Published on 12/30/2024
Natedogg's 2024 in Review
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, and Justin Hovdenes
This Article from: Nathan Long
Cranial Translation
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A real whodunit at the beginning of the year.
And if you have questions about any card you saw in the last year (or even years past), feel free to send it in to us. We'll send an answer back, and maybe even use your question in a future article. If you have a short question, you can reach out to us at @CranialTweet, but if you have a longer question, you can send us an e-mail at moko@cranialinsertion.com .
Q: I cast Inspiration from Beyond with an empty graveyard, but the only instant or sorcery spell I milled is a Creeping Chill. Can I choose to leave the Chill in my graveyard so I can use its triggered ability?
A: No you may not. The Inspiration's effect is not optional. After milling a card, you must choose an instant or sorcery card in your graveyard to return to your hand. Even if you'd rather leave it in the graveyard, if there are no other instant or sorcery cards in your graveyard, you must choose to return Creeping Chill to your hand. When the Chill's triggered ability resolves, since you can't exile it from your graveyard, you won't do the rest of the effect.
Q: I control an Experiment One that has two +1/+1 counters on it but took 1 damage in combat. My opponent casts Mugging targeting my Experiment One. Can I safely regenerate my Experiment One so it survives?
A: No, you won't be able to regenerate it because of the marked damage already on it. You remove two +1/+1 counters from the One as a cost to activate its ability, but it won't get the regeneration shield until that ability resolves. After activating the ability, Experiment One is a 1/1 with 1 damage marked on it, and Experiment One dies, before it can get the regeneration shield from its ability.
Q: My opponent just cast Progenitus. On my turn, I cast Deadly Cover-Up and collect evidence 6. Will I get a chance to exile my opponent's Progenitus before it shuffles into my opponent's library?
A: You don't get that chance. Progenitus has a replacement effect, not a triggered ability. Instead of being put into the graveyard, it's shuffled into its owner's library. When you choose a card to exile from the opponent's graveyard, Progenitus isn't there, since it's been shuffled into the opponent's library, and cannot be chosen by the second part of Deadly Cover-Up's effect.
Q: I cast Dragon Fodder with Judith, Carnage Connoisseur in play. If I choose to give the Fodder deathtouch and lifelink, will the tokens it creates also have deathtouch and lifelink?
A: They will not. Judith can give the Fodder deathtouch and lifelink, but that's only useful if the spell itself is dealing damage. It doesn't affect anything else the spell does, especially not the tokens the Fodder creates. The tokens created by the Fodder will still be normal Goblin tokens, not tokens with lifelink or deathtouch.
Q: I cast the last card in my hand - Carnage Interpreter. Even if I don't discard any cards, will I still create the Clues?
A: Yep, you'll still investigate four times. Even if your hand is empty, you can discard your hand, and investigating doesn't care how many cards were discarded from your hand. Despite discarding zero cards to the Interpreter's ability, you'll still create four Clue tokens.
Q: If I attack with Craig Boone, Novac Guard and another creature, triggering Craig's ability, but my opponent doesn't control any creatures, what happens? Are they forced to take the damage?
A: Nope, they won't take any damage from the trigger. Craig Boone's reflexive trigger targets "up to one target creature", so you can choose zero targets if you want to. But in that case, there's no target creature to reference (and thus there's no creature's controller to reference), so the reflexive trigger does nothing when it resolves and no damage is dealt.
Q: Will Mr. House, President and CEO trigger off of any die that I roll, or only six sided dice?
A: As long as the die has a numerical result, Mr. House can trigger off of it. If you're rolling a die and roll a four or higher, Mr. House's first ability will trigger. Even if the die has a lot more numbers than six — like you dipped into your old Adventures in the Forgotten Realms cards and found some cards that let you roll a d20 — Mr. House can trigger off of the result of that die roll.
No matter how high the jump, you'll always land
in the haystack.
in the haystack.
Q: What is the mana value of a spree card like Three Steps Ahead?
A: The mana value of Three Steps Ahead is always 1, even if it's on the stack. Mana value is derived from the mana cost of the card, and the mana value of Three Steps Ahead is always 1. Even when you're casting it and choosing one or more modes, those modes won't change the mana value of the spell, so even if you cast Three Steps Ahead with all three modes chosen, its mana value is still only 1.
Q: I control Annie Joins Up and Magda, the Hoardmaster. If I play Abraded Bluffs and target my opponent with the trigger, will I get two Magda triggers and two Treasures?
A: No, you only get one Magda trigger. Magda's triggered ability can only trigger once each turn. Annie Joins Up lets it trigger an additional time, but that doesn't get around the restriction of the trigger that says it can only trigger once each turn. Annie Joins Up isn't going to help out your Magda triggers, since you'll still only get one Magda trigger each turn.
Q: If I use mana from Arena of Glory's last ability to cast a vehicle spell like Cultivator's Caravan, will the Caravan gain haste?
