Published on 04/28/2025
Carry On, My Wayward Pun
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, and Justin Hovdenes
This Article from: Carsten Haese
Cranial Translation
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There'll be bees when you are done
As always, if you have rules questions for us, you can send them to us by email to moko@cranialinsertion.com or tweet short questions to us at @CranialTweet. One of our authors will send you an answer, and your question might appear in a future article, possibly alongside an awful pun.
Q: I cast Shiko, Paragon of the Way, which my opponent attempts to counter with Counterspell. I counter their counter with Dispelling Exhale. Can I behold Shiko to make my opponent pay
?A: You can look at it wistfully, but you can't behold it. To behold a Dragon means to reveal a Dragon card from your hand or to choose a Dragon you control. The latter means a Dragon permanent on the battlefield. Shiko is on the stack, so it's no longer in your hand and it's not on the battlefield yet, so you can't behold it to get the augmented effect for Dispelling Exhale.
Q: I use Wand of the Worldsoul to give my next spell convoke, and then I cast Awaken the Blood Avatar. Can I sacrifice the same creatures I tap for convoke to reduce the cost for Awaken the Blood Avatar?
A: Yes, that works. As you cast Awaken the Blood Avatar, after you put the card onto the stack, the first thing you do is announce whether and how you intend to pay the optional additional cost. At that point you choose which creatures you will sacrifice to pay the additional cost, but you don't sacrifice them yet. Let's say you choose three creatures, which reduces the cost by a total of
. You then calculate the total cost, which is 
plus the sacrifice of those three creatures. You then pay the total cost in any order, so you can tap a black creature in lieu of paying and tap a red creature in lieu of paying even if those creatures are among the three you're sacrificing, since you can just sacrifice them after tapping them.Q: Does Isshin, Two Heavens as One ability double the trigger from Dalkovan Encampment?
A: No. Dalkovan Encampment has an activated ability whose resolution creates a delayed triggered ability. That delayed triggered ability is not a triggered ability of a permanent you control, so it doesn't qualify for Isshin's ability-doubling effect.
Q: If I untap an attacker with Maze of Ith, can I still hit it for 1 damage with Desert in the end of combat step?
A: Sure, that works. Maze of Ith's ability untaps the attacker and prevents any combat damage that would be dealt to it and by it, but it doesn't remove the attacker from combat. It's still an attacking creature, so you can target it with Desert's ability, and the damage that Desert deals is non-combat damage, so Maze of Ith's effect doesn't prevent that damage.
Q: I have cast two spells on my turn so far. I cast Dragonstorm and search for Stormscale Scion. How many Stormscale Scions do I get?
A: Just the one. Stormscale Scion has storm, but that only matters if it's being cast. Dragonstorm simply puts it onto the battlefield, so storm doesn't trigger and you don't get any additional Stormscale Scions. Of course, Dragonstorm has storm and you did cast it, so you do get two copies of Dragonstorm, which means that you get to search for two Dragon friends to keep Stormscale Scion company.
Q: Can I sacrifice a creature token to satisfy the additional cost of Natural Order, such as the green Badger tokens that Greensleeves, Maro-Sorcerer makes?
A: Absolutely. A creature token is a creature, so it can be used for any purpose that calls for a creature unless the effect explicitly asks for a nontoken creature. Natural Order isn't that picky, so a creature token is a perfectly valid sacrifice for it.
- Look at that pretty butterfly!
- It's pretty, but it's a moth.
- I can't believe it's not butterfly!
- It's pretty, but it's a moth.
- I can't believe it's not butterfly!
A: Sadly, no. Goldenglow Moth's ability only triggers once when it is declared as a blocker, not once per attacker it's blocking, so you'll only gain 4 life.
Q: I control a creature that has Armored Ascension attached to it, and my opponent puts Witness Protection on it. Does it lose the +1/+1 bonus for each of my Plains that it got from Armored Ascension?
A: No, it keeps that bonus. This is a question about layers. Armored Ascension (AA) creates effects in layers 6 and 7c. Witness Protection (WP) has its hands in many pies, creating effects in layers 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7b. The only layer where AA and WP overlap is layer 6, where the two effects happen in timestamp order. All the other effects are just applied in layer order. In layer 3, WP changes the creature's name. In layer 4, WP changes its type. In layer 5, WP changes its colors. In layer 6, AA first gives it flying and then WP removes all abilities, which removes flying. In layer 7b, WP sets the base power/toughness to 1/1, and finally in layer 7c AA gives it +1/+1 for each Plains you control.
