Published on 07/05/2021
On a scale of one to America, how free are you tonight?
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, and Justin Hovdenes
This Article from: Andrew Villarrubia
Cranial Translation
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And on a personal note, I want to thank the vanilla creatures that are constantly the victims of various questions we have here. Grizzly Bears do so much heavy lifting for us. They really deserve the shoutout.
Q: I control Tergrid, God of Fright. If I cast Innocent Blood and choose to sacrifice Tergrid, do I get the creatures my opponents chose to sacrifice?
A: You do!
All the creatures are sacrificed at the same time. Tergrid can "see" those other permanents being sacrificed. It's similar to how Zulaport Cutthroat will trigger for each creature that dies at the same time it does.
Q: I have a Grizzly Bears exiled with my Banisher Priest. My opponent resolves Hushbringer and then casts Wrath of God. What happens to the Grizzly Bears?
A: The Bears will return to the battlefield just fine.
Banisher Priest doesn't have any triggered abilities when it leaves the battlefield. Instead, the duration of its effect immediately ends, and the exiled creature returns.
This means that Hushbringer and Banisher Priest leaving don't really interact at all. Even if you Doom Blade the Priest, the exiled creature would come back.
Q: My Colossal Dreadmaw is enchanted with Rime Transfusion, and I've activated the ability granted by the aura once this turn. After I declare Dreadmaw as an attacker, my opponent casts Sudden Spoiling. Can they block my dinosaur with a Grizzly Bears?
A: No, your scary Dinosaur cannot be blocked this turn except by snow creatures. Well, it's not that scary anymore. Sudden Spoiling makes it a base 0/2, then Rime Transfusion's +2/+1 makes it a 2/3.
The activated ability from Rime Transfusion doesn't actually give anything to the creature. It changes the rules of how blocking normally works: instead of this creature being able to be blocked like normal, this turn it's only able to be blocked by snow creatures.
Your Dreadmaw will lose the ability to activate Rime Transfusion again until the end of turn, but that's a cold comfort for your opponent. They really wanted to block.
Q: What happens if I cast Abundant Harvest, choose "land," and never reveal a land?
A: Basically, you shuffle your library.
Once you reveal the last card in your library, you stop revealing. You never found a card to put into your hand, so "the rest" of the cards is "all of them." Then you put all of them on the bottom of your library in a random order. The easiest way to randomize them is to shuffle.
Call an exterminator!
But not for me!
But not for me!
=5, targeting five artifacts. If my opponent sacrifices four of those artifacts before Pest Infestation resolves, how many Pest tokens do I get?A: This is going to bug your opponent: You'll still make 10 Pest tokens.
The chosen value of
for your spell was 5. Since at least one target is still legal for the spell, it'll do as much as it can. You'll end up destroying the one artifact, and then make twice X tokens.(If the spell cared about how many things were actually destroyed, it would say something like "for each artifact or enchantment destroyed this way, [...]")
Q: I control Grist, the Hunger Tide and Ashes of the Fallen. When I activate Grist's +1 ability, will any creature card I mill have me put a loyalty counter on Grist and repeat the process?
A: Absolutely.
The game has to check the characteristics of the card you milled as it looks in the graveyard. After all, there's no way to tell what the card might be in your library, since anything there is hidden by default.
Q: What happens if I exile Manascape Refractor with a cage counter thanks to Mairsil, the Pretender?
A: Bad news, friend: nothing!
Manascape Refractor only gets activated abilities because of its static ability that says so. The Refractor's static ability doesn't work while it's in exile, and Mairsil doesn't gain that static ability.
You do, however, have a lovely rock in exile.
Q: Can I target General Ferrous Rokiric with Armed // Dangerous?
A: You can't target Ferrous with either one individually - he has hexproof from monocolor, so he's not a legal target for only Armed or only Dangerous. When casting a split card, you only use the characteristics of the part you chose to cast.
However, this also means that if you fuse Armed // Dangerous, it's a multicolored spell, and you can target Ferrous with that!
Q: My opponent controls Void Winnower. Can I cast Cyclonic Rift for its overload cost?
A: No, you can't. Casting something for an alternate cost (like overload) or paying additional costs (like kicker) don't affect a card's mana value. Cyclonic Rift's mana value is always
.Q: My opponent casts Show and Tell. I choose Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider, and my opponent chooses Triskelion. How many counters does Triskelion enter with?
A: Triskelion will have its usual three counters.
Vorinclex won't affect anything entering the battlefield at the same time as it. Note that this also applies to your own things! If you somehow put Vorinclex and a planeswalker into play at the same time, your planeswalker will have its normal starting loyalty.
Q: I control Yurlok of Scorch Thrash and Leyline of Abundance. If I activate Yurlok's ability, does everybody get
?A: Nope! Leyline doesn't add
to the mana abilities you activate. It just gives you a bonus when you do so. Yurlok will give your opponents the usual .Q: I cast Flying Crane Technique. After it resolves, I cast a Grizzly Bears. Does my Bears have flying and double strike?
A: It does not. Flying Crane Technique only affects creatures that were on the battlefield when it resolved.
Q: I cast Mythos of Vadrok, spending
. My opponent copied it. Do they get the "bonus" clause because was spent to cast the original?A: No, they do not.
While you definitely spent that mana casting the original Mythos, no mana was spent to cast the copy at all!
Narset's gotta be at least 245
A: It isn't, actually. It looks an awful lot like one because it adds mana and doesn't have a target.
However, one of the rules for mana abilities is specifically "not a loyalty ability." This means Narset's +1 definitely isn't one, so it uses the stack and can be responded to like regular abilities.
On the plus side, this does mean you can copy the ability if you want to!
Q: I control Ruhan of the Fomori and Grand Melee in a four-player game with Adam, Becca, and Cris. I randomly chose to attack Becca, but she controls a Ghostly Prison. Do I have to pay
to attack her or what?A: You don't! The short version is that you never have to pay costs associated with attacking or blocking, even if paying those costs would increase the number of requirements you have to meet.
Here, Ruhan has two requirements. He has to attack, and he has to attack Becca if able. If you don't pay for Ghostly Prison, then Ruhan isn't able to attack Becca — but he still has to attack. You can attack Adam, Cris, or any one of an opponent's planeswalkers.
Wait, you can attack Becca's planeswalkers? Yes! Ghostly Prison only taxes creatures attacking "you," meaning the player that controls it. It doesn't protect their planeswalkers at all.
Q: I resolved Soulfire Grand Master's ability earlier this turn, then cast Finale of Revelation. Do I get the Finale back in my hand?
A: Sorry, no. That's the final time you can cast that Finale.
The Grand Master's ability can only return a card to your hand if it would be put into the graveyard. Finale exiles itself as part of its resolution, so it never gets anywhere near your graveyard.
That's all for this week, friends. I'm having my 111th birthday in a couple weeks! You're all invited. Bring snacks.
We'll see you next week, same great time, same great place.
- Andrew
About the Author:
Andrew is a Level 2 judge from Dallas, TX who spends too much time on his computer.
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