Published on 06/10/2024
3rd Modern Event Horizon
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, and Justin Hovdenes
This Article from: Justin Hovdenes
Cranial Translation
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Have you ever seen fire in zero gravity?
It's beautiful. It's like liquid.
It slides over everything. Comes up in waves.
It's beautiful. It's like liquid.
It slides over everything. Comes up in waves.
We are trying to recover a ship that went missing years ago, that has now simply reappeared. There is a distress signal, but no contact from the crew. This leaves us with so many questions that can only be answered by going out to and investigating what might be a derelict ship. Possibly the more important question may be, can the crew of this ship, if found, answer all these questions about Modern Horizons 3?
And as usual, if you have any questions about Magic cards, don't hesitate to send us a tweet @CranialTweet, or for the more in-depth questions, an email to moko@cranialinsertion.com .
Q: What is Kindred?
A: Kindred is the new name for the card type formerly known as tribal. All formerly "tribal" cards have had their Oracle text updated to be kindred. Kindred is a card type just like creature, artifact, or instant. Kindred can be added to any card type, and has all the same subtypes as creatures. It's very important to note that kindred is not a supertype. Supertypes like snow or basic have no related subtypes, and have no effect on subtypes.
Q: Ok, so kindred is a card type, but what does it do?
A: Kindred allows creature subtypes to be added to noncreature cards. This can do cool things like allow Wort, Boggart Auntie to return an instant like Tarfire to your hand as it's both a Goblin and an instant. Or if you have Reflections of Littjara and choose Eldrazi, it will copy Echoes of Eternity when you cast it.
Q: Wait, does that mean Kindred can make my Tarmogoyf tokens bigger?
A: Yes, it can. There are currently as of June of 2024 only nine card types that can be in your graveyard. They are:
1) Creature
2) Land
3) Artifact
4) Enchantment
5) Instant
6) Sorcery
7) Planeswalker
8) Battle
9) Kindred
So, a Tarmogoyf token could be a 9/10 if all card types are present between all graveyards.
Q: My opponent just cast Primal Prayers and got
from it entering the battlefield. If I Disenchant the Primal Prayers, do they lose the energy?A: They do not. Energy is not like counters on a permanent, but is counters on the player themselves. The energy counters will stick around until they're used or the player they belong to leaves the game.
Q: It's currently my opponent's turn. If I exile my opponent's Bear Cub with Abstruse Appropriation, can I cast it immediately?
A: You can not. You must follow the normal timing restrictions for casting a permanent exiled with Abstruse Appropriation. The easiest way to tell is that Abstruse Appropriation gives a duration for how long you can cast it (for as long as it remains exiled). This means you will have to wait till your own main phase, when the stack is empty.
There are cards that make you cast a card immediately and they do get around timing restrictions, but these cards won't mention a duration for how long you can cast the spell. Examples being like cascade or Mind's Dilation.
I have such wonderful, wonderful things...
to show you...
to show you...
A: So no and no. You choose the number of targets before adding the bonus 2 damage from Aether Revolt, and you must distribute at least 1 damage to each target. When Rolling Thunder goes to resolve, each target will take the amount of damage assigned to it plus 2 from Aether Revolt. So you can only choose 1 target to receive 4 damage (after bonus +2) or you can choose two targets to receive 3 damage each (after the bonus +2).
Q: I control Ajani, Nacatl Avenger, Parallel Lives, a 1/1 Red Goblin token, and no other creatures. If I activate Ajani's +0 loyalty ability, how much damage will Ajani deal this turn?
A: 6 damage total. When the ability tries to resolve, it ends up creating 2 Cats instead of one (because of Parallel Lives). The reflexive trigger looking for a Cat token to be created see two Cats made and triggers once for each one. Each trigger can have a different target and each will deal 3 damage as you now control three creatures.
Q: The only spell cast so far this turn was when the opponent Lightning Bolted me. The opponent is currently attacking me with six 4/4 green Beast tokens. I cast Amphibian Downpour, shrinking one Beast with the original Downpour and shrinking a second Beast with the copy of Downpour. If I cast a second Amphibian Downpour, will I make two or three copies because of the storm ability?
A: You will make only two copies of Downpour, allowing you to shrink a total of five of the six Beast tokens. When you copy a spell, the copy is put on the stack and is not cast. This means if you cast two cards with storm, the copies made by the first storm card will not increase the number of copies created by the second storm card.
1) Lightning Bolt
storm count is now 1
2) First Downpour, original +1 copy since storm count is 1.
storm count is now 2
3) Second Downpour, original +2 copies since storm count is 2.
storm count is now 3.
Two original Downpours and three copies of Downpour for a total of five Beasts shrunk to 1/1 Frogs.
Q: My opponent controls two Arcbound Condors. If I Torment of Venom one Condor, will the opponent get to move any counters to the other Condor? (assuming the opponent chose to pay 3 life to the Torment of Venom)
A: So the opponent gets to put three +1/+1 counters on the second Condor.
The first thing of note going on here is that when you put three -1/-1 counters on the Condor, two state-based actions are going to become relevant. The creature has 0 or less toughness and is placed into the graveyard (704.5f) and a if both -1/-1 and +1/+1 counters are on the same permanent they annihilate each other one for one (704.5q). Both of these state-based actions are applied simultaneously (remove all counters and place Condor into the graveyard). Condor's Modular ability triggers and checks to see how many +1/+1 counters it had the last time it was on the battlefield (aka, last known information). It sees that it both had three +1/+1 counters and three -1/-1 counters on it, but since Modular only cares about the +1/+1 counters it will add that many to the second Condor.
