Published on 09/30/2024
Little House of Horrors
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, and Justin Hovdenes
This Article from: Carsten Haese
Cranial Translation
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Speaking of our inbox, if you have questions for us, you can email them to moko@cranialinsertion.com or send short questions to us on X at @CranialTweet. One of our authors will send you an answer, and your question might even appear in a future article.
And now, let's turn on our flashlights, don't split up, and see what the House of Horror has in store for us.
Q: Let's say I use Underworld Breach to escape Fear of Abduction from my graveyard. I exile a creature I control to Fear of Abduction's usual additional cost, as well as three cards from my graveyard for the escape cost. When Fear of Abduction leaves the battlefield, do all four cards get returned to my hand?
A: No. The last ability of Fear of Abduction is linked to its first ability and to its enters ability, so it only finds cards that were exiled by those two abilities. While Fear of Abduction had escape while it was in your graveyard, that ability is not linked to the last ability, so the last ability can't see the cards that were exiled for the escape cost.
Q: I somehow control two copies of Agatha's Soul Cauldron and each of them have exiled their own Quirion Ranger. Does this mean my creatures with +1/+1 counters have two instances of Quirion Ranger's ability that can each be activated once?
A: Yes, that works. Each Cauldron gives your creatures with +1/+1 counters on them a separate instance of Quirion Ranger's ability, and each instance tracks its activation restriction separately, so both abilities can be activated once per turn. Note, however, that you can also achieve this end result by simply exiling two Quirion Rangers with one Soul Cauldron.
Q: I control Starfield of Nyx and enough enchantments for its second ability to be active, and I control Enduring Tenacity. If Enduring Tenacity dies, does it come back as a creature because of Starfield of Nyx?
A: It comes back, but it won't be a creature. Both Starfield of Nyx and the triggered ability that returned Enduring Tenacity create type-changing effects that apply in layer 4. Neither effect changes what the other effect applies to or what it does, so there is no dependency, which means that the effects are applied in timestamp order. The timestamp of Starfield of Nyx's effect was established way back when it entered the battlefield, which we'll call "some time ago." The other effect was established by a resolving ability, so it got its timestamp when that ability resolved, which we'll call "very recently." To get Enduring Tenacity's stats, we start with what's printed on it, then we apply Starfield of Nyx's effect to turn it into a creature (which does nothing because it is a creature at that stage), and then we apply its own "is (only) an enchantment" effect, so it's only an enchantment.
Q: If I use Trapped in the Screen to exile a manifested sorcery card, what happens when Trapped in the Screen leaves the battlefield?
A: The exiled card wants to return to the battlefield, but a sorcery card isn't allowed to be on the battlefield, so nothing happens and the card remains exiled indefinitely.
Q: Does casting a legendary creature trigger Rendmaw, Creaking Nest's token-making ability?
A: In general, no. Legendary is a supertype, not a card type, so it doesn't count towards the two (or more) card types that Rendmaw's ability is looking for. The card types are artifact, battle, conspiracy, creature, dungeon, enchantment, instant, kindred, land, phenomenon, plane, planeswalker, scheme, sorcery, and vanguard. However, once you look for combinations of two or more card types that exist on cards that you can play, the vast majority of them are covered by artifact creature or land, enchantment creature or land, and kindred artifact/enchantment/instant/sorcery.
Q: I have a Balustrade Wurm in my graveyard along with enough other card types to turn on its delirium ability, but it's the only creature card in my graveyard, so delirium would "turn off" if it left the graveyard. Can I still return it to the battlefield with its ability?
A: Of course. The activation restriction only cares about whether there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard at the time you activate the ability. It doesn't matter if this condition becomes false during the resolution of the ability, or even before the resolution of the ability.
Who you gonna call?
A: No. Dies triggers in particular and leave-the-battlefield triggers in general look back in time and trigger based on the game state that existed immediately before the trigger event. In that game state, Wary Watchdog didn't have any abilities at all, let alone a dies trigger, so the ability doesn't trigger.
Q: I control Enduring Tenacity that my opponent has enchanted with Unable to Scream. If Enduring Tenacity dies, does it come back as an enchantment?
A: No, for exactly the same reason as in the previous question. Enduring Tenacity has a dies trigger, but it didn't have that ability when it was on the battlefield, so the ability doesn't trigger.
