Published on 12/06/2021
See You Space Cowboy
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, Justin Hovdenes, and Andrew Villarrubia
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 Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes.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.
Ballad of Fallen Angels
Hey amigos, all 300,000 of you in the star system, and welcome back to Cranial Insertion, the website that gives you the full details on current rules questions! How ya'll doin'? This week, we have the low-down on some of the hottest questions coming out of Crimson Vow. There's been a lot of hot questions coming out of this set, and we have all of the information on the latest questions that have come through the Magic community. And we're not even offering any bounties on these questions - we're providing them free of charge!
And remember buckos, if you have the details on any rules question that's been bothering you, send to us, and we'll set our team of bounty hunters on it. It may even be featured on a future episode! But remember - your question must come in alive and undamaged. If you have a short question, you can Tweet it to us at @CranialTweet, and you can send us longer questions to our e-mail at moko@cranialinsertion.com .
Q: I control a Gutter Skulker enchanted with Dorothea's Retribution. If I attack with just the Skulker, can it be blocked?
A: Yep, your Skulker can be blocked. As long as your Skulker is attacking alone, then it can't be blocked. The Skulker doesn't care about how many creatures were declared as attacker, but how many creatures are currently attacking when your opponent is declaring blockers. Because of the Angel token you got from the Retribution's trigger, your Skulker isn't attacking alone and it can be blocked.
Q: If I exile a land to Cemetery Illuminator, can I play lands from the top of my library?
A: You cannot. The Illuminator only lets you cast spells from the top of your library, and a land can never be a spell, it can only be played. Even if you exile a land to the Illuminator's trigger and the top card of your library is a land, you cannot play or cast the land.
Q: I have a creature with both Bride's Gown and Groom's Finery attached to it. Will it get the bonuses from both equipment?
A: Yep, it will! The Gown just cares if the Finery is attached to a creature you control (and vice versa). It doesn't care if the Gown and the Finery are attached to the same creature. If your creature can wear the Gown and the Finery at the same time, it will get a total of +4/+4, first strike, and deathtouch from the two equipment.
Q: I cast Ancestral Anger with an empty graveyard. How big of a bonus will my creature get?
A: The creature will get +1/+0. The Anger isn't in the graveyard while it's resolving - it's still on the stack until the final step of resolution. Since it's still on the stack, it won't count for its own ability and it will only give the creature +1/+0.
Q: If I attack with three creatures and damage my opponent who is enchanted by Curse of Hospitality, how many cards do I exile from their library?
A: Three cards. The Curse will trigger for each creature that dealt damage to the cursed player. Since you dealt combat damage with three creatures, that's three Curse triggers and you'll end up exiling the top three cards of their library.
Q: I control a Magma Pummeler with three +1/+1 counters on it. My opponent attacks with a 5/5 and I block with my Pummeler. How much damage do I get to deal with the Pummeler's ability?
A: Three damage. The trigger refers to how many +1/+1 counters were removed from the Pummeler, not how much damage was prevented. While five damage was prevented, only three counters were removed from the Pummeler, so the Pummeler will deal three damage to the target.
Toys in the Attic
Q: I cast Toxrill, the Corrosive and put some slime counters on my opponent's creatures. My opponent decides to wipe the board with Doomskar. Will I get any slugs from my opponent's creatures dying?
A: Yep, you'll get your slugs. Even though Toxrill is dying at the same time as your opponent's creatures, Toxrill will see the opponent's dying and will trigger for them.
Q: I cast an Inspired Idea normally, and then I cast a second Inspired Idea. What is my maximum hand size?
A: Your maximum hand size is one. We apply both effects that are modifying your maximum hand size. We start with your default maximum hand size of seven, then we subtract three, and then we subtract three again. That bring your maximum hand size to one.
Keep in mind that your maximum hand size only matters during the cleanup step on your own turn, so just resolving the second Idea doesn't mean you immediately discard - you'll have until your cleanup step to get down to one card in your hand or you'll have to discard down to one card.
Q: I control Arlinn, the Pack's Hope. I activate Arlinn's -3 ability. Then I cast Into the Night, making it night and transforming Arlinn into Arlinn, the Moon's Fury. Can I activate the +0 ability and make Arlinn into a creature?
A: Not this turn. You can only activate one loyalty ability of a permanent each turn. Transforming Arlinn doesn't make it into a different object. Because you activated the -3 ability of the Pack's Hope before it transformed, you won't be able to activate a loyalty ability of the Moon's Fury that turn.
Q: I attack with Olivia, Crimson Bride, putting an Immersturm Predator onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. Will the Predator's triggered ability also trigger and let me exile a card from a graveyard and put a +1/+1 counter on the Predator?
A: You don't get a trigger here. For the Predator's ability to trigger, its status has to change from "untapped" to "tapped". Olivia's ability causes the Predator to be put onto the battlefield tapped and attacking, but it doesn't move from being untapped to tapped. Since it's not becoming tapped, the Predator's ability will not trigger.
Q: I control Edgar, Charmed Groom and then played a second Edgar. What happens?
