Word of Command is sort of an oddball of a card. Its a little confusing as to what I can and cannot do if I cast it on someone else so I figure I need to ask a few questions.
1) What entails of the line: "You control that player until Word of Command finishes resolving." If the targeted player controls say a Necropotence / Moltensteel Dragon can I activate them and drain their life? The question here is can I do anything that they could do once we start processing the spell or is that just in terms of what they can see and tap lands to pay for the spell?
2) I am assuming that the opponent that I choose would have to be able to cast the spell I want to pick at that time. If I cast this on someone's upkeep for instance it would need to be a spell with flash or be an instant if I am reading this spell correctly.
3) If someone tries to move to combat can I stop them from changing phases with this card then and cast sorcery speed things at that point? It is fairly normal practice to play spells post combat so catching them on this would be useful.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
The only thing it lets you do is make the targeted Opponent cast a spell and perform and actions that need to be carried out whilst you cast that spell. AS soon as you finish the process of casting that spell Word of command finishes resolving and then goes to the graveyard.
So to answer your questions.
1) no you may not, you can only make them cast a spell and perform the actions needed to pay any costs required.
2) Word of command grants you permissions to cast a spell at a really odd time, when the WoC is currently resolving as such you can cast a sorcery spell in your opponents End step or upkeep if you wish. If a spell has any restrictions like you can only cast it before attackers are declared you still have to abide by them.
3) To get out of their Main phase and into combat your opponent will have to give every player in the game the chance to peform game actions. So yes if you want to you can cast it in the pre combat mainphase and cast any spell that you want from their hand.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag and start slitting throats.
- H.L Mencken
I Became insane with long Intervals of horrible Sanity
All Religion, my friend is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination and poetry.
- Edgar Allan Poe
I apologize for bumping this again but I thought of a follow up question.
If the opponent that I cast Word of Command on has a Phyrexian Altar or Ashnod's Altar in play, can I utilize it to sacrifice their creatures pay for the card as those are mana abilities?
If my opponent taps lands and puts mana into their mana pool in response to my Word of Command, am I at all confined as to what mana to utilize in casting the spell? Do I need to use the mana in pool before tapping lands or can I just ignore that?
If for example I decide to cast a 2 mana spell from my opponent, can I tap all of their lands and put the mana in pool to do so?
Most of this is more or less a question of can I overtap them and or can they control how they tap lands into playing a spell.
1. No, you can only activate the mana abilities of lands, as specified in the Oracle text of Word of Command.
2. You may use the mana that is already in their mana pool, or you may choose not to.
3. You can only use the mana abilities of their lands if the mana that they produce is used to cast the chosen spell, or if it's used to activate the mana abilities of their other lands in order to cast the spell.
WoC is very carefully worded to ensure that players never get priority during the period you control the opponent. So you may only play mana abilities (and the mana abilities you may play are further restricted by Word of Command), and the chosen card (which you are allowed to play out of normal timing rules).
To really get your head dizzy, assume that your opponent also has a Word of Command in his hand, and you choose that to be cast...
Correct me if I'm wrong (please)... You would end up playing a card from your own hand as the affected player's Word of Command resolves, unless it's a multiplayer game, in which case you could choose either yourself or the affected player's other opponents. But when the chosen spell resolves, the affected player would be able to make any choices that are made during resolution (as opposed to during casting). For instance, you choose the target of Lightning Bolt, but they could choose which card is put into someone's hand by Diabolic Tutor.
If I'm right, that wouldn't be that hard to deal with... but as a former judge I would probably let out a long sigh before trying to explain how it works to a player.
EDIT: After thinking it over, I believe I made a mistake. You would get to choose a card from either your hand or the hand of one of the affected player's opponents. After that, they gain control of either you or someone else during the resolution of their own Word of Command.
So if you choose one of their opponents that is not you, then you get to make any decisions for the chosen spell as it is cast, but not when it resolves (the target of your initial Word of Command gets to make decisions during resolution). This is because they control the affected opponent, but you still control them until their Word of Command finishes resolving.
But if you choose to cast a spell from your own hand, then they gain control of you during the resolution of their Word of Command, immediately after you have chosen a card. This means that they can make any relevant decisions both during casting and during the resolution of the spell that you chose (from your own hand... during the resolution of their Words of Command).