Q: If I control Soaring Lightbringer and attack my opponent with five creatures, does Soaring Lightbringer's ability trigger five times?
A: No. Soaring Lightbringer's trigger event is "you attack a player", not "you attack a player with a creature." Since the trigger event doesn't pay attention to the individual creatures, it only triggers once regardless of how many creatures you attack with. Of course, if you have multiple opponents and attack each of them with some number of creatures, you get one trigger for each opponent.
Q: If ten creatures die at the same time due to something like Wrath of God, how many rev counters does Chainsaw get?
A: Just one. Just like in the previous question, it's important to look at how specific the trigger condition is. In this case, it's the difference between "whenever a creature dies" and "whenever one or more creatures die." The former triggers once for each creature that died, while the latter triggers only once regardless of how many creatures died, and Chainsaw uses the latter.
Q: Does Zimone, All-Questioning's ability give me a Primo token if I control 53 lands?
A: Yes. Fifty-three is a prime number even though it's not listed in Zimone's reminder text. The reminder text only lists the first few prime numbers that are likely to matter in Magic games, but it does not claim to be an exhaustive list. (After all, while there are some unanswered questions in mathematics regarding prime numbers, it is proven that there are infinitely many of them.)
Q: I control Paranormal Analyst and They Came from the Pipes enters. Does Paranormal Analyst's ability trigger twice?
A: Yes. The enters ability of They Came from the Pipes instructs you to manifest dread twice, which you do in two separate instructions, and each one triggers Paranormal Analyst's "whenever you manifest dread" ability.
There's a light, a light
In the darkness of everybody's life
In the darkness of everybody's life
A: They'll phase back in as Shards. The copy effect that turned them into Bear Cubs expires at the beginning of the next end step, and this happens even if the Shards are phased out at that time.
Q: I control Niko, Light of Hope and some Shard tokens, and I use Niko's ability to turn them into copies of Nesting Dovehawk in my first main phase. Can those Nesting Dovehawk copies populate themselves at the beginning of combat?
A: They are still tokens, so yes, they can be copied with the populate ability. Also note that the populated copies remain copies of Nesting Dovehawk even after the Shards turn back into Shards at the beginning of the end step.
Q: Valgavoth, Terror Eater exiled some of my opponent's cards and then it left the battlefield. If I cast a new Valgavoth, can I play the cards that were exiled with Valgavoth before?
A: No. The ability that allows you to play the exiled cards is linked to the ability that exiled them, so it only looks for cards that were exiled by that ability of the same permanent. The cards that were exiled by the previous version of Valgavoth can't be accessed by the new Valgavoth and remain exiled indefinitely.
Q: I control an unlocked Fractured Realm and I mutate Parcelbeast onto a Vulpikeet. Does Fractured Realm double the mutate trigger?
A: Absolutely. The "whenever this creature mutates" ability is a triggered ability of a permanent you control, so Fractured Realm makes it trigger an additional time and your mutated Parcelkeet gets two +1/+1 counters.
Q: If a player is enchanted with Grievous Wound and gets attacked by ten 1/1 creatures, how often does Grievous Wound's ability trigger?
A: Assuming that no first strike or double strike is involved, all combat damage is dealt at the same time in one event. Since Grievous Wound's trigger condition doesn't distinguish the individual sources dealing the damage, this means that the ability triggers just once. If some (but not all) creatures have first strike, or if at least one creature has double strike, there will be two combat damage steps and Grievous Wound will trigger once in each of them.
Q: I destroy Xantcha, Sleeper Agent with Come Back Wrong, so it should enter the battlefield under my control, but its replacement effect makes it enter under my opponent's control. What happens at the beginning of the next end step?
A: The delayed triggered ability that was set up by Come Back Wrong instructs you to sacrifice Xantcha. However, a player can only sacrifice a permament that they control. Since you don't control Xantcha, nothing happens.
And that's all the time we have for this week's episode. Thanks for reading, and please come back next week for more Magic rules Q&A.
- Carsten Haese
About the Author:
Carsten Haese is a former Level 2 judge based in Toledo, OH. He is retired from active judging, but he still writes for Cranial Insertion and helps organize an annual charity Magic tournament that benefits the National MS Society.
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