I think I have a pretty good general understanding of phasing, but I'm a bit confused by the wording of cards which refer to it. Some refer to permanents "gaining phasing," while others refer to them "phasing out." For example Shimmer says,“When you play Shimmer, choose a land type. All lands of the chosen type gain phasing.” Taniwha says, “At the beginning of your upkeep, all lands you control phase out.”
To what extent are these the same thing, and to what extent are they different? If I understand correctly, a creature which has the static ability "phasing" will automatically phase out and in on alternating turns at the beginning of the controller's untap phase. If I use the enchantment Shimmer to make a land card "phase out," does this mean that the card "gains phasing" only for as long as [Shimmer] is in play? If Shimmer is destroyed, does the land (1) continue to possess phasing until the end of the game, (2) remain phased in permanently the next time that it "phases in" or (3) phase in instantly and permanently as soon as Shimmer is destroyed?
What about an instant like Reality Ripple which is played and then discarded? If Reality Ripple is used on a land, does that land "gain phasing" permanently? Meaning that it will phase out and continue to phase in and phase out every other turn until the end of the game? Another possible interpretation of an instant causing a permanent to "phase out" would be that the card phases out and never comes back again. That seems unlikely, but...
I'd be grateful for any help you could provide. Phasing is an intriguing ability, but so little is written about its nuances.
The wordings are generally the same. The only difference is that Shimmer gives all of the lands that ability while Taniwha phases them all out on his own.
Once Shimmer is destroyed the lands no longer possess phasing. The current oracle text of Shimmer makes this a bit clearer.
Each land of the chosen type has phasing. (It phases in or out before its controller untaps during each of his or her untap steps. While it's phased out, it's treated as though it doesn't exist.)
The case where Shimmer is destroyed or Reality Ripple is the same. The card is phased out and then at the beginning of the next untap step it phases back in. Once it does so it has no memory of what caused it to phase so it will remain in play.
The difference between phase out and gains phasing is that "gain phasing" means that the permanent phases out during each of your untap steps (if it didn't phase in) gaining phasing is permanent, while something that phases out will phase in during the next untap step of its controller. Also if something phases out that happens immediately, while something gaining phasing will phase out during the untap phase. So if you shimmer a land, it won't phase out until the opponents untap, but if you reality ripple it during their upkeep for example it will phase out during the upkeep, because that is what reality ripple does.
In the case of shimmer the permanent will have phasing as long as shimmer is on the battlefield, and will stay phased in the next time it phases in, mainly since shimmer is an enchantment so it only affects the enchanted permanent while it is on the battlefield (like flight where the creature doesn't have flying if you remove the enchantment, the same principle applies).
As for Reality Ripple it doesn't give the permanent phasing because that is not what the card says, the permanent will phase back in and stay back in because of the following rule:
502.1. First, all phased-in permanents with phasing that the active player controls phase out, and all phased-out permanents that the active player controlled when they phased out phase in. This all happens simultaneously. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. See rule 702.25, “Phasing.”
Bolded by me for emphasis, in particular phased out permanents don't have to have phasing to phase back in.
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Shimmer gives the lands the ability "phasing". Taniwha just tells you to phase them out. They don't gain phasing. Just like how Glorious Anthem only gives your creatures +1/+1 as long as it's on the battlefield, Shimmer only gives the lands phasing as long as it's on the battlefield. And a permanent that's phased out will phase back in during their next untap step. They don't phase back in when Shimmer leaves play, because nothing is telling them to phase in. And Reality Ripple, just like Taniwha, does not give anything phasing: it just phases the target out. If it gave the card phasing, then it would say that it gains phasing. If something tells you to phase something out, then you change its status to "phased out" (just like if something tells you to tap a creature, its status changes to "tapped". It doesn't automatically keep tapping itself in the future).
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The wordings are generally the same. The only difference is that Shimmer gives all of the lands that ability while Taniwha phases them all out on his own.
The timing is slightly different between the two, as well. A phased-in permanent with phasing will phase out during its controller's untap step. Taniwha phases your lands out during your upkeep step, which occurs after the untap step. Further, players do not gain priority during any untap step, but they do gain priority during each upkeep step.
As a practical example of why the difference matters, if you were tapped out and all of your lands gained phasing, you would be unable to use your lands on your following turn. If instead you gained control of a Taniwha, you would have the opportunity to cast instants, spells with flash, or activate abilities.
