Q: With a Kormus Bell on the battlefield, can anyone use a fetchland to fetch out a Swamp if there's a Grafdigger's Cage out?
A: They can. Swamps aren't creature cards with Kormus Bell on the battlefield, they're just land cards that are creatures. Grafdigger's Cage only prevents creature cards from entering the battlefield from libraries, not land cards.
Seems like the part that says "that are creatures" in the second sentence should be removed. Also, maybe it should say "Swamp cards" or "Swamps in the library" to differentiate them from swamp permanents.
Such effects only know to look in the exile zone for the cards, not any other zone the card might have happened to go to as a result of a replacement effect.
Thanks.
By the way, Do the written rules cover Memory Jar's effect? I ask because the rules seems to say that only about linked abilities, and I'm not sure whether memory jar's effect is also considered a linked ability (there are mentions of abilities inside abilities that are granted but not about delayed triggered abilities). Is it perhaps a case of rule 607.1b, "An ability printed on an object that fulfills both criteria described in rule 607.1 is linked to itself" ?
The commander is put in the command zone as part of the ability, so Sundailing the delayed trigger won't effect it. Basically, the rules are designed so you can't permanently get rid of an opponents commander (unless you use AWOL, but I don't think that counts)
Wouldn't the ability continue to refer to the commander and return it even from the command zone? It was technically exiled even though was put in a different zone and the delayed ability refers to cards "exiled this way".
But if not, then the player might decide to let the card go to exile (because it would be cheaper to cast from the hand) and then he/she could be surprised with an ability countering / turn-ending effects.
But when does a player leave the game? Is it at the same time he loses or somewhat after?
From what I gather, a player leaves the game exactly at the same time he loses the game, therefore all his objects leave the game at the same time as well. It also means that if other stuff is supposed to happen due to SBAs it all happens simultaneously (A player loses as part of the SBA, so if a player leaves the game as he loses then he does so at the same time other SBAs happen).
Therefore, the game tries to send the creature to the graveyard and remove it from the game at the same time. However, those two actions seem to be contradictory. a card can't go to a zone and leave the game (be "zoneless") at the same time (not to mention that the zone to which the card tries to go to also ceases to exist at the same time).
However, your answers seem to imply that there's an unmentioned lag between the player losing and the player actually leaving the game because of it.
Q: One of my three opponents blocked with a 3/3, and then the attacker got huge and tramply and killed the player. Will my Kresh the Bloodbraided get counters?
A: It will! Simultaneously, the creature dies and the player loses the game. This causes Kresh to trigger and it causes all of that player's stuff to vanish, but his creature did die immediately before all of his stuff fell into a black hole, and it doesn't matter that that graveyard no longer exists when Kresh's trigger actually goes on the stack or resolves.
I don't quite get it. The creature dies before all his objects leave the game? Shouldn't both (try to) happen at the same time?
Well, except its answering a different question then, since the premise is wrong.
Q: My opponent swings at me with a VampireNight Revelers and I block with a 5/5 Demon token. He plays Moment of Heroism on his Revelers... can I play Ranger's GuileMagnetic Theft in response to attach Swiftfoot Boots on his creature to prevent the Heroism from resolving? In short, if I make an opponent's creature have hexproof, who can target the creature with spells or abilities?
Fixed
[I may be joking a little, but it's actually the only way:
The current card pool doesn't allow many ways to have something a player controls give his/her opponent's creature hexproof. Even with donation or copy tricks , it's the opponent's permanent that's giving his/her creatures hexproof which is not what the question is about. So using Magnetic theft on a hexproof-granting equipment is the only way it could make sense. At least until a hexproof-granting aura will be created, or a hexproof-granting spell/ability that doesn't restrict to creatures you control (not very likely to exist as it prevents this mistake, except perhaps as a symmetrical or multiplayer-friendly effect).
Also, Swiftfoot Boots are currently the only hexproof granting equipment that won't make Night revelers win against the 5/5 demon token (but I guess it's possible to play around with the numbers)]
Q: What happens if Past in Flames gives flashback to Dead//Gone? What can I flash back for which cost?
A: You can flash back either half for its appropriate mana cost. The first step of casting a split card is to choose one half and put it on the stack, so only that half exists on the stack. When the game asks the card what is its mana cost in order to determine the total cost, only the chosen half answers with its mana cost, so that's the cost you have to pay.
