Published on 06/09/2025
Finally, Fantasy
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, and Justin Hovdenes
This Article from: Carsten Haese
Cranial Translation
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This set is full of flavor!
At any rate, there was palpable enthusiasm on social media during the preview season for Final Fantasy, and people have been asking questions that we get to answer today and in the coming weeks. As always, if you have questions for us about Final Fantasy or any other Magic set, you can email your questions to moko@cranialinsertion.com or tweet short questions to @CranialTweet. One of our authors will send you an answer, and your question might appear in a future article.
And now, without further ado, let's sink our teeth into this flavorful set!
Q: If Cloud, Midgar Mercenary dies from attaching Skullclamp to it, do I draw two or four cards?
A: You'll draw four cards. Skullclamp's trigger is a "dies" trigger, so it looks back in time to the game state immediately before Cloud died. In that game state, Cloud was equipped and Skullclamp was attached to it, so Skullclamp's ability triggers twice.
Q: Can Rydia, Summoner of Mist's Summon ability return Summon: Esper Maduin from the graveyard?
A: No. Summon: Esper Maduin is the back face of Esper Origins, which is a sorcery card, not a Saga card. In the graveyard, only the characteristics of the front face are visible to the game, so Rydia can't target the back face of a double-faced card.
Q: Can Rydia, Summoner of Mist return Urza's Saga from the graveyard?
A: Absolutely, and it only costs you
to do so. Rydia's ability looks for a Saga card with mana value X, and Urza's Saga is a Saga card with mana value 0. The fact that it's not a creature like the Sagas of Final Fantasy is entirely irrelevant.Q: Speaking of Urza's Saga, I've heard that there was a rules change with Final Fantasy that makes Blood Moon do crazy things to an Urza's Saga that just reached chapter II. Can you explain that interaction?
A: I'll try. Before this rule change, a Saga that lost its chapter abilities would be sacrificed as a state-based action, so Blood Moon would kill Urza's Saga. Under the new rules, Urza's Saga just sticks around with two chapter counters on it. You might wonder what good an Urza's Saga is without its abilities, but due to a fun quirk of the layer system, Urza's Saga gets to keep the abilities to make mana and Constructs. Blood Moon's type-changing effect applies in layer 4, and Urza's Saga loses the abilities that are printed on it as a side-effect of this type-changing effect. However, the resolutions of its chapter I and II abilities created continuous effects of indefinite duration that grant abilities to it, and those effects are applied in layer 6, so Urza's Saga still has those abilities even under a Blood Moon.
Q: What happens after chapter IV if I equip Summon: Bahamut with Assault Suit?
A: You get to keep an 11/11 Dragon around, which is pretty cool, but that's it. The state-based action that sacrifices Sagas will try to get you to sacrifice Summon: Bahamut after its Mega Flare has gone off, but you can't sacrifice it, so you don't. One might think that the game would get stuck in an infinite loop of repeatedly trying and failing to sacrifice Summon: Bahamut, but state-based actions are only rechecked if the check resulted in an action, and the action in this case is impossible. The game will try (and fail) to sacrifice Summon: Bahamut each time a player gets priority, but it won't get stuck in an infinite loop. Eventually, Summon: Bahamut will get more lore counters added to it to go beyond IV, but this won't retrigger chapter IV, since that ability only triggers when the number of lore counters goes from less than four to four (or greater).
Q: Does casting Venat, Heart of Hydaelyn trigger its card drawing ability?
A: No. Venat's ability only functions while Venat is on the battlefield. When you cast it, it's on the stack, so it's not on the battlefield yet and its ability doesn't work yet.
You never know what life will bring
Only what you bring to life
Only what you bring to life
A: Your choice of five or six counters. A creature entering with counters on it counts as counters being put on it, so the replacement effect from The Earth Crystal is applicable here. Evil Reawakened creates the event "Put Zack Fair onto the battlefield with two (additional) +1/+1 counters on it", and both The Earth Crystal and Zack Fair's own ability want to modify this event, so you choose the order in which they apply. If you apply The Earth Crystal's effect first, you double two to four and then add one for a total of five counters. If you do it the other way around, you increase two to three and then double that to six.
Q: If I control The Earth Crystal, what happens if I use Sazh Katzroy's attack trigger on a creature that doesn't have any +1/+1 counters on it.
