Published on 04/23/2012
Waiting for Avacyn
By Eli Shiffrin, Carsten Haese, and James Bennett
This Article from: Carsten Haese
Cranial Translation
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Note: This article is over two years old. Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes. Proceed with caution.
Patience, my friends, Avacyn is coming!
Q: In a recent issue, you mentioned that all chosen cards go to the bottom of the library if Wheel of Sun and Moon and other permanents are sacrificed simultaneously. I thought if a Wheel of Sun and Moon is Naturalized, it goes to the graveyard. How is this different?
A: It's not different at all, provided that the Wheel is enchanting its owner. The Wheel is still there when the game figures out where the Wheel is going when it is destroyed, so it goes to the bottom of its owner's library. The answer would be different if the Wheel is enchanting somebody other than its owner. In that case, its replacement effect doesn't apply to itself and it simply goes to its owner's graveyard.
Q: I activate Stonehewer Giant's ability, and when it resolves I grab some stylish yet affordable Swiftfoot Boots to put on the Giant. My opponent doesn't like my sense of fashion and wants to do something about my Giant putting on those boots. Can he target the Giant after seeing my choice of footwear before the Giant puts them on?
A: Nope. Searching your library, putting the equipment onto the battlefield, attaching it to a creature you control, and shuffling your library is all part of the resolution of one big ability, and no player can do anything else in between. Your opponent could respond before all of this happens, but he won't know for sure which equipment you'll get or which creature you'll attach it to, so that's not terribly useful in most cases.
Q: Is paying for Norn's Annex an activated ability? Does Phyrexian Revoker prevent a player from paying its cost?
A: No. The Annex simply imposes an attack cost that must be paid as part of declaring attackers. Activated abilities are always written as "[cost] : [effect]," with a colon separating the activation cost from the effect.
Q: If I use Gideon Jura's +2 ability and then my opponent plays a hasty creature in his pre-combat main phase and animates a Mutavault, do those creatures have to attack Gideon, too?
A: Yup. The resolution of Gideon's ability creates an effect that essentially changes the rules of the game for your opponent's next turn. As such, it can affect creatures that weren't on the battlefield or that weren't creatures when the ability resolved. Anything that is a creature and able to attack in that turn's declare attackers step must attack, including newly played creatures with haste and freshly animated lands.
Q: What happens if I animate Gideon Jura and enchant it with Call to the Kindred?
A: Nothing exciting, I'm afraid. At the end of your turn, Gideon stops being a creature and turns back into being just a planeswalker. Call to the Kindred notices this, says "Ew, you're not a creature!" and goes to the graveyard right away, long before its ability would get the chance to trigger in your upkeep.
Q: What happens when I Spin into Myth a token? Does the token cease to exist before I fateseal 2, or do I fateseal the token and the next card down?
A: Neither, actually. A token that has left the battlefield ceases to exist when state-based actions are checked, and that only happens after Spin into Myth has finished resolving. In the meantime, the token is stuck in the library and generally doing a good job not being noticed. Spin into Myth tells you to look at the top two cards, and the token is not a card, so you simply ignore the token while fatesealing.
Now you see it, now you don't.
And now you see it again.
And now you see it again.
A: That's really more of a strategy question, but if I squint really hard, I can see a bit of a rules question there. Momentary Blink does two or three things, depending on how you count. First, it causes the targeted creature to leave the battlefield. Second, it puts a very similar looking creature onto the battlefield. Third, the creature that comes back is a completely new creature that has no relation to the old creature.
The first aspect can be useful if the creature has a sweet leaves-the-battlefield ability. The second aspect allows you to reuse enter-the-battlefield abilities. The third aspect lets you dodge targeted spells by removing their target, and it can also be used to make detrimental Auras and/or counters go away. The possibilities are nearly endless!
Q: I have a question about my Karador, Ghost Chieftain Commander deck. If i use Karador's ability to play a creature from my graveyard, sacrifice Karador and replay him, would i be able to play another creature from my graveyard on the same turn?
A: Sure, that works. The replayed Karador is a new object, and it gives you a new permission to cast another creature card from your graveyard.
Q: Let's say both my opponent and I are at 20 life. I cast Transcendence, it resolves, and in response to its trigger I donate it to my opponent with Zedruu the Greathearted. Does the change in controller cause Transcendence's ability to trigger again for my opponent, causing him to lose the game?