I don't quite get how it works. Is it like Volcano Hellion giving itself "echo {X}, where X is your life total" so the value keeps changing ?(so while Dead//Gone is in the graveyard its flashback cost is R&2R but on the stack it is the cast half's mana cost).
Also, as weird as it sounds, what part of the card has flashback while it's in the graveyard? do each part has its own instance? Or is there a single instance applying to the card as a whole?
Im curious about something now in relation to the bold. Going by Mindslaver's oracle and the question, i assume that players only control there turns and not themselves. Am I correct? My question has no real rules application, but more of a semantics based one.
It was true previously, but they changed it to controlling the player itself. compare Mindslaver's original Mirrodin text to its current wording:
Old:You control target player's next turn.
New:You control target player during that player's next turn.
Q: If two Nether Traitors die at the same time to a Wrath of God, do they see each other die and trigger?
A: They see each other die (how sad!), but they won't trigger. Nether Traitor's ability mentions it bringing itself back from the graveyard, so it only triggers from the graveyard. That means it has to be in the yard already when another creature is put into the graveyard for it to trigger.
It might be worth noting that it's a Leave-the-Battlefield trigger so it checks the game state before the event occured (and that's why it sees them on the battlefield where their ability can't trigger, and not in the graveyard).
I believe there's one more option. If Time Vault was removed with Karn, that player would have the choice to skip their turn and the person that drew out their library would lose during the next player's turn.
Ok So that makes it 5 possibilities:
default = player's upkeep Eon Hub = player's draw step Eon Hub + "Draw Skipper" = player's main phase Time Vault = opponent's upkeep Time Vault + Eon Hub = opponent's draw step.
There are actually three possible steps/phases for the bonus question. It depends on certain cards the Karn player might start the game with:
It'll usually be during the upkeep step. However, if the player starts with Eon Hub it'll be during the draw step. And if the player starts with both Eon Hub and a permanent that skips the draw step It'll be during the first Main Phase.:D
Q: If someone destroys Karmic Justice, do I get to destroy a permanent?
A: Yup! As long as Karmic Justice isn't a creature, it'll be a "non-creature permanent you control" and so it'll trigger its own ability.
So, Is Karmic Justice's ability considered a leave-the-battlefield ability even though it doesn't follow the usual syntaxes? (That might explain the "but aren't limited to" in rule 603.6c, though.)
Are there any more cards that fit that description? (i.e. having a LTB ability that's isn't not worded as either of the two syntaxes in rule 603.6c)
If you have the mana available in your pool you will have to pay the mana for propaganda and attack with Ruhan of the Fomori but it will not force you to activate and mana abilities to create that mana.
It doesn't seem so from the last part of rule 508.1d :
508.1d The active player checks each creature he or she controls to see whether it’s affected by any requirements (effects that say a creature must attack, or that it must attack if some condition is met). If the number of requirements that are being obeyed is fewer than the maximum possible number of requirements that could be obeyed without disobeying any restrictions, the declaration of attackers is illegal. If a creature can’t attack unless a player pays a cost, that player is not required to pay that cost, even if attacking with that creature would increase the number of requirements being obeyed.
so even with floating mana, the player won't have to attack with Ruhan because he doesn't have to pay the cost.
And as for the first question:
If Ruhan is going to attack, does he have to attack that player?
both attacking-others and not-attacking obey the same requirements (none). and since attacking the chosen player involves a cost, Ruhan isn't forced to attack him/her even though it obeys more requirements (one; Ruhan's).
Basically, if not attacking makes any sense in this case, then so should attacking other players.
If you do the same play: allow for the Illusions trigger to go on the stack, and then give it to your opponent, when the trigger resolves, you would still put an age counter on Illusions, correct?
yes. sacrificing is rather unique for limiting to permanents the player controls, but other actions such as putting counters don't have that restriction.
I think that gore vassal would've been less confusing if it had reminder text instead perhaps a copy paste from Shield of the Oversoul :"If its toughness is 0 or less, it's still put into its owner's graveyard". Or perhaps change the last part to ..."it doesn't regenerate".
I seem to recall a ruling that some cards can track objects across zones, like Distant Memories being able to find your Commander if you send it to the command zone when you're instructed to exile it.
... I don't agree with what (I think) you're trying to imply here. if, hypothetically, the intervening if clause didn't prevent ichorid's ability from resolving it still wouldn't return (for the same reason as the original answer).
