I was looking to build a casual deck built around Ink-Treader Nephilim and was wondering what would happen if I had two or three of them in play? The card reads that it happens any time a player plays an instant or sorcery, not casts it. So does that mean that if I target one, it creates the copies, the copies are unique, individual spells that are single target, the other ITN's become targeted and then make more copies that can now target the other ITN's, thus ending the game in a draw?
That's really crazy to think about, if it does, but I'm not sure about how the word "play" affects this.
I was looking to build a casual deck built around Ink-Treader Nephilim and was wondering what would happen if I had two or three of them in play? The card reads that it happens any time a player plays an instant or sorcery, not casts it. So does that mean that if I target one, it creates the copies, the copies are unique, individual spells that are single target, the other ITN's become targeted and then make more copies that can now target the other ITN's, thus ending the game in a draw?
That's really crazy to think about, if it does, but I'm not sure about how the word "play" affects this.
The text on ink-treader nephilim has been updated since printing. It now reads
Whenever a player casts an instant or sorcery spell, if that spell targets only Ink-Treader Nephilim, copy the spell for each other creature that spell could target. Each copy targets a different one of those creatures.
Because a copy is never cast (it's put directly onto the stack) the ability will never be triggered by the copies.
Ink-Treader Nephilim's Oracle text now says, in part, "Whenever a player casts an instant or sorcery spell..." (under C.R. 108.1, a card's Oracle text is used to determine its wording); cards no longer speak of "playing" a spell (C.R. 701.13d). Moreover, a copy of a spell, such as one created with Ink-Treader Nephilim's ability, isn't cast (C.R. 706.10), even though the copy is itself a spell (C.R. 706.10). Thus there is no infinite loop that results here because Ink-Treader Nephilim's ability doesn't trigger when a spell is copied (C.R. 706.10, 603.2). See also this thread.
EDIT (Oct. 2, 2018): One rule was renumbered in Dominaria.
That's really crazy to think about, if it does, but I'm not sure about how the word "play" affects this.
The text on ink-treader nephilim has been updated since printing. It now reads
Whenever a player casts an instant or sorcery spell, if that spell targets only Ink-Treader Nephilim, copy the spell for each other creature that spell could target. Each copy targets a different one of those creatures.
Because a copy is never cast (it's put directly onto the stack) the ability will never be triggered by the copies.
EDIT (Oct. 2, 2018): One rule was renumbered in Dominaria.