideboard it in for game 2 or 3 either.)
Q: What happens if Weapon Rack runs out of counters?
A: Then it runs out of counters and just sits there empty, like a real weapon rack. Unlike its near opposite Serrated Arrows, Weapon Rack has no ability in place to make it go away once it's out of counters, so it will just remain on the battlefield waiting to be of some use to you somehow. I'm sure you can think of something.
The End.
A: Midnight Clock's last ability will trigger when the number of hour counters on it increases from 11 to 12. If counters have been removed from it, then it will take longer for the clock to strike midnight and work its magic on you.
As tonight's story ends and we drift off to sleep to dream of fairies and knights and giants and all the rest, remember that our tale will continue next week with another chapter in the saga that is Cranial Insertion.
- Charlotte
Alfy
Hi! Sorry but I'm confused about the "casting adventure from the graveyard" section: how can you cast an adventure from the graveyard using Kess? Kess says: "you may cast an instant or sorcery from your graveyard", but an adventure would be neither, it's a creature right?
#1
• Date: 2019-10-08 • Time: 02:12:47 •
