My only nonland permanent is Nylea, God of the Hunt. I cast Genesis Wave for X=2 and reveal Primalcrux and Rancor.
1. Can Rancor enchant Primalcrux?
2. Can Rancor enchant Nylea?
3. Does it matter what order the two cards get flipped?
Note that Primalcrux's converted mana cost is 6, so you can't put Primalcrux onto the battlefield with Genesis Wave if X is only 2. Thus, assume you've cast Genesis Wave for an X of 6 rather than 2 in what follows.
In the answers below, assume you choose to put Primalcrux and Rancor onto the battlefield; in this case, they will try to enter at the same time (the relevant part of the effect, "you may put [certain cards] onto the battlefield", contains only one action verb) (C.R. 608.2c).
Also assume that Nylea is the only permanent you control with a mana cost at the beginning of the scenario.
1. Under C.R. 303.4f, in this case, you must "choos[e] what [Rancor] will enchant as it enters the battlefield". However, this choice is not exactly a replacement effect, which is clearly dealt with before Primalcrux enters the battlefield; if this were a replacement effect, you clearly could not choose Primalcrux this way (C.R. 614.12a; see also C.R. 400.6). However, in this scenario, there would be no "time", as far as the game is concerned, that—
Rancor isn't on the battlefield attached to a creature without Primalcrux also being on the battlefield, or
Primalcrux is on the battlefield without Rancor also being on the battlefield attached to a creature,
so Primalcrux can't be chosen as the creature Rancor will enchant this way, since Primalcrux isn't yet on the battlefield at the moment you would have to choose what Rancor will enchant this way.
2. Because the choice made under C.R. 303.4f is not exactly a replacement effect, the special rules under C.R. 614.12 that govern what effects are taken into account as a permanent enters the battlefield are inapplicable (and indeed, there are no replacement effects involved in this scenario [review C.R. 614.1]). Thus, Nylea's devotion to green is only one at the moment you start to put Rancor and Primalcrux onto the battlefield, since there is only one green mana symbol in the mana costs of permanents you control at that moment (namely the one found in Nylea's mana cost) (C.R. 700.5). Thus, because that devotion isn't less than five, Nylea isn't a creature for the purposes of C.R. 303.4f, so you can't have Rancor enchant Nylea this way as Rancor enters the battlefield (C.R. 702.5a).
3. Rancor and Primalcrux will enter at the same time here, so the order in which they appeared in your library is irrelevant.
EDIT: Edited after comment 4 was posted.
EDIT (Mar. 2, 2021): Correct rule citation.
It does not matter what order the cards are revealed. After the first sentence of Genesis Wave, the cards revealed are just one set, referred to as "them" and the "cards revealed this way", and you only distinguish them into the ones with less than converted mana cost X, or more.
I've searched all 86 instances of the word 'Aura' in the May 3rd rules, and the only one that purports to tell you what to do in this situation is:
303.4f If an Aura is entering the battlefield under a player’s control by any means other than by resolving as an Aura spell, and the effect putting it onto the battlefield doesn’t specify the object or player the Aura will enchant, that player chooses what it will enchant as the Aura enters the battlefield. The player must choose a legal object or player according to the Aura’s enchant ability and any other applicable effects.
There was at one time a rule that would verify that Rancor can't enchant Primalcrux because Primalcrux is entering the battlefield at the same time as Rancor. The surviving rule just says to make sure to choose a creature (as specified by Rancor's enchant creature ability) as the Aura enters the battlefield. The timeframe 'as Rancor enters the battlefield' is evocative of the application of replacement effects that apply as permanents enter the battlefield, but isn't definitive of what stage the game is considered to be in.
To have the behaviour of the previous affirmative rule, "as the Aura enters the battlefield" has to be strictly before the Aura is on the battlefield, but I don't know how that can be established.
We do know that "an Aura enters the battlefield attached to an object or player" (CR303.4), so Rancor is not a permanent before it attaches to something. Primalcrux is not a permanent before Rancor is a permanent. So Primalcrux is not a permanent before Rancor attaches to something.
... but this timeframe might include the moment -when- Rancor becomes a permanent, and when Primalcrux becomes a permanent, so Rancor can attach to Primalcrux, a bona fide creature permanent. It could exclude that moment, and so Primalcrux is not a creature, so it can't be chosen. Formally, there is no account of "as [object] enters the battlefield" as a thing or a time, only a kind of ability's label. Looking for a suggestion of its meaning in other rules gives a conflicted account, visible in the complexity of CR614.12.
That aside, the choice of what Rancor enchants was previously intended to be made before Rancor actually enchants that thing. If that, choosing "a legal object" under the boxed rule would be before the tail moment that Rancor is a permanent, so Primalcrux would for sure not be a creature yet. But there are choices made in Magic "as the effects apply", and some not, so whether a choice preceding the action happens here is undecided from the text I've consulted.
I have a hard time believing I didn't miss something, but a rule covering the old behaviour would -have- to mention the word 'Aura', and I tabbed through Ctrl-F three times.
