Hello all. My girlfriend and I are looking at getting into Commander and I was curious how Breena, the Demagogue would work in a one on one situation. The “if that opponent has more life than another of your opponents” is what I’m confused about. If there are no other opponents, then is the rest of the ability worthless, and nothing happens? Or would I still draw cards and place the counters since her having any amount of life is more than the non-existent opponent’s life?
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For purposes of Breena, if you control Breena and you attack your only opponent, that opponent "has more life than another of your opponents" if that player has more than 0 life. In this case, another opponent's life total is a "number that can't be determined", so that number is 0 instead (C.R. 107.2).
For purposes of Breena, if you control Breena and you attack your only opponent, that opponent "has more life than another of your opponents" if that player has more than 0 life. In this case, another opponent's life total is a "number that can't be determined", so that number is 0 instead (C.R. 107.2).
How do you figure that's a reference to a number? "Another of your opponents" is a player. "has more life than another of your opponents" is a quality of players. "More life than another of your opponents" is a predicate of life totals.
From where I'm standing, there is no another of your opponents, so you don't have more life than one.
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For "You have more life than another of my opponents" to be false, one needs to be able to point at another opponent who has more life than than you. If you cannot do this, it is vacuously true.
This is the same reason that "2 is less than every other even prime," "2 is greater than every other even prime," and "Every elephant in this room is wearing a purple tutu" are all true.
From where I'm standing, there is no another of your opponents, so you don't have more life than one.
This is the correct interpretation. It is exceptionally foolish, and a massive stretch, to suggest that a non-existent opponent is somehow an opponent that can be evaluated to determine a result.
No. Breena does not work in 1v1 because there is no "another" opponent to compare against. So the only opponent is the one attacking/being attacked and they cannot have more life than themselves and they are not another opponent.
In any case, Breena as it stands has an unfortunately poor wording that might not reflect its intent clearly (especially because none of the rulings for that card, at the time of this writing, covers the case when "you" attack "your" only opponent). If Breena's triggered ability said, "... if that opponent's life total is the highest among your opponents ...", Breena's ability could clearly trigger even if "you" attack "your" only opponent. On the other hand, if Breena's triggered ability said, "... if that opponent has more life than another of your opponents and you have two or more opponents ...", Breena's ability would clearly not trigger in the same circumstance. Also compare Breena with Malignus or Sorin, Grim Nemesis.
Indeed, at the time of this writing, no card has the phrase "...than any other opponent" (in fact, only the Unglued card Ghazbán Ogress has the phrase "than any other", and then only in its Oracle text) and no other card than Breena has the phrase "...than another of your opponents".
so your initial response is not correct as of yet, though might be once the release notes are out?
The release notes for Commander 2021 (along with Strixhaven: School of Mages), are already available on the official Magic Web site, and as I mentioned, none of the notes for Breena (at the time of this writing) cover the case when "you" attack "your" only opponent. It's possible that a future Magic set might update the Oracle text of Breena to better reflect that card's intent, or that additional rulings might be added for that card to clarify the case when "you" attack "your" only opponent.
I have received a response by the rules manager. Consistent with that response, Breena's triggered ability checks whether there is "another of your opponents" than the opponent being attacked. If there is no other opponent, then the ability won't trigger (C.R. 603.4).
EDIT (Jul. 26): Indeed, the text "if that opponent has more life than another of your opponents" should be read as "if that opponent's life total is not the lowest among your opponents".
Using card tags is mandatory in the Magic Rulings forum. Please check your private messages to learn how to use them. I've added them for this post.
-MadMage
For purposes of Breena, if you control Breena and you attack your only opponent, that opponent "has more life than another of your opponents" if that player has more than 0 life. In this case, another opponent's life total is a "number that can't be determined", so that number is 0 instead (C.R. 107.2).EDIT: See comment 9.
How do you figure that's a reference to a number? "Another of your opponents" is a player. "has more life than another of your opponents" is a quality of players. "More life than another of your opponents" is a predicate of life totals.
From where I'm standing, there is no another of your opponents, so you don't have more life than one.
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This is the same reason that "2 is less than every other even prime," "2 is greater than every other even prime," and "Every elephant in this room is wearing a purple tutu" are all true.
No. Breena does not work in 1v1 because there is no "another" opponent to compare against. So the only opponent is the one attacking/being attacked and they cannot have more life than themselves and they are not another opponent.
Indeed, at the time of this writing, no card has the phrase "...than any other opponent" (in fact, only the Unglued card Ghazbán Ogress has the phrase "than any other", and then only in its Oracle text) and no other card than Breena has the phrase "...than another of your opponents".
I have notified the rules manager.
EDIT (Jul. 26): Indeed, the text "if that opponent has more life than another of your opponents" should be read as "if that opponent's life total is not the lowest among your opponents".