Q: Wait, I'm confused, if the Condor loses its +1/+1 counters, how can the opponent "put its +1/+1 counters on target artifact creature"? The way the last answer described it, it sounds like these are brand new +1/+1 counters.
A: You are correct. Modular doesn't actually move the +1/+1 counters, it creates brand new ones. The reminder text written after Modular 3 in italics is not a complete description of how the ability works (you can find the complete text in Comprehensive Rule 702.43a).
Counters cease to exist when the permanent or card they are attached to changes from one zone to another (122.2). This means for a Modular creature to work at all, it can't move the counters it had when it dies, but will create a matching number equal to how many it had the last time it was on the battlefield.
Q: Can I use the
from exerting my Arena of Glory to cast Powerbalance?A: You can. The last mana ability doesn't restrict its mana to only being used on creature spells, it just happens to give haste to creatures it is used to cast.
Q: I was told it gets really weird if you Clone a Corrupted Shapeshifter. Can you explain the interaction?
A: If you Clone a Corrupted Shapeshifter (from here out I'm just going to call it a CS for short), the Clone copies all of CS's copiable values as it exists on the battlefield. The thing is, this includes the form the original CS is in, plus the replacement effect that chooses between three forms.
For example, let's say the original CS came down as a 3/3 flyer. If you then Clone it, you get a 3/3 flyer with the ability that makes you choose one of three forms. If you choose any form other than 3/3 flyer, you will get the evergreen abilities of both forms and the power/toughness of the chosen form.
So in this example if you choose 2/5 vigilance, you end up with a 2/5 that has both vigilance and flying.
Q: I have 7 untapped Swamps and plenty of 1/1 Squirrel tokens. I cast Eviscerator's Insight from my hand. After it resolves, can I cast it again with flashback before my opponent can exile it with something like Extirpate?
A: Depends whose turn it is. If it's your turn you get priority first after the original spell resolves, and the first part of casting a spell is to move it from its current zone to the stack (doing this does not use the stack), making it unavailable as a target for stuff like Extirpate.
If it's not your turn, after the original resolves, your opponent gets priority first. If they choose to cast Extirpate immediately to try to exile Eviscerator's Insight, then you can't respond as Extirpate has split second.
If You Could See The Things I've Seen,
You Wouldn't Try To Stop Me!
You Wouldn't Try To Stop Me!
to overload it? Can I overload it for free since I'm casting the card with out paying its costs?A: No and no. Overload is an alternative cost, and so is casting a spell for free with cascade. You can only ever use one alternative cost at a time when casting a spell. Cascade doesn't give you the option to cast the card found normally or for a different alternative cost, you must either cast it for free (with no other alternative cost), or let it get put on the bottom of your library in random order with the other cards revealed as part of cascading.
Q: I'm currently as 22 life and I've already taken 18 commander damage from Kozilek, the Broken Reality, and I'm about to take 9 more from him because he is attacking me and I can't block it. Will casting Flare of Fortitude save me from losing the game? My opponent says it won't, but I think it will.
A: Your life total won't change, but you will still lose to taking 21 or more commander damage from the same commander. Flare of Fortitude doesn't prevent damage, it just changes the result of what the damage will do. You still take 9 damage, your life total just stays the same.
Q: If I emerge Herigast, Erupting Nullkite by sacrificing my Ashen Firebeast, do I have to pay any mana to do so?
A: You will still need to pay
as the reduction from emerge doesn't reduce any of the colored mana symbols in the cost.Q: If I use Imskir Iron-Eater's last ability to sacrifice my Sculpting Steel which is currently copying Diabolic Machine, does Imskir deal 3 damage or 7 damage to its target?
A: It will deal 7 damage. Imskir will use the Sculpting Steel's mana value as it last existed on the battlefield (aka, last known information), which was a mana value of 7.
Q: My opponent Dave currently only has one card in hand. If I cast Kozilek, the Broken Reality and choose Dave as the only target for Kozi's cast trigger, will Dave have to manifest the only card he has, or is Dave an illegal target since Dave doesn't have two or more cards in hand?
A: Dave will be forced to manifest the only card he has in hand and is a legal target even though he doesn't have two or more cards in hand.
Q: Nethergoyf, an artifact, and an enchantment are the only cards in my graveyard. If I evoke Reveillark can I return Nethergoyf to the battlefield with the Reveillark's trigger?
A: You can not. Nethergoyf's power and toughness ability is a characteristic-defining ability (aka, CDA). CDAs work in all zones, not just the battlefield, meaning at this time Nethergoyf is a 3/4 in the graveyard (counting itself, the artifact, and the enchantment).
Q: If I have Orim's Chant imprinted onto Isochron Scepter and tap the Scepter to cast a copy of Orim's Chant, do I get the kicker cost for free? Can I pay
in addition to get the kicker?A: No and yes. When a spell is cast for free, additional costs are not paid for free. However, if those additional costs are optional, you can choose to pay for them in addition if you like. If those additional costs are mandatory (such as discard a card or sacrifice a creature) you must pay them or you can't cast the spell at all.
There was no crew to save, and the ship is trying to kill us. I suggest we get off this cursed ship and fire upon it from a safe distance until it's vaporized. Or we could call it a day with plenty of questions answered. Until next time.
- Justin Hovdenes AKA Hovey
Level 2 Magic Judge
Rapid City, SD
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