A discussion arose at the EDH table tonight concerning Parallax Wave and the Fading mechanic.
Basically, can Parallax Wave "live" on the board without any Fading counters? I've been under the impression that if I remove the last one (let's say, on my opponents turn) the card goes into exile, right then and there, before my next upkeep.
My opponent counters that it should stay on the board until my upkeep (even with zero Fading counters on it), as it only removes itself once it checks for whether or not I can remove a counter at the beginning of my upkeep.
Thanks for any help you can give to help me clear up the discussion.
702.31a. Fading is a keyword that represents two abilities. "Fading N" means "This permanent enters the battlefield with N fade counters on it" and "At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a fade counter from this permanent. If you can't, sacrifice the permanent."
So, yes, it can stick around with no counters on it. At least, until your next upkeep.
It might help to keep in mind that if it did work the way you thought, the "return those cards" ability would never do anything. You could remove all 5 counters, targeting the same thing if you wanted, and then it would have no counters so it would leave. Leaving would then cause it to return everything it exiled which would be nothing yet. And then everything is exiled permanently.
So, yeah there might be a slight disconnect based on the name of the mechanic, but it would prevent this card from working they way it is supposed to work.
Also, Vanishing works the way you think this does: as soon as the last counter is removed, the thing goes away.
Yeah, I read about that and Vanishing. But I'm an OpalWave combo user in EDH and I need to have all my bases covered on rules interaction due to the sheer insanity that is the stack interaction with the cards.
If they would errata PWave to have Vanishing, oh how happy I'd be.
Basically, can Parallax Wave "live" on the board without any Fading counters? I've been under the impression that if I remove the last one (let's say, on my opponents turn) the card goes into exile, right then and there, before my next upkeep.
My opponent counters that it should stay on the board until my upkeep (even with zero Fading counters on it), as it only removes itself once it checks for whether or not I can remove a counter at the beginning of my upkeep.
Thanks for any help you can give to help me clear up the discussion.
So, yes, it can stick around with no counters on it. At least, until your next upkeep.
Seems off-flavor for something to not fade away when the last of its fading counters is removed...
Either way, thanks for the clarification.
So, yeah there might be a slight disconnect based on the name of the mechanic, but it would prevent this card from working they way it is supposed to work.
Also, Vanishing works the way you think this does: as soon as the last counter is removed, the thing goes away.
If they would errata PWave to have Vanishing, oh how happy I'd be.