So, if I am understanding correctly, cards (like Shimmer) which "give phasing" cause the permanent to phase out during the controller's next untap step, and to continue phasing in and out for the remainder of the game, unless some other card acts upon it.
Cards like Taniwha or Reality Ripple, don't give the permanent the ability of phasing. They just cause it to phase out-- once time and only one time. A card phased out by Taniwha or Reality Ripple will phase out immediately, then automatically phase in during the controller's next untap step, and remain phased in for the rest of the game.
Correct, yes. In essence, the phasing ability is one way to change a permanent's status from phased-in to phased-out, and a phased-in permanent with phasing will phase out during its controller's untap step. But the phasing ability is not the only way to do so, spells's and abilities's effects can change the status of a permanent from phased-in to phased-out without using the phasing ability.
I have a follow up question that I'd like to ask in order to check my understanding of how "phasing out" works (as opposed to "gaining phasing"). The card Teferi's Realm says, "At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player chooses artifacts, creatures, lands, or global enchantments. All cards of that type phase out."
If I understand correctly, here's how I would expect the card works: I play Teferi's Realm as part of my turn. After my turn ends, and at the beginning of my opponents upkeep step, he selects which type of permanent he wants to "phase out." Those cards phase out immediately. After his turn ends, at the beginning of my upkeep step, I choose which type of permanents I want to phase out. They phase out immediately. At this point, both my permanents and my opponent's permanents are phased out. At the beginning of my opponent's next untap step, his permanents phase back in and remain phased in for the rest of the game. After his turn ends, and my next turn begins, my permanents phase back in, too, and remain phased in for the rest of the game. At this point, all of the cards are back for good.
If the above is correct, and I wanted to use this card as part of a destruction strategy, my opponent would have a chance to phase out (save) a number of his permanents before I could play a destruction card like Akroma's Vengeance. And, if he had a destruction card in his hand, he could play it as soon as his permanents phased out, leaving me with nothing whatsoever on the battlefield. Is that correct?
If I understand correctly, here's how I would expect the card works: I play Teferi's Realm as part of my turn. After my turn ends, and at the beginning of my opponents upkeep step, he selects which type of permanent he wants to "phase out." Those cards phase out immediately. After his turn ends, at the beginning of my upkeep step, I choose which type of permanents I want to phase out. They phase out immediately. At this point, both my permanents and my opponent's permanents are phased out. At the beginning of my opponent's next untap step, his permanents phase back in and remain phased in for the rest of the game. After his turn ends, and my next turn begins, my permanents phase back in, too, and remain phased in for the rest of the game. At this point, all of the cards are back for good.
Close. On your opponent's second turn after you play Teferi's Realm, during his untap step, his permanents all phase back in. Then he chooses a permanent type again to phase out. The same for you on your following turn, etc. Basically, with the exception of the period of time when Teferi's Realm's trigger is on the stack, some of each player's permanents will be phased out.
If the above is correct, and I wanted to use this card as part of a destruction strategy, my opponent would have a chance to phase out (save) a number of his permanents before I could play a destruction card like Akroma's Vengeance. And, if he had a destruction card in his hand, he could play it as soon as his permanents phased out, leaving me with nothing whatsoever on the battlefield. Is that correct?
Yes. If your opponent used a sweeper immediately after resolving Teferi's Realm's first trigger, before you had resolved the trigger once, he would be capable of hitting any of your permanents while his own were safe. Barring inserting extra turns, if you used a sweeper after resolving Teferi's Realm's trigger, some of your opponent's permanents would be safe from your removal spell.
Cards like Taniwha or Reality Ripple, don't give the permanent the ability of phasing. They just cause it to phase out-- once time and only one time. A card phased out by Taniwha or Reality Ripple will phase out immediately, then automatically phase in during the controller's next untap step, and remain phased in for the rest of the game.
Is this correct?
Seems important to note that Taniwha keeps doing this again and again, and also has phasing itself, so your turn sequence looks like this:
1 - Play Taniwha (nothing happens now)
2 - Taniwha itself phases out on your untap. Nothing happens to your lands since it isn't around on upkeep.
3 - Taniwha phases back in on untap, then it phases out your lands on upkeep.
4 - Lands phase in, Taniwha phases out (on untap)
Repeat 3 and 4.
