Published on 10/04/2021
Happy Spooktober!
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, Justin Hovdenes, and Andrew Villarrubia
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 Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes.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.
Bring out your Halloween decorations!
As always, if you have questions for us, please email them to us at moko@cranialinsertion.com , or tweet short questions to @CranialTweet. One of our authors will get back to you with an answer, and your question might appear in a future article to educate and entertain readers like yourself.
Q: How do the day/night transition work in Two-Headed Giant? It's not quite clear whether the conditions apply to the players individually or combined.
A: In Two-Headed Giant, the players on a team share life totals and take their turns at the same time, but they're still separate players, and the game tracks separately how many spells are cast by each player. For the transition from night to day, this works out in a pretty straightforward way: If one player casts two spells on their turn, the game flips to day, even if their teammate doesn't cast any spells. However, each player casting one spell is not enough to flip the game to day.
The transition from day to night is slightly less intuitive. This transitions happens if no active player casts a spell during their turn. In other words, as long as at least one player plays at least one spell, it remains day. It only becomes night if neither player on the active team casts any spells.
Q: I've heard that with Lier, Disciple of the Drowned allows me to cast adventure cards from the graveyard with flashback, but Past in Flames doesn't allow it. Why is that?
A: First of all, yes, what you've heard is correct. While both Lier and Past in Flames give flashback to instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard, there is a subtle but important distinction between the two: Past in Flames creates a continuous effect as it resolves, and it locks in at the time it resolves which cards it applies to. The adventure cards in your graveyard are creature cards because the game doesn't see their adventure page, so they are not included in the set of cards that Past in Flames's effect applies to.
Lier on the other hand has a static ability that creates a continuous effect, and the game continually updates the set of objects that the effect applies to. Normally this doesn't include adventure cards either, but while you're proposing to cast an adventure card, the game looks at the alternative characteristics of the card to determine if you're allowed to cast it, and the game considers any continous effects that apply to this set of characteristics. As soon as you propose to cast the adventure card, Lier's effect applies to it, so it has flashback and you are indeed allowed to cast it.
Q: If it's currently night and I use Karn Liberated to restart the game, is it night in the restarted game?
A: Nope. Nothing from the current game carries over to the restarted game, except for the exiled cards that Karn's ability refers to. A new game starts out as neither day nor night, and Karn's ability doesn't change this.
Q: Does Reflect Damage trigger Firesong and Sunspeaker's ability?
A: No. Firesong and Sunspeaker gives Reflect Damage lifelink, but that doesn't matter because Reflect Damage isn't actually dealing any damage. It creates a replacement effect that causes damage from a source to be dealt elsewhere, but the damage is still dealt by the original source.
Q: I play Patriarch's Bidding and choose Elves, while my opponent chooses Illusions to bring back Ixidron. Do my Elves enter the battlefield face-down?
A: No, they'll be face-up. Patriarch's Bidding returns all creatures at the same time, and Ixidron only turns creatures face down that are already on the battlefield as it's entering the battlefield. Your new Elves aren't on the battlefield yet, so they're safe from Ixidron's effect.
Q: Does Strict Proctor counter the first chapter ability of a Saga?
A: Nope. The chapter ability is not triggered by the Saga entering the battlefield; it's triggered by the first lore counter being put onto the Saga, which Strict Proctor doesn't counter, either. The first lore counter is put on the Saga by a replacement effect that changes how the Saga is put onto the battlefield.
When his mother said that he should make friends,
this is not what she had in mind.
this is not what she had in mind.
A: I wonder how your Poppet Stitcher is transforming in the middle of your opponent's turn, but let's just look away from that plot hole. Poppet Factory gives your tokens a base power and toughness of 3/3, but the effect from Toxic Deluge is still around because nothing happened that would make this effect end. Toxic Deluge's effect is applied on top of the new base power and toughness, so your tokens are 2/2 until Toxic Deluge's effect wears off at the end of the turn.
Q: I control Murktide Regent and there are four instant cards in my graveyard. If my graveyard gets exiled with Tormod's Crypt, how many counters does Murktide Regent get?
A: It gets four counters. Even though the all the cards in your graveyard get exiled simultaneously, Murktide Regent sees each individual cards being exiled because of how its trigger condition is written. It triggers "whenever an instant or sorcery card leaves your graveyard", so it triggers on each individual card.