A: No, it won't have haste. Arena of Glory will only give haste to a creature spell that's cast with the mana. While Cultivator's Caravan can become a creature once it's on the battlefield and crewed, it's an artifact - Vehicle spell on the stack, not a creature spell. Since the Caravan is not a creature spell, using mana from the Arena's last ability will not give the Caravan haste.
Q: Can I sacrifice Urza's Cave and search for Garden of Freyalise, the back face of Disciple of Freyalise?
A: You cannot. Unless you are playing or casting the card, it only has the characteristics of the front face. You ignore whatever is on the back face of a modal double-faced card. The front face is a creature, the back face is a land, so in your library, it's only a creature card, so you cannot search for it with Urza's Cave's ability.
Q: I attack with Ezio Auditore da Firenze equipped with a Sword of Feast and Famine. Can I stack my triggers so my lands untap before I deal with Ezio's trigger?
A: Yep, you can do that. You control both triggers, so you choose the order they're put on the stack. You can stack the triggers so the Sword's trigger resolves first, untapping your lands, then resolve Ezio's trigger and use the lands you just untapped to pay for the trigger. You could even respond to the Sword trigger itself by tapping your lands for mana, letting the Sword untap your lands, then use that floating mana and additional mana from your lands to pay for the trigger. This is handy if you only have one source of two colors of mana. You could tap your Hallowed Fountain for blue mana, untap it with the Sword trigger, then tap it for white mana.
Q: On their turn, my opponent cast Tranquilize to put three stun counters on my creature. If I give the creature protection from blue on my turn, will it cause the stun counters to fall off?
A: No, protection won't help here. Protection won't get rid of any counters that are already on the creature (and counters don't have a color), so giving the creature protection doesn't get rid of any of the stun counters. You'll have to wait for your creature to untap a few more times and lose those remaining stun counters before it will finally untap.
She who laughs last laughs best.
Q: What happens if I have a Rolling Hamsphere in play and play Bello, Bard of the Brambles? Does my Hamsphere lose its abilities? Do I still need to crew it?
A: This works out very well for your Hamsphere. During your turn, Bello will turn your Hamsphere into a 4/4 creature with haste, indestructible, and the combat damage trigger. Bello doesn't say that your animated Hamsphere loses any abilities, so it doesn't, so it still has its normal abilities, which means that it's probably bigger than a 4/4, since it will still get +1/+1 for each Hamster you control. And you don't need to worry about crewing it, since Bello's effect makes it into a creature for you.
Q: Can I choose "enchantment" as a creature type when Patchwork Banner enters the battlefield?
A: No you cannot. "Enchantment" is not a creature type - it's a permanent type. Creature types are to the right side of the hyphen on the type line, not the left side. If you wanted to buff your Overlord of the Hauntwoods, you'd have to choose "Avatar" or "Horror", since those are both creature types.
Q: I have a single creature in play, and so does my opponent. Can I cast Sporogenic Infection on my own creature and make my opponent sacrifice their creature?
A: Sure. Sporogenic Infection says "enchant creature", not "enchant creature an opponent controls". You're free to cast it on your own creature. When it enters, you can choose your opponent as the target for the triggered ability, and they'll have to sacrifice their creature when the trigger resolves. Your creature will still be destroyed if it's dealt damage thanks to the Infection's last triggered ability, but it is a sneaky way to remove an opponent's creature if they only have one creature in play.
Q: I have my commander Marvo, Deep Operative in play. I attack with Marvo, and I clash with my opponent, winning the clash because I revealed Mirror Room // Fractured Realm. After drawing it with the second trigger, will I be able to cast either side with Marvo's second trigger?
A: Yep, you can cast either side. Anywhere but the stack, a Room card's mana value is the sum of the two sides. But while on the stack, it only has the mana value of the side you're casting, and Marvo's trigger only cares about the mana value of the spell on the stack. You'll be able to cast either Mirror Room (since its mana value is 3 on the stack) or Fractured Room (since its mana value is 7 while on the stack) with Marvo's triggered ability.
Q: I control Linden, the Steadfast Queen. If I attack with three white creatures, how many Linden triggers do I get?
A: You get three triggers. Linden triggers for each white creature you attack with. It doesn't say "Whenever you attack with one ore more white creatures...", so it's a separate trigger for each white creature you attack with, which is good news for your Ajani's Pridemate.
Q: Can I find Hustle // Bustle with Micromancer's triggered ability?
A: You cannot. Hustle's mana value on the stack may be 1, but anywhere except the stack, the mana value of a split card is the sum of the two sides. The mana value of Hustle // Bustle in your library is 7, which is not 1 or less, so you cannot find it with the Micromancer's triggered ability.
Q: I control Qala, Ajani's Pridemate that has a +1/+1 counter, a flying counter, and a lifelink counter from a Reluctant Role Model that died earlier. If I attack with Qala, how big of a bonus will my other creatures get from its triggered ability?
A: Your other creatures get +3/+0. Qala's ability counts all counters on it with its triggered ability, not just +1/+1 counters (although those are the easiest to get on Qala). Since Qala has three counters on it, its attack trigger will give your creatures +3/+0 until end of turn.
That's it for this year. We'll see you again next year!
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