Could they have done a split card where one had a mana cost and no flashback and the other has no mana cost and has flashback?
It's unprecedented, but that's essentially exactly what this is. The current way this split card is doing it is cleaner than putting the flashback text in the text box. Main functional difference would be Dark Confidant life loss and not being able to flashback with Snapcaster Mage (cards without a mana costs can't be cast).
Along with any other cheaty shenanigans like cascade, brain in the jar, goblin dark dwellers, etc. Having zero on any side of a split card is very dangerous.
Cesar (first pro tour) had Weldfast Engineer , another artifact creature and some flying vehicle on the field, says "combat ?" opponent says ok, he tries to crew the vehicle to get the trigger on the flyer, opponent calls judge since he's in declare attackers so can't crew and missed Weldfast's trigger.
Judge ruled that "combat" is shortcut for "declare attackers" and not "go to pre combat phase", twitch and twitter lost their mind because Cesar can't speak english and blamed language barrier
In this case though, when he says "combat," imo he is passing priority in his mainphase to go into pre-combat phase, when he enters the pre-combat phase, the first thing that happens is weldfast engineer's trigger goes on the stack, so he wouldn't be able to target his vehicle if it wasn't already crewed.
Something worth mentioning is that Ashnod's Altar lets you go infinite with Breya and Eldrazi Displacer. With Displacer and Alter in play, you cast Breya, get 2 thopers, sac both to alter, get 4 mana. Use 3 to activate displacer and blink Breya, repeat and you net 1 mana with each cycle. With infinite mana, you have infinite blinks and activations of breya's deal 3 damage.
No, the rules state that if a creature has both +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters they cancel out and are removed from the creature.
Relevant text quoted:
121.3. If a permanent has both a +1/+1 counter and a -1/-1 counter on it, N +1/+1 and N -1/-1 counters are removed from it as a state-based action, where N is the smaller of the number of +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters on it. See rule 704.
Breya, etherium shaper, eldrazi displacer and ashnod's altar is infinite mana/damage. Cast Breya, sac the 2 tokens to altar, generate 4 colorless, use 3 to activate displacer, blinking breya and getting back 2 tokens. You net 1 colorless each activation. Then once you have infinite mana, start using the tokens to deal 3 damage and blink breya to get back tokens.
Assuming this is on your opponent's turn, no you cannot. After the sliver overlord's search ability resolves, the active player gets priority first, so they would be able to cast spells/activate abilities before you can. In this case, they would be able to cast the sliver they searched for before you are able to active jace's archivist.
Yes you can. You would replace the "lose the game" trigger from phage by exiling the archangel and resetting your life total.
As for the elvish piper ruling, the old text on phage says "if you didn't play from your hand" which was re-worded to "if you didn't cast from your hand" for more clarity, but it is still the same meaning. Elvish piper "puts" the creature into play i.e. you didn't cast it. Phage requires you to cast it.
Yes, phases don't pass until both players pass priority consecutively. So at the end of turn phase, you pass priority first, then he responds with gearhulk. Once that resolves, you receive priority again. Here you can cast stasis snare.
If you are comparing this to flying men you're doing it wrong...
No, both are 1/1 fliers for 1. Yes, this guy is clearly better, but at the end of the day there are very few decks I've made that want artifact colorless flying men, and the upside of a semi-reliable semi-silence effect is certainly not enough to make up for the fact that it's a 1/1 flier for 1. That's not a good card, and the second half doesn't make it one either.
Not a mb card. Will definitely see wide eternal play in both combo decks and aggro creature decks *sideboards*. Just the fact that xantid swarm is in modern now is kind of a big deal.
You are posting the the wrong forum. This is the cube discussion thread
Some neat tricks you can do is replaying etb creatures. Like, cast this to bounce 2 of their creatures and your eternal witness, cast witness for free, get back this.
Relevant text quoted:
As for the elvish piper ruling, the old text on phage says "if you didn't play from your hand" which was re-worded to "if you didn't cast from your hand" for more clarity, but it is still the same meaning. Elvish piper "puts" the creature into play i.e. you didn't cast it. Phage requires you to cast it.