Is Sidewinder Sliver printed wrong?
Asked by Gaspode 7 years ago
Sidewinder Sliver gives all Slivers flanking. I know that flanking is a triggered ability and that it stacks if a creature has multiple instances of flanking.
"702.24b If a creature has multiple instances of flanking, each triggers separately."
BUT:
The text on Sidewinder Sliver says: "All Sliver creatures have flanking. (Whenever a creature without flanking blocks a Sliver, the blocking creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.)"
So you could understand like this: Each Sliver has: Whenever a creature without flanking blocks A sliver the blocking creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
Then this would mean that every sliver would trigger if another sliver is blocked.
Is this just me getting this wording wrong? Or is the wording wrong?
Gidgetimer says... #2
Reminder text is just there to remind you of how the rules work. It isn't rules text with the stricter templating guidelines. On Sidewinder Sliver the reminder text is summarizing how Sidewinder's ability works, not how flanking works. Since all slivers have flanking, any creature that blocks a sliver gets -1/-1.
October 7, 2016 7:46 a.m.
Flanking is on a creature by creature basis, but it does stack. Really old ability that confused a lot of people.
So if you have out Sidewinder Sliver and I assign a goblin token to block it, assuming it's a standard 1/1 token, the token would get -1/-1 upon being declared as a blocker, and would die before any damage is dealt, and your sliver would survive. It basically would force your opponent to block your silver with a creature 2/3 or larger in order to avoid trading creatures, and this gets even nastier with multiple copies of Sidewinder Sliver granting multiple stacks of flanking. However, it does not mean that when a sliver is blocked that every other sliver's flanking ability triggers, just the one declared as being blocked, and just the creature declared as a blocker gets the -1/-1 until end of turn.
As far as your rules quotation, there are creatures like Cavalry Master that the ruling makes clearer, though still worded confusingly. His ability states other creatures with flanking have flanking. Each instance of flanking triggers separately. So if you had him out with a Sidewinder Sliver suddenly your sliver has two stacks of flanking, and when a creature without flanking is assigned to block it, it will get -2/-2 until end of turn. If you put out a second sliver, then you have three flanking triggers on each sliver. One per each from the sliver ability and one from the Cavalry Master and so on.
metalmagic says... #1
Reminder text is not always the same from card to card, even if the keyword is. Generally it differs from the more commonplace reminder text when a source is giving something else a keyword. This is just one of those instances. The main thing to know is that if you have one Sidewinder Sliver out, all of your slivers will have one instance of flanking, assuming nothing else is granting it. Two copies is two instances of it, etc.
October 7, 2016 6:08 a.m.