Splice "fizzling" spells?

Asked by BruhYouFarted 1 year ago

I have an Archaeomancer on the battlefield. I choose to cast Vital Surge, and splice Veil of Secrecy onto it, returning the Archaeomancer to my hand. However, with Archaeomancer gone, there are no more creatures on the battlefield for Veil of Secrecy's splice to target. So, does Vital Surge gain me 3 life like normal and ignore the spliced text from Veil of Secrecy, or does the spell "fizzle", having me gain 0 life, and sending it to the graveyard. Or am I completely wrong?

Delphen7 says... Accepted answer #1

Rule 608.2b says "If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that’s no longer in the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. Other changes to the game state may cause a target to no longer be legal; for example, its characteristics may have changed or an effect may have changed the text of the spell. If the source of an ability has left the zone it was in, its last known information is used during this process. If all its targets, for every instance of the word “target,” are now illegal, the spell or ability doesn’t resolve."

Splice adds additional rules text to a spell. In this case all of your spell's targets have become illegal, so it'll fizzle.

August 14, 2022 4:32 p.m.