Published on 09/02/2024
Bear Cubs and Internet Chatrooms
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, and Justin Hovdenes
This Article from: Justin Hovdenes
Cranial Translation
Deutsch
Français
You're telling me people naturally put
Bear Cubs in this many of their questions?
Bear Cubs in this many of their questions?
All of today's questions were pulled from the IRC Chatroom #magicjudges-rules. You can access it at the following link: #MagicJudges-Chat. This is a great resource if you need a question answered quickly, as the room is frequented by many judges with vast rules knowledge.
If you would like to see a question of yours answered in one of our upcoming articles, chances for that go way up if you send them directly to us. 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 . Most questions sent to us get answered in less than 24 hours.
Q: I control Trostani, Selesnya's Voice and a Bear Cub. If I cast Shanna, Sisay's Legacy, will I gain 0 or 2 life from Trostani's trigger?
A: You will actually gain 3 life. Shanna's ability counts herself, so she enters as a 3/3.
Q: If I cast Glaring Fleshraker by sacrificing three Eldrazi Spawn tokens, will Inga and Esika still see the mana was made by creatures even though the creatures are no longer around?
A: Yes, Inga and Esika will still trigger to draw you a card. The source of the mana was still a creature, it doesn't matter that the source no longer exists.
Q: My opponent controls three untapped Bear Cubs and Asceticism. I attack them with three Armored Warhorses and Odric, Master Tactician. I think I can force their Bears to block my Horses, they say I can't since their creatures have hexproof. Who is right?
A: Odric's ability doesn't target the creatures, so you can force the Bears to block the way you want.
Q: If I exile the spell Pact of the Titan with Nivmagus Elemental's ability, will I still need to pay
or lose the game on my next upkeep?A: Exiling a spell prevents it from resolving, so you don't have to pay for the pact as its trigger will never happen.
So I edit the cards used a little,
to make the questions easier to understand...
to make the questions easier to understand...
A: It does. The Forge is still creating the token, and so it gets sacrificed at end of turn.
Q: If I upgrade Caretaker's Talent to level 2 and choose to copy the Bear Cub token made by Minion Reflector, will the copy get sacrificed at end of turn?
A: Yes, it will. Minion Reflector gives the token the ability "At the beginning of the end step, sacrifice this permanent." This is a copiable value, so the Caretaker's version will also have this ability.
Q: If I upgrade Caretaker's Talent to level 2 and choose to copy the Phyrexian Horror token made by Urabrask's Forge, will the copy get sacrificed at end of turn?
A: The copy will not. The Forge's ability doesn't give the token the ability "At the beginning of the end step, sacrifice this creature.", instead the ability that created it tracks it and has you sacrifice it at end of turn. Urabrask's Forge didn't create the copy, so it doesn't make you sacrifice it.
There are two important lessons across the last three questions.
1) Did the extra copies still get made by the original source? (ie, replacement effect). If so, it's still gonna get sacrificed.
2) Did the original token have the self sacrifice ability? If so, it's still gonna get sacrificed.
Q: My opponent plays an Island triggering their Roil Elemental in an attempt to gain control of my Bear Cub. I respond to this trigger by copying the trigger with Return the Favor's first spree option. I choose Roil Elemental as the target of my copy of the ability, do I gain control of the Roil Elemental?
A: You do not. Effects that have a duration linked to how long you control a specific permanent never start if you don't control that permanent at the time the effect starts to apply. This is a little easier to understand in the case of something like Banisher Priest. If the Priest dies before it attempts to exile its target, it won't exile anything at all (even for a millisecond).
The duration of the "gain control of target creature" for Roil Elemental is "for as long as you control Roil Elemental". Since you don't yet control Roil Elemental, its duration has ended before it began, therefore you don't get to steal the Roil Elemental.
Q: Can I level up my Bandit's Talent to level 2 during my opponent's end step?
A: You can not. Rule 107.16a "[Cost]: Level N — [Abilities]" means "[Cost]: This Class's level becomes N. Activate only if this Class is level N-1 and only as a sorcery" and "As long as this Class is level N or greater, it has [abilities]." The important part of that rule being, "only as a sorcery".
Q: My opponent controls Doubling Season, Kami of Whispered Hopes, Ozolith, the Shattered Spire and a Bear Cub that has no counters on it. If my opponent activates Ozolith to put a +1/+1 counter on the Cub, how many counters will it get?
A: The answer varies. Most likely the opponent will choose the result to be 6, but they can choose to add only 4 or 5 if they wish. Season, Kami, and Ozolith each have a replacement effect that try to modify the same event. When this happens the affected player or controller of affected permanent, spell, or ability choose in which order to apply the replacement effects. There are six options here for the opponent to chose from, though there are only three different end results.