This works the same if Alice and Carol are the same player.
This is what I thought at first, but I believe there is a slight difference. If Alice has Bob cast it on Carol, then Bob controls Carol, but Bob is still controlled by Alice, so she gets to make any choices while casting for the spell chosen by Bob's Word of Command (and he gets to make the choices when it resolves).
But if Alice has Bob cast it on Alice, then Alice gets to choose the card, but immediately after that, Bob gains control of Alice. This effect would have a more recent timestamp than Alice controlling Bob, so he gets to make the choices both while the chosen spell is cast and when it resolves.
1) Alice looks at Bob's hand and chooses his Word of Command.
2) Alice controls Bob until Alice's Word of Command finishes resolving.
3) Bob casts his Word of Command. Since Alice controls Bob, Alice is the one who makes the choice of targets. Bob's Word of Command targets Carol. Mana abilities are activated during the casting process such that they obey the restrictions.
4) Alice's Word of Command finishes resolving.
5) The usual priority-passing happens.
6) Bob's Word of Command resolves. In this list of bullets, Alice controls Bob.
---1) Alice (who controls Bob) looks at Carol's hand and chooses something.
---2) Bob controls Carol until Bob's Word of Command finishes resolving.
---3) Carol casts her whatever. Alice (who controls Bob) makes choice of targets and activates mana abilities as per the restrictions.
---4) Bob's Word of Command finishes resolving.
7) The usual priority-passing happens.
8) Carol's whatever resolves. Since the chosen card is cast as a spell, Bob still controls Carol at this point, and Bob is free to make choices required by the resolution of Carol's spell.
1) Alice looks at Bob's hand and chooses his Word of Command.
2) Alice controls Bob until Alice's Word of Command finishes resolving.
3) Bob casts his Word of Command. Since Alice controls Bob, Alice is the one who makes the choice of targets. Bob's Word of Command targets Alice. Mana abilities are activated during the casting process such that they obey the restrictions.
4) Alice's Word of Command finishes resolving.
5) The usual priority-passing happens.
6) Bob's Word of Command resolves. In this list of bullets, Alice controls Bob.
---1) Bob looks at Alice's hand and chooses something. This decision is made by Alice, since Alice controls Bob. (In other words, Alice chooses a card from her own hand.)
---2) Bob controls Alice until Bob's Word of Command finishes resolving. (Alice being able to make decisions for Bob is replaced by Bob being able to make decisions for Alice who is able to make decisions for Bob. This means Bob controls himself and Alice.)
---3) Alice casts her whatever. Bob makes choice of targets and activates mana abilities as per the restrictions, since Bob controls Alice.
---4) Bob's Word of Command finishes resolving.
7) (From here, Alice no longer controls Bob.) The usual priority-passing happens.
8) Alice's whatever resolves. Since the chosen card is cast as a spell, Bob still controls Alice at this point, and Bob is free to make choices required by the resolution of Alice's spell.
In short, what matters is whether the "transitive property of player control" holds. If it does, then "Alice controls Bob who controls Carol implies Alice controls Bob and Alice controls Carol" also entails "Alice controls Bob who controls Alice implies Alice controls Bob and Alice controls Alice". If it doesn't, then "Alice controls Bob who controls Carol implies Alice controls Bob and Bob controls Carol" also entails "Alice controls Bob who controls Alice implies Alice controls Bob and Bob controls Alice".
However, a player controlling another player means that the first player is able to make all decisions for the second player. If Bob is able to make all decisions for Alice, but Alice makes all decisions for Bob, then Alice can force Bob to force Alice to do something, which means that the "transitive property of player control" holds.
To think of it another way, if you built a robot, giving it the instruction "make me get you a drink" causes the robot to say "I'm thirsty", and the robot saying "I'm thirsty" causes you to get it a drink, then it's you saying "make me get you a drink" to the robot that ultimately makes you get a drink for it. The robot itself isn't able to say "I'm thirsty" without any previous input.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
How to use card tags (please use them for everybody's sanity)
[c]Lightning Bolt[/c] -> Lightning Bolt
[c=Lightning Bolt]Apple Pie[/c] -> Apple Pie
Vowels-Only Format Minimum deck size: 60 Maximum number of identical cards: 4 Ban list: Cards whose English names begin with a consonant, Unglued and Unhinged cards, cards involving ante, Ancestral Recall
Right. When two players control each other, you could either say "A controls B who controls A" or "B controls A who controls B". Since a player who controls another player makes any choices that the affected player is allowed to make, these two ways of phrasing it would imply that A makes all choices, or B makes all choices (respectively).
