Published on 06/23/2025
Meme-ing Through These Questions
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, and Justin Hovdenes
This Article from: Justin Hovdenes
Cranial Translation
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If you were meant to win,
one counterspell would be enough.
one counterspell would be enough.
Not sure how you are doing, but I could use a few laughs, so sprinkled within these questions are some hopefully funny Magic memes. These questions were gathered from a combination of the Facebook Group "Ask the Judge - Magic: The Gathering Rules And Policy Questions" and the IRC Chatroom #MagicJudges-Chat.
If you have a question about any Magic cards, feel free to send it in. We'll send you an answer back, and we may even use your question in a future article. If you have a short question, reach out to us at @CranialTweet, and if you have a longer question, you can send us an email at moko@cranialinsertion.com .
Q: While I control Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph, I cast Fiery Confluence choosing its first mode all three times. Will I deal enough damage to kill my opponent's Ancient Brontodon?
A: The Confluence completes each mode one at a time while resolving, and no priority passes or state based action checks happen between any modes. This means Confluence will deal 1 damage three times, causing Ghyrson to deal 2 damage three times, for a total of 9 damage to each creature on the battlefield, killing both Ghyrson and the Dinosaur.
It's worth noting, Confluence will deal all 3 damage before any creatures will die, then three triggers for each creature will attempt to deal 2 to that creature, resolving each trigger one at a time, killing creatures with low enough toughness before the next trigger resolves.
Q: Can I use Maze's End's second activated ability to find Planar Nexus?
A: You can! Planar Nexus's ability is a Characteristic Defining Ability, often shortened to CDA. CDAs work in all zones, not just on the battlefield. So whether in the hand, graveyard, exile, library, or the battlefield, Planar Nexus is a Gate.
Q: To have Umori, the Collector as my companion, if all nonlands in my deck are creatures, would a card like Blex, Vexing Pest not work as it has a sorcery on its back face?
A: Umori only considers the front face of cards for its companion restriction. You can both have Blex in your deck and Umori as your companion.
Q: If I Soul Sculptor my opponent's Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and then Soul Sculptor dies, does Ragavan become a creature again immediately, or only after someone casts a creature?
A: Only after someone casts a creature will Ragavan revert back to being a creature with abilities. Soul Sculptor's ability is not tied to its existence on the battlefield.
Q: I cast Sheoldred while I control Jodah, the Unifier. When Jodah's trigger resolves I reveal Uvilda, Dean of Perfection. When I go to cast Uvilda, can I cast Nassari, Dean of Expression for free instead?
A: Yes, you can. As Jodah's trigger goes digging through the top of your library, it only cares if the front face is legendary and has a smaller mana value than Sheoldred. Once it goes to cast that card, because it's a modal double face card, you may cast either side.
It's important to note that this is not how cascade works even though they look similar. Cascade in its rules checks that the card it finds is smaller than a set mana value and then checks that the spell it's casting is also below that mana value. Bloodbraid Elf can cast Uvilda, but not Nassari.
Q: I cast Sheoldred while I control Jodah, the Unifier. When Jodah's trigger resolves I reveal Beluna Grandsquall. When I go to cast Beluna, can I cast Seek Thrills for free instead?
A: Yes, you can. As Jodah's trigger goes digging through the top of your library, it only cares if the card is legendary and has a smaller mana value than Sheoldred. Once it goes to cast that card, it can cast either Beluna or her adventure even though it's not legendary (or below mana value 4).
Stax players don't need friends.
Q: When the fourth chapter of Esper Terra resolves, do I have to spend that mana during my draw step? Can I float the mana between my draw step into my first main phase?
A: That's the neat part, you don't need to. Sagas don't gain lore counters during your draw step, but after them. Another way to put it, those counters are added at the beginning of your first main phase, without using the stack. So you don't make the mana during your draw step, but during your first main phase.
Q: If I attack with my Giant Warthog, causing my opponent's Lulu, Stern Guardian to trigger and put a stun counter on my Warthog, does the Warthog still deal damage this combat? Is it still attacking?
A: The Warthog is still attacking and will still deal damage this turn. Getting a stun counter doesn't stop a creature's damage or remove it from combat. It just makes it very unlikely to attack next turn.
Q: If I use Ardyn, the Usurper's trigger to exile Kagemaro, First to Suffer, what power and toughness will the Kagemaro token have?
A: The Kagemaro token will be a 5/5 no matter how many cards you have in hand. If a token copy of a creature is made with a set base power and toughness, this set power and toughness override its original P/T it would have from a Characteristic Defining Ability.
Q: As my turn begins, my life total is at 10 and my opponent's life total is at 20. I currently control both Axis of Mortality and Boon Reflection. If I choose to switch life totals with my opponent, what will each of our life totals end up at?
