Published on 11/22/2021
I now pronounce you Bride and Gloom
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, Justin Hovdenes, and Andrew Villarrubia
This Article from: Andrew Villarrubia
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 Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes.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.
This card sort of applies
to both Thanksgiving and Christmas!
to both Thanksgiving and Christmas!
Anyway, you know what I'm thankful for? You folks. Y'all keep reading these articles that give me an outlet for weird questions and awful jokes, and I appreciate that. I'm also thankful for the family members that bring sides to Thanksgiving, because let's be real. The mac and cheese is the real star of the show. Turkey's an afterthought.
As a friendly reminder, 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 answer every question we get, and your question could show up in a future article.
Now then, onto the meat of the article!
Q: Does Voice of the Blessed have to get ten +1/+1 counters from its own first ability to have indestructible?
A: Blessedly, no. +1/+1 counters are totally interchangeable. Voice of the Blessed doesn't care where the counters came from, just that it has ten of them.
Q: I sacrifice my Biolume Egg, and my opponent exiles it from my graveyard with Coffin Purge in response to the Egg trigger. Do I still get to return the egg transformed at the beginning of the next end step?
A: You do not. When the Egg changes zones, it becomes a new object. The trigger that wants to return the object from the graveyard can't find it there, so your Egg will stay in exile.
Q: What if, instead of the above situation, someone has Rest in Peace in play when I sacrifice the Egg?
A: Aha, now you're making an omelet! The first zone the Egg goes to in this case is exile. The trigger can find it there and return it transformed just fine.
You might be asking yourself, "But wait, I thought things didn't die with Rest in Peace in play," and you'd be right. But, while sacrificing something usually makes something die, a "When you sacrifice" trigger doesn't actually care if the thing goes to the graveyard or not.
Q: I control Drakestown Forgotten with six +1/+1 counters on it. If I sacrifice it to Geralf, Visionary Stitcher's ability, is the token a 0/0 or a 6/6?
A: It will be base 6/6. Geralf's ability cares about the sacrificed creature's toughness as it last existed on the battlefield, not how it looks in the graveyard.
A: No. Lotus Bloom doesn't have a payable cost, and Grolnok doesn't give you an alternate cost to cast spells. If you can find some way to pay an alternate cost for it, that would work.
Note that additional costs like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben wouldn't work, either - an unpayable cost plus
is still unpayable.Q: While we're talking about my new froggy friend, can I cast the exiled cards if Grolnok leaves the battlefield?
A: You cannot. The permission to cast the cards with croak counters is a separate ability. If Grolnok leaves play, you no longer have that permission.
Q: I exiled a card with Jacob Hauken, Inspector and then my opponent killed him. Can I still look at the exiled cards?
A: You can. Unlike the Grolnok question just above, the permission to look at the exiled card is granted by the resolution of Jacob's ability. It doesn't care if Jacob sticks around.
Q: I exiled Dreadfeast Demon with Dollhouse of Horrors. If I sacrifice a creature and make a copy of Dreadfeast Demon, what does it look like?
A: It will be a 0/0 artifact Demon Construct creature with "This creature gets +1/+1 for each Construct you control" and Dreadfeast Demon's regular ability.
The effect from Dollhouse makes a copy of the exiled card "except it's" other things. These exceptions become part of the token's copiable values, so anything that copies that token will have those as well.
Note that Dollhouse doesn't include haste in that list of exceptions. The token "gains haste" as a separate clause, so that isn't part of the copiable values.
Q: How does that work with something like Katilda, Dawnhart Martyr? Is she is a base 0/0, or is she a */*?
A: She'll be a base 0/0 that cares about the number of Constructs you control, and she will not care about your Spirits and/or enchantments anymore.
What caused this change of hart? Katilda's ability that sets her power and toughness is a characteristic-defining ability (CDA for short). If a copy effect includes an exception to something for which the original card has a CDA, that CDA is not copied.
So, if Dollhouse of Horrors makes a token of Katilda, the copy's copiable values looks like this:
Legendary Artifact Creature - Spirit Warlock Construct
Flying, lifelink, protection from Vampires
This creature gets +1/+1 for each Construct you control.
0/0
Q: I return Mardu Blazebringer with Olivia, Crimson Bride's ability. Do I have to sacrifice Blazebringer at the end of combat?
A: You do not. Something only triggers "when this attacks" triggers if you declared it as an attacker. Mardu Blazebringer wasn't declared as an attacker - it was just put onto the battlefield already attacking.
Q: Does Old Rutstein do anything if Rest in Peace is in play?
A: He sure does! You still milled the cards, they just ended up somewhere other than expected. But, since the first zone they went to is a public zone, the triggered ability can still "see" them there. Rutstein will still do his thing.
Q: How does Training work in Two-Headed Giant?
A: Pretty well! If you attack with Apprentice Sharpshooter and your partner attacks with Grizzly Bears, your Sharpshooter will trigger and it will get a counter.
Q: Can I discard two lands with Thirst for Discovery if I really want to?
A: You can!
This is because of how the rules parse "Do X unless Y." What this translates to is "Do Y. If you don't, Do X." Because of this, Thirst for Discovery effectively says "You may discard a land card. If you don't, discard two cards." You can decline to discard a land card, and then it forces you to discard two cards. Those two can be anything you want, even two lands.
[This subtitle removed due to
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A: You don't. Dominating Vampire's effect only cares how many Vampires you control at two times: when it goes on the stack and when it resolves. Once you gain control of a creature with the ability, the number of Vampires you control no longer matters.
Of course, this also means that if your opponent had killed a Vampire in response to Dominating Vampire's trigger, you would only control three Vampires and the ability would not have resolved.
Q: I control Divine Visitation and Manaform Hellkite. When I cast a noncreature spell and make a token, do I still have to exile the Angel token later?
A: You do, and it's even worse than you think. Since Divine Visitation replaces the entirety of the token that Manaform Hellkite creates, the Angels that you make won't have haste. You can't attack with them and you'll still have to exile them at the beginning of the next end step.
Q: I copied my opponent's Edgar, Charmed Groom with Mirrorhall Mimic. If my copy-Edgar dies, what happens?
A: Since Mirrorhall Mimic is a transforming double-faced card, it can do what it says to do. You'll return it to the battlefield transformed (as Ghastly Mimicry, mind you - not Edgar Markov's Coffin).
To be clear, this can only happen with transforming double-faced cards. If you copied Edgar with a regular Clone, the Clone would stay in the graveyard when it dies.
Q: I read in a few places that I can name Blood tokens with Pithing Needle because Flesh // Blood exists, so "Blood" is the name of a card in Oracle. Is this true?
A: Not anymore.
A token's name by default now is its subtypes plus the word "Token." So, if you make a "Goblin Scout creature token," its name is actually "Goblin Scout Token." Similarly, when you make a Blood token its name is "Blood Token"; the same applies to Treasure, Food, and so on.
This change doesn't apply to tokens that are copies. It also doesn't apply to tokens that are given a specific name, like those created by Kher Keep.
That's all for this week, friends. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go brave the desolate wastelands and try to buy groceries the week of Thanksgiving.
- Andrew
About the Author:
Andrew is a Level 2 judge from Dallas, TX who spends too much time on his computer.
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