So it seems logical to me that the effect with the more recent timestamp is the one that takes precedence, i.e. Bob makes all choices.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
1) What entails of the line: "You control that player until Word of Command finishes resolving." If the targeted player controls say a Necropotence / Moltensteel Dragon can I activate them and drain their life? The question here is can I do anything that they could do once we start processing the spell or is that just in terms of what they can see and tap lands to pay for the spell?
2) I am assuming that the opponent that I choose would have to be able to cast the spell I want to pick at that time. If I cast this on someone's upkeep for instance it would need to be a spell with flash or be an instant if I am reading this spell correctly.
3) If someone tries to move to combat can I stop them from changing phases with this card then and cast sorcery speed things at that point? It is fairly normal practice to play spells post combat so catching them on this would be useful.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
The only thing it lets you do is make the targeted Opponent cast a spell and perform and actions that need to be carried out whilst you cast that spell. AS soon as you finish the process of casting that spell Word of command finishes resolving and then goes to the graveyard.
So to answer your questions.
1) no you may not, you can only make them cast a spell and perform the actions needed to pay any costs required.
2) Word of command grants you permissions to cast a spell at a really odd time, when the WoC is currently resolving as such you can cast a sorcery spell in your opponents End step or upkeep if you wish. If a spell has any restrictions like you can only cast it before attackers are declared you still have to abide by them.
3) To get out of their Main phase and into combat your opponent will have to give every player in the game the chance to peform game actions. So yes if you want to you can cast it in the pre combat mainphase and cast any spell that you want from their hand.
- H.L Mencken
I Became insane with long Intervals of horrible Sanity
All Religion, my friend is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination and poetry.
- Edgar Allan Poe
The Crafters' Rules Guru
The info on #2 is especially enlightening as I thought I would have to be in main phase for a lot of those things so that's nice to know.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
Most of this is more or less a question of can I overtap them and or can they control how they tap lands into playing a spell.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
2. You may use the mana that is already in their mana pool, or you may choose not to.
3. You can only use the mana abilities of their lands if the mana that they produce is used to cast the chosen spell, or if it's used to activate the mana abilities of their other lands in order to cast the spell.
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
WoC is very carefully worded to ensure that players never get priority during the period you control the opponent. So you may only play mana abilities (and the mana abilities you may play are further restricted by Word of Command), and the chosen card (which you are allowed to play out of normal timing rules).
Correct me if I'm wrong (please)... You would end up playing a card from your own hand as the affected player's Word of Command resolves, unless it's a multiplayer game, in which case you could choose either yourself or the affected player's other opponents.
Butwhen the chosen spell resolves, the affected player would be able to make any choices that are made during resolution(as opposed to during casting). For instance, you choose the target of Lightning Bolt, butthey could choose which card is put into someone's hand by Diabolic Tutor.If I'm right, that wouldn't be that hard to deal with... butas a former judge I would probably let out a long sigh before trying to explain how it works to a player.EDIT: After thinking it over, I believe I made a mistake. You would get to choose a card from either your hand or the hand of one of the affected player's opponents. After that, they gain control of either you or someone else during the resolution of their own Word of Command.
So if you choose one of their opponents that is not you, then you get to make any decisions for the chosen spell as it is cast, but not when it resolves (the target of your initial Word of Command gets to make decisions during resolution). This is because they control the affected opponent, but you still control them until their Word of Command finishes resolving.
But if you choose to cast a spell from your own hand, then they gain control of you during the resolution of their Word of Command, immediately after you have chosen a card. This means that they can make any relevant decisions both during casting and during the resolution of the spell that you chose (from your own hand... during the resolution of their Words of Command).
This is what I thought at first, but I believe there is a slight difference. If Alice has Bob cast it on Carol, then Bob controls Carol, but Bob is still controlled by Alice, so she gets to make any choices while casting for the spell chosen by Bob's Word of Command (and he gets to make the choices when it resolves).