In the case of Distant memories in commander, the commander is being tracked after a "change zone event" because it says "that card" so it can still be found even if the zone-changing event was modified to move it to the command zone. On the other hand, ichorid's ability doen't track it if it moves, so if it changes zones it won't be found (again, hypothetically, if the if clause wouldn't prevent the ability from resolving in the first place).
How does Smallpox work? When I cast it, I choose first for all four parts of the spell...but do I choose my land in a secret fashion, i.e. write it down? Or is the discard part the only secretive one because of the hidden zone??
It is the latter: "the discard part the only secretive one because of the hidden zone"
A: Yes, our Liege here is not only a Knight of the forests, but also a theoretical physicist who studies the interaction of plasma and quarks! Aside from his PhD in sciences man was never meant to know, being discarded when Chain of Plasma offers the choice is still a discard caused by an opponent's spell, even though you don't have to discard the Liege. You'll get your Liege for free and then get 3 damage to point at someone. And yes, this even works off of their copy created by your own Chain!
About that last sentence, just to be sure, if the Liege player targets one of his (likely to survive) creatures with his copy of Chain and discard a card, will he be able to use that to have a Liege OTB?
Q: Is this okay: I tap five lands, cast Stoneforge Mystic, and hope my opponent sees my lands tapped out so he'll Mana Leak it. Then if he doesn't, I can cast Sword of Feast and Famine, and if he does, surprise, I can pay for it!
A: That's not okay. With M10 taking away mana burn, there was concern over players trying exactly the same trick you're looking at here, and WotC decided that this is not something acceptable at all. If you pass priority with mana in your mana pool, such as you do here asking for your spell to resolve, you must explicitly say so.
I wonder what would likely happen after something like this has already happened and a judge is called and whether or not would the player casting the Mana Leak get to reverse back to before casting it.
Q: If Vesuvan Shapeshifter copies Changeling Berserker when it enters the battlefield and exiles Silver Myr, would Silver Myr still be returned to the battlefield if Vesuvian Shapeshifter has turned into something else before it dies?
A: Nope. Champion represents two linked abilities, one to exile the creature, and one to bring it back. If Vesuvan Shapeshifter ever copies something else, the championed creature will be gone forever since the link is broken.
I'm a bit confused because of an old ruling for Skill Borrower, Knight of Skyward Eye on top of a library (and some way to put a card on top the knight and then remove it).
Before a rule was made to make the top card a new object when hidden and rerevealed, the ruling was that because it is the same effect duplicating the ability of the same object, it is the same, and can't be activated again.
As long as the library's order didn't change in other ways, it is the same card, and the same effect continuously operating to duplicate that ability. It doesn't matter that it duplicated something else for a while, there is nothing to distinguish it as a new ability. You can't play it again.
So I just want to make sure:
If the question was about a Vorlath's Shapeshifter gaining the text of a Changeling Berserker in the graveyard (and a card enters and leaves the graveyard etc). If Volrath's Shapeshifter would leave the battlefield the championed creature would return, right?
Seems like the part that says "that are creatures" in the second sentence should be removed. Also, maybe it should say "Swamp cards" or "Swamps in the library" to differentiate them from swamp permanents.
Thanks.
By the way, Do the written rules cover Memory Jar's effect? I ask because the rules seems to say that only about linked abilities, and I'm not sure whether memory jar's effect is also considered a linked ability (there are mentions of abilities inside abilities that are granted but not about delayed triggered abilities). Is it perhaps a case of rule 607.1b, "An ability printed on an object that fulfills both criteria described in rule 607.1 is linked to itself" ?
Wouldn't the ability continue to refer to the commander and return it even from the command zone? It was technically exiled even though was put in a different zone and the delayed ability refers to cards "exiled this way".
But if not, then the player might decide to let the card go to exile (because it would be cheaper to cast from the hand) and then he/she could be surprised with an ability countering / turn-ending effects.
From what I gather, a player leaves the game exactly at the same time he loses the game, therefore all his objects leave the game at the same time as well. It also means that if other stuff is supposed to happen due to SBAs it all happens simultaneously (A player loses as part of the SBA, so if a player leaves the game as he loses then he does so at the same time other SBAs happen).
Therefore, the game tries to send the creature to the graveyard and remove it from the game at the same time. However, those two actions seem to be contradictory. a card can't go to a zone and leave the game (be "zoneless") at the same time (not to mention that the zone to which the card tries to go to also ceases to exist at the same time).
However, your answers seem to imply that there's an unmentioned lag between the player losing and the player actually leaving the game because of it.
