MTG Salvation

Ah! Yes that really clarifies things, even beyond these two specific cards. Looks like I'll have to run a removal spell for it after all. Thank you for your help!

Hello!

I am seeking to clarify a question regarding upkeep step specific to Riptide Chimera and Havoc Festival. If I have Riptide Chimera out and play Havoc Festival, then my turn comes about, which of the two cards' upkeep steps takes place first? I am trying to avoid being hit by Havoc Festival through returning it to hand with Riptide Chimera, without needing to have say, Demystify in hand. I am thinking it would be Havoc Festival since that would hit the stack second in the order of APNAP, thereby hitting me before I can return it with Riptide Chimera. Is this correct?

It's all so clear now! Thank you all for responding and your explanations! I can't wait to utilize this card.

Hello!

I was recently given a Clock of Omens card and told it is a great card for artifact heavy decks. I searched through the archives regarding Clock of Omens, and while I understand what it does as to the text on the card, I am unsure if this is an undeclared "enters the battlefield" effect, or if it is something that is done at upkeep, end step, etc. I'd like to use it in a deck I have that uses Master Transmuter to get heavier mana cost cards onto the field for free, but I just don't know when this card can be activated.

Alright! Very concise and easy to remember! Thank you!

(Missed that second clause somehow on Gatherer )

A few questions regarding this card came up. The first is does Possibility Storm have the potential to deck you, whether you are running it or not? We believe it does have that possibility because of the way the events are listed on the card:

"Whenever a player casts a spell from his or her hand, that player exiles it, then exiles cards from the top of his or her library until he or she exiles a card that shares a card type with it. That player may cast that card without paying its mana cost. Then he or she puts all cards exiled with Possibility Storm on the bottom of his or her library in a random order."

The part that has me thinking this is the case is it seems that in order for the library to return from temporary exile, you have to have a card that shares the type with the triggering hard cast card come up, be it on the field or in hand, in order for those cards from the library to came back in from that exile effect. If you have nothing, you would obviously have cycled your entire library into exile, and have nothing to satisfy the "until he or she exiles a card that shares a card type with it." Everything has do this *then* do this, so it seems to me if you cannot satisfy the previous action, the next action cannot work. I think of this description in the card as being similar to old if/then style of programming code. If a part is missing you get a loop. If my belief that this card can deck you is incorrect, please explain *why* it doesn't worth that way. I saw in the archives a partial answer as to why you can still stay in the game even if you don't have a second card for the rest of the effect, but it was not really explained well.

The second question hinges on the word may in the second action. So, generally, may offers you a choice that is more specific, but in this case the question is, what if I do not choose to cast that card? Does it exile or go into hand? If I don't cast it, my understanding is it would be exiled because until you cast it, it is still in that contingent exile zone that Possibility Storm creates, but I think this was played with that by not choosing to cast the card, it goes to hand.

Third, and I think I am correct here, if you can cast from your graveyard (Flashback cost or some other aspect) Possibility Storm won't trigger as it is not from hand.

Hmmm... would I still receive the 5 life from Elixir of Immortality if Shrapnel Blast sacrifices it after resolution?

I spent awhile looking for an answer for this but didn't find anything. If an answer already exists, please feel free to just show me the link.

If you have a card that requires sacrificing a permanent as an additional cost, or to pull off an effect, how does that work if you have something on the field that is able to also be tapped to sacrifice?

For a quick example, say you have Shrapnel Blast in hand, and you have on the field you no artifacts like Ornithopter or even say a poo artifact like Bronze Sable, but you do have, for variety we'll say, both a Tormod's Crypt and an Elixir of Immortality. Both of those have an activated ability to sac the card. My question is, if you play Shrapnel Blast, name a card like either of these, does the act of calling it out for sac by Shrapnel Blast activate the artifact's sac function? By contrast, if you activate the sac of the artifact, does that satisfy the cost factor for Shrapnel Blast? I've never played Shrapnel Blast in a deck, primarily because I would want to run artifacts that should Shrapnel Blast not arrive in hand, have another utility for being on the field, unlike Bronze Sable which obviously would work for Shrapnel Blast but be a waste of time for me to use otherwise. I'm hoping you can do a double whammy somehow.

Should be a 'blast' if I can keep Enchanted Evening out there long enough! Thank you again (and all others) for all the awesome help! I'm sure I'll have more "unaswerable" questions to ask in the future!

Yes, that is my block there. I had to think of it as pulling power from there, or see the lands like a component to a spell like D&D uses. I love the explanation you give! I am bringing in some players newer than myself and I will be sure, with credit, to utilize that explanation to explain the mana pool.

BTW, I'm glad I came into playing MtG after mana burn was removed. That must have been interesting trying to be sure to not get hit by your own energy.

Ah. Okay I see now. I didn't realize I could tap everything and then cast those one after the other before the mana leaves the battlefield. After re-reading the posts I see what I was missing. So then do I play Paraselene (all lands tapped), clear the board, then lay Faith's Reward? I think that is correct but I'm still new to understanding resolving of spells, obviously. If I am understanding this correctly, though the lands would leave the battlefield, the remaining 4 would be in my pool (just learned about this 'pool') since the phase hasn't ended, regardless of if the card is there since it's been expended already. It's like I'm losing empty containers to have them returned filled and ready to go.

Thanks for everyone's input and understanding. I knew this would be the site to get answers!

That all makes sense, except, how do I have any lands to tap for mana when they should have been destroyed by Paraselene after being turned into an enchantment by Enchanted Evening? Land is a permanent, as listed in the comprehensive rules, and Enchanted Evening makes no exception for lands, dual or otherwise, so what keeps them from being destroyed, as an enchantment, by Paraselene, or a similar card, say Back to Nature? Even if I had, say, Greater Auramancy in play, that still wouldn't protect anything since Paraselene does not target.

See, I know if I tried to run this exact, and very awesome, combination, the above argument in my original post would be posited that my combo ends at Paraselene being played. I would need to be able to back why it doesn't with a rule stating such. I'm not saying anyone here is incorrect of course, I'm just not seeing how lands avoid the board wipe. I did wonder if they stay because they are not directly hit by a card that designates land destruction such as Armageddon.

Hello!

I am a moderately new player/poster and have a rules question regarding using Enchanted Evening with Paraselene. I understand it as this: Enchanted Evening turns every permanent (presuming only those on the field, not also the library) into an enchantment. So constellation and such would be triggered by new cards entering the battlefield. Obviously Paraselene kills all that is enchanted. So, as I understand it, if I played Enchanted Evening, then wanted to do a board wipe using Paraselene, I could not then play Faith's Reward to rebuild my side of the field, since all the lands would be wiped by Paraselene as well, correct? I'd have no mana on the battlefield to play anything post Paraselene, aside from what was in hand, and obviously cannot play four mana. For the record, I read about this exact combo being done by someone posting in Gatherer, but I don't see how that could have been possible, unless I am missing something on what a permanent is, and how Enchanted Evening truly works. So I came here hoping for insight!