Published on 06/10/2013
Breaking the Mold
By Eli Shiffrin, Carsten Haese, James Bennett, and Callum Milne
This Article from: James Bennett
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 Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes.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.
And you thought Minecraft's creepers were bad...
Spoiler:
Meanwhile, we're back into a lull for spoilers and new sets until things start ramping up for the Magic 2014 Core Set in a few weeks, but in the meantime Cranial Insertion is here to tide you over with rules questions (and answers).
And as always, if you've got questions, please send them to us by using the handy "Email Us" button, by sending an email to moko@cranialinsertion.com , or by tweeting at @CranialTweet.
Q: If I reveal a split card for Dark Confidant or Duskmantle Seer, how much life do I lose?
A: Possibly quite a lot! Most of the time, when you ask a split card a question like "what's your converted mana cost", you get two answers — one from each half. So, for example, if you reveal Far // Away the answer to "what's your converted mana cost" is "2, and 3", and you'll lose 5 life.
Q: So what happens when I give Far // Away flashback with Snapcaster Mage? Do I have to pay both costs?
A: Nope! Remember I said "most of the time" you get two answers? Well, the exception is a split card on the stack. There — unless the card was cast with fuse, which only works from your hand, not from your graveyard — only the half of the card you're actually casting exists. So first you choose which half you'll cast, put that on the stack, and then when you ask it questions like "what's your mana cost" (which is what Snapcaster Mage wants to know, to determine the flashback cost) you get only one answer.
Q: My opponent cast Orzhov Charm to destroy my Falkenrath Aristocrat. If I sacrifice a creature in response to make the Aristocrat indestructible, will he still lose life from the Charm?
A: With the Orzhov, sooner or later you always end up paying. And this case is no different; Orzhov Charm resolves normally, and does as much as possible. It doesn't destroy the Aristocrat (since that's not possible), but it does cause its controller to lose the appropriate amount of life (and it'll be based on the Aristocrat's current toughness, which may be higher than when the Charm was cast).
Q: I use Zealous Conscripts to take control of Olivia Voldaren. If I have enough mana, and use Olivia's second ability on herself, what happens at the end of the turn?
A: You get to keep her, pretty much indefinitely. All that really happens is that you go from having two effects saying you control Olivia (one from Conscripts, one from Olivia herself), to just having one (Conscripts' effect has worn off, but Olivia's hasn't, and won't unless something else causes you to lose control of her).
There is fungus among us... and it's angry.
A: Your opponent is going to need considerably more than just two spears, because the Clone will have the token-making ability. When copying something, you copy what's printed on the card, and any copy effects that are applying to it (but not other effects). The token-making ability is part of Progenitor Mimic's copy effect, so anything that copies the Mimic (as long as Mimic was copying something) will get that ability too.
Q: My opponent fused Turn // Burn targeting my Varolz, the Scar-Striped. If I sacrifice a creature in response to activate his regeneration, will Varolz live?
A: He may be a bit more scar-striped than before, but he'll be alive (as a 0/1 red Weird). Feeding a creature to Varolz does not give him any extra abilities that could be removed; instead it sets up a sort of shield (in the form of a replacement effect) that will hang around for the rest of the turn and jump into action the next time he'd be destroyed. So Turn doesn't remove that, and the regeneration shield will save Varolz the Weird from being destroyed by the damage from Burn.
Q: So since regenerating taps the creature, could I use Yavimaya Hollow on one of my opponent's creatures, to stop it from attacking?
A: For pretty much the same reason, this won't work. When Yavimaya Hollow's ability resolves, all it does is create that "shield" that will hang around to see if the creature would be destroyed. It's not until the creature would get destroyed that the actual regeneration — which includes tapping the creature, removing it from combat, and removing all damage from it — would happen.
Q: My opponent has Stolen Identity encoded on his Invisible Stalker. If I've got a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben out, does he have to pay extra for the copies he gets from cipher?
A: Yup! Cipher instructs you to cast the copy "without paying its mana cost", and the mana cost is only those mana symbols in the upper right hand corner of the card. Any other costs, either on the card itself or from other effects like Thalia's, are still payable and — if they're mandatory costs, like Thalia's — must be paid.
Q: Why do the reprinted Pacts in Modern Masters, like Summoner's Pact and Pact of Negation, have those weird dots next to the word "Instant"?
A: Those are color indicators; they were introduced in Innistrad as a way to let the "night" sides of double-faced cards specify their colors. That turned out to be such a good idea that it was expanded and applied to some other cards. The Pacts are an example of this; prior to the Innistrad update, they had abilities to define their colors (since otherwise they'd be colorless due to having no colored symbols in their mana costs). So when Innistrad was released, they got errata to remove those abilities and turn them into color indicators. Modern Masters is the first time they've been reprinted since then, so it's the first time the indicators (which were, rules-wise, considered to be there since they were part of the official wording in the Oracle database) have physically appeared on those cards. The same happened with Dryad Arbor when it was reprinted last year.