I don't quite get it. The creature dies before all his objects leave the game? Shouldn't both (try to) happen at the same time?
Fixed
[I may be joking a little, but it's actually the only way:
The current card pool doesn't allow many ways to have something a player controls give his/her opponent's creature hexproof. Even with donation or copy tricks , it's the opponent's permanent that's giving his/her creatures hexproof which is not what the question is about. So using Magnetic theft on a hexproof-granting equipment is the only way it could make sense. At least until a hexproof-granting aura will be created, or a hexproof-granting spell/ability that doesn't restrict to creatures you control (not very likely to exist as it prevents this mistake, except perhaps as a symmetrical or multiplayer-friendly effect).
Also, Swiftfoot Boots are currently the only hexproof granting equipment that won't make Night revelers win against the 5/5 demon token (but I guess it's possible to play around with the numbers)]
I don't quite get how it works. Is it like Volcano Hellion giving itself "echo {X}, where X is your life total" so the value keeps changing ?(so while Dead//Gone is in the graveyard its flashback cost is R&2R but on the stack it is the cast half's mana cost).
Also, as weird as it sounds, what part of the card has flashback while it's in the graveyard? do each part has its own instance? Or is there a single instance applying to the card as a whole?
It was true previously, but they changed it to controlling the player itself. compare Mindslaver's original Mirrodin text to its current wording:
Old:You control target player's next turn.
New:You control target player during that player's next turn.
Ok So that makes it 5 possibilities:
default = player's upkeep
Eon Hub = player's draw step
Eon Hub + "Draw Skipper" = player's main phase
Time Vault = opponent's upkeep
Time Vault + Eon Hub = opponent's draw step.
Or give the karn player an Abyssal Persecutor.
And you can combine it with a deck that has 4 Necrogen Scudders, 4 Vampire Lacerators and 4 Phyrexian Ragers to punish his griefing attempt (or Phage the untouchable if you're not bound to T2). And while you're at it, add a Mindslaver and force him to activate Karn's ultimate if he's not going to.
Edit: Now that I think about it, At that point you might not have any lands left for Mindslaver.
It'll usually be during the upkeep step. However, if the player starts with Eon Hub it'll be during the draw step. And if the player starts with both Eon Hub and a permanent that skips the draw step It'll be during the first Main Phase.:D
So, Is Karmic Justice's ability considered a leave-the-battlefield ability even though it doesn't follow the usual syntaxes? (That might explain the "but aren't limited to" in rule 603.6c, though.)
Are there any more cards that fit that description? (i.e. having a LTB ability that's isn't not worded as either of the two syntaxes in rule 603.6c)
It doesn't seem so from the last part of rule 508.1d :
so even with floating mana, the player won't have to attack with Ruhan because he doesn't have to pay the cost.
And as for the first question:
both attacking-others and not-attacking obey the same requirements (none). and since attacking the chosen player involves a cost, Ruhan isn't forced to attack him/her even though it obeys more requirements (one; Ruhan's).
Basically, if not attacking makes any sense in this case, then so should attacking other players.
yes. sacrificing is rather unique for limiting to permanents the player controls, but other actions such as putting counters don't have that restriction.
I think so too. However...
... I don't agree with what (I think) you're trying to imply here. if, hypothetically, the intervening if clause didn't prevent ichorid's ability from resolving it still wouldn't return (for the same reason as the original answer).
In the case of Distant memories in commander, the commander is being tracked after a "change zone event" because it says "that card" so it can still be found even if the zone-changing event was modified to move it to the command zone. On the other hand, ichorid's ability doen't track it if it moves, so if it changes zones it won't be found (again, hypothetically, if the if clause wouldn't prevent the ability from resolving in the first place).
It is the latter: "the discard part the only secretive one because of the hidden zone"
I wonder what would likely happen after something like this has already happened and a judge is called and whether or not would the player casting the Mana Leak get to reverse back to before casting it.
I'm a bit confused because of an old ruling for Skill Borrower, Knight of Skyward Eye on top of a library (and some way to put a card on top the knight and then remove it).
Before a rule was made to make the top card a new object when hidden and rerevealed, the ruling was that because it is the same effect duplicating the ability of the same object, it is the same, and can't be activated again.
So I just want to make sure:
If the question was about a Vorlath's Shapeshifter gaining the text of a Changeling Berserker in the graveyard (and a card enters and leaves the graveyard etc). If Volrath's Shapeshifter would leave the battlefield the championed creature would return, right?