Published on 08/05/2024
Bunnies, Bunnies, It Must be Bunnies!
Or Maybe Otters
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, and Justin Hovdenes
This Article from: Nathan Long
Cranial Translation
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Come on in, have a seat, enjoy some questions.
Hiya everyone, and welcome back to Cranial Insertion! The highly anticipated Bloomburrow has finally arrived! Magic has been pretty dark the last few releases, so visiting a plane with lower stakes (and not multiversal stakes) is greatly appreciated. And it doesn't hurt that it's a colorful plane filled with cute animals either. A lot of people have been comparing this to the Redwall book series, so I may have to set aside some time to read those books.
But you're not here to read about my reading habits - you're here for Magic rules questions and answers. And just before we dive into this week's article, remember that you can send your own questions in to us and we'll send you an answer back. We may even use your questions in a future article. If you have a short question, you can find us at @CranialTweet, but if you have a longer question, you can send us an e-mail at moko@cranialinsertion.com . And now, onto Bloomburrow!
Q: If I cast Junkblade Bruiser by paying five mana, will it enter as a 6/6 thanks to its expend ability?
A: No, it enters as a 4/5. The Bruiser has a triggered ability that triggers if it's on the battlefield when you spend your fourth mana to cast a spell that turn. The Bruiser is on the stack when you spent your fourth mana, so it won't trigger off of the mana used to cast the Bruiser itself.
Q: After my Junkblade Bruiser resolved in the previous question, I spend four mana and cast Treetop Sentries. Will that trigger the Bruiser's ability?
A: No, you don't get a trigger here either. The expend 4 ability triggers when you spend your fourth total mana on a spell each turn, not the fourth mana that the card sees. Casting the Sentries means you're spending your sixth through ninth mana for the turn, not your fourth mana, so the Bruiser's ability will not trigger.
Q: I cast Peerless Recycling, gifting my opponent a card. If my opponent drew Dazzling Denial off of their gift, could they use it to counter my Peerless Recycling?
A: They cannot. When Peerless Recycling begins to resolve, since you choose to gift a card, the first thing that happens is that your opponent draws a card. However, we're in the middle of resolving a spell, so players won't get priority until after that spell is completely done resolving. So while your opponent did draw a counter spell, since we've already started to resolve Peerless Recycling, they won't be able to counter the resolving Peerless Recycling.
Q: Will Valley Questcaller give +1/+1 or +2/+2 to my Lifecreed Duo?
A: Only +1/+1. The Questcaller has a single ability that gives Rabbits, Bats, Birds, and Mice +1/+1. The ability doesn't care if the creature has multiple of the listed types. The Duo is both a Bat and a Bird, but since the Questcaller doesn't care if it has multiple types, it still only gets +1/+1 from the Questcaller.
Q: I cast Wishing Well, but I don't have any instant or sorcery cards in my graveyard with a mana value of 1. Can I still activate the Well's ability?
A: Sure. The Well's activated ability doesn't target anything. When the ability resolves and you add the coin counter, that will cause a reflexive trigger to go on the stack, and that trigger will target. If there's no legal targets for the reflexive trigger, you'll just remove the trigger from the stack and it won't resolve, but the Well already received the coin counter from the activated ability resolving and it will keep that counter.
Q: I cast Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest and exile the top card of my library. My opponent then destroys Dragonhawk with Repel Calamity. Assuming I don't play the exiled card, will my opponent still take damage during my end step?
A: Yes, they will take two damage. The delayed trigger is set up by Dragonhawk's enter the battlefield trigger resolving. That delayed trigger will still go on the stack at the end of turn even if Dragonhawk is no longer on the battlefield. If you don't play the exiled card, your opponent will still take two damage from the delayed triggered ability.
Q: If I cast Cruelclaw's Heist and gift a card to my opponent, will they draw before or after I look at their hand?
A: They'll draw before you look at their hand. When resolving an instant or sorcery spell, if you gifted your opponent something (in this case, a card), the first thing that happens when the spell resolves is that the opponent receives that gift, then you resolve the spell like normal. If your opponent has an empty hand, you can gift your opponent a card with the Heist, then make them exile the card they just drew (unless they drew a land, in which case your opponent probably will thank you).
The best part of an adventure is doing so
with a friend.
with a friend.
Q: Could I cast Mockingbird with X=0 and not have it copy anything?
A: Sure. If you choose to copy nothing as Mockingbird enters, then it enters as its normal self. For most Clone effects, this would be bad, since they're base 0/0 creatures. But Mockingbird is a base 1/1 with flying, so if it copies nothing, then it will enter as a 1/1 flyer, so if you'd rather have a Flying Men than be able to copy something else later on, you're free to do that.
Q: I have four creatures in play, and my opponent controls Maha, its Feathers Night. If I cast Burrowguard Mentor, will it be a 5/5 or a 5/1?
A: It's a 5/1. When we apply effects that modify power and toughness, we apply the creature's own characteristic-defining ability that sets its power and toughness first, then we apply other effects that set the power and toughness. Maha's effect will always apply after the Mentor's own ability, and the Mentor's base toughness will be 1.
Q: I cast Dewdrop Cure, returning Gev, Scaled Scorch and Brightblade Stoat to the battlefield. Assuming my opponent has lost life this turn, will my Stoat enter with a +1/+1 counter on it?
A: It will not. The Cure returns both creatures at the same time, not one at a time. And Gev has a replacement effect, not a triggered ability, so Gev has to be on the battlefield when the other creature enters for Gev to apply. It won't apply to a creature that's entering at the same time as itself. Since Gev isn't on the battlefield when the Stoat enters, Gev won't apply and won't give the Stoat a bonus +1/+1 counter.