Nylea's situation has the same answer as Primalcrux'. If Primalcrux is legit because it is a bona fide creature when the enchantee is chosen, and the choice is made at that latest moment "as Rancor enters the battlefield", then Nylea is a creature because Primalcrux is a bona fide permanent increasing your devotion to green at that time. If Primalcrux is not allowed, then either Primalcrux isn't a permanent when Rancor is attached, so your devotion won't be increased by it, or at least the choice of legal object is made before Primalcrux is a permanent, so your devotion won't be increased by it.
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1. Can Rancor enchant Primalcrux?
2. Can Rancor enchant Nylea?
3. Does it matter what order the two cards get flipped?
In the answers below, assume you choose to put Primalcrux and Rancor onto the battlefield; in this case, they will try to enter at the same time (the relevant part of the effect, "you may put [certain cards] onto the battlefield", contains only one action verb) (C.R. 608.2c).
Also assume that Nylea is the only permanent you control with a mana cost at the beginning of the scenario.
1. Under C.R. 303.4f, in this case, you must "choos[e] what [Rancor] will enchant as it enters the battlefield". However, this choice is not exactly a replacement effect, which is clearly dealt with before Primalcrux enters the battlefield; if this were a replacement effect, you clearly could not choose Primalcrux this way (C.R. 614.12a; see also C.R. 400.6).
However, in this scenario, there would be no "time", as far as the game is concerned, that—- Rancor isn't on the battlefield attached to a creature without Primalcrux also being on the battlefield, or
- Primalcrux is on the battlefield without Rancor also being on the battlefield attached to a creature,
so Primalcrux can't be chosen as the creature Rancor will enchant this way, since Primalcrux isn't yet on the battlefield at the moment you would have to choose what Rancor will enchant this way.2. Because the choice made under C.R. 303.4f is not exactly a replacement effect, the special rules under C.R. 614.12 that govern what effects are taken into account as a permanent enters the battlefield are inapplicable (and indeed, there are no replacement effects involved in this scenario [review C.R. 614.1]). Thus, Nylea's devotion to green is only one at the moment you start to put Rancor and Primalcrux onto the battlefield, since there is only one green mana symbol in the mana costs of permanents you control at that moment (namely the one found in Nylea's mana cost) (C.R. 700.5). Thus, because that devotion isn't less than five, Nylea isn't a creature for the purposes of C.R. 303.4f, so you can't have Rancor enchant Nylea this way as Rancor enters the battlefield (C.R. 702.5a).
3. Rancor and Primalcrux will enter at the same time here, so the order in which they appeared in your library is irrelevant.
EDIT: Edited after comment 4 was posted.
EDIT (Mar. 2, 2021): Correct rule citation.
I've searched all 86 instances of the word 'Aura' in the May 3rd rules, and the only one that purports to tell you what to do in this situation is:
There was at one time a rule that would verify that Rancor can't enchant Primalcrux because Primalcrux is entering the battlefield at the same time as Rancor. The surviving rule just says to make sure to choose a creature (as specified by Rancor's enchant creature ability) as the Aura enters the battlefield. The timeframe 'as Rancor enters the battlefield' is evocative of the application of replacement effects that apply as permanents enter the battlefield, but isn't definitive of what stage the game is considered to be in.
To have the behaviour of the previous affirmative rule, "as the Aura enters the battlefield" has to be strictly before the Aura is on the battlefield, but I don't know how that can be established.
We do know that "an Aura enters the battlefield attached to an object or player" (CR303.4), so Rancor is not a permanent before it attaches to something. Primalcrux is not a permanent before Rancor is a permanent. So Primalcrux is not a permanent before Rancor attaches to something.
... but this timeframe might include the moment -when- Rancor becomes a permanent, and when Primalcrux becomes a permanent, so Rancor can attach to Primalcrux, a bona fide creature permanent. It could exclude that moment, and so Primalcrux is not a creature, so it can't be chosen. Formally, there is no account of "as [object] enters the battlefield" as a thing or a time, only a kind of ability's label. Looking for a suggestion of its meaning in other rules gives a conflicted account, visible in the complexity of CR614.12.
That aside, the choice of what Rancor enchants was previously intended to be made before Rancor actually enchants that thing. If that, choosing "a legal object" under the boxed rule would be before the tail moment that Rancor is a permanent, so Primalcrux would for sure not be a creature yet. But there are choices made in Magic "as the effects apply", and some not, so whether a choice preceding the action happens here is undecided from the text I've consulted.
I have a hard time believing I didn't miss something, but a rule covering the old behaviour would -have- to mention the word 'Aura', and I tabbed through Ctrl-F three times.
Nylea's situation has the same answer as Primalcrux'. If Primalcrux is legit because it is a bona fide creature when the enchantee is chosen, and the choice is made at that latest moment "as Rancor enters the battlefield", then Nylea is a creature because Primalcrux is a bona fide permanent increasing your devotion to green at that time. If Primalcrux is not allowed, then either Primalcrux isn't a permanent when Rancor is attached, so your devotion won't be increased by it, or at least the choice of legal object is made before Primalcrux is a permanent, so your devotion won't be increased by it.
Awesome avatar provided by Krashbot @ [Epic Graphics].