Option 1)
Start -> Kami -> Ozolith -> Season
1 counter +1 counter (now 2) +1 counter (now 3) x2 = 6 +1/+1 Counters
Option 2)
Start -> Ozolith -> Kami -> Season
1 counter +1 counter (now 2) +1 counter (now 3) x2 = 6 +1/+1 Counters
Option 3)
Start -> Ozolith -> Season -> Kami
1 counter +1 counter (now 2) x2 (now 4) +1 counter = 5 +1/+1 Counters
Option 4)
Start -> Kami -> Season -> Ozolith
1 counter +1 counter (now 2) x2 (now 4) +1 counter = 5 +1/+1 Counters
Option 5)
Start -> Season -> Ozolith -> Kami
1 counter x2 (now 2) +1 (now 3) +1 counter = 4 +1/+1 Counters
Option 6)
Start -> Season -> Kami -> Ozolith
1 counter x2 (now 2) +1 (now 3) +1 counter = 4 +1/+1 Counters
Q: My opponent controls Zinnia, Valley's Voice and has chosen to cast Bear Cub paying the offspring cost. Can I counter the Cub using Disdainful Stroke?
A: You can not. Although the opponent paid 4 mana to cast the Cub, additional costs (like offspring) or cost increases (like Lodestone Golem) don't change the mana value of a spell.
Q: Can I discard Kazuul's Cliffs to pay for Borborygmos Enraged's activated ability?
A: You can not. While in your hand, that card only has the characteristics of Kazuul's Fury. It can be played as a land, and it can be on the battlefield as the land side, but in all other zones it is only Kazuul's Fury.
Q: Can I use Burning Wish to retrieve a card like Faithless Looting from exile after it's been cast for its flashback cost?
A: You can not. The zone we call "exile" used to be called "removed from the game". Wish cards during that time could get cards that were "removed from the game", however not anymore. The exile zone is a zone in the game and really one could argue that "removed from the game" was still part of the game as many cards had built in ways to come back, such as Oblivion Ring and Momentary Blink. When the exile zone got its current name, the rules where changed so that Wish cards could no longer grab things from exile.
Besides, don't Bear Cubs make
the questions just a little cuter?
the questions just a little cuter?
A: Dual Nature will enter as an enchantment that is animated into a 4/4 Elemental creature with indestructible, haste, and "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card." It will see itself enter as a nontoken creature and will make a token copy of itself. The token it creates will be a normal enchantment that also gets animated into a creature by Bello, and it will also have indestructible, haste, and "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card." If Bello leaves the battlefield, both Dual Natures will revert to being just enchantments and won't have the abilities granted by Bello.
Q: I control Fisher's Talent which is upgraded to Level 2. I then cast Exotic Pets. Do the Shark tokens I get have "This creature can't be blocked"?
A: The Shark tokens will have no abilities. When Fisher's Talent replaces the Fishes with Sharks, it's not changing the stats but making a whole different token defined by its own ability. This is great for Exotic Pets, but bad for Reef Worm as its Fish token has a great ability you want it to keep, but Fisher's Talent will just make it into 3/3 Shark with no abilities.
Q: If my opponent Leave in the Dusts my Brisela, Voice of Nightmares, does one half of her end up in my graveyard? Or do both sides go to my hand?
A: Both cards end up in your hand. If Brisela would go to any zone from the battlefield, both cards that make her up go to that zone together as a single permanent. Once in that zone they separate and become the front faces of Bruna, the Fading Light and Gisela, the Broken Blade.
Q: At the beginning of my end step, my Hazel of the Rootbloom creates a Food token by copying a Food token I already had. Is there still time this turn to activate the first ability on my Idol of Oblivion?
A: Yes, you still have time. Activated abilities can be used during the end step, even after all triggered abilities have already resolved.
Q: If Hazel's Brewmaster's triggered ability exiles Devoted Druid, will I be able to tap my Food tokens for infinite
mana? A: Yes, you can. Noncreature permanents can have -1/-1 counters on them, the -1/-1 counters just don't become relevant until that permanent becomes a creature. When a card, token, or spell has an ability that references its own name, you can treat it as though it says "this object" instead of its name. So if something with a different name gains that ability, the ability still functions. Devoted Druid's second ability effectively reads "Put a -1/-1 counter on this object: Untap this object."
Q: I'm at 4 life and my opponent is attacking me with three Bear Cubs. If I block one Cub with my only creature, Ajani's Sunstriker, do I gain the life before I lose the game?
A: Yes, you do. Lifelink gains life simultaneous with dealing damage, so you will be at 2 life by the time state-based actions are checked.
Q: I have Dack Fayden's emblem. If I cast Shimmering Wings can I use it to gain control of one of my opponent's Bear Cubs?
A: Yes, you can. Although they don't say it in their text, Auras target when they are cast. This is rule 303.4a, "An Aura spell requires a target, which is defined by its enchant ability."
I'm all answered out, see you next time.
- Justin Hovdenes AKA Hovey
Level 2 Magic Judge
Rapid City, SD
No comments yet.
