Published on 11/15/2021
Don't COUNT me out!
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, Justin Hovdenes, and Andrew Villarrubia
This Article from: Justin Hovdenes
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 Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes.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.
Crimson Vow is a set filled to the top of the coffin with Vampires, these blood suckers can leave us with so many question to make us batty. So with that in mind and a fresh release notes to go over, lets get down to answering your gruesome questions!
If you'd like us to answer a question, please send it to us via email at moko@cranialinsertion.com or tweet it to us @CranialTweet. We do our best to answer every question we get, and your question may even show up in a future article!
Q: If I control Lier, Disciple of the Drowned can I cast Alchemist's Retrieval from my graveyard for it's Cleave cost?
A: You can not. Both Cleave and Flashback are alternate costs and you can only ever use one alternate cost at a time.
Q: I have two Alchemist's Gambits in my hand, and enough mana to cast one normal and Cleave the other. Is there an order I can cast them in, so I take two extra turns and lose at the end of the 2nd extra turn?
A: There is. The short answer is first Cleave one, then cast the second normal. The slightly longer answer is if you have multiple extra turns waiting to be taken, you complete them in the order of most resent to resolve first.
Q: I'm confused by the last ability on Bloodvial Purveyor, how does it work?
A: As written, the ability would be rather good, but this card actually was sent to print with the wrong text on it. The oracle text for that last ability actually reads:
"Whenever Bloodvial Purveyor attacks, it gets +1/+0 until end of turn for each Blood token defending player controls."
They forgot to add the "until end of turn" part, so hopefully it makes more sense now. If you are unfamiliar with Oracle Text, its the official wording for a card. Almost every card in standard, has identical text on the card and Oracle text, only a few like this one are necessary to fix mistakes. But as you look at older cards, Oracle text different then the written text on the card becomes more common. This isn't always to fix a clerical errors, some times its done to make an ability easier to understand, standardize it to current templating, or just to move an ability to the keyword it should be.
Q: Can I choose 0 or 13 with By Invitation Only,? I'm having trouble figuring it out since zero and thirteen are not between 0 and 13.
A: You can choose 0 or 13. If someone tells you to choose a number between 1 and 4, you are allowed to choose any number between the ends or the ends of the given range.
Q: If I exile a Bear Cub with Cemetery Desecrator enter the battlefield trigger, and choose to remove counters from my opponents creature that has 5 distinctly different counter types on it, who chooses which two counters are removed?
A: As the controller of the Desecrator's trigger, you do.
Q: I control a Cemetery Prowler which has exiled one artifact creature card and two normal creature cards. If I try to cast Bloodline Pretender how much mana will it cost me?
A: Only
. Having exiled multiple creatures does not stack the reduction for being a creature. But having exiled a creature and a artifact, you get one reduction for each.
Q: If my Heron of Hope currently has lifelink and is blocked by two 1/1 bird tokens, do I gain 3 life or 4 life?
A: You only gain 3 life. Although the Heron is damaging more then one creature, its considered only one life gain event, so the 2 lifelink damage gets upped to 3 life gain by the Heron's replacement ability.
Q: I've controlled a Reliquary Tower for several turns. If I cast Inspired Idea for
, what will my maximum hand size be? Does this change if my Reliquary Tower goes away?A: No maximum hand size, reduced by 3 is still no maximum hand size, so you can skip Cleaving your Inspired Ideas all you want. However, if you ever loose your Reliquary Tower your hand size will be modified per the normal rules (-3 for each not cleaved Inspired Idea this game).
Q: In my commander deck, can I have both Sorin the Mirthless and Count Dracula?
A: You can not. As far as the game is concerned, these are the same card and commander has a one of rule.
Q: My friend says Soulcipher Board will not notice a Faceless Haven dying in combat. Is this true?
A: Your friend is correct. Soulcipher is looking for "creature cards" that hit the graveyard. It checks what they look like once they are in the graveyard. This means if you sacrifice your Bear Cub enchanted by Minimus Containment to make mana, Soulcipher will see a creature card put into the graveyard, even though something like Blood Artist will only see an artifact not a creature dying.