Q: I control Master of Cruelties, Ember Beast and Hellraiser Goblin. How am I allowed to attack?
A: You can, and in fact must, attack with Ember Beast and Hellraiser Goblin, and leave Master of Cruelties out of the attack.
The way this works is that attacking and blocking can be subject to requirements — which tell you to do something, either to attack or block — and restrictions, which say you can't do something unless a condition is met. The rules require that you obey as many requirements as possible while not disobeying any restrictions. In this case you have three requirements (three creatures, each subject to an "attacks if able"), and two restrictions (Master can only attack alone, Ember Beast can't attack alone). If you run through the options, you find that the maximum number of requirements you can obey while not disobeying any restrictions is 2, and the way to do that is by attacking with Ember Beast and Hellraiser Goblin. Attacking with all three would disobey the Master's restriction (not allowed) and attacking with just Master would mean obeying fewer requirements than possible (also not allowed).
Q: If I Dragonshift my Nivix Cyclops, will it be 4/4 or 7/4?
A: It will be a big 7/4 Dragon! When you're sorting out effects that do things to power and toughness, always apply any that set it to specific values (like 4/4 in the case of Dragonshift) before applying any that just want to increase/decrease by a certain amount. So your former Cyclops is a Dragon, that's 4/4, getting +3/+0, for a total of 7/4.
Q: Can I use Tezzeret the Seeker's second ability, with X=0, to fetch a Seat of the Synod?
A: Yup. Tezzeret can seek for any artifact, and Seat of the Synod is one. It also has a converted mana cost of zero, so activating Tezzeret with X=0 (which is perfectly legal) will let you go go get it.
Q: So if there's a Torpor Orb and a Horn of Greed out, could I draw a card from playing Dryad Arbor?
A: You could, and in fact you will, since Horn of Greed's card draw isn't optional. Torpor Orb cares about creatures entering the battlefield, not about the act of playing a land, so it won't stop Horn of Greed from triggering.
Slimes always break the mold...
A: Although Far has only one target, and that target is now illegal, the fused spell Far // Away has two targets — a creature, and a player. Since one of its targets (the player) is still legal, the fused spell will still resolve and will do as much as it can. It can't bounce the now-illegal target chosen for the Far half, but it can still make the player targeted by the Away half sacrifice, and that's what will happen.
Q: What if I have Varolz, and a Skyshroud War Beast in my graveyard? If I scavenge it, how many counters do I get?
A: You won't get any, unfortunately. In the graveyard there's no chosen opponent for the War Beast, so its power will be 0.
Q: My opponent has Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, and I have Reliquary Tower; how many cards can I have in my hand at the end of my turn?
A: Your maximum hand size would be reduced by 7... if you had a maximum hand size, which you don't. So you're free to have as many cards as you like in hand without discarding.
Q: My opponent and I each have a Boros Reckoner, we're each at 13 life, and I cast Blasphemous Act. Is the game a draw?
A: It's not a draw, but it's also not very good for you; both Reckoners get dealt 13 damage simultaneously, and both will trigger. Since it's your turn (presumably, since you just cast a sorcery), your trigger goes on the stack first and your opponent's trigger goes on the stack last. That means your opponent's trigger resolves first, and ends the game by killing you while your own Reckoner trigger is still waiting to resolve.
Q: I have Cathedral of War and I activate and attack with an Inkmoth Nexus. My opponent activates his own Inkmoth Nexus and blocks. I know my Nexus survives combat since it's getting pumped by exalted, but what happens at the end of the turn when that wears off?
A: During the cleanup step, all "this turn" and "until end of turn" effects end simultaneously. So at one moment your Inkmoth Nexus is a 2/2 artifact creature with a -1/-1 counter on it, and at the next moment it's just a land with a -1/-1 counter on it (which is perfectly legal — all sorts of counters can be on things that aren't creatures). So there's never a moment when it's a creature but isn't still getting that exalted bonus, and it survives, at least until the next time you activate it (when it'll most likely die right away due to being a 0/0 creature).
Q: If I use Chancellor of the Spires to cast a Capsize from my opponent's graveyard, can I pay the buyback cost? If I do, does Capsize come to my hand?
A: You can pay the buyback cost if you want to — it's an optional additional cost, not part of the mana cost — but you probably don't want to. A card can never go to a hand other than its owner's hand, and in fact that's where the rules for buyback say it will go. So you'd bounce something, but put Capsize right back into your opponent's hand.