If I understand correctly, here's how I would expect the card works: I play Teferi's Realm as part of my turn. After my turn ends, and at the beginning of my opponents upkeep step, he selects which type of permanent he wants to "phase out." Those cards phase out immediately. After his turn ends, at the beginning of my upkeep step, I choose which type of permanents I want to phase out. They phase out immediately. At this point, both my permanents and my opponent's permanents are phased out. At the beginning of my opponent's next untap step, his permanents phase back in and remain phased in for the rest of the game. After his turn ends, and my next turn begins, my permanents phase back in, too, and remain phased in for the rest of the game. At this point, all of the cards are back for good.
If the above is correct, and I wanted to use this card as part of a destruction strategy, my opponent would have a chance to phase out (save) a number of his permanents before I could play a destruction card like Akroma's Vengeance. And, if he had a destruction card in his hand, he could play it as soon as his permanents phased out, leaving me with nothing whatsoever on the battlefield. Is that correct?
Note that Teferi's Realm phases out everyone's cards of the chosen type, not just their own. For simplicity's sake, assume everyone is picking creature, and you are playing with just two players (A and B).
A1 - You cast Teferi's Realm, nothing happens now
B1 - On upkeep, chooses creature. All creatures now phase out.
A2 - On untap, your creatures phase back in, but then you proceed to upkeep, and if you chose creatures again, they will all phase out.
If everyone keeps choosing creature, the creatures will all just show up at the beginning of the upkeep for a second and then phase back out. They could activate abilities or be targeted by instants etc at that time, but you would only ever get to attack by casting a creature with haste.
What generally tends to happen is that someone bites the bullet and chooses non-Aura enchantments, phasing out Teferi's Realm itself. Then, everything the next player had phased out phases in on their turn, and so on, until Teferi's Realm's controller's turn comes around again and it phases back in for another choice.
You can only get one-sided mass destruction to work how you want it to with Teferi's Realm if it is at instant speed, by phasing out all the creatures (or whatever) on your turn, then waiting for them to phase in on the opponent's turn and respond to the Realm trigger while only their stuff is still phased in.
This is all extremely helpful. I feel that I'm finally getting a sense of how phasing cards actually work.
It sounds like the biggest practical/functional differences between "gaining phasing" and "phasing out" are that the timing of "phasing out" (as controlled by global enchantments and abilities) depends heavily on the specific instructions of the specific enchantment and creature card, and the ongoing phasing in/out only happens as long as the enchantment/creature cards are in play. Apart from that, "phasing out" is actually quite similar to "gaining phasing" for enchantments and the abilities of creature cards-- in that the cards that are getting phased do continue phasing in and out and in and out ongoingly until the controlling cards are destroyed or exiled.
Phasing instants (like Reality Ripple) would seem to be the cards that are distinctly different, in functional terms. If I understand correctly, an instant like Reality Ripple would cause permanents to phase out just once, and then they would phase in permanently on the controller's next untap step. That's very different from cards that "have phasing" and cards whose phasing is controlled by a global enchantment or the abilities of a creature card-- where the phasing continues ongoingly.
This is all extremely helpful. I feel that I'm finally getting a sense of how phasing cards actually work.
It sounds like the biggest practical/functional differences between "gaining phasing" and "phasing out" are that the timing of "phasing out" (as controlled by global enchantments and abilities) depends heavily on the specific instructions of the specific enchantment and creature card, and the ongoing phasing in/out only happens as long as the enchantment/creature cards are in play. Apart from that, "phasing out" is actually quite similar to "gaining phasing" for enchantments and the abilities of creature cards-- in that the cards that are getting phased do continue phasing in and out and in and out ongoingly until the controlling cards are destroyed or exiled.
Phasing instants (like Reality Ripple) would seem to be the cards that are distinctly different, in functional terms. If I understand correctly, an instant like Reality Ripple would cause permanents to phase out just once, and then they would phase in permanently on the controller's next untap step. That's very different from cards that "have phasing" and cards whose phasing is controlled by a global enchantment or the abilities of a creature card-- where the phasing continues ongoingly.
Not quite, "phase out" only happens once but all of the cards mentioned in this thread phase out things multiple times, but in general that isn't the case. For example if a creature is blocked by dream warrior it doesn't gain phasing, so it stays phased in after being phased out unless it blocks dream warrior again.
