---

Published on 12/25/2023

End of Year Quiz II

By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, and Justin Hovdenes
This Article from: Justin Hovdenes

Cranial Translation
Deutsch Español Français

---

We have been through a great many things this year. New sets, a few bans, loads of Commander products, droves of Secret Lairs, and a handful of Universes Beyond products. Through all that, Cranial Insertion has been here to help answer your many many questions. With all we have learned together, it's time to test that knowledge with a quiz. Below I have ten questions, but before we dive into that...

If you have Magic rules questions, we would love to answer them and might even include them in an upcoming article. For short questions, you can send them to our Twitter account at @CranialTweet, and if you have a longer question, you can send it to our e-mail at moko@cranialinsertion.com .

---

Q: Amber has controlled Vexilus Praetor for several turns. Under which situations does the Praetor give protection from everything to the following cards?

A: The answer is...

A: Card: Amber's Urza, Planeswalker
Situation: Contains Amber's Commander Urza, Lord Protector melded into it
B: Card: Amber's Clone
Situation: Currently copying her opponent's commander Ramses Overdark
C: Card: Ramses Overdark
Situation: Amber controls her opponent's commander Ramses, gained by casting Invoke the Winds
D: Card: Amber's commander Urza, Lord Protector which she has controlled since her last turn
Situation: Amber's opponent played Dress Down earlier this turn
E: Wait, is Urza the new Emperor? Is Ramses the new Horus?

The answer is

A. & C.
Urza, Planeswalker is still Amber's commander if it has her commander Urza Lord Protector melded into it.

A clone or copy of a commander is not a commander. Commander"ness" is not a copiable value.

Vexilus gives protection to all commanders you control, not just ones you own.

Dress Down will have a later time stamp and will remove protection from everything from Urza, Lord Protector. (It also removes the ability from Vexilus that grants Urza the protection ability, so no ability twice.)

---

Q: Nolan controls Impulsive Maneuvers. For which of the following creatures will Maneuvers cause a coin flip?

A: The answer is...

A: When a Bear Cub attacks Nolan's planeswalker.
B: The Ninja of the New Moon that Ninjutsu'd a Bear Cub after it went unblocked and had its damage prevented by Maneuvers.
C: The Ninja of the New Moon that Ninjutsu'd a Bear Cub after it went unblocked and had its damage doubled by Maneuvers.
D: The token created by Basri Ket second loyalty ability.
E: Basri Ket's Ninja Bears!

The answer is

A.
Impulsive Maneuvers sees the Bear Cub even if it attacks a planeswalker (or a battle), so this will cause a coin flip.

This is rather subtle, but a creature put onto the battlefield attacking (such as with ninjutsu or Basri Ket's second ablity), is not a creature that attacked. To attack, a creature has to go from not attacking to attacking by the declare attackers step.

---

Q: Which of the following spells can counterspell a "dashed" Ragavan?

A: The answer is...

A: Mental Misstep
B: Spell Snare
C: Counterspell
D: Stifle
E: Why does blue hate the monkey?

The answer is

A. & C.
A creature that is dashed still has its original mana value, even if the dash cost is different. A dashed Ragavan still has a mana value of 1.

Dashing a creature is an alternative cost, it's still being cast, it is not a triggered or activated ability.

---

Q: Antonio controls Anointed Procession. It which situations will Anointed Procession help create extra tokens?

A: The answer is...

A: Nicole casts Beast Within to destroy Antonio's Phyrexian Processor
B: Antonio Generous Gifts Nicole's Garruk Wildspeaker
C: Antonio casts See Double using only its first mode, targeting Nicole's Bear Cub that's currently a spell.
D: Antonio casts See Double using only its second mode, targeting Nicole's Bear Cub that's currently on the battlefield.
E: Beasts, Elephants, and Bears, ohh my!

The answer is

A. & D.
Because Antonio controls the Procession, and Procession only increases the number of tokens created under its owners control, only Antonio will get extra tokens when his permanents get Beast Within'ed or Generous Gift'ed.

When a permanent spell gets copied, it's placed on the stack, not on the battlefield. When that spell resolves, it turns into a token as it gets placed on the battlefield. This means that Procession will not see a copy of a creature spell.

Tokens created in the normal fashion, such as the second mode of See Double, do get extra copies from Procession.

---

Q: Nathan channels Otawara, Soaring City targeting Angela's Bear Cub. Which of the following responses by Angela would prevent the Bear Cub from getting bounced to her hand?

A: The answer is...

A: Angela flashes out Swift Reconfiguration enchanting her Bear Cub
B: Angela "blinks" the Bear Cub with Momentary Blink
C: Angela casts Gods Willing targeting her Bear Cub choosing "blue"
D: Angela casts Blacksmith's Skill targeting her Bear Cub
E: How does a floating city make a Bear disappear?

The answer is

B. & D.
Changing the Bear Cub from a creature to only being an artifact will not save the Bear Cub from getting bounced. Otawara's ability can bounce a creature or a artifact, and changing to one or the other doesn't stop it from being a legal target.

"Blinking" a permanent changes it from one the battlefield to exile and back again. Each time a permanent leaves the battlefield and returns, it is considered a new and different object, even if it is indeed the same card. This will make Otawara's channel ability fail to resolve because its target is no longer legal. It's important to note that blinking a creature in this way does reset its summoning sickness, though.

