Rhadamanthus on How Phase out and "At …
3 hours ago
No, you won't have to sacrifice Ball Lightning to its own ability.
You don't have to stack the triggers in a special way to make this work. Teferi's Veil makes the creature phase out "at end of combat" but Ball Lightning's ability triggers "at the beginning of the end step". Because Ball Lightning is phased out by the time the turn gets to the end step, its ability won't trigger at all. Even if it was a situation with two simultaneous triggers that needed to be stacked in a specific order, if the "phase out" trigger resolves first then there's nothing around for you to sacrifice when the "sacrifice this" trigger resolves.
pedroedmarcos on How Phase out and "At …
4 hours ago
Hey there,
So, Lets say I cast a Teferi's Veil on my Ball Lightning and in the end of my turn I stack the triggers on a way that it phases out before the sac trigger resolves. Will I have to sacrifice them?
Rhadamanthus on At what point can I …
7 hours ago
You don't need to have a reason.
The first item in that list, "whenever they have priority", allows players to activate mana abilities at any time they'd normally be able to take an action. The other items in that list give players special permission to also activate mana abilities at times they normally wouldn't be able to take an action (because they don't have priority at those times), but only if a mana payment is needed at that specific time.
Keep in mind that if you pass priority with unused mana still in your mana pool, you're supposed to let other players know how much mana is still in your pool.
TehGrief on At what point can I …
9 hours ago
I am trying to understand this comprehensive rule:
605.3a "A player may activate an activated mana ability whenever they have priority, whenever they are casting a spell or activating an ability that requires a mana payment, or whenever a rule or effect asks for a mana payment, even if it’s in the middle of casting or resolving a spell or activating or resolving an ability."
Does this mean that I need to have a reason to tap a land for mana, such as a cost? I cannot tap my lands to produce mana for no reason?
For example, am I able to tap Forbidden Orchard without paying a cost in order to give an opponent the 1/1 token?
plakjekaas on Dryad of the Ilysian Grove …
1 day ago
Also, if playing a land causes an ability to trigger, the opponent gets to respond before you get to play your second land
Rhadamanthus on Dryad of the Ilysian Grove …
1 day ago
No, you won't be able to play another land in that example. In the current rules, you determine whether or not you can play a land by comparing how many land plays the game currently says you have to how many you've already played this turn. If the Dryad is gone, you've already made a land play, and there isn't anything else giving you additional plays, then that's it.
Keep in mind that playing lands doesn't use the stack and the active player gets priority again after a spell resolving, so if you want to go land-Dryad-land or Dryad-land-land, there's no opportunity for an opponent to "respond" by killing your Dryad before you play your second land. If you do something else in-between the Dryad and that second land, however, then the opponent will be able to respond with something.
Some previous versions of the rules allowed you to specify which "drop" you were using as you played each land, but it allowed for unintuitive situations where a player could use the additional drop, blink the object that was giving it, and then use its additional drop again. It was an odd and somewhat complicated rules quirk that was smoothed out when the rules for land plays were revised to the current version.
Sobrinho on Dryad of the Ilysian Grove …
1 day ago
If I have a Dryad of the Ilysian Grove in play, and after my first land drop, my opponent kill or exile her, I still have some how the extra land drop of her ability ?
Rhadamanthus on Master of Cruelties and interactions
2 days ago
Yes, it still triggers. The declare blockers step of combat only gets skipped if there were no creatures declared as attackers or put onto the battlefield attacking. Otherwise, it always happens, even if it is impossible for any blockers to be declared. If Master of Cruelties is attacking then there will definitely be a declare blockers step and its last ability will trigger if it doesn't get blocked.
xcontla on Master of Cruelties and interactions
2 days ago
I have some questions with this card in some specific times.
I understand that the ability triggers in the declare blockers step.
- If Master of Cruelties gains skulk, Does his ability still trigger? ("... opponent life becomes 1").
- If I equipped some artifact that made Master of Cruelties unblockable, Does his ability still trigger? ("... opponent life becomes 1").
- If the opponent doesn't have creatures in the battlefield, Does his ability still trigger? ("... opponent life becomes 1").
Thank you.
Rhadamanthus on Blitz of the Thunder-Raptor targeting …
2 days ago
Bblackboltt: An answer to your question has been up for a while. Since there don't seem to be any follow-ups or corrections that need to be made, I marked it as the "Accepted answer" so this topic can move out of the list of unanswered questions. In the future you can take care of this yourself using the "Mark as Answer" button on the response that you feel is the most helpful answer to your question.
