Published on 10/08/2012
Group Therapy
By Eli Shiffrin, Carsten Haese, and James Bennett
This Article from: Carsten Haese
Cranial Translation
简体中文
繁體中文
Deutsch
Español
Français
Italiano
Pусский
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 Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes.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.
We put the "nyan" in "Selesnyan."
If you'd like to do something that's good for the community, please continue to send your questions by email to moko@cranialinsertion.com or tweet them to @CranialTweet. We will answer directly as soon as we can, and your question might appear in a future issue.
Now, let us proceed peacefully into this week's selection of Selesnya-themed questions. Chanting and hugging are allowed. Please refrain from running in the halls.
Q: Earlier this turn, my opponent attacked me with a nasty Walking Corpse while I controlled Platinum Emperion, so I didn't block and let the combat damage bounce off of me with no effect. Can I use Avenging Arrow to destroy the Zombie?
A: Yes, you can. The Zombie still dealt damage to you even though that damage resulted in no change to your life total thanks to Platinum Emperion. Therefore, the Zombie is a legal target for Avenging Arrow and it'll be destroyed.
Q: How does Palisade Giant work in Two-Headed Giant?
A: Not as well as you might hope. In Two-Headed Giant, each head still controls its own permanents, and your Palisade Giant only takes bullets for you and creatures you control. This is especially useless for combat damage from unblocked attackers, since your opponents can just assign all that damage to your teammate.
Q: I control two Palisade Giants and I'm being attacked by two 4/4 Angel tokens that I can't block. Can I have each Giant take the combat damage from one Angel so that both Giants will live, or does one Giant have to take it all and die?
A: I'm afraid it's the latter. The two Angels deal their combat damage at the same time, and each Palisade Giant creates a replacement effect that wants to redirect all the damage to that Giant. You choose one effect to apply, and then the other Giant's effect is no longer applicable because no damage is headed your way anymore.
Q: I'm keeping myself and my creatures safe with a Palisade Giant that's equipped with a Darksteel Plate. My opponent retaliates by enchanting the Giant with Spiteful Shadows. What happens if I get dealt damage now?
A: That'll probably end the game in a draw. The damage that would be dealt to you gets redirected to the Giant, which triggers Spiteful Shadows. That damage gets redirected to the Giant, which triggers Spiteful Shadows. That damage gets redirected—I think you get the idea. This is a loop consisting only of mandatory actions, so the game ends in a draw if no player does anything to interrupt the loop somehow.
Q: I control two Wild Beastmasters and attack with both. What happens to their power and toughness?
A: Both Beastmasters' abilities trigger and want to go on the stack at the same time, so you choose their order because you control both of them. Then the abilities resolve one by one, and each ability checks its source's power at the time it resolves. The first to resolve gives the other one +1/+1, so that one is a 2/2 and gives the first one +2/+2. In the end, one is 2/2 and the other is 3/3.
Q: I swing with Wild Beastmaster and some other guys, and in response to the trigger my opponent Dismembers my Beastmaster. What happens?
A: That's bad news for your team. Dismember makes your Beastmaster a -4/-4, so it dies. However, its triggered ability on the stack is independent from its source, so it still resolves. When it does, it checks the Beastmaster's last known information to find that its power was -4. In many cases an effect would use 0 instead of using a negative number, but this is not one of those cases because the number is used for modifying power and toughness. This means that all your creatures get -4/-4, with probably devastating consequences. Ouch!
We are the eyes in the skies,
looking at you...
looking at you...
A: Sure, that works. You can choose any token you happen to control at the moment you're told to populate. Since you follow the instructions in order, you do control the 1/1 Bird that you put onto the battlefield just one instruction ago.
Q: Let's say I have a Mimic Vat that has a Watchwolf imprinted on it. If I make a Watchwolf token and populate it, do I have to exile the copy at the end of the turn? Also, does the copy have haste?
A: No to both. The token from the Vat gets exiled at the end of the turn because Mimic Vat created a delayed triggered ability to make that happen. This is not an ability of the token, so the populated copy has no reason to be exiled at the end of the turn. The added haste is not part of the token's copiable characteristics because it isn't on the original card or granted by the copy effect, since it is "gained" after the token is created, so the haste doesn't get copied.
Q: I control an 8/8 Elemental token from Grove of the Guardian and Clone it. Does Phantom General give the Clone +1/+1 now?
A: Nope. Whether a permanent is a card or a token is a physical attribute of the object itself, so it is not a copiable characteristic. The Clone is a card even if it copies a token, so it's "only" an 8/8.
Q: I have a Trostani, Selesnya's Voice in my graveyard, and I control Séance and Doubling Season. If I make two Trostani tokens with Séance, how much life do I gain?
A: You'll gain 10 life. Even though the tokens blow up due to the legend rule pretty much immediately, they did enter the battlefield first. Since they entered the battlefield at the same time, they saw each other entering the battlefield, so you'll gain 5 life times two.
Also, if you're wondering whether you can activate the populate ability before the tokens blow up, the answer is no. The legend rule kills the tokens as a state-based action before you get the chance to do anything.
Q: Can I populate a creature token that has shroud?
A: Absolutely. Populating doesn't target the token you're copying, so it doesn't matter whether it has shroud or protection or anything else that would prevent it from being the target of an ability.
Q: I control a Wayfaring Temple that's enchanted with Pollenbright Wings. If I connect with my opponent, can I populate one of the Saproling tokens that the Wings make?