Q: If it is currently Night can I pay
more to cast Moonlit Ambusher as though it had flash?A: You technically will cast Oakshade Stalker, but yes this works. Once Oakshade Stalker attempts to enter the battlefield is will become Moonlit Ambusher.
Q: Odric, Blood-Cursed's trigger is resolving, I control Akroma, Angel of Wrath, Giant Scorpion equipped with a Basilisk Collar, and White Knight. How many Blood Tokens will the trigger create?
A: 7 Blood Tokens will be made. Akroma has 5 abilities (flying, first strike, vigilance, trample, haste), the scorpion has 2 abilities (lifelink & deathtouch twice, but Odric only counts Deathtouch a maximum of 1 time), and the White Knight has 1 ability,(first strike) but was already counted for by Akroma, so White Knight adds nothing to the count.
Q: I control Runebound Wolf and Taurean Mauler. Can I use the Runebound Wolf's tap ability to kill my opponent at 3 life?
A: With just tapping the Runebound Wolf, you will only do 2 damage. Runebound Wolf checks the number of creatures that are at least a wolf or werewolf, so although the mauler is both it is only counted once for the purposes of Runebound Wolf.
Q: I'm attacking my opponent with Krothuss, Lord of the Deep and a 4/4 beast token. I've chosen to copy the beast token, can it be made to attack my opponent's Arlinn, the Pack's Hope even though no other creature is currently attacking her?
A: You can. Not only that, you could have that token attack any opponent or any opponent's planeswalker, not just the opponent you originally attacked.
Q: I've just targeted my opponent with Vampire's Kiss and the opponent responded by casting Veil of Summer. I know the opponent doesn't lose 2 life, but do I still make Blood Tokens, do I still gain 2 life?
A: No and no. Vampire's Kiss has only one target, and if that one target becomes illegal (such as being Hexproof), then the whole spell fails to resolve.
Q: Similar the last question, if I cast Witness the Future targeting 3 cards in my opponent's graveyard and they respond by casting Veil of Summer, what happens next?
A: So in this case, one target (the opponent) became illegal. It still legally targets 3 cards in the opponents graveyard. Those cards will stay in the graveyard, because a card or ability can't make an illegal target perform actions. The rest of the card will resolve normally (look at 4 card put one into hand, rest bottom of library).
Q: I control Welcoming Vampire and then cast Kaldra Compleat. Do I draw a card from the 0/0 germ token, or does Welcoming Vampire see a 5/5?
A: You do get to draw a card! Welcoming Vampire only cares how big a creature was as it entered the battlefield, even if seconds later its too big.
Q: I cast Sinister Waltz targeting Bear Cub, Runeclaw Bear, and Grizzly Bears in my graveyard. My opponent responds by exiling the Grizzly Bears with Beckon Apparition, what happens to the other two bears?
A: Both bears will end up on the battlefield, and nothing gets put on the bottom of your library. You must have 3 targets to be able to cast Sinister Waltz, but when it goes to resolve (as long as you have at least one target) you do as mush as you can, in the order listed on the card.
Q: If I try to disturb Distracting Geist (back side being Clever Distraction) out of my graveyard and my opponent controls Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, do I pay
or 
to do so?A: By the time you start paying costs, Distracting Geist will be Clever Distraction, which will incur the Thalia penalty.
Q: My opponent casts Blaze at my head with an X equal to 20. I respond by casting Overcharged Amalgam and I have five 2/2 zombie tokens. My Opponent responds to the exploit trigger by Lightning Bolting my Amalgam. When the exploit trigger resolves can I still sacrifice a zombie token, and if I do, do I still counter spell the Blaze?
A: Yes, you can still sacrifice a zombie to the exploit trigger, but because the Amalgam is already gone it will do nothing except eat one of your zombies.
So since you got all the way to the end of this article with out getting staked, here's a quick joke:
How can you tell if someone has contracted vampirism?
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
- Justin Hovdenes AKA Hovey
Level 2 Magic Judge
Rapid City, SD
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