Rhadamanthus on If a Enchantment with counters …
2 days ago
danielgonmar: You need to use double square brackets around the card's name to make the link work - Nine Lives, Resourceful Defense
To answer your question, since Resourceful Defense only moves counters between things you control, the same player has to control both Nine Lives and the Defense in order to use the Defense to move counters off of Nine Lives. If they're controlled by different players, which might be the situation in the original question where things are being moved around with Harmless Offering, then it won't work.
Also, it's much better to post a new question as its own topic rather than respond to a very old one. With the way this site works, adding a new post to a Rules Q&A discussion doesn't move the topic to the top of the list. This topic is about 4 years old, so the only reason I was aware of your comment is because the site auto-subscribed me for notifications on this topic after I originally posted in it. If you had happened to post in a topic where the only people involved in the discussion were no longer active users then no one would have seen your question.
danielgonmar on If a Enchantment with counters …
2 days ago
Then, can you move a counter from [Nine lives] to another permanent using [Resourceful Defense]?
Rhadamanthus on Can you activate abilities before …
3 days ago
joaka: An answer to your question has been up for a while. Since there don't seem to be any follow-ups or corrections that need to be made, I marked it as the "Accepted answer" so this topic can move out of the list of unanswered questions. In the future you can take care of this yourself using the "Mark as Answer" button on the response that you feel is the most helpful answer to your question.
wallisface on Caesar and Andurila Sequencing
4 days ago
You will be able to stack the abilities so that you can sacrifice the created spirit.
Caesar’s initial trigger is only one to optionally sac a creature. You can resolve the equipments trigger first.
Then, after resolving Caesar‘s sac trigger, you would choose the two options as the rest of the card dictates.
KASTAWEI on Caesar and Andurila Sequencing
4 days ago
So if I have Caesar, Legion's Emperor equipped with Anduril, Flame of the West and attack. Would I be able to sacrifice the spirits created from the equipment to Caesar and proc his ability? Or would the spirits have to be on the field as he attacks?
Rhadamanthus on Does Delney Trigger Life of …
6 days ago
Yes, it happens twice in this example. When Delney makes something trigger an additional time, the additional trigger is created at the same time as the original one. It doesn't wait for the original trigger to resolve first.
Irish_Bastard907 on Cyclops Gladiator and Khârn
6 days ago
I'm pretty sure that Kharn will deal the damage back. The stack would have to resolve first and Kharn would deal damage, then once the stack is resolved Kharn's triggered ability would start a new stack.
OxygenDestroyer65 on Does Delney Trigger Life of …
6 days ago
If I have Delney, Streetwise Lookout and at least one other creature on the battlefield when I attack with a Life of the Party, does Life of the Party's attack trigger happen twice? Or does it only happen once because Life of the Party's attack becomes greater than 2? I assume it does because Life of the Party is a 0/1 before its attack trigger resolves, but I could be wrong?
MartinEMcArthur on If an opponent and I …
1 week ago
Rhadamanthus Thanks, I’m definitely glad that’s the current rule now, even if it would put me at a disadvantage in certain scenarios haha
Rhadamanthus on If an opponent and I …
1 week ago
You found the correct current rules. Each player is allowed to have one. Your buddies are thinking of an older version of the rules that only allowed one between all players. The change to the current rules that allows each player to have one happened with the Magic 2014 core set.
MartinEMcArthur on If an opponent and I …
1 week ago
Sorry if a question like this has been asked a million times, but the other night my buddies were saying that the legendary rule keeps two of the same legendary’s from being on the battlefield at the same time regardless of who’s controlling them. I’m not sure if that’s true though. Last Sunday I was playing with coworkers and a dude made a token copy of my Avacyn, Angel of Hope and no one brought up the legendary rule. I’ve read the part of the rule that says: “If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are controlled by the same player, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners' graveyards.” I don’t see how that would keep opponents from making a copy of someone else’s legendary, or even keep two opponents from playing the same commander. If there’s a part in the rule that I’m overlooking please let me know and thanks in advance.
DemonDragonJ on Does Sylvan Library Bypass Angel …
1 week ago
Gidgetimer, that is very good; thank you, very much.
Gidgetimer on Does Sylvan Library Bypass Angel …
1 week ago
You will still have to pay life or put the card back and are still able to pay the life if you so choose. Your reasoning is correct in that you are not paying life to activate the ability and so Angel of Jubilation will not stop anything.
DemonDragonJ on Does Sylvan Library Bypass Angel …
1 week ago
I have both Sylvan Library and Angel of Jubilation in one of my decks, so does the library's ability bypass the angel's restriction? I presume that it does, since the angel prevents players from paying life to activate abilities, while the library's ability is a triggered ability.