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The distinction between phasing and phased-in/phased-out is quite simple actually, but you seem a bit unclear about it.
Phased-in/phased-out is a status that every permanent has at all times, the default being phased-in. The other statuses are tapped/untapped, fipped/unflipped (not to be confused with transformed, that's something else), and face-up/face-down. Every permanent has a value for those four statuses at all times. Something that instructs a player to phase out a permanent changes the status of that permanent to phased-out right away. So the game treats that permanent as nonexistent right away. The rules specify, that a player's phased out permanents will phase in during that player's untap step. This is unrelated to having the ability phasing, it happens with all phased out permanents. And until something causes that permanent to phase out again, it stays phased in.
Phasing is an ability that causes a status change from phased-in to phased-out at a set point in time (untap step), and since that point in time is repeated every turn, so is the status change (if the permanent has the phasing ability at that time).
Teferi's Realm doesn't grant phasing, so it doesn't cause any permanent to phase out during the untap step. But it has a triggered ability that goes off every turn while its on the battlefield in the upkeep step, and when that trigger resolves, it causes a status change from phased-in to phased-out. The only difference between that trigger and Reality Ripple is, that the former affects several permanents at once, while the later is a spell that affects a single permanent, which after it resolves goes to the graveyard. But in terms of effect on a permanent, they are the same. Shimmer, otoh, only grants the ability phasing. And that ability will cause the permanent to phase out during its controller's untap step, not right away. Shimmer itself does not cause a status change.
Phasing instants (like Reality Ripple) would seem to be the cards that are distinctly different, in functional terms. If I understand correctly, an instant like Reality Ripple would cause permanents to phase out just once, and then they would phase in permanently on the controller's next untap step. That's very different from cards that "have phasing" and cards whose phasing is controlled by a global enchantment or the abilities of a creature card-- where the phasing continues ongoingly.
Not quite, "phase out" only happens once but all of the cards mentioned in this thread phase out things multiple times, but in general that isn't the case. For example if a creature is blocked by dream warrior it doesn't gain phasing, so it stays phased in after being phased out unless it blocks dream warrior again.
Up until now, I have been focusing on how the phased card behaves-- what it actually does as a result of everything going on under the hood. I can see now that what's going on under the hood is critical, however, and that the distinction between a card that "has phasing" and one that "phases out" a permanent in a one time manner-- but is triggered multiple times while it is in play-- is critical. The effect may be very similar but the mechanics are completely different.
What about a card like Vanishing? How would that work? It isn't a global enchantment. Vanishing enchants a single creature, and whenever two blue mana are paid, the enchanted creature phases out. I would expect that, much like the way that Dream Fighter behaves, the enchanted creature phases out once, then phases in permanently until the trigger is activated again-- in this case the trigger being the payment of two more blue mana. Is that correct?
I think I understand now. In the case of Teferi's Realm, since the card doesn't give the ability of phasing, the phasing out only actually happens once-- but then it's triggered again, and again, and again, each time a new upkeep step occurs. Am I correct in understanding that Reality Ripple is only ever triggered once? Since it's an instant and since the card is discarded after one use? So the permanent that Reality Ripple affects phases out once, then phases in at the beginning of the controller's next untap step, and remains phased in permanently?
What about a card like Vanishing? How would that work? It isn't a global enchantment. Vanishing enchants a single creature, and whenever two blue mana are paid, the enchanted creature phases out. I would expect that, much like the way that Dream Fighter behaves, the enchanted creature phases out once, then phases in permanently until the trigger is activated again-- in this case the trigger being the payment of two more blue mana. Is that correct?
That is correct (although experienced players would use different words).
I think I understand now. In the case of Teferi's Realm, since the card doesn't give the ability of phasing, the phasing out only actually happens once-- but then it's triggered again, and again, and again, each time a new upkeep step occurs. Am I correct in understanding that Reality Ripple is only ever triggered once? Since it's an instant and since the card is discarded after one use? So the permanent that Reality Ripple affects phases out once, then phases in at the beginning of the controller's next untap step, and remains phased in permanently?
