Published on 06/30/2025
Hot and Bothered
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, and Justin Hovdenes
This Article from: Carsten Haese
Cranial Translation
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Hot enough for you?
As always, if you have a Magic rules question for us, you can email it to moko@cranialinsertion.com , or tweet it to @CranialTweet if it's short. One of our authors will send you an answer, and your question might even show up in a future article.
And now, grab something cold to drink, sit back, and enjoy this week's selection of questions.
Q: When Kefka, Court Mage's ability resolves, do players later in the turn order get to see what cards the players earlier in the turn order discarded?
A: No, the cards get discarded simultaneously. Each player secretly chooses which card they want to discard, and then all chosen cards are discarded at the same time.
Q: I'm in a Commander game with three opponents, I control Tataru Taru, and I attack with Howling Golem to make everybody draw a card. How many Treasures does Tataru Taru's Scion's Secretary ability make?
A: Just one. While Howling Golem causes three events that match the trigger condition that Tataru Taru's ability is looking for, the ability can only trigger once each turn, so it only triggers once.
Q: Cid, Timeless Artificer is my commander, and I have fifteen other copies of him in my deck. Do effects that work on commanders or check for commanders such as Bastion Protector and Akroma's Will work on all my Cids, or just the one that starts in the command zone?
A: Those effects only work on the one card that's actually your commander, which is the Cid that starts in the command zone. Commanderness is a property of the physical card and doesn't get shared with other cards or permanents that happen to have the same name. Because of this, it's important that your commander Cid is physically distinguishable from your non-commander Cids in some way.
Q: One of my creatures is equipped with Dragoon's Lance, and my opponent enchants it with Witness Protection on their turn. When my turn begins, does the creature gain flying again?
A: No. Despite the effect only being active some of the time, it doesn't get a new timestamp when your turn begins. The timestamp of the effect was set when the Lance was attached to the creature. Witness Protection's effect has the more recent timestamp, so it removes the flying ability that the Lance tries to give it during your turn.
Q: I control Kuja, Genome Sorcerer and copy it with Sakashima of a Thousand Faces. What happens in my end step if I meet the condition for Kuja to transform?
A: Kuja transforms, but Sakashima does not. Sakashima is not a transforming double-faced card, so it can't transform and ignores the impossible instruction to transform.
Q: I control Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel and saw it in half. What happens?
A: Saw in Half copies the creature as it existed on the battlefield, so you get two token copies of Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel that are 3/3. They're both legendary, so you'll have to get rid of one due to the legend rule. The tokens come into being without transforming, so you don't get any emblems from the tokens.
Q: When Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER transforms, can I use Strionic Resonator to get an additional emblem from Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel?
A: No. The ability that creates the emblem is a replacement effect that happens as Sephiroth transforms, so you can't target it with Strionic Resonator. The front face's "Whenever another creature dies" ability is a triggered ability that you could target with Strionic Resonator, but that won't help you get another emblem, either, since only the fourth resolution of that ability causes Sephiroth to transform and to produce an emblem.
Artist's rendition of my back yard
A: Galian Beast's dies trigger triggers under your opponent's control, so they control the ability and perform its instructions. Since the ability doesn't specify otherwise (by saying "under its owner's control"), they return Vincent Valentine to the battlefield tapped under their control.
Q: I'm in a game of Commander, and one of my opponents had phased out my Abaddon the Despoiler with their Oubliette earlier this game. On my turn, I manage to eliminate that player from the game by dealing lethal damage to them. Does Abaddon phase back in, and if so, does the damage I dealt to that opponent count towards the X in Abaddon's cascade ability?
A: Yes and yes. Way back when Oubliette entered, it set up the one-shot effect that would phase Abaddon back in as Oubliette leaves the battlefield, and your opponent leaving the game causes Oubliette to leave the battlefield. Unlike a triggered ability, Oubliette's effect can still happen if the player who controlled that ability is no longer in the game, so Abaddon still phases back in and gets tapped in the process. The cascade ability looks at the history of the entire turn to determine how much life was lost by your opponents this turn, so it includes the life that was lost by a player who is no longer in the game.