What does everyone else say about this subject? Does Sylvan Library bypass Angel of Jubilation?
Rhadamanthus on Do suspended cards being cast …
1 week ago
Grenthox: An answer to your question has been up for a while. Since there don't seem to be any follow-ups or corrections that need to be made, I marked it as the "Accepted answer" so this topic can move out of the list of unanswered questions. In the future you can take care of this yourself using the "Mark as Answer" button on the response that you feel is the most helpful answer to your question.
I try to avoid marking my own responses when I do this but in this case it was the only option.
Gidgetimer on Blitz of the Thunder-Raptor targeting …
1 week ago
The creature will stick around. The important part is that it says "If that creature would die this turn". So the exile only happens if the creature would die. Indestructible creatures do not die from having lethal damage marked on them.
Bblackboltt on Blitz of the Thunder-Raptor targeting …
1 week ago
If I play Blitz of the Thunder-Raptor targeting an opponent's creature with indestructible with lethal damage, is the creature exiled even though it has indestructible? Or does the creature stick around?
Gidgetimer on Can you activate abilities before …
1 week ago
You can only cast spells and activate abilities when you have priority. Each time before a player receives priority state-based actions are checked and performed. If any are performed, they are checked and performed again. Only once no SBAs are performed (and no triggered abilities are waiting to be put on the stack) do players receive priority and are able to activate abilities.
TL:DR No, you can not activate abilities before SBAs are performed.
Gidgetimer on What exactly triggers Riku of …
1 week ago
Balor isn't a modal spell. It is a creature spell, and the creature represented by the card has a modal ability. It has no interaction with Riku of Many Paths
purpleballspurple on What exactly triggers Riku of …
1 week ago
So I understand how Riku of Many Paths ability works with a spell like Simic Charm but was confused if casting a permanent such as Balor would work, does it even count as a modal spell and if so do I get to pick anything for Riku?
Thank you in advance
joaka on Can you activate abilities before …
1 week ago
- Cast Twinflame targeting Etali, Primal Conqueror Flip.
- Make token copy of Etali, trigger Etali ETB.
Q: Can I sac one of the Etali's with Food Chain before game state action makes me remove one.
- Put -1/-1 counter on Devoted Druid to untap itself.
- Tap for Green mana, repeat step 1.
Q: Can I activate Tayam, Luminous Enigma's ability and remove Devoted Druid's 2 -1/-1 counters before it dies to game state action?
DemonDragonJ on Blood Moon versus Prismatic Omen
1 week ago
DarkKiridon, Gidgetimer, I am very sorry about using terminology improperly, so I hope that you understood the intent of my question.
Gidgetimer on Blood Moon versus Prismatic Omen
1 week ago
Prismatic Omen is an enchantment and can't be played as a response unless there is something allowing a player to play it at instant speed. Since nothing allowing it to be cast at instant speed was mentioned I will assume that you meant "later plays" instead of "responds with".
"Priority" has a meaning within the rules. Nothing here is dealing with priority. I will assume that you are using the normal English meaning of the word as a synonym for precedence instead of the rules meaning.
Neither enchantment "overrides" the other nor makes a player "safe" from anything.
When continuous effects are interacting they are applied in a system of layers and then in timestamp order within a layer. Since both Blood Moon and Prismatic Omen are type changing effects, they are applied in the same layer. In your example the Blood Moon was played first and will have an earlier timestamp, so it is applied first making all non-basic lands into mountains. Then the Prismatic Omen will apply granting all of its controller's lands all basic land types. The player(s) who don't control the Prismatic Omen will have all of their non-basics still only be mountains.
If the enchantments had entered in the opposite order Prismatic Omen will give all of its controller's lands all basic land types. Then Blood Moon would make all non-basics into mountains, and the non basics controlled by Prismatic Omen's controller would lose all other land types.
DarkKiridon on Blood Moon versus Prismatic Omen
1 week ago
Blood Moon effects all players, obviously. The player who casts (after resolving) and controls Prismatic Omen is now safe from said Blood Moon therefore it overrides it.
DemonDragonJ on Blood Moon versus Prismatic Omen
1 week ago
If a player controls a Blood Moon, and their opponent responds by casting a Prismatic Omen, which enchantment shall have priority? What types will all nonbasic lands have?
Rhadamanthus on If I control Zada, can …
1 week ago
You can make different choices. Choices like modes, targets, and a specific distribution of something, like the damage from Arc Lightning for example, are made when the spell is first cast and are locked in for all copies. Any other choices are made as the spell resolves, so that means the decisions get made separately for the original and each of the copies.
lil_cheez on If I control Zada, can …
1 week ago
Good evening everyone,
Zada, Hedron Grinder is an all star in my Feather, the Redeemed deck. I've been playtesting it and found a RW interaction I could not have a clear answer. Please help me if you can.