A: Unfortunately, the ability won't trigger right away for your opponent. State triggers don't trigger if an instance of that trigger is already on the stack or waiting to be put on the stack. Even though Transcendence has changed controllers, it's still the same object with the same abilities, so it recognizes the ability on the stack as its own, which keeps it from triggering again until that ability has left the stack. To complete your evil plan, you'll need something to make that ability leave the stack without resolving, for example with Stifle or Sundial of the Infinite.
Q: If I copy an epic spell such as Neverending Torment with something like Uyo, Silent Prophet, do I get two copies of that spell on each of my upkeeps?
A: Sure, that works. Both the original and the Uyo copy have the epic ability, so they will both spawn copies in your upkeeps. Since those copies are not being cast, they're not impeded by epic's "you can't cast stuff" effect.
Q: I'm building an Experiment Kraj commander deck, and I'm wondering what happens if I control a Callous Oppressor with a +1/+1 counter on it. Can Kraj steal any type of creature or does it look back at the type that was chosen for the original Oppressor?
A: Unfortunately, the correct answer is none of the above. Kraj doesn't know of any choice that was made for the activated ability, so the choice is undefined. If an ability refers to an undefined choice, that part of the ability does nothing. In this case, the choice is necessary for determining what you're allowed to target with the ability, and since the ability can't tell you what a legal target is, you can't activate the ability at all.
Q: Can Cunning Wish retrieve exiled cards?
A: Nope. Wishes used to be able to retrieve cards that were "removed from the game," but the introduction of the exile zone changed this interaction. The exile zone is part of the game, so cards that are in the exile zone are not outside the game.
Q: If my commander gets stuck into my library and my opponent uses Praetor's Grasp on me, how can I know whether he took my commander or not?
A: That's easy: The rules actually require him to tell you! Since he is allowed to look at the card, he must do so, and if it's your commander, he must put it into the command zone. Granted, he could choose to cheat and exile your commander face-down anyway, but his cheat would be discovered sooner or later anyway, which will probably lead to him having pillows thrown at him and being shunned from your playgroup.
Q: I control a Gatstaf Shepherd and my opponent controls a Huntmaster of the Fells and my opponent decides to pass the turn without casting any spells. He claims that his Huntmaster transforms into Ravager of the Fells first and that it can kill my Gatstaf Shepherd before it transforms into Gatstaf Howler. Is that true?
A: I'm afraid so. Each werewolf has its own trigger for transforming, and those triggers go on the stack and resolve individually. Since multiple triggers are going on the stack at the same time, the APNAP rule tells us what to do: First, the active player puts his triggers on the stack in an order of his choice. That's your trigger for transforming Gatstaf Shepherd. Then, the nonactive player puts his triggers on the stack in an order of his choice. That's your opponent's trigger for transforming the Huntmaster. Last-in-first-out says that his trigger resolves first. This triggers the Ravager's ability and that goes on the stack above your Shepherd's transform ability.
Anything you can do I can do better!
A: Basically nothing happens, but in a really roundabout way. Each Plagiarize creates a replacement effect that turns your card draws into his and vice versa. When Wheel of Fortune tells you to draw cards, his Plagiarize turns the draws into a draw for him, which are then turned into draws for you. Likewise, when Wheel of Fortune tells him to draw cards, your Plagiarize turns them into draws for you, which are then turned into draws for him. The bottom-line is that everybody just ends up drawing the cards they were supposed to draw anyway.
Q: My opponent controls a Grave Titan, gives it trample and attacks. I block with a creature that has toughness 6. How much damage do I take?
A: Anything from 0 to 5 is legal, so it's probably going to be 5. Since Grave Titan has deathtouch, any nonzero amount of damage from the Titan is considered lethal. That means that your opponent only needs to assign 1 damage to your blocker and then he can assign the rest to you.
Q: My opponent announces that he's casting Lightning Bolt on my planeswalker. If I respond with Faith's Shield on the planeswalker while I have more than 5 life, and I name red, what happens?
A: Your opponent's announcement is actually a shortcut for targeting you with the Lightning Bolt and redirecting the damage to your planeswalker when the Bolt resolves. Since the planeswalker has protection from red at that moment, your opponent might not want to redirect the damage after all. Since you interrupted his shortcut, he is free to change his mind, so the Lightning Bolt will most likely hit your face now.