A: You will end up at 30 life and your opponent will end up at 10 life. When you exchange life with another player, one player loses X life and the other player gains X life, where X is the difference between the two players' life totals. In the example above, your opponent loses 10 life, while you simultaneously try to gain 10 life, however, Boon Reflection replaces the "gain 10 life" with "gain 20 life."
Q: If I cast Laughing Mad, discarding a Mountain to do so, and choose to copy it with Alania, Divergent Storm by giving my opponent a free draw, do I have to discard another card to cast the copy? If so, what happens if I don't have another card in hand?
A: You do not. The copy of the spell is not cast and any additional costs are considered paid. So you having no cards in hands doesn't impede you copying Laughing Mad.
Q: My opponent targeted my commander with Chaos Warp. When it resolves, I chose to put my commander in the command zone instead of getting shuffled into my library. Do I still reveal the top card of my library after shuffling? And if so, can I put that card onto the battlefield if it's a permanent?
A: Yes, and yes. Chaos Warp's "free permanent" is not dependent on the original target getting shuffled into the library. So long as it had a legal target when it began to resolve, you have a chance at a free permanent.
Q: I control Doorkeeper Thrull. My opponent casts Horned Loch-Whale during my turn. Does the Whale enter tapped or untapped?
A: It enters tapped. The Whale's third ability (entering tapped on an opponent's turn) is a replacement effect. Doorkeeper stops triggers from happening that are caused by creatures or artifacts entering the battlefield. The Whale's ability is not a trigger, so Doorkeeper doesn't interact with it.
I don't hold grudges
for the smallest of slights.
for the smallest of slights.
Q: Can I use Remove Soul to counter the Ancient Brontodon my opponent is getting for free off his Kona, Rescue Beastie's survival trigger?
A: You can not. Kona's ability is not casting the Dinosaur, it is instead putting it directly onto the battlefield.
Q: When I cast Magma Opus, can I target three Gossamer Phantasms and one Air Elemental to be dealt the damage, choosing 0 damage to each Phantasm and 4 damage to the Elemental?
A: You can not. Each target chosen amongst those to be dealt damage must each be assigned at least 1 damage, according to rule 601.2d. Even if you assign 1 damage to each as Magma Opus is cast, and all targets but one die before it can start to resolve — as would happen above as each Phantasm dies to its own trigger — you can't reassign damage meant for the missing Phantasms over to the Elemental. The damage originally meant for the Phantasms is simply wasted.
Q: My Parallel Lives is currently being exiled by my opponent's Banishing Light. If I destroy it with Crack Open, will I get one or two Treasure tokens?
A: You get two Treasures. You follow the instructions of Crack Open in the order written on the card. First you destroy the Banishing Light, which immediately puts the Parallel Lives back onto the battlefield. Then you try to create one Treasure token, but Parallel Lives makes it two tokens instead.
Q: My Parallel Lives is currently being exiled by my opponent's Oblivion Ring. If I destroy it with Crack Open, will I get one or two Treasure tokens?
A: You only get one Treasure. So, why is this different from the Banishing Light question? It's because Banishing Light has one trigger trigger that sets up the removal for as long as the Banishing Light is on the battlefield.
Oblivion Ring however has two triggers, one that removes the permanent and another trigger that returns that permanent. When Oblivion Ring gets destroyed, it won't even put its return trigger on the stack until after the Crack Open completely resolves. By then you already got your one Treasure token.
Q: Assuming I control no Army creatures, how does Mondrak, Glory Dominus interact with Relentless Advance?
A: Not particularly well. Instead of creating one 0/0 Zombie Army token, you make two 0/0 Zombie Army tokens, then you place three +1/+1 counters on one of those Zombie Army tokens. Next time state based actions are checked, if nothing else is buffing it, the other Zombie Army will go to the graveyard for having 0 toughness.
Q: I'm attacking my opponent with a Wurmcoil Engine wielding the Mage Slayer equipment. Before the Mage Slayer trigger can resolve, the opponent casts Wing Shards making me sacrifice the Wurm as it's my only attacking creature. When the Mage Slayer trigger resolves, will the Wurm still deal 6 damage? Will that damage still gain me 6 life?
A: Yes and yes. Mage Slayer's trigger will use Last Known Information to determine the creature had 6 power the last time it was on the battlefield and that it also had lifelink.
Q: I'm currently targeting my Sire of Seven Deaths with Cackling Counterpart. My opponent responds by casting Polymorphist's Jest. Will the token I get be stuck as a 1/1 Frog with no abilities or will it be a super cool Eldrazi with seven different abilities?
A: You will have a super cool Eldrazi token with way too many abilities. This is a layers question. Copying happens in layer 1, long before changing types (layer 4), losing abilities (layer 6), or having power and toughness set to a specific number (layer 7b).
Well, I'm all memed out for today. Until next time!
- Justin Hovdenes AKA Hovey
Level 2 Magic Judge
Rapid City, SD
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