Published on 03/03/2025
Digging Into My Backlog
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, and Justin Hovdenes
This Article from: Nathan Long
Cranial Translation
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Hiya everyone, and welcome back to Cranial Insertion! This week, I'm just getting back from MagicCon Chicago, so I'm still getting a little caught up on life. Unlike some of my co-writers, I don't really take notes while I'm on the floor judging, so this isn't going to an in-depth review of the event, but I did dig deep into my backlog of questions, and so this week, I have a variety of questions from Magic's history to cover, including an in-depth discussion about why Frost Titan doesn't have ward.
And if you have a question about the rules of Magic, feel free to reach out to us and ask. We'll send you back an answer, and we may use your question in a future article. If you have a short question, reach out to us at @CranialTweet, and if you have a longer question, you can send us an e-mail at moko@cranialinsertion.com .
Q: I have an Avishkar Raceway in play with no cards in hand but I have max speed. Can I activate the last ability even though I can't discard a card?
A: You cannot. Part of the cost to activate the last ability is discarding a card. If your hand is empty, you can't pay the cost to activate the ability since you don't have a card you can discard, so you won't be able to activate the ability.
Q: Earlier in the game, I cast Steel Seraph for its prototype cost. If I activate Repurposing Bay and sacrifice that Steel Seraph, am I searching for an artifact card with a mana value of 4 or 7?
A: You'll search for an artifact card with a mana value of 4. Since the Seraph was cast for its prototype cost, it has its prototype characteristics while it's on the battlefield. Repurposing Bay cares about the mana value of the artifact when it was last on the battlefield, not its mana value in the graveyard. Since its mana value was 3 when it was last on the battlefield, the Bay will let you search for something with a mana value of 4.
Q: I have max speed, Mendicant Core, Guidelight, and a Twinning Staff in play. If I cast an artifact spell and copy it with the Core's triggered ability, will the Staff apply and give me an additional copy of my artifact spell?
A: Yes it will! Twinning Staff applies any time you copy a spell on the stack, not just an instant or sorcery spell. The Core's triggered ability is copying your artifact spell, which means the Staff will apply and you'll end up creating two copies of that artifact spell instead of one copy.
Q: I started the game with Leyline Axe on the battlefield. If I play an Island and cast Behind the Mask targeting it on my first turn, can I attack with the Axe?
A: Yep, you can attack with it. Since the Axe starts the game on the battlefield, it will start your first turn under your control, which means that if you turn it into a creature, it can attack that turn. But keep in mind that you just have a 4/3 Leyline Axe - it's not attached to itself, so it doesn't give itself +1/+1, double strike, or trample.
Q: My only creatures in play are Battlesong Berserker and Ruby, Daring Tracker. If I attack with both, can I stack my triggers so the Berserker pumps its own power to 4 so Ruby can give herself +2/+2?
A: No, that won't work. When Ruby attacks, before any triggers go on the stack, we check to see if you control any creatures with power 4 or greater. The Berserker's power is 3 at this point, since its trigger hasn't even gone the stack yet, so Ruby's ability won't even trigger. Even though the Berserker's power becomes 4 later on, it's too late for Ruby to care.
Q: I have Tinybones, Bauble Burglar as my only creature in play. If I cast Fraying Omnipotence, will I exile the cards my opponent discards or will I have to sacrifice Tinybones first?
A: You'll get to exile the discarded cards. When we resolve Fraying Omnipotence, we resolve the effects in the order they're listed on the card. Players lose life first, then discard cards, and finally sacrifice creatures. Tinybones won't be sacrificed until after the opponent has discarded half of the cards from their hand, so Tinybones will trigger for those discarded cards and you'll exile the cards your opponent discarded.
I've been saving some of these for a rainy day.
Q: If I attack with Sphinx of Forgotten Lore and target Approach of the Second Sun with its trigger, if I cast Approach of the Second Sun, what happens when it resolves?
A: You gain 7 life and Approach of the Second Sun is exiled. If a spell cast via flashback would leave the stack, it's exiled instead of being put anywhere else. You didn't cast this Approach from your hand, you cast it from the graveyard, so you won't win the game (even if you had already cast the Approach earlier in the game). Then the Approach tries to put it into your library, but flashback sees the Approach would leave the stack, and it's exiled instead of going into your library, and finally you gain 7 life.
Q: I have Glarb, Calamity's Augur in play, and the top card of my library is Overlord of the Balemurk. Can I cast the Overlord for its impending cost, or can I only cast it normally?
A: You can cast it via impending if you want to. The Overlord's mana value is always 5, even if you're casting its for its impending cost. Even though you'll only spend two mana to cast it, Glarb will let you cast the Overlord from the top of your library.
Q: If I have Tinybones Joins Up in play and I ninjutsu in Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, will Tinybones Joins Up trigger?
A: Yep, you'll get a trigger. Since it's your turn, Kaito is entering as a legendary creature due to its own ability, which means that Tinybones Joins Up will trigger. It doesn't matter that it's not naturally a creature, since it's your turn, Kaito is a legendary creature on the battlefield, so Tinybones Joins Up triggers from Kaito entering.
Q: Is Muerra, Trash Tactician's first ability a mana ability?
A: It is not a mana ability. While it is a triggered ability that could produce mana when it resolves, for a triggered ability to be a mana ability, it has to trigger off of another mana ability being activated or resolving or from mana being added to a player's mana pool. Muerra's ability is triggering because your first main phase is beginning, not because of another mana ability, so Muerra's triggered ability is not a mana ability.
Q: I have a Sinister Concoction in play, but my library is empty. Can I still activate the Concoction's ability even if I can't mill a card?