A: You control two Edgar, so when we check state-based actions, you'll choose one Edgar to keep and the other will die. The one that died will have its dies ability trigger, and it will return as Edgar Markov's Coffin. Nothing else happens for now, since they have different names.
If both the Coffin and the creature Edgar stick around for three turns, the Coffin will turn back into Edgar, Charmed Groom, and we'll repeat the process - you'll choose one to keep, the other will die and come back as the Coffin. But be careful - if the creature Edgar dies while you control the Coffin, you'll now have two Edgar Markov's Coffins in play, and you'll apply state-based actions again and one of the Coffins will go the graveyard (and that Edgar will stay dead).
Q: How does Yarok, the Desecrated interact with exploit?
A: If you have the creatures to sacrifice, it will work pretty well. When the Skaab enters the battlefield, its exploit ability will trigger twice instead of once thanks to Yarok. Those trigger resolve one at a time, and when each trigger resolves, you can choose to sacrifice a creature. Assuming you do, you'll get one instance of the Skaab's second trigger (it's not an enter the battlefield trigger, so Yarok won't care about it) and you can return an instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand. Then you can repeat the process with the second trigger. Assuming you have two spare creatures to sacrifice, you can sacrifice both of them and return a total of two instants and/or sorcery cards to your hand.
Q: I have a Simic Growth Chamber in my hand and I cast Cultivator Colossus. Can I choose to put the Growth Chamber onto the battlefield with the Colossus's trigger, then return it to my hand before I repeat the process and put the Growth Chamber in play again and draw a bunch of cards?
A: You cannot. "Repeat this process" doesn't mean it's putting a copy of the trigger on the stack - you're repeating the instructions for the first part of the ability immediately. Since we can't put the Growth Chamber's triggered ability on the stack until after the Colossus's trigger is completely done resolving, you won't be able to return the Chamber to your hand with its own enter the battlefield trigger before you have to repeat the Colossus's process.
Pierrot le Fou
Q: I control Old Rutstein, and with his enter the battlefield trigger, I mill a Dryad Arbor. What kind of token do I get?
A: You get a treasure token and an insect token. You milled a land card, so you'll create a treasure token. But you also milled a creature card, so you'll also get an insect token. Creating the treasure token doesn't stop you from getting the insect token as well, so you'll create two token when you mill Dryad Arbor.
Q: I have a Golgari Brownscale in my hand. If I activate the ability of a Blood token, can I discard the Brownscale and then dredge it back to my hand?
A: You can! You discard the Brownscale as a cost of activating the ability, and when the ability resolves, you would draw a card. But since you have a card with dredge in your graveyard, you can choose to dredge back the Brownscale you just discarded and put it back into your hand.
Q: I have a Dorothea, Vengeful Victim and a Teferi's Veil in play. Can I stack the triggers so I can phase out my Dorothea before it's sacrificed at the end of combat?
A: Yes you can! You control both the Veil and the Dorothea sacrifice triggers, so you'll choose the order those triggers are put on the stack. You can choose to put the Veil trigger on the stack last so it resolves first, and phase out your Dorothea to prevent it from being sacrificed to its own trigger.
Q: I control a Dorothea, Vengeful Victim and a Arcane Adaptation naming "Human". Then I cast Moonmist. What happens to my Dorethea?
A: Dorethea ends up exiled. Since Dorethea is a Human and is a transforming double-faced card, it will be affected by Moonmist and will transform into Dorothea's Retribution. However, it's not entering the battlefield and nothing is telling you to attach it to a creature, so once Moonmist resolves, state-based actions see an aura that's not attached to anything and it would go to the graveyard. But on top of that, the Retribution's replacement effect will apply, since it would try to go to the graveyard, and Dorothea ends up in exile instead of your graveyard.
Q: I cast Predators' Hour, then I attack with Strefan, Maurer Progenitor, putting a Champion of Dusk onto the battlefield tapped and attacking with Strefan's triggered ability. Will the Champion also have menace and the trigger from the Hour?
A: It will not. The Hour only affects creatures you control when the spell resolves. It won't affect a creature that enters after it resolves. Since the Champion of Dusk was put onto the battlefield after the Hour resolves, it won't benefit from the Hour at all.
Q: I attack with Strefan, Maurer Progenitor and I want to sacrifice two Blood tokens for his triggered ability. Can I also pay 1 and discard a card at the same time to activate the Blood token's ability and draw a card?
A: You cannot. You only get that option if you're activating the Blood token's own ability, not if you're sacrificing the blood token to another spell or ability. You can sacrifice the Blood token to its own ability, or you can sacrifice it to Strefan's triggered ability, but you can't do both at the same time, since both involve sacrificing the Blood token.
Q: Am I allowed to play the version of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben from Dark Ascension in a standard tournament?
A: Sure, that's allowed. You can use any version of a Magic card, as long as a card with that name is printed in a legal set and the card has a normal Magic back. Since Thalia was reprinted in Crimson Vow, it's legal in standard once again, so you can go back and use your Dark Ascension version in a standard tournament.
That's it for this week. We'll see you again next week!
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