Q: If I cast Escape Velocity for its escape cost, how many counters does Willow Geist get?
A: How fortuitous that you'd ask a question that contrasts so well with the Murktide Regent question! Willow Geist's ability triggers "whenever one or more cards leave your graveyard", so it does not trigger on each individual card. Any time some number of cards leave your graveyard, Willow Geist's ability triggers once. However, note that this happens twice during the process of casting a card for its escape cost. First, you announce the spell, which moves it from the graveyard to the stack, and this triggers Willow Geist's ability once. A little bit later, you pay the cost, which moves a few more cards out of your graveyard, which triggers Willow Geist's ability a second time.
Q: If I cast Disperse on Rest in Peace, does Disperse end up in exile or in the graveyard?
A: It'll end up in the graveyard. Disperse is on the stack while it resolves, and it only goes to the graveyard after it's finished resolving. By that time, Rest in Peace has been returned to its owner's hand, so its replacement effect is no longer around to tell Disperse to go anywhere other than the graveyard.
Q: My opponent controls a Tarmogoyf that's 2/3 because of creatures and sorceries in the graveyard. If I Lightning Helix the Tarmogoyf, does it live or die?
A: It lives. Lightning Helix deals 3 damage to the Goyf, which seems lethal at the moment, but that doesn't matter until state-based actions are checked. Before the game gets to those, Lightning Helix goes to the graveyard, where its arrival immediately makes the Goyf a 3/4 creature. Now state-based actions are checked and see that there's a 3/4 Goyf with 3 damage marked on it, so there's no reason for it to be destroyed.
Q: I control Thantis, the Warweaver and my opponent attacks with Adeline, Resplendent Cathar. Does Thantis get a +1/+1 counter for the token that Adeline makes?
A: Nope. The token is put onto the battlefield tapped and attacking, so it becomes an attacking creature, but it never attacked, so it doesn't trigger Thantis's ability.
Q: I control a 1/1 Human token and an Unruly Mob that's currently 2/2. If my opponent plays The Meathook Massacre for X=2, does the Mob survive?
A: Sadly, no. The Meathook Massacre gives both your creatures -2/-2 at the same time, and then state-based actions move both of them to the graveyard at the same time. The triggered ability that would give Unruly Mob another counter comes too late to save it from this fate.
If life gives you Demons, make Demonade.
A: No. Liliana's Contract's ability has an intervening-if clause which is first checked at the time the ability would trigger, which is at the beginning of your upkeep. If the condition isn't true at that time, the ability doesn't trigger at all. Unfortunately, your first opportunity to activate Mutavault on your turn is after this point in time, so Mutavault can't help you with Liliana's Contract.
Q: Can I choose the order in which Old Stickfingers puts the creature cards into the graveyard?
A: Absolutely. Old Stickfingers puts all revealed creature cards into the graveyard at the same time, so you get to choose the order in which those cards go into the graveyard.
Q: Does Augur of Autumn allow me to play any number of lands from the top of my library?
A: No. The Augur's ability gives you permission to play lands from an unusual zone, but it doesn't change the land play limit, so you can still only play a total of one land per turn.
Q: Does controlling Cleric Class turn on Relic Vial's triggered ability?
A: Nice try, but no. While controlling Cleric Class establishes in a roleplaying sense that you are a cleric, you don't actually control a Cleric. To control a Cleric, you have to control a permanent with the creature type Cleric in the type line. Cleric Class only has "Cleric" in the name, which is not enough.
Q: In Competitive Rules Enforcement Level, what are my obligations if I control Teferi, Time Raveler? Do I have to stop my opponent from casting spells when I see them tapping mana, or do I call the judge after they've tried to cast the spell?
A: In general, your obligation is to point out rules violations as soon as they occur. Teferi doesn't stop your opponent from activating mana abilities, so your opponent isn't doing anything against the rules if they tap lands for mana on your turn. They're only violating the rules if they try to use that mana to cast a spell, and that's when you should call the judge to fix the situation.
And that's it for today's article. Thanks for reading and please come back next week for another selection of Magic rules questions!
- Carsten Haese
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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