When I target Zada with a "protection from color" granting spell, like Shelter and Stave Off, the spell will be copied to each other creature I control.
Question: do I get to pick a color for each creature?
Zada's rulling says the following:
If the spell that's copied is modal (that is, it says "Choose one —" or the like), the copies will have the same mode. You can't choose a different one.
But these spells are not modal, as far as I know, so I'd like to know if they are the "or the like" or if they work diffently.
Thanks in advance and have a good one.
Rhadamanthus on Cyclops Gladiator and Khârn
1 week ago
This is a bit difficult to figure out, but my interpretation is that Khârn will still deal damage back to the Cyclops. The way I'm reading the rules about resolving spells and abilities (608, specifically 608.2b), they seem to indicate the last check on a target's legality is right before the spell/ability starts resolving.
There aren't any specific comments addressing what to do if one instruction in the resolving spell/ability somehow manages to change an object's characteristics in a way that seems to make it an "illegal" target before other instructions are carried out. But if the legality determination can't change during resolution then the resolving spell/ability can still continue acting on anything that was a legal target when it started. This might be something worth taking to an MtG Judge Reddit/Discord, and I'd be interested to see what their answers and reasoning are.
NTakamura on Cyclops Gladiator and Khârn
1 week ago
So if I use Cyclops Gladiator ability to target Khârn the Betrayer would kharn still deal his power to the cyclops since he is changing control? Or does khârn changing control after resolving the cyclops?
CloudKillerJay on Strionic Resonator + Search tor …
2 weeks ago
Sorry. I did read it but didn't tick the answered button. Sorry very rarely use any features outside of the deck builder so don't know the ins and outs very well. And thank you for the answer.
Muskelkater on How do activated abilities interact …
2 weeks ago
Follow up question with the following setup:
Player 1 activates Heartless Hidetsugu who has lifelink (because of an earlier effect like the triggered ability of Atraxa's Skitterfang). After the ability of hidetsugu is on the stack player 2 responds with Word of Seizing taking control of Hidetsugu before the ability resolves.
Who will gain the life from Hidetsugos lifelink?
Rhadamanthus on Strionic Resonator + Search tor …
2 weeks ago
CloudKillerJay: Since it's clear you got a satisfactory answer to your question and there don't seem to be any follow-ups or corrections that need to be made, I marked it as the "Accepted answer" so this topic can move out of the list of unanswered questions. In the future you can take care of this yourself using the "Mark as Answer" button on the response that you feel is the most helpful answer to your question.
Rhadamanthus on Do suspended cards being cast …
2 weeks ago
Yes, that works. In the detailed rules for suspend, "play" means "play it if it's a land and cast it if it's a spell". Since you're casting the spell, Caetus gives it convoke and Kasla will trigger from that. Just in case this is also a question: you don't actually need to tap any creatures for convoke to get a trigger from Kasla. The fact that a spell has the convoke ability is enough.
Grenthox on Do suspended cards being cast …
2 weeks ago
Say I'm suspending instants with Gandalf of the Secret Fire and I have a Caetus, Sea Tyrant of Segovia Flip and a Kasla, the Broken Halo in play. Does the suspended card gain Convoke from Caetus and trigger Kasla when cast?
CloudKillerJay on Strionic Resonator + Search tor …
2 weeks ago
Ok super thanks. If I hadn't been walked through how to play over 25yrs ago I would never be able to learn now lol. I wanted to check coz Strionic Resonator is a tricky card to get your head around when you struggle with wording. Thanks again.
wallisface on Would Encroaching Mycosynth make Aura …
2 weeks ago
Yes you would be able to, as Encroaching Mycosynth makes them artifacts, and Dance of the Manse allows you to return artifacts.
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.
If there’s nothing legal for those auras to enchant, they’s remain in the grave. I believe is us true even if Dance of the Manse would have them additionally be creatures.
Actually - just never let the aura also be a creature, or you’ll kill it:
An Aura that's also a creature can't enchant anything. If this occurs somehow, the Aura becomes unattached, then is put into its owner's graveyard. (These are state-based actions. See rule 704.)
MartinEMcArthur on Would Encroaching Mycosynth make Aura …
2 weeks ago
Since Encroaching turns all nonland permanents into artifacts including aura enchantments in the graveyard, would you be able to then bring auras back with Dance of the Manse? I’m assuming no, but I’m still curious how the interaction works.