Q: Suppose I have a card in my hand that I don't want, and a Vendilion Clique. If I cast the Clique and target myself, do I have to show my opponent my hand?
A: Nope. Clique's ability tells you to look at the targeted player's hand; it doesn't tell that player to reveal their entire hand. Just remember that your Clique does say to reveal the card that's going to be put on the bottom, so your opponent will see what you decided to get rid of.
Q: My opponent has Liliana of the Veil with enough counters to activate her final ability. So he announces he's activating it, and targeting me; if I point out I have a Witchbane Orb that he forgot about, does that mean he has to target himself?
A: Although it's a common misconception, accidentally trying to cast a spell or activate an ability without a legal target does not force you to choose a legal (and probably bad for you) target; rather, the game rules say that this is an illegal action and you rewind to before it happened. From there, your opponent could simply choose to activate one of Liliana's other abilities, or not to use her at all.
Q: With Desolation out, can I cast a spell at the end of my opponent's turn without sacrificing any lands?
A: You can! Desolation's trigger goes on the stack at the beginning of the end step. You can simply let it resolve, and then — still in the end step — tap lands and cast spells (well, just instants probably, unless you have things with flash), and Desolation will not re-trigger.
Q: What about Thawing Glaciers? Could I activate it in my opponent's end step to get around its trigger and get another use out of it on my turn before it bounces?
A: Nope! It's very important to check the latest Oracle text of a card; Thawing Glaciers is one of the few cards in Magic whose text specifically mentions the cleanup step, because that's when its delayed trigger will return it to your hand. And the cleanup step is after the end step, so there's no way to keep an activated Glaciers across the turn boundary through this sort of timing shenanigan (even if you somehow activated it in the cleanup step, the game keeps adding cleanup steps one after another until it gets to one in which nothing happens).
I'm about all moldered out for this week, but be sure to check back in next week for another issue of Cranial Insertion!
- James Bennett
About the Author:
James Bennett is a Level 3 judge based out of Lawrence, Kansas. He pops up at events around Kansas City and all over the midwest, and has a car he can talk to.
sstoneb
I'm confused by the Torpor Orb and Dryad Arbor question. Obviously the Torpor Orb has no effect on a card that's only a land, but Dryad Arbor IS a creature. Therefore, I would think that the Orb would prevent any triggered abilities related to the Arbor entering the battlefield, even if the ability doesn't normally look for creatures. There's even a ruling like this listed on Torpor Orb's Gatherer entry regarding Amulet of Vigor.
#1
• Date: 2013-06-10 • Time: 08:02:03 •
I think if horn of greed said "when a land enters the battlefield" instead of "whenever a land is played", then you couldn't draw a card. That's the key difference I believe
#2
• Date: 2013-06-10 • Time: 08:57:40 •
sstoneb
@eleite: Ah, of course! I should really read the friendly card, shouldn't I? :) The universe makes sense to me again, at least. Thank you!
#3
• Date: 2013-06-10 • Time: 10:09:08 •
On the Capsize+Chancellor question, I believe it would not go back to your opponents hand, even if you payed the buyback. Specifically, this is because buyback is worded "If the spell would go to your graveyard" rather than any graveyard. Since you're casting the spell, but it's going to your opponent's graveyard, it never triggers at all, and the spell goes back to your opponent's graveyard as normal.
#4
• Date: 2013-06-12 • Time: 12:13:17 •
@Wallycaine, unfortunately this is a case where the reminder text for an ability and the Comprehensive rules for that ability are not the same.
The comprehensive rules entry for buyback is \"702.25a Buyback appears on some instants and sorceries. It represents two static abilities that
function while the spell is on the stack. "Buyback [cost]" means \'You may pay an additional [cost] as you cast this spell\' and \'If the buyback cost was paid, put this spell into its owner's hand instead of into that player's graveyard as it resolves.\' Paying a spell's buyback cost follows the rules for paying additional costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2e–g.\"
So there\'s nothing to trigger, just a replacement effect that puts the into its owner\'s hand.
The comprehensive rules entry for buyback is \"702.25a Buyback appears on some instants and sorceries. It represents two static abilities that
function while the spell is on the stack. "Buyback [cost]" means \'You may pay an additional [cost] as you cast this spell\' and \'If the buyback cost was paid, put this spell into its owner's hand instead of into that player's graveyard as it resolves.\' Paying a spell's buyback cost follows the rules for paying additional costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2e–g.\"
So there\'s nothing to trigger, just a replacement effect that puts the into its owner\'s hand.
#5
• Date: 2013-06-13 • Time: 03:16:59 •