But if Alice has Bob cast it on Alice, then Alice gets to choose the card, but immediately after that, Bob gains control of Alice. This effect would have a more recent timestamp than Alice controlling Bob, so he gets to make the choices both while the chosen spell is cast and when it resolves.
1) Alice looks at Bob's hand and chooses his Word of Command.
2) Alice controls Bob until Alice's Word of Command finishes resolving.
3) Bob casts his Word of Command. Since Alice controls Bob, Alice is the one who makes the choice of targets. Bob's Word of Command targets Carol. Mana abilities are activated during the casting process such that they obey the restrictions.
4) Alice's Word of Command finishes resolving.
5) The usual priority-passing happens.
6) Bob's Word of Command resolves. In this list of bullets, Alice controls Bob.
---1) Alice (who controls Bob) looks at Carol's hand and chooses something.
---2) Bob controls Carol until Bob's Word of Command finishes resolving.
---3) Carol casts her whatever. Alice (who controls Bob) makes choice of targets and activates mana abilities as per the restrictions.
---4) Bob's Word of Command finishes resolving.
7) The usual priority-passing happens.
8) Carol's whatever resolves. Since the chosen card is cast as a spell, Bob still controls Carol at this point, and Bob is free to make choices required by the resolution of Carol's spell.
1) Alice looks at Bob's hand and chooses his Word of Command.
2) Alice controls Bob until Alice's Word of Command finishes resolving.
3) Bob casts his Word of Command. Since Alice controls Bob, Alice is the one who makes the choice of targets. Bob's Word of Command targets Alice. Mana abilities are activated during the casting process such that they obey the restrictions.
4) Alice's Word of Command finishes resolving.
5) The usual priority-passing happens.
6) Bob's Word of Command resolves. In this list of bullets, Alice controls Bob.
---1) Bob looks at Alice's hand and chooses something. This decision is made by Alice, since Alice controls Bob. (In other words, Alice chooses a card from her own hand.)
---2) Bob controls Alice until Bob's Word of Command finishes resolving. (Alice being able to make decisions for Bob is replaced by Bob being able to make decisions for Alice who is able to make decisions for Bob. This means Bob controls himself and Alice.)
---3) Alice casts her whatever. Bob makes choice of targets and activates mana abilities as per the restrictions, since Bob controls Alice.
---4) Bob's Word of Command finishes resolving.
7) (From here, Alice no longer controls Bob.) The usual priority-passing happens.
8) Alice's whatever resolves. Since the chosen card is cast as a spell, Bob still controls Alice at this point, and Bob is free to make choices required by the resolution of Alice's spell.
In short, what matters is whether the "transitive property of player control" holds. If it does, then "Alice controls Bob who controls Carol implies Alice controls Bob and Alice controls Carol" also entails "Alice controls Bob who controls Alice implies Alice controls Bob and Alice controls Alice". If it doesn't, then "Alice controls Bob who controls Carol implies Alice controls Bob and Bob controls Carol" also entails "Alice controls Bob who controls Alice implies Alice controls Bob and Bob controls Alice".
However, a player controlling another player means that the first player is able to make all decisions for the second player. If Bob is able to make all decisions for Alice, but Alice makes all decisions for Bob, then Alice can force Bob to force Alice to do something, which means that the "transitive property of player control" holds.
To think of it another way, if you built a robot, giving it the instruction "make me get you a drink" causes the robot to say "I'm thirsty", and the robot saying "I'm thirsty" causes you to get it a drink, then it's you saying "make me get you a drink" to the robot that ultimately makes you get a drink for it. The robot itself isn't able to say "I'm thirsty" without any previous input.
[c]Lightning Bolt[/c] -> Lightning Bolt
[c=Lightning Bolt]Apple Pie[/c] -> Apple Pie
Vowels-Only Format
Minimum deck size: 60
Maximum number of identical cards: 4
Ban list: Cards whose English names begin with a consonant, Unglued and Unhinged cards, cards involving ante, Ancestral Recall
So it seems logical to me that the effect with the more recent timestamp is the one that takes precedence, i.e. Bob makes all choices.