A: Certainly. As before, you choose a token when the populate ability resolves. You control both the Wings' ability and the Temple's ability and they trigger at the same time, so you choose which one resolves first. If you let the Wings' ability resolve first, you'll have fresh Saprolings to populate with the Temple's ability.
Q: If I fetch a Temple Garden with Farseek, can I pay 2 life to have Temple Garden enter the battlefield untapped?
A: Nope. Temple Garden doesn't actually state that it enters the battlefield untapped if you do pay 2 life. If you pay 2 life, there's one less effect that tries to make it enter the battlefield tapped, and in the absence of any other such effects it would enter the battlefield untapped by default, but Farseek's own effect still makes it enter the battlefield tapped.
Q: My opponent controls a Morphling that he pumped up to 5/1. I try to exile it with Selesnya Charm and my opponent responds by making it 4/2. Does Selesnya Charm still exile it?
A: Nope, the Charm will be countered on resolution. The targeting requirement for the exile mode is "target creature with power 5 or greater." Since it's a targeting requirement, it's rechecked when the spell tries to resolve. Morphling's power is no longer 5 or greater, so it's now an illegal target for Selesnya Charm.
Let me rest in peace
Let me get some sleep
Let me get some sleep
A: Sadly, no. Rest in Peace replaces the Wurm's trip to the graveyard with a trip to the exile zone, so the Wurm never makes it to the graveyard. A "dies" trigger triggers when a creature goes to the graveyard from the battlefield, which didn't happen here, so you won't get any baby Wurms.
Q: My opponent controls Rest in Peace and I destroy it with Ray of Revelation. Where do Rest in Peace and Ray of Revelation end up?
A: Let's take this step by step. When Ray of Revelation resolves, the first step is to follow its instructions, so we destroy Rest in Peace. Before the game moves the enchantment anywhere, it has to determine where to put it. Rest in Peace is still on the battlefield at that moment, so its replacement effect is still active, so Rest in Peace is exiled. Now Ray of Revelation is finished, so the game moves it to its owner's graveyard. Rest in Peace is no longer there to replace that event, so Ray of Revelation actually ends up in the graveyard.
Q: What does Urban Burgeoning do in Two-Headed Giant? Do I untap the enchanted land twice in my opponents' untap step?
A: It does the same as in a regular duel, so you untap the land once during your opponents' untap step. Urban Burgeoning doesn't give the land a triggered ability. It gives the land a static ability that changes the rules of the game for any untap step that is not yours.
Q: I control Rhys the Redeemed, Cathars' Crusade, and four green white Elf Warrior tokens. What happens if I use Rhys's ability to double up my tokens?
A: You will get four new tokens at the same time, which triggers Cathar's Crusade's ability four times. Each trigger gives a +1/+1 counter to all your creatures, including the four new guys. After all triggers have resolved, you'll have a 5/5 Rhys and eight 5/5 Elf Warrior tokens, which might just be enough to win the game.
Q: I control Hunting Grounds and I have threshold, and my opponent casts Day of Judgment. If I use Hunting Grounds' ability to put a creature from my hand onto the battlefield, will that creature get blown up, too?
A: I'm afraid so. Hunting Grounds' ability is triggered by your opponent casting Day of Judgment, so the ability goes on the stack above Day of Judgment and resolves first.
Q: Can I use Yavimaya Dryad to give a Dryad Arbor to my opponent because I feel generous?
A: Yes, that works. Yavimaya Dryad lets you search for a Forest card, which is a card that has the word "Forest" in its type line. Dryad Arbor is a Forest, among other things, so Yavimaya Dryad can find it. The ability lets you target any player to receive the card your found, so as long as your opponent didn't give himself shroud for some reason, you can give him the Dryad Arbor.
And that concludes our tour of green, white, and green-white magics. Until next time, may you find joy in helping your community. So say we all!
- 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.
Carsten
Quote (Rocket_Knight):
|
If my creature is being blocked by two 2/2 creatures and I cast test of faith on it and Divine Deflection with X=3 targeting my opponent. Can it result in two +1/+1 counters and 2 damage to my opponent? Or am I forced to choose 3 for one effect and 1 for the other? |
The damage constitutes one event in which 4 total damage would be dealt to the shielded creature. Two prevention effects are applicable to that event, so you choose one to apply. Whichever one you choose, it prevents 3 of that damage (and does some other stuff), and then there is 1 damage left over for the other effect to prevent and do its stuff with it.
Quote:
|
Palisade Giant also checks for damage dealt to other permanents the player controls. So it seems the second giant will also have its effect applied and it will take all the damage. |
Yes, you're right, the given answer is inaccurate in that detail. The end result is still the same, though: One Giant takes all the damage and gets smashed into little pieces, and the other says "I'm glad that wasn't me."
#2
• Date: 2012-10-08 • Time: 15:28:11 •
Wouldnt there be a loop with 2 Pallisade Giants out? One takes the damage, the other takes the damage, etc...?
#3
• Date: 2012-10-09 • Time: 15:03:08 •
Carsten
Quote (MontanaMTG):
|
Wouldnt there be a loop with 2 Pallisade Giants out? One takes the damage, the other takes the damage, etc...? |
No. Each replacement effect only gets one chance to apply to a given event.
#4
• Date: 2012-10-09 • Time: 15:06:50 •
If my creature is being blocked by two 2/2 creatures and I cast test of faith on it and Divine Deflection with X=3 targeting my opponent. Can it result in two +1/+1 counters and 2 damage to my opponent? Or am I forced to choose 3 for one effect and 1 for the other?
Palisade Giant also checks for damage dealt to other permanents the player controls. So it seems the second giant will also have its effect applied and it will take all the damage.