Giving the Bear Cub Protection from blue will not save it. Although Otawara makes blue mana and its ability requires blue mana to activate, it is a colorless card and is not blue.

Giving the Bear Cub hexproof will protect it from Otawara. Otawara's channel ability does target, and if its target becomes illegal, the ability will fail to resolve.

---

Q: I attack with Bruna, Light of Alabaster. Which of the following Auras can I successfully move to her when her trigger resolves?

A: The answer is...

A: The Spirit Link in my graveyard.
B: The Vampiric Link in my opponent's graveyard.
C: My Curiosity currently attached to my Mesa Enchantress
D: My opponent's Infernal Scarring currently attached to their Ashiok's Reaper
E: More like Bruna, Thief of Alabaster.

The answer is

A, C, & D.
Bruna can animate Auras from your graveyard, but not your opponent's graveyards. ("and you may put onto the battlefield attached to it any number of Aura cards that could enchant it from your graveyard and/or hand.").

Bruna can move your and your opponent's Auras to herself. This does not change who controls those Auras. ("you may attach to it any number of Auras on the battlefield").

---

Q: Earlier this turn I cast Doubling Season followed by Paradox Zone. During my end step, how many Fractal creatures will I make and how big will they be?

A: The answer is...

A: You make two 0/0s. One will get four +1/+1 counters.
B: You make two 0/0s. Both will get four +1/+1 counters.
C: You make two 0/0s. One will get six +1/+1 counters.
D: You make two 0/0s. Both will get six +1/+1 counters.
E: You make two 0/0s. One will get eight +1/+1 counters.
F: You make two 0/0s. Both will get eight +1/+1 counters.
G: You make two 0/0s. One will get ten +1/+1 counters.
H: You make two 0/0s. Both will get ten +1/+1 counters.
I: You make two 0/0s. One will get twelve +1/+1 counters.
J: You make two 0/0s. Both will get twelve +1/+1 counters.

The answer is

J.
When Paradox Zone entered the battlefield it tried to come in with one growth counter. This got doubled by Doubling Season to two growth counters. At the beginning of the end step, Paradox Zone tries to double its number of growth counters to four, this means adding two counters, this gets doubled to add four counters, ending up with a final result of six growth counters. Then Paradox Zone tries to make one 0/0 Fractal creature, but instead makes two 0/0 Fractal creatures because of Doubling Season. It then tries to add six +1/+1 counters to each of the Fractals. This six +1/+1 counters gets doubled by Doubling Season to twelve +1/+1 counters to each Fractal.

Side Note:
If a spell or ability creates more tokens than normal because of Doubling Season (or similar card), and that original ability or spell would modify that token in some way, it will then modify all the tokens it creates in the same way.

---

Q: I control Rootpath Purifier. If I activate Myriad Landscape which of the following groups of two lands could I grab with it?

A: The answer is...

A: Island and Snow-covered Island
B: Two Forests
C: Plains and Sacred Foundry
D: Swamp and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
E: Mountain and Indatha Triome

The answer is

A, B, & C.
Myraid Landscape can get both A & B, even if Rootpath wasn't involved. Both sets are basic lands that share a land type.

Rootpath adds basic to each land in your library, including Sacred Foundry, this means Sacred Foundry and Plains are both basic lands with the Plains subtype.

Urborg is only a Swamp when it's on the battlefield, so it doesn't share a land type with a Swamp while it's in the library.

Indatha has three land types, but none of them are Mountain, so answer E is a combo that doesn't work.

---

Q: I cast Bituminous Blast. Which of the following cards can I cast with Blast's cascade trigger?

A: The answer is...

A: Hopeful Eidolon for its bestow cost
B: Cathartic Reunion without having to discard two cards
C: Cathartic Reunion with discarding a card
D: Blaze with equal to 4.
E: Blaze with equal to 50.
F: Blaze with equal to 0.

The answer is

C. & F.
Casting for free from cascade is an alternative cost. Only one alternative cost may be used to cast a spell at a time.

Bestow is also an alternative cost. This means you can't both cast Eidolon for free and bestow it. You may only cast the Eidolon as a 1/1 creature if you cascade into it.

Cathartic Reunion has an additional cost. This additional cost is not optional. You can combine an additional cost with an alternative cost. If you cascade into Cathartic Reunion, you may cast it for free but only if you discard two cards for it additional cost. If you can't or don't want to discard cards to Cathartic Reuninion, you will cast no spell with the cascade and the Reunion will get shuffled to the bottom of your library with any other cards revealed.

If you cascade into a spell with in its mana cost, you may only choose zero for . You don't get to choose any number or some number lower than 5 for .

---

Q: My only creature, Bear Cub, is enchanted with Black Ward. Which of the following cards can still get the Bear Cub put into the graveyard?

A: The answer is...

A: Pestilence
B: Terror
C: Diabolic Edict
D: Languish
E: I'm glad the 4th edition text of Black Ward made it clear it doesn't remove itself.

The answer is

C. & D.
Pestilence deals damage, protection from black prevents all damage from black sources.

Terror targets a creature, protection from black makes it so the Bear Cub can't be the target of black spells or abilities.

Neither Diabolic Edict nor Languish deal damage or target the bear cub, so both can get the Bear Cub put into the graveyard (by being sacrificed or for having zero or less toughness, respectively).

---

Well hopefully you did well on the test, and hope to see you all back here next year.

- Justin Hovdenes AKA Hovey
Level 2 Magic Judge
Rapid City, SD

---