A: The creature will get six +1/+1 counters. Sazh Katzroy starts by giving it one +1/+1 counter, which gets doubled to two. Then, it attempts to double the number of +1/+1 counters on that creature, which it does by placing a number of counters equal to what's already there. That's two in this case, but The Earth Crystal doubles that to four counters, for a total of six.
Q: Let's say I control Summon: Bahamut and I make a token copy of it with Esper Terra. If I choose to put three lore counters on it, do all four of its chapters go off?
A: Yup. The token copy enters with one lore counter on it and then you add three more. Chapter ability N triggers if the number of counters is increased from less than N to N or greater, so putting the first lore counter on it triggers the chapter I ability, and adding three more counters triggers chapters II, III, and IV all at the same time. Also note that since the four triggers go on the stack at the same time, they go on the stack in whichever order you choose.
Q: If Ultima kills a creature that has a dies trigger, does the dies trigger still happen?
A: No. Ultima starts by destroying the creature, which triggers its dies ability, but that ability has to wait to go on the stack. Then, Ultima ends the turn, and the first step in that process is to delete any triggered abilities that are waiting to be put on the stack, which includes the poor creature's dies trigger.
Q: Can I use Stolen Uniform on an Equipment I already control in order to attach it to one of my creatures and circumvent an expensive equip cost?
A: Sure, that works beautifully. Note that Stolen Uniform just says "target Equipment", not "target Equipment you don't control", so targeting an Equipment you already control is perfectly legal, and it simply creates a control-changing effect that doesn't do anything visible. Also, when that effect ends at the end of the turn, you don't lose control of the Equipment, so the Equipment doesn't become unattached by Stolen Uniform's delayed trigger.
Q: Does G'raha Tia's card draw ability trigger twice if it's equipped with The Masamune?
A: No. G'raha Tia's ability only triggers once each turn, so The Masamune can't make it trigger an additional time.
THAT's a knife!
A: It gets three charge counters. Although the Moogles deal their damage simultaneously and you gain 3 life in one single moment, the game treats the life gain from each creature with lifelink as a separate life-gaining event. This means that the game sees three separate life-gaining events, so Excalibur II's ability triggers three times.
Q: I equip Lightning, Army of One with Genji Glove and attack my opponent, who chooses not to block. In the additional combat phase, I attack my opponent again, and again they choose not to block. How much damage do they take?
A: Quite a lot. Each time Lightning deals damage to your opponent, the Stagger ability creates a separate damage-doubling effect that applies to subsequent damage. The effects are cumulative, and Lightning ends up dealing damage to your opponent four separate times. In the first combat phase, Lightning deals 3 damage with the first strike and 6 damage with the second strike. In the second combat phase, Lightning deals 12 damage with the first strike and 24 damage with the second strike. If your opponent is somehow still alive after taking a total of 45 damage, any subsequent damage will be multiplied by 16. Ouch!
Q: If I target a card in my graveyard with Sorceress's Schemes, does the card have to have flashback?
A: No, Sorceress's Schemes can target an instant or sorcery card in your graveyard, or an exiled card with flashback you own. If you target a card in your graveyard, it doesn't need to have flashback, and if you target an exiled card with flashback you own, it doesn't need to be an instant or sorcery (although you're not likely to find flashback on a card that's not an instant or sorcery).
Q: If I target my opponent's commander with Ice Magic's Blizzaga mode and they choose to put it into the command zone instead of into their library, do they still have to shuffle their library?
A: Yes, due to rule 701.20c, whose relevant bits say this: "If an effect would cause a player to shuffle one or more specific objects into a library, that library is shuffled even if [...] an effect causes all of those objects to be moved to another zone [...]"
Q: Speaking of Ice Magic, does casting it for its Blizzaga mode trigger The Emperor of Palamecia's triggered ability?
A: Absolutely. Ice Magic's mana value is only 2, but The Emperor of Palamecia doesn't care about the mana value, it cares about how much mana was spent to cast the spell. Since you spent at least four mana to cast the spell, the ability triggers.
Q: If I control The Emperor of Palamecia with three +1/+1 counters on it, can I cast a noncreature spell for less than four mana to transform the Emperor?
A: No. The "if at least four mana was spent" condition isn't just a check for putting another counter on it, it's an intervening-if clause that's part of the trigger condition. Casting a spell without spending at least four mana on it won't trigger the ability at all.
And that's all we have time for today. Thanks for reading, and please come back next week for more Magic rules Q&A!
- 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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