A: You cannot. In order to pay a cost that involves milling one card, you have to have at least one card in your library. Since your library is empty, you can't mill a card, so you can't pay the cost and you won't be able to activate the Concoction's ability.
Q: I'm at 1 life, and I control The One Ring with three burden counters on it. Do I get a chance to use Goblin Welder's ability during my upkeep to get rid of The One Ring so I won't lose any life?
A: No, that won't work. You do get a chance to activate the Welder's ability in response to The One Ring's trigger during your upkeep, so you could sacrifice it and get another artifact back from your graveyard. But if The One Ring isn't on the battlefield when its upkeep trigger resolves, you use last known information about how many burden counters were on it to determine how much life you lose. Since it had three burden counters on it, you still lose 3 life, which will be enough to kill you.
Q: I have a Defense Grid in play. On my turn, I cast Chain of Vapor to bounce an opponent's permanent. If my opponent wants to make a copy of my Chain of Vapors, do they have to pay an additional
?A: They do not. The copy made by Chain of Vapors isn't cast - the copy is put on the stack. Since your opponent is not casting the copy, Defense Grid will not tax their copy, so they'll be able to make a copy by only sacrificing a land and without having to worry about the tax from Defense Grid.
Destroy target library. It can't be regenerated.
Q: I was looking at some old Magic cards like Rashida Scalebane and Frenetic Efreet and they use the word "bury." What does bury mean?
A: Bury is an outdated term that isn't used on Magic cards anymore. Anything that used to use "bury" now says one of two phrases - it either tells to you to "sacrifice it" or to "destroy it and it can't be regenerated". To know exactly which phrasing they use, it's easiest to check its current Oracle text in Gatherer - for example, Rashida tells you to destroy the attacking or blocking Dragon and it can't be regenerated, while the Efreet will be sacrificed if you lose the flip.
Q: I control a Library of Leng and a Hashaton, Scarab's Fist. If I discard a creature card but put it on top of my library with Library of Leng's replacement effect, what kind of token will I make with Hashaton's trigger?
A: You don't make a token at all, since Hashaton didn't trigger. You discarded a card from your hand to your library without it being revealed, so we can't get any information about the card. Hashaton only triggers if you discarded a creature card, but since the game can't confirm that the card you discarded was a creature card or not, it doesn't trigger at all and you won't be able to make a token. If you want a Hashaton trigger, you can't replace the discard with the Library's effect and you need to let it go to the graveyard.
Q: I control a Parallel Lives and a Faerie Artisans. My opponent cast a Giant Octopus, and I got two token copies of the Octopus from my Artisan trigger. Then my opponent cast an Ancient Crab. When the Artisan's trigger resolves, do I exile both of my Octopus tokens or do I get to keep one of them?
A: Both are exiled. The Artisan's trigger made both Giant Octopus tokens. The Lives didn't create anything, it caused the Artisan's trigger to create two Giant Octopuses instead of one. Since both Giant Octopus tokens were created by the Artisan trigger, both tokens are exiled the next time the Artisan's trigger resolves.
Q: I have 9 poison counters, and my opponent just cast their commander Atraxa, Praetors' Voice. If I cast Teferi's Protection, will that stop my opponent from proliferating my poison counter with Atraxa's trigger?
A: Nope. Proliferate doesn't target anything. They just choose any number of players or permanents and add additional counters to those players and permanents. While you have protection from everything, that won't help against Atraxa's trigger, and they'll still be able to choose you and give you a tenth (and lethal) poison counter.
Q: I cast Mimeoplasm, Revered One and exile three cards from my graveyard, but my opponent destroys Mimeoplasm. If I recast Mimeoplasm and exile two more creature cards, will Mimeoplasm have access to the three creature cards it exiled previously?
A: No, it won't have access to them. Since Mimeoplasm left the battlefield and returned, it's a new object that doesn't have any link to its previous life on the battlefield. Since it's a new object, it only has access to the two creature card you just exiled to Mimeoplasm's replacement effect, not the three cards it had exiled previously.
Q: I control Mizzix of the Izmagnus while I have five experience counters. If I want to cast Curse of the Swine, can I cast it with X=3, or do I have to cast it with at least X=5?
A: You choose the value of X that you want, and then Mizzix can reduce the cost you pay. You're not forced to pick a large enough X so that you can get the full discount from Mizzix. If you only want to cast Curse of the Swine targeting three creatures, that's fine, and you can cast the Curse with X=3. You're not forced to cast it with X=5 because of the discount from Mizzix.
Q: Why doesn't Frost Titan use ward? Don't they have the same ability?
A: Ok, this is getting pretty deep into the differences (so I won't blame anyone for not getting this right away), but there is a very small difference between Frost Titan's trigger and ward - and that's who will be paying when the trigger resolves.
Ward says "that player pays X", so the player who cast the spell targeting the creature will be the one who pays. However, Frost Titan says "its controller pays
", which means that the spell's controller when the trigger resolves will have to pay. When might this matter? If control of the spell changes after the trigger is put on the stack but before it resolves - for example, Perplexing Chimera. If A has a creature with ward and B casts a spell targeting it, but C gains control of B's spell with Perplexing Chimera's trigger before the ward trigger resolves, B will still have to pay for the ward trigger, since B controlled the spell when it was cast. But if A's creature was a Frost Titan instead, when the Frost Titan's trigger resolves, since C controls the spell when Frost Titan's trigger resolves, C would have to pay for Frost Titan's trigger, not B. It's a small difference, but enough of a difference to prevent Frost Titan from using ward.
That's all I have for you this week. See you again next week!
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