To what extent are these the same thing, and to what extent are they different? If I understand correctly, a creature which has the static ability "phasing" will automatically phase out and in on alternating turns at the beginning of the controller's untap phase. If I use the enchantment Shimmer to make a land card "phase out," does this mean that the card "gains phasing" only for as long as [Shimmer] is in play? If Shimmer is destroyed, does the land (1) continue to possess phasing until the end of the game, (2) remain phased in permanently the next time that it "phases in" or (3) phase in instantly and permanently as soon as Shimmer is destroyed?
What about an instant like Reality Ripple which is played and then discarded? If Reality Ripple is used on a land, does that land "gain phasing" permanently? Meaning that it will phase out and continue to phase in and phase out every other turn until the end of the game? Another possible interpretation of an instant causing a permanent to "phase out" would be that the card phases out and never comes back again. That seems unlikely, but...
I'd be grateful for any help you could provide. Phasing is an intriguing ability, but so little is written about its nuances.
Once Shimmer is destroyed the lands no longer possess phasing. The current oracle text of Shimmer makes this a bit clearer.
Each land of the chosen type has phasing. (It phases in or out before its controller untaps during each of his or her untap steps. While it's phased out, it's treated as though it doesn't exist.)
The case where Shimmer is destroyed or Reality Ripple is the same. The card is phased out and then at the beginning of the next untap step it phases back in. Once it does so it has no memory of what caused it to phase so it will remain in play.
In the case of shimmer the permanent will have phasing as long as shimmer is on the battlefield, and will stay phased in the next time it phases in, mainly since shimmer is an enchantment so it only affects the enchanted permanent while it is on the battlefield (like flight where the creature doesn't have flying if you remove the enchantment, the same principle applies).
As for Reality Ripple it doesn't give the permanent phasing because that is not what the card says, the permanent will phase back in and stay back in because of the following rule:
502.1. First, all phased-in permanents with phasing that the active player controls phase out, and all phased-out permanents that the active player controlled when they phased out phase in. This all happens simultaneously. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. See rule 702.25, “Phasing.”
Bolded by me for emphasis, in particular phased out permanents don't have to have phasing to phase back in.
Graham from Loading Ready Run
Scientists have calculated that the chance of anything so patently absurd actually existing are millions to one. But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten.
As a practical example of why the difference matters, if you were tapped out and all of your lands gained phasing, you would be unable to use your lands on your following turn. If instead you gained control of a Taniwha, you would have the opportunity to cast instants, spells with flash, or activate abilities.
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Cards like Taniwha or Reality Ripple, don't give the permanent the ability of phasing. They just cause it to phase out-- once time and only one time. A card phased out by Taniwha or Reality Ripple will phase out immediately, then automatically phase in during the controller's next untap step, and remain phased in for the rest of the game.
Is this correct?
Former Rules Advisor
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"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
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If I understand correctly, here's how I would expect the card works: I play Teferi's Realm as part of my turn. After my turn ends, and at the beginning of my opponents upkeep step, he selects which type of permanent he wants to "phase out." Those cards phase out immediately. After his turn ends, at the beginning of my upkeep step, I choose which type of permanents I want to phase out. They phase out immediately. At this point, both my permanents and my opponent's permanents are phased out. At the beginning of my opponent's next untap step, his permanents phase back in and remain phased in for the rest of the game. After his turn ends, and my next turn begins, my permanents phase back in, too, and remain phased in for the rest of the game. At this point, all of the cards are back for good.
If the above is correct, and I wanted to use this card as part of a destruction strategy, my opponent would have a chance to phase out (save) a number of his permanents before I could play a destruction card like Akroma's Vengeance. And, if he had a destruction card in his hand, he could play it as soon as his permanents phased out, leaving me with nothing whatsoever on the battlefield. Is that correct?
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Yes. If your opponent used a sweeper immediately after resolving Teferi's Realm's first trigger, before you had resolved the trigger once, he would be capable of hitting any of your permanents while his own were safe. Barring inserting extra turns, if you used a sweeper after resolving Teferi's Realm's trigger, some of your opponent's permanents would be safe from your removal spell.
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Seems important to note that Taniwha keeps doing this again and again, and also has phasing itself, so your turn sequence looks like this:
1 - Play Taniwha (nothing happens now)
2 - Taniwha itself phases out on your untap. Nothing happens to your lands since it isn't around on upkeep.
3 - Taniwha phases back in on untap, then it phases out your lands on upkeep.
4 - Lands phase in, Taniwha phases out (on untap)
Repeat 3 and 4.
