Published on 04/14/2025
Tarkir: A Land of Flying Cats
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, and Justin Hovdenes
This Article from: Nathan Long
Cranial Translation
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Either that's a sonic attack or it's
coughing up a hair ball. Either way, stand back!
coughing up a hair ball. Either way, stand back!
But if you have questions about your latest dragon or cat acquisition, or just about Magic rules in general, feel free to reach out to us. We'll send you an answer back, 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: If my opponent enchants my creature with Ringing Strike Mastery, when can I pay to untap my creature?
A: Whenever you want! The last ability is giving the creature an activated ability, and since nothing says otherwise, you can activate it any time you have priority. You could attack with the creature, then untap it on your opponent's turn as a surprise blocker. Or wait for the end of the opponent's turn to untap it, so you can leave your mana up for other reasons.
Q: I cast Mammoth Bellow from my hand and create a 5/5 Elephant creature token. Can I immediately tap that Elephant token when I recast Mammoth Bellow for its harmonize cost?
A: Sure! The Elephant token being affected by "summoning sickness" doesn't stop it from being tapped to reduce the cost of your harmonize spell, since "summoning sickness" only prevents it from attacking or using abilities with the tap or untap symbol. You're free to tap your new Elephant token to immediately harmonize Mammoth Bellow and get a second token.
Q: I cast Dusyut Earthcarver, and in response to its enter trigger, my opponent destroys the Earthcarver with Narset's Rebuke. What happens when my endure trigger resolves?
A: You make a 3/3 token. Endure works similar to the old ability fabricate from Kaladesh. When the ability resolves, if you don't put the counters on the creature, you make the token instead. Even if you had intended on adding counters to the Earthcarver when its trigger resolves, since the Earthcarver isn't in play, you can't put counters on it, so you'll at least end up with a token if the Earthcarver leaves play before it can endure.
Q: My opponent controls Aegis Sculptor and has two cards in their graveyard. Can I wait to see if they exile cards from their graveyard when the trigger resolves, then cast Caustic Exhale to give it -3/-3 before it gets the counter?
A: No, you won't be able to do that. The choice of whether or not to exile the cards, as well as adding the counter if they do exile the cards, happens as part of the trigger resolving. If you want to cast Caustic Exhale to kill the Sculptor, you have to do so before the trigger resolves, and without knowing if your opponent was going to exile cards from their graveyard or not.
Q: My opponent controls Karakyk Guardian, which has not dealt damage yet so it has hexproof. If my opponent attacks me with the Guardian, do I get a chance to cast Osseous Exhale after it's dealt damage but before the combat phase is over?
A: Yes you do. After the Guardian deals combat damage during the combat damage step, it loses hexproof. But it's still an attacking creature until the combat phase is over, so you'll get the chance to cast the Exhale during the combat damage and end of combat steps to deal 5 damage to the Guardian before it stops being an attacking creature.
Q: I cast Severance Priest, and with its enter trigger on the stack, my opponent removes it with Dragon's Prey. What happens with the Priest's triggers?
A: Since the Priest left the battlefield, that causes its leave the battlefield ability to trigger and it goes on the stack above the enter trigger. However, when the leave the battlefield trigger resolves, there's no exiled card to reference since the enter trigger hasn't resolved yet, so no token is created. Then the enter trigger resolves, and you can exile a nonland card from your opponent's hand.
Q: Do I have to put three cards into my graveyard when Lotuslight Dancers's triggered ability resolves?
A: No you do not. You're searching for three cards, but three cards with certain characteristics — a black card, a green card, and a blue card — so you don't have to find all three cards if you don't want to. You can choose to find three cards if you want, or you can choose to find fewer, or even no cards at all, but that doesn't seem very Sultai.
It's a copycat.
Q: I cast Riverwheel Sweep targeting my opponent's creature, but they sacrifice their creature in response. Do I still get to exile the top two cards of my library?
A: You do not. The Sweep has one target - a target creature. If that target isn't legal when the Sweep goes to resolve, the entire spell does nothing, not just the parts that affect the target creature. That means you won't exile the top two cards of your library since the Sweep won't resolve.
Q: I control Eshki Dragonclaw. If I cast Boulderborn Dragon before combat, will I get an Eshki Dragondclaw trigger since it's both a creature spell and an artifact spell?
A: You do not - it's going to take at least two spells to trigger Eshki. Boulderborn Dragon is an artifact creature, but since it's a creature, it can't also be a noncreature spell even if it has another type like artifact. You've cast a creature spell, but you need to cast a second spell that's not a creature to get Eshki Dragonclaw's trigger.
Q: If I cast Perennation to return a planeswalker to the battlefield, how well does having the hexproof and indestructible counters protect it?
A: They do a good, but not great, job. Since the planeswalker has hexproof, it can't be targeted by something like Hero's Downfall, and since it's indestructible, it won't be destroyed by something like Planar Cleansing. However, neither counter prevents prevents damage that would be dealt to it, so it still loses loyalty counters like normal if it's dealt damage, and it can still be attacked in combat. If your planeswalker has five loyalty counters on it and it's dealt 3 damage, it will lose three loyalty counters like normal and will go down to two loyalty. If your planeswalker reaches zero loyalty counters, the planeswalker is put into the graveyard, and since this isn't destruction, being indestructible won't save it.