Q: I have a Heaped Harvest in play. If I cast Curious Forager, can I sacrifice the Harvest and return the Harvest to my hand with the Forager's ability?
A: Yep, you can do that. When the Forager's enter the battlefield trigger resolves, you can forage and sacrifice the Harvest (since it's a Food). That will cause the reflexive trigger from the Forager to trigger, and since the Harvest is in your graveyard, it can be targeted by the reflexive trigger.
As an added bonus, since the Harvest's ability triggers when you sacrifice it for any reason, sacrificing it to forage means its ability will trigger and you'll be able to search for a basic land.
Q: If I control Mistbreath Elder and another creature, do I have to return that other creature to my hand when the Elder's trigger resolves during my upkeep?
A: Yes you do. If you control another creature besides Mistbreath Elder when the trigger resolves, you must return it to your hand. You can't choose to return nothing if there's a creature you could return.
Q: I attack with a 4/3 Essence Channeler and my opponent blocks with Thistledown Players. If I activate Lunar Convocation to lose life and give my Channeler flying, what happens?
A: Not much. Giving your Channeler flying after blockers are declared won't undo the block that your opponent has already made. The Channeler is still being blocked by your opponent's Players, and they'll deal damage to each other like normal. If you didn't want the Players to block, you need to lose life before blockers are declared, not after.
If I make a joke, he'll beat me up.
Q: I have a Festival of Embers in play. If I activate its ability to sacrifice Festival of Embers, where does it end up?
A: It ends up exiled. When the activated ability resolves, you sacrifice the Festival and it would go to the graveyard. But its own replacement effect applies to itself, and the Festival ends up in exile instead of going to the graveyard.
Q: I control an Innkeeper's Talent that I've leveled up to level 3. What happens if I play a Saga, like Welcome to Sweettooth? What happens when it enters, and what happens when I add a counter during my main phase?
A: Entering the battlefield with counters counts as putting counters on it, so Sweettooth will enter with two lore counters instead of one lore counter (since entering the battlefield with counters counts as putting counters on it). Since it entered with two lore counters, the chapter I and II triggers will both trigger. During your next precombat main phase, when it would add one lore counter, the Talent applies again and it will add two lore counters. This isn't relevant to Sweettooth, since it doesn't have a chapter IV trigger, but you will get the chapter III trigger like normal. If it had a chapter IV trigger, then you'd get the III and IV triggers.
Note that if the Saga had the Read Ahead ability, like The Weatherseed Treaty, you would only get the chapter II trigger when it enters and not the chapter I trigger, due to the way Read Ahead works.
Q: I control Zinnia, Valley's Voice and I cast Goldvein Hydra with X=5 and also paid for the offspring additional cost. Does the offspring token also enter with five +1/+1 counters?
A: No, it won't enter with any counters. When the offspring trigger resolves once the Hydra enters the battlefield, you're creating a copy of the Hydra as it exists on the battlefield. Since counters are not copiable, the token Hydra will not enter with any counters. You have a 1/1 Hydra token, but it won't have five +1/+1 counters like the original Hydra has.
Q: If I have a Patchwork Banner in play naming "Squirrel", does that mean 1/1 Squirrels will no longer affect the bonus from Sword of the Squeak since they're 2/2 creatures?
A: Nope, your 1/1 Squirrels will still help out. For the most part, a creature's base power and toughness are going to be its printed power or if some effect sets its base power and toughness. (For example, Maha, Its Feathers Night makes the opponent's creatures have a base toughness of 1.) If a creature has a characteristic-defining ability (like Maro), then its base power is equal to whatever that ability sets it to, so if you have two cards in your hand, Maro's base power and toughness are 2/2. Your 1/1 Squirrels may be 2/2s because of the Banner, but their base power and toughness are still 1/1, so they'll count for the Sword's ability.
Q: I control a Vedalken Orrery and my opponent has five Treasures in play. If my opponent sacrifices those five Treasures for mana, can I respond by flashing in Bloodroot Apothecary to give them ten poison counters so they lose the game?
A: No, that doesn't work. The Treasures are sacrificed as a cost to activating their ability, and paying costs doesn't use the stack and can't be responded to. By the time the Apothecary is on the battlefield, those Treasures have already been sacrificed, and since the Apothecary wasn't on the battlefield when they were sacrificed, it will not trigger.
Q: If I cast Spiteful Banditry with X=2 or more, will it be affected by Bello, Bard of the Brambles while it's on the battlefield?
A: Nope, it won't become a creature due to Bello's effect. While on the stack, X is equal to the value you set it at during announcement, but once it leaves the stack and enters the battlefield, the X in the cost is 0. The mana value of the Banditry on the battlefield is 2, which is not 4 or more, so Bello won't make the Banditry into a creature.
Q: I'm in a four-player game, and one of my opponents controls Alhammarret's Archive. If I cast Communal Brewing and target each of my opponents to draw a card, how many counters will my Brewing get?
A: It will end up with five counters on it - the one it normally gets, plus four more counters since your opponents just drew four cards. You targeted three opponents to draw a card. However, one of your opponents drew two cards because of their Archive. Since the Brewing cares about how many cards they just drew, including the extra draw because of the Archive's replacement effect, the Brewing gets four counters from your opponents drawing a total of four cards, plus one the Brewing naturally gets when the trigger resolves, for a total of five counters.
That's it for this week. Join us again next week!
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