Note that Teferi's Realm phases out everyone's cards of the chosen type, not just their own. For simplicity's sake, assume everyone is picking creature, and you are playing with just two players (A and B).
A1 - You cast Teferi's Realm, nothing happens now
B1 - On upkeep, chooses creature. All creatures now phase out.
A2 - On untap, your creatures phase back in, but then you proceed to upkeep, and if you chose creatures again, they will all phase out.
If everyone keeps choosing creature, the creatures will all just show up at the beginning of the upkeep for a second and then phase back out. They could activate abilities or be targeted by instants etc at that time, but you would only ever get to attack by casting a creature with haste.
What generally tends to happen is that someone bites the bullet and chooses non-Aura enchantments, phasing out Teferi's Realm itself. Then, everything the next player had phased out phases in on their turn, and so on, until Teferi's Realm's controller's turn comes around again and it phases back in for another choice.
You can only get one-sided mass destruction to work how you want it to with Teferi's Realm if it is at instant speed, by phasing out all the creatures (or whatever) on your turn, then waiting for them to phase in on the opponent's turn and respond to the Realm trigger while only their stuff is still phased in.
It sounds like the biggest practical/functional differences between "gaining phasing" and "phasing out" are that the timing of "phasing out" (as controlled by global enchantments and abilities) depends heavily on the specific instructions of the specific enchantment and creature card, and the ongoing phasing in/out only happens as long as the enchantment/creature cards are in play. Apart from that, "phasing out" is actually quite similar to "gaining phasing" for enchantments and the abilities of creature cards-- in that the cards that are getting phased do continue phasing in and out and in and out ongoingly until the controlling cards are destroyed or exiled.
Phasing instants (like Reality Ripple) would seem to be the cards that are distinctly different, in functional terms. If I understand correctly, an instant like Reality Ripple would cause permanents to phase out just once, and then they would phase in permanently on the controller's next untap step. That's very different from cards that "have phasing" and cards whose phasing is controlled by a global enchantment or the abilities of a creature card-- where the phasing continues ongoingly.
Not quite, "phase out" only happens once but all of the cards mentioned in this thread phase out things multiple times, but in general that isn't the case. For example if a creature is blocked by dream warrior it doesn't gain phasing, so it stays phased in after being phased out unless it blocks dream warrior again.
Graham from Loading Ready Run
Phased-in/phased-out is a status that every permanent has at all times, the default being phased-in. The other statuses are tapped/untapped, fipped/unflipped (not to be confused with transformed, that's something else), and face-up/face-down. Every permanent has a value for those four statuses at all times. Something that instructs a player to phase out a permanent changes the status of that permanent to phased-out right away. So the game treats that permanent as nonexistent right away. The rules specify, that a player's phased out permanents will phase in during that player's untap step. This is unrelated to having the ability phasing, it happens with all phased out permanents. And until something causes that permanent to phase out again, it stays phased in.
Phasing is an ability that causes a status change from phased-in to phased-out at a set point in time (untap step), and since that point in time is repeated every turn, so is the status change (if the permanent has the phasing ability at that time).
Teferi's Realm doesn't grant phasing, so it doesn't cause any permanent to phase out during the untap step. But it has a triggered ability that goes off every turn while its on the battlefield in the upkeep step, and when that trigger resolves, it causes a status change from phased-in to phased-out. The only difference between that trigger and Reality Ripple is, that the former affects several permanents at once, while the later is a spell that affects a single permanent, which after it resolves goes to the graveyard. But in terms of effect on a permanent, they are the same. Shimmer, otoh, only grants the ability phasing. And that ability will cause the permanent to phase out during its controller's untap step, not right away. Shimmer itself does not cause a status change.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
What about a card like Vanishing? How would that work? It isn't a global enchantment. Vanishing enchants a single creature, and whenever two blue mana are paid, the enchanted creature phases out. I would expect that, much like the way that Dream Fighter behaves, the enchanted creature phases out once, then phases in permanently until the trigger is activated again-- in this case the trigger being the payment of two more blue mana. Is that correct?
RULES OF MAGIC :
http://magic.wizards.com/en/game-info/gameplay/rules-and-formats/rules
(again, terminology could be improved)
RULES OF MAGIC :
http://magic.wizards.com/en/game-info/gameplay/rules-and-formats/rules