Q: I control a Sorcerer Class on level 3 and an Arcane Bombardment that has three exiled cards. If I cast something like Ponder, do the copies of the exiled cards from Arcane Bombardment trigger Sorcerer Class's damage ability?
A: They do, because you copy the exiled cards and then you cast the copies. You have cast four instant and/or sorcery spells, so the ability triggers four times and each instance deals 4 damage to each opponent, for a total of 16 damage to each opponent.
Q: I control a creature with an activated ability, for example Drowner of Secrets, and my opponent casts Sudden Spoiling on my turn. After that resolves, I cast Marvin, Murderous Mimic. Does Marvin get Drowner of Secrets' activated ability?
A: No. The effect from Marvin's ability is applied in layer 6, after Sudden Spoiling's effect has removed all abilities from Drowner of Secrets, so Drowner of Secrets doesn't have any activated abilities to give to Marvin.
Q: Does Bartz and Boko's enters ability have one target per Bird or just one target?
A: It's just one target. A spell or ability that has multiple targets is very clear about that fact, like Meteor Swarm for example. Bartz and Boko's ability uses the word "target" in its singular form and without specifying a number of targets, so you choose a single creature that gets pecked by a flock of Birds, and the resulting experience will be either quite deadly or quite memorable for that poor creature.
Q: How does Edgar, King of Figaro Two-Headed Coin ability work when I flip multiple coins? For example, Yusri, Fortune's Flame with a number greater than 1, Karplusan Minotaur with more than one age counter, or Squee's Revenge with a number greater than 1.
A: Assuming that you haven't flipped any coins yet this turn, Edgar's ability applies to all coins that are flipped simultaneously in one action, so the trick is to read the ability carefully to determine whether the coins are flipped simultaneously or sequentially. Yusri's effect very obviously performs all flips simultaneously since it just says "flip that many coins", so the general guideline of "one verb equals one action" applies. Similarly, all the coins for Karplusan Minotaur's cumulative upkeep are flipped simultaneously. Squee's Revenge is different because you flip coins until a condition is met, so the game needs to check after each coin flip whether to stop or to keep going. This necessarily means that the coin flips happen in sequence, so Edgar only affects the first coin flip for Squee's Revenge.
Be careful and stay hydrated!
A: Yup! Even though Two-Headed Giant's coin flips can't normally be won, Edgar's ability causes you to win them anyway, which causes Tavern Scoundrel's triggered ability to trigger twice.
Q: If I attack with The Lord Master of Hell, is the X damage it deals to my opponent instead of or in addition to combat damage?
A: That damage happens in addition to combat damage. The ability that deals X damage triggers and resolves in the declare attackers step. Later on, in the combat damage step, The Lord Master of Hell still gets to deal combat damage as usual, either to your opponent if they don't block it, or to whichever creature or creatures they block it with.
Q: Can I use Negate to counter Circle of Power?
A: Absolutely. Even though it creates a creature token when it resolves, among other things, Circle of Power is not a creature spell. It is a sorcery spell, so it's a noncreature spell and a perfectly legal target for Negate.
Q: I control a White Auracite that exiled my opponent's Charismatic Conqueror. If I Flicker White Auracite, does Charismatic Conqueror's ability trigger for the returning White Auracite?
A: Yes. When Flicker resolves, you exile White Auracite, and Charismatic Conqueror is returned to the battlefield immediately upon White Auracite leaving the battlefield. This means that Charismatic Conqueror is on the battlefield when Flicker returns White Auracite to the battlefield, so Charismatic Conqueror's ability triggers.
Q: I'm in a multiplayer game, I control Nazar, the Velvet Fang, and my Black Waltz No. 3 has Lifelink. If I cast a noncreature spell to cause Black Waltz No. 3 to deal damage to each of my opponents, does Nazar get one feeding counter per opponent?
A: No, it just gets one feeding counter. The damage is dealt by one creature with lifelink, which causes a single life gain event even if the damage is dealt to several recipients.
And that's all the time we have for this week. Thanks for reading, and please come back next week for more Magic rules Q&A. Until then, be safe and try to stay cool.
- 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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