Published on 04/11/2022
Moko's Center for Kids Who Can't Magic Good
And Who Wanna Learn the Rules Good Too
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, Justin Hovdenes, and Andrew Villarrubia
This Article from: Andrew Villarrubia
Cranial Translation
Deutsch
Español
Français
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 Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes.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.
If approached by a librarian,
do not run away. Try to make yourself
bigger than the librarian.
do not run away. Try to make yourself
bigger than the librarian.
Today is also Education and Sharing Day, which is pretty great for us here in the office. You know what we had to change to make this article suitably themed? Nothin'. It's already educational and sharing. Sharing-al? That's probably not a word.
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.
Without further ado, let's get to it!
Q: I activate Scion of the Ur-Dragon's ability, and in response my opponent flashes in Opposition Agent. Does Scion still become a copy of something?
A: Yes, it does. Opposition Agent prevents the searched-for card from going to the graveyard, but any other part of the effect that needs information about the card can "see" it in exile.
Of course, your opponent can also fail to find a Dragon card entirely, in which case Scion won't become a copy of anything.
Q: My opponent exiled my Living End with their Elite Spellbinder. Can I cast Living End from exile by paying
?A: No, this won't work. Living End has an unpayable cost. Increasing an unpayable cost still leaves it unpayable, so your Living End is stuck in exile.
Q: If I enchant my opponent's commander with Minimus Containment, is it still their commander?
A: Yes, it is. Nothing can add or remove "commanderness" from something. It's still their commander even if it has no abilities, or is an Elk from Oko, Thief of Crowns, or even if it's somehow been turned facedown.
Q: If I cast Clone copying my opponent's Myojin of Cryptic Dreams, does my copy enter with an indestructible counter?
A: Assuming you cast the Clone from your hand, yes, this works.
First, we apply Clone's replacement effect, making it a copy of Myojin. Then, Myojin's own replacement effect checks if it was cast from your hand. Since you cast the Clone-Myojin from your hand, it will get the indestructible counter.
Hotshot
A: Well... if you're asking this, probably not the way you want. Learn lets you do one of two things. You can either find a Lesson card from outside the game or discard a card to draw a card.
However, in commander, cards can't get other cards from outside the game, so that part of Learn can't do anything. You can still discard and draw, though!
Q: In a multiplayer game, I countered my opponent's Grizzly Bears with Arcane Denial. Then she attacked and killed me. Will she still get to draw two cards at the beginning of the next turn's upkeep?
A: No, she will not. You would control the delayed trigger created by Arcane Denial. However, since you're no longer in the game, that triggered ability won't be put on the stack.
Q: I control Farideh, Devil's Chosen and Fractured Powerstone. If I active Powerstone's second ability, does Farideh gain flying and menace?
A: Only if you're actually playing Planechase. Otherwise, the planar die doesn't exist in your game at all. Activating Powerstone's second ability won't do anything, so nothing that triggers from rolling a die will trigger.
Q: I control Wishclaw Talisman, and my opponent controls Kataki, War's Wage. In my upkeep, can I activate Talisman and give it away? Or do I still have to sacrifice it?
A: This works how you want it to. If you give away Wishclaw Talisman before the trigger from Kataki resolves, you won't have to sacrifice it. You can only sacrifice permanents you control.
Q: I cast Reap What Is Sown targeting three of my opponent's creatures. In response, they sacrifice one of them. Do the other creatures still get counters?
A: Yes, they do. As long as at least one of a spell's targets is still legal when the spell would resolve, it will do as much as it can.
Q: If I return a Walking Ballista to the battlefield with Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants's -2 loyalty ability, can I pay any mana into the
and keep it alive?A: No, you can't do that. Since you aren't casting Walking Ballista,
has to be 0. It will die pretty much immediately unless you have some effect like Always Watching to keep it alive.Q: I attack with Velomachus Lorehold. When I resolve his trigger, I find Relentless Assault and cast it. Do I get an additional combat phase?
A: No, you don't. You'll still untap all creatures that attacked this turn. However, since you didn't cast Relentless Assault during a main phase, the second part of the spell won't happen. You won't create an additional combat phase or additional main phase.
Q: I control Puresight Merrow and Parhelion II. Can I crew it by tapping Merrow, untapping it with its ability, then tapping it again?
A: Unfortunately not. You can't take any actions in the middle of paying costs, and partial costs aren't allowed. You have to tap creatures with total power 4 or greater all at the same time in order to crew Parhelion.
Q: In a multiplayer game, I cast Rise of the Dark Realms and take control of several of my opponents' creatures. If I lose the game, where do those creatures go?
A: They'll all be exiled.
When you leave the game, the game tries to end any control-changing effects that gave you control of things. However, Rise of the Dark Realms doesn't create a control-changing effect; those come from things like Act of Aggression.
Instead, Rise just puts the creatures directly into play under your control. The game sees these creatures with no controller (since you're no longer in the game) and goes "Well I don't know what else to do with them!" and exiles them all.
Can't you see now, illusions
Right into your mind
Right into your mind
A: It just gets +1/+1. Born to Drive can only count a given permanent once. Generally, for a permanent to be counted twice, it'll be two separate abilities like Balefire Liege.
Q: I control Cursed Totem. My opponent controls Satoru Umezawa. Can they still ninjutsu cards from their hand?
A: They sure can. Cursed Totem only prevents activated abilities of "creatures," meaning "creature permanents on the battlefield." Satoru doesn't have any activated abilities, so he's safe. The cards in their hand aren't affected either, since those aren't "creatures" yet.
Q: I've been looking online and I've seen some conflicting information. I control Exploration and have played two lands this turn. If I return Exploration to my hand and recast it, can I play another land?
A: You used to be able to do this years and years ago, but you can't now.
Basically, when you want to play a land, compare the number of lands you've already played to the number of lands you're allowed to play right this moment. Exploration increases your "total lands available" by one, so you can play two lands this turn. Since you've already played two lands, you're out of land drops for the turn.
Q: I control Riddlesmith and Teferi's Ageless Insight. If I cast an artifact spell, Insight will make me draw two cards, so do I discard two?
A: Nope, you'll still just discard one card. The trigger doesn't care what the result of "you may draw a card" actually looked like. In this instance, it was replaced with "draw 2 cards instead," but that doesn't affect the "If you do" part at all. As far as the trigger cares, you did what it wanted you to do, so you'll discard one card.
That's all for this week, folks. We'll see you next time, same great time, same great channel. Or website. Whatever.
- Andrew
About the Author:
Andrew is a Level 2 judge from Dallas, TX who spends too much time on his computer.
No comments yet.
