Here is one I can't quite seem to figure out. Dragonlord Kolaghan has whenever an opponent casts a creature spell....etc. Would tgere be any way to make that ability viable in a singleton format. I was challenged to make a commander around him but I am not familiar enough with timing and layers etc to find a way. It is almost like a Mishra commander but when an opponent casts spells the priority is different.
Your question is not a rule question; it belongs in a Commander forum.
In general, however, in a Commander game, a deck can't contain more than one card with the same English name, with the exception of basic lands (C.R. 903.5b). And casting a card involves moving it to the stack (C.R. 601.2a), so when Kolaghan's last ability would trigger (C.R. 601.2i, 603.2), that card won't be in a player's hand or graveyard or wherever that card was cast from.
Ok I will word it differently then. When my opponent casts a spell with Dragonlord Kolaghan on the battlefield, could I respond to Kolaghan's trigger by countering the creature spell *edit* thus making my opponent lose life due to Kolaghan's ability?
Ok I will word it differently then. When my opponent casts a spell with Dragonlord Kolaghan on the battlefield, could I respond to Kolaghan's trigger by countering the creature spell *edit* thus making my opponent lose life due to Kolaghan's ability?
No that will not work. Right when a spell is spell is cast and before anyone gets a chance to do anything the game checks if Kolaghan's ability should trigger. If there is no other card with the same name in the GY then it won't trigger and there's no shenanigans you can do to make it trigger later.
Despite the added rules question, I am moving this to the Commander (EDH) forum, as there's a better chance for the original question to get more helpful answers there.
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I'm a former judge (lapsed), who keeps up to date on rules and policy. Keep in mind that judges' answers aren't necessarily more valid than those of people who aren't judges; what matters is we can quote the rules to back up our answers. When in doubt, ask for such quotes.
There are not many things that give your Dragons haste. And in Ur-Dragon I notice that often they get destroyed before they can hit.
I could play Akroma's Memorial, but that would also come down to me nearly skipping a turn.
Karrthus is nice, and so is Temur Ascendancy. But I really wanted more stuff to give them haste, and a 5 mana 6/5 body was just perfect.
As previously mentioned she is fantastic in decks running dragonstorm that may not have green for karrthus, tyrant of jund, or want duplicate/redundancy that can be tutored up with dragonstorm.
I use her to command/piolot an empty the warrens storm deck. It is a self-restricted challenge, because limiting a storm deck to just black+red is not optimal. She can be replaced with a mass hysteria (which has been in-and-out of the deck).
Since my deck has a pile of rituals I can frequently resolve her on turn-2 and just beat a random opponent over the head for commander voltron really fast, which has proven to be the actual only reason to keep her as the commander, since my deck tends to kill with impact tremors/Purphoros, God of the Forge more than actually attacking with tokens. Wasting rituals or a mana vault tap to beat someone with Kolaghan early does give me a few turns to set up the actual mana/tutors/landfall required to storm off. She makes a nice distraction
Kolaghan is super niche in EDH, her ability pretty much only hosing Shadowborn Apostle and Relentless Rats. But like posted above, she's a haste lord with a respectable body and evasion. I like her and have her lead my Dragonstorm deck.
It's also possible to trigger if, for example, an opponent Spelljacks (or Kheru Spellsnatchers) a creature spell of a creature card they also have in their graveyard. That requires two players to be running the same creature, one of them to already have the creature in their graveyard, and that they use an expensive counterspell on it.
Kolaghan's design kind of disappointed me. You'd think when designing an elder dragon, they'd keep EDH in mind, and of all the times to make a useless-in-commander ability, this was one of the worst. Not every card needs to be tuned to commander, but I think every elder dragon should.
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In general, however, in a Commander game, a deck can't contain more than one card with the same English name, with the exception of basic lands (C.R. 903.5b). And casting a card involves moving it to the stack (C.R. 601.2a), so when Kolaghan's last ability would trigger (C.R. 601.2i, 603.2), that card won't be in a player's hand or graveyard or wherever that card was cast from.
No that will not work. Right when a spell is spell is cast and before anyone gets a chance to do anything the game checks if Kolaghan's ability should trigger. If there is no other card with the same name in the GY then it won't trigger and there's no shenanigans you can do to make it trigger later.
But with Ur-Dragon it still ends up being a "5 mana 6/5 flying, everything has haste" dragon.
Which is good enough for me to play it.
There are not many things that give your Dragons haste. And in Ur-Dragon I notice that often they get destroyed before they can hit.
I could play Akroma's Memorial, but that would also come down to me nearly skipping a turn.
Karrthus is nice, and so is Temur Ascendancy. But I really wanted more stuff to give them haste, and a 5 mana 6/5 body was just perfect.
As previously mentioned she is fantastic in decks running dragonstorm that may not have green for karrthus, tyrant of jund, or want duplicate/redundancy that can be tutored up with dragonstorm.
I use her to command/piolot an empty the warrens storm deck. It is a self-restricted challenge, because limiting a storm deck to just black+red is not optimal. She can be replaced with a mass hysteria (which has been in-and-out of the deck).
Since my deck has a pile of rituals I can frequently resolve her on turn-2 and just beat a random opponent over the head for commander voltron really fast, which has proven to be the actual only reason to keep her as the commander, since my deck tends to kill with impact tremors/Purphoros, God of the Forge more than actually attacking with tokens. Wasting rituals or a mana vault tap to beat someone with Kolaghan early does give me a few turns to set up the actual mana/tutors/landfall required to storm off. She makes a nice distraction
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
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