Q: I have a question about the rules change that I'm no longer responsible for my opponent's triggers at competitive events. Let's say my opponent steals my Predator Ooze with Act of Treason and attacks, but he forgets to put a +1/+1 counter on the Ooze. Can I wait until after damage is dealt and then call a judge to put the triggered ability on the stack, so that I'll lose less life but still have a bigger creature when I get it back?
A: Yes, that's legal at tournaments with Competitive rules enforcement, at least for now. The new trigger philosophy is based on two fundamental desires: players are not required to point out their opponent's triggers, but players still have the right to have the triggers resolve if they're pointed out soon enough. The fact that this can be combined to your advantage in narrow situations such as this one is essentially collateral damage that's tolerated for the sake of an overall improvement in how triggered abilities are handled in the real world. If this ends up being too abusable, the high-level judge community will make adjustments to the policy to prevent gaming the system in this fashion. In reality, this is unlikely to be a big problem since your opponents can close this loophole very easily by just not forgetting their triggers in the first place!
Q: I'm playing in a Competitive tournament, and my opponent hits me with a creature that's equipped with Sword of Feast and Famine. He untaps his lands but forgets to have me discard a card. Do I have to remind him that I have to discard a card?
A: Yes, you do. The untap and the discard are both part of the same triggered ability. You're allowed to let your opponent miss triggered abilities he controls, but since your opponent resolved part of that trigger, he obviously didn't miss it. Once he starts to resolve any part of it, your usual shared responsibility of ensuring that the game is played correctly kicks in, and deliberately allowing your opponent to play the game incorrectly is a Very Bad Thing.
Q: So, now that the Magic Tournament Rules allow me to look up Oracle text on my smartphone, can I also look up other things like judge rulings as long as my opponent sees what I'm doing?
A: No, that's not permitted. Oracle text is fine because it's guaranteed to be free of strategic advice. Any other sources could conceivably contain strategic advice, so you're not allowed to look at other sources. While the judge list archives and Cranial Insertion are wonderful resources for use in kitchen table games, you should really call the judge if you need a ruling in a sanctioned tournament.
And that wraps up today's issue. Please come back next week when Eli presents his very special Avacyn Restored prerelease issue. What makes that issue so special, apart from the fact that it'll talk about Avacyn Restored? Will there be hugs and puppies? Will there be singing and dancing? I don't know either, so let's come back next week and find out together!
- 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.
The opponent is passing his/her own turn without casting any spells, leading into the questioner's turn where APNAP order is actually relevant. I pass my turn, my opponent passes his/her turn, etc. Maybe you and your group would describe it differently, but personally, I'm not sure where the ambiguity is.
#2
• Date: 2012-04-23 • Time: 09:49:41 •
Remember, all werewolf triggers happen at the beginning of each upkeep. so if I am the player with the gatstaf, my opponent passes turn to me, on my upkeep both trigger, since I am now the active player my trigger goes on the stack first, his second, his resolves first, causes the on transform trigger to go on the stack (still on top of my gatstaf's trigger) and then resolve the damage to my gatstaf
hope that helps :3
hope that helps :3
#3
• Date: 2012-04-23 • Time: 11:26:30 •
On the card transcendence, it sounds like if a player casts it at 20 life the immediately lose the game, long before a zedruu donation, because its not a triggered ability but a passive state based ability, is that not the case?
#4
• Date: 2012-04-25 • Time: 10:21:11 •
Carsten
Quote (WryShadow):
|
On the card transcendence, it sounds like if a player casts it at 20 life the immediately lose the game, long before a zedruu donation, because its not a triggered ability but a passive state based ability, is that not the case? |
It is a triggered ability, but it is triggered by a particular game state rather than by a particular event. As such, it uses the stack and players can respond to it.
#5
• Date: 2012-04-25 • Time: 13:15:32 •
On the case of Uyo and Epic Spells: Am I correct in ruling that if you try to Uyo a copy that came from the Epic trigger, you won't get another instance of Epic? Epic says that the upkeep spell is copied "except for the Epic effect," so Uyo won't have that value to copy. Relatively certain this is correct, just want to check.
#6
• Date: 2012-04-27 • Time: 08:17:19 •
Natedogg
Yes, that is correct. The copy made during the upkeep does not have the epic ability, so if you copy it, the copy will also not have epic.
#7
• Date: 2012-04-27 • Time: 11:55:32 •
thanks nascat, i had a knot in my brain. :)
Last edited on 2012-04-23 11:59:00 by reidan