Q: Can I play Warp World in a Bracket 3 Commander deck, or would it be considered mass land denial?
A: I wouldn't consider it mass land denial provided that you aren't playing it along with some other effects that remove lands from your opponent's libraries. While Warp World does remove lands from the battlefield, it also replaces them with cards from your opponents' libraries, which will most likely include some number of lands that will produce the color of mana that they are intended to produce. Therefore, it doesn't fit the description of cards that "regularly destroy, exile, and bounce other lands, keep lands tapped, or change what mana is produced by four or more lands per player without replacing them." However, note that my interpretation of the bracket system is in no way authoritative. Your play group or the organizer of the tournament in which you want to play your deck may have a different interpretation.
Q: My opponent played Measure of Wickedness and made me gain control of it with its triggered ability. At the end of my turn, the end-step ability triggers, and my opponent claims that I lose 8 life but I can't sacrifice the enchantment because I'm not its owner. Is that right?
A: No, that's not right. It's true that you're not its owner, but that doesn't matter with respect to sacrificing it. You control it, so you can sacrifice it, and it will be put into its owner's graveyard, i.e. into your opponent's graveyard. What your opponent is describing only happens if Measure of Wickedness were to change controllers in response to its end-step trigger. In that case, the player who controlled it when the ability triggered still loses 8 life, but they can't sacrifice Measure of Wickedness because they don't control it at the time the ability resolves.
Q: I'm in a game of Two-Headed Giant and I control Raking Canopy. Can my opponents attack my teammate to avoid the Raking Canopy trigger?
A: Yes. While the opposing team declares a combined attack, each of their attackers attack a particular player, planeswalker, or battle, so they can simply choose to attack your teammate with each of their attackers.
Q: Does Sleep affect a tapped creature I control?
A: It sure does. It fails to tap the creature, but the set "those creatures" that don't untap in your next untap step includes all creatures you control, not just those that were tapped by Sleep's first instruction.
Have you ever seen an ant elope?
A: No. Release the Ants only has one target, and your opponent has rendered that target illegal by sacrificing it in response. As Release the Ants begins to resolve, it finds that all its targets are illegal now, so it doesn't resolve and none of its effects happen. You don't get to clash, and Release the Ants just goes to the graveyard.
Q: If Destiny Spinner turns a land into a creature, is that creature colorless?
A: Most likely, yes. Destiny Spinner's effect doesn't give the land creature a color, so it'll be colorless unless the land happened to have a color.
Q: If I cast Sunscourge Champion, can I use something like Giant Growth to increase the amount of life I gain from its enters trigger?
A: Certainly. Sunscourge Champion's ability only checks its power at the time the ability resolves. If you respond to the ability with Giant Growth, Giant Growth resolves first and increases the power that Sunscourge Champion's ability sees.
Q: I control a Plague Engineer set to Monk and my opponent controls a Cori-Steel Cutter whose flurry ability just triggered. Does the Monk die before they can attach Cori-Steel Cutter to it?
A: No, the Monk lives. The flurry ability creates the token and immediately attaches Cori-Steel Cutter to it if that's what your opponent chooses to do. State-based actions are only checked after the ability has finished resolving and the Monk is 1/1. While the Monk was briefly a 0/0, that doesn't matter because state-based actions weren't paying attention then.
Q: I cast Will of the Abzan and I want to resurrect something, but my oppenent might want to counter it or not depending on what I would resurrect. When do I have to announce what I want to resurrect?
A: Will of the Abzan's second mode targets the card that you want to return, and targets have to be announced at the time the spell is cast, so your opponent has full knowledge of your intentions when they decide whether to counter Will of the Abzan.
Q: Are the emblems from Chandra, Awakened Inferno cumulative?
A: Yup. There's no limit to how many of these emblems a player can have. Each emblem's ability triggers and resolves independently, so the player gets dealt 1 damage by each of the emblems.
And that's all the time we have for today. Thanks for reading, and I hope my puns made you groan with delight.
- 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.
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