Q: I cast Taigam, Master Opportunist as my first spell of the turn. When it resolves, I cast Roamer's Routine for its harmonize cost from my graveyard. What happens?
A: Since the Routine is your second spell of the turn, Taigam will trigger. When Taigam's trigger resolves, you exile the Routine and put a copy of it on the stack. A spell cast for its harmonize cost will be exiled instead of going anywhere else if it would leave the stack, but since Taigam's ability is exiling the spell, Harmonize won't care and will let Taigam's ability exile it with four time counters. And in four turns, you'll remove the last time counter from Roamer's Routine and you'll cast it. You could keep doing this - every few turns, you recast the Routine when you remove the last time counter from suspend, and if you cast it as your second spell via harmonize, Taigam will trigger again and it will exile it again.
Q: My opponent is at 5 life, and I have three cards left in my library. My opponent attacks me with a 6/6 creature, and I cast New Way Forward and prevent the damage from the 6/6. What happens next?
A: Since damage was prevented, the delayed trigger set up by New Way Forward will trigger. When that trigger resolves, your opponent takes 6 damage and they go to -1 life, and you try to draw 6 cards, but you only have 3 cards left in your library. When state-based actions are checked once the trigger is done resolving, your opponent is losing the game since they're at 0 or less life, but at the same time, you're losing the game since you tried to draw from an empty library. If you're the only two players in the game, the game will be a draw.
Q: I attack with Marshal of the Lost and a Dalkovan Packbeasts. Can I stack my triggers so my Packbeast's trigger resolves first, then the Marshal's trigger so the targeted creature gets +5/+5 instead of +2/+2?
A: Sure! You control both triggers, so you choose the order they're put on the stack, and thus the order they resolve in. If you put the Packbeast's trigger on the stack last, it will resolve first, and the tokens the Packbeasts creates will count for the Marshal's triggered ability.
But keep in mind that you can't target one of the Warrior tokens that the Packbeasts created with the Marshal's trigger - since the Marshal's ability targets, you have to choose a target when the trigger is put on the stack, and those tokens don't exist yet and can't be targeted.
Just look at that type line -
Legendary Creature — Cat Dragon
Legendary Creature — Cat Dragon
Q: I have The Sibsig Ceremony in play. If I cast Kotis, the Fangkeeper, what happens when it enters the battlefield?
A: You get a 2/2 Zombie token and you get to keep Kotis in play. After Kotis enters and the Ceremony's trigger resolves, you destroy Kotis, but since Kotis is indestructible, it won't be destroyed. But the second part of the Ceremony's trigger doesn't care if the creature was actually destroyed by the trigger, so even though Kotis wasn't destroyed, you still get a 2/2 token.
Q: I have a Cosi's Trickster in play. If my opponent resolves Roost Seek, the Omen part of Sagu Wildling, how many Trickster triggers do I get?
A: You get two triggers. You get one trigger after they've searched for a basic land to put into their hand. You get a second trigger when Roost Seek finishes resolves and shuffles itself into their library instead of going to the graveyard. Even though both shuffles are happening while Roost Seek is resolving, they are two different shuffles, which means that the Trickster triggers two times.
When you're playing a game through, you should probably just shortcut it and handle it like Green Sun's Zenith: Just shuffle once, although the game will consider it to be two shuffles.
Q: If I have Teval, Arbiter of Virtue in play and I cast Genesis Wave with X=7, will I lose 3 life or 10 life from Teval's trigger?
A: You'll lose 10 life. Teval cares about the mana value of the spell on the stack, and while on the stack, X is equal to the value you set it at when you cast it. Since X=7, its mana value on the stack is 10, so you'll lose 10 life from the trigger.
Q: If I have a creature with changeling like Universal Automaton in play, will that let me activate Mox Jasper's ability?
A: Yes it will. A creature with changeling is every creature type, Dragon included. Since the Automaton is a Dragon, it will let your Mox Jasper start tapping for mana as early as turn 1.
Q: I control Call the Spirit Dragons and The Ur-Dragon. If I put all five counters from Call the Spirit Dragon's trigger on The Ur-Dragon, will I win the game?
A: You will not win the game. In order to win the game, you have to put a +1/+1 counter on five different Dragons you control, not put five +1/+1 counters on a Dragon you control. You only put counters on one Dragon, not five different Dragons, so you won't win the game.
Q: If I cast Will of the Jeskai choosing the last mode, will the Will itself gain flashback?
A: It will not. Will of the Jeskai only gives instants and sorceries in your graveyard when it resolves flashback. Anything that enters the graveyard after that point will not gain flashback. Will of the Jeskai is still on the stack when it's giving cards in your graveyard flashback, and since it's not in the graveyard yet, it won't give itself flashback.
Q: If my opponent casts their commander, can I cast Transcendent Dragon to counter and steal their commander?
A: You can! When the trigger resolves, their commander is countered, moved to exile, and then you immediately cast it while the trigger is resolving. This is before state-based actions are checked, so your opponent doesn't get a chance to move their commander out of exile to the command zone, so you can use the Dragon to counter and cast your opponent's commander.
That's all we have for you this week. See you again next week!
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