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Who doesn\u2019t love to get extra value out of their spells? Every time they\u2019ve brought back flashback, it\u2019s been a popular and powerful mechanic. Snapcaster Mage has been a hit in every format since he was printed. He lets you get an extra use out of your instants and sorceries, especially since you weren\u2019t likely to anything with those cards in your graveyard anyways. Flashback has some weird quirks to it, so let\u2019s take a look at what you might run in to at your next Modern tournament.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>Flashback is an alternate cost that lets you cast a spell from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Flashback does not change when you can cast as spell, so if you give a sorcery flashback, you can still only cast it when you could cast a sorcery. For instance, since Faithless Looting is a sorcery, you could not normally cast it on your opponent\u2019s turn, even if you\u2019re casting it for its flashback cost.<\/p>\n
The spell is cast, so it uses the stack and can be responded to. This also means that it can be countered like any other spell on the stack. However, due to casting the spell for its flashback cost, if the spell would leave the stack, it goes to the exiled zone instead of whatever zone it would have normally gone to. This means that if you Remand<\/a> a spell cast via flashback, the card will be exiled; it will not return to its owner\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n And fuse doesn\u2019t work with flashback either. You can only fuse a split card if you\u2019re casting the split card from your hand, so you can\u2019t cast a split card fused from your graveyard, even if it has flashback.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n That\u2019s all we have this time. I\u2019d like to thank everyone who helped me out with these series of articles; especially Jason Lems<\/a><\/a><\/p>
\nSince you\u2019re casting the spell, spell increasers and decreasers can apply when casting it. For instance, if I have a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben on the battlefield and you want to flash back your Ancient Grudge<\/a>, Thalia will apply and you\u2019ll have to pay 1G to flash it back. On the other hand, if you give Blasphemous Act<\/a> flashback, it will cost less for each creature on the battlefield (for instance, if there\u2019s five creatures on the battlefield, it will cost you 3R to cast it).<\/p>\nSnapcaster Mage and Kicker<\/b><\/h1>\n
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\nTo kick things off, let\u2019s look at kicker. Kicker is an option when you\u2019re casting spell. Luckily, flashback lets you cast the spell, so you can kick a spell that\u2019s being flashbacked. For instance, if I give Vines of Vastwood flashback, I can cast it like normal for G (to give the creature the hexproof-like ability), or I can cast it kicked by paying GG (to also give that creature +4\/+4).<\/p>\nSnapcaster Mage and Suspend<\/b><\/h1>\n
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\nFlashback and Suspend don\u2019t work very well together. You can only suspend a card if the card with suspend is in your hand, not if it\u2019s in the graveyard or any other zone. While you can give the suspend card flashback, you can only cast the card, you can\u2019t suspend it. And if the card is something like Living End, which doesn\u2019t have a mana cost, then it will have a flashback cost of {}, and you can\u2019t pay {}, so you won\u2019t be able to cast the Living End via flashback.<\/p>\nSnapcaster Mage and Overload<\/b><\/h1>\n
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\nWhat about something like overload? Can I combine overload and flashback? The answer is no. Flashback is an alternate cost, and overload is an alternate cost. When you cast a spell, you can only use one alternate cost, you can\u2019t use two or more. So if you give something like Electrickery flashback, you can only cast it for its flashback cost. You cannot cast it for its overload cost, since overload doesn\u2019t let you cast it from the graveyard.<\/p>\nSnapcaster Mage and Split Cards<\/b><\/h1>\n
<\/p>Ah, here\u2019s a fun topic: split cards. What if we give a split card flashback? Well, in that case, the split card will have two flashback costs. However, each cost only applies to that side of the split card. For instance, let\u2019s take a look at Boom\/\/Bust. If you give Boom\/\/Bust flashback, it will have two flashback costs: 1R (for the Boom side) and 5R (for the Bust side). You can\u2019t mix and match the flashback costs. If you want to flash back Boom, it will cost 1R. If you want to flash back Bust, it will cost you 5R. This is because when you cast one side of a split card, we ignore the other side that you\u2019re not casting. Since we\u2019re ignoring the other side of the split card, it doesn\u2019t see the flashback cost for the other side, so you can only cast Bust for 5R, not 1R.<\/p>\n
Snapcaster Mage and Trap Cards<\/b><\/h1>\n
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\nHow about trap cards? Can I cast my Snapcaster Mage and give my Ravenous Trap flashback, then cast it for 0? Just like with overload, this doesn\u2019t work. The ability to cast the Trap for a reduced cost is also an alternate cost, and alternate costs don\u2019t mix with flashback. So if you want to cast Ravenous Trap, you\u2019ll need to pay 2BB, even if they\u2019ve had three or more cards enter their graveyard that turn.<\/p>\nSnapcaster Mage and Flashback<\/b><\/h1>\n
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\nLet\u2019s say you target a card that already has flashback, like Lingering Souls. How do you determine what you pay when you cast it? When you cast the spell, you can choose either flashback cost to pay. For example, if we give Lingering Souls flashback, it will have another flashback cost that you can pay. So you can either cast the Souls for its normal flashback cost (1B) or the flashback cost given to it by the Snapcaster (2W).<\/p>\n<\/span><\/span> and the various people who helped come up with ideas in the #mtgjudge channel. Feel free to leave me any comments, and if you have any other topics you\u2019d like me to possibly discuss in the future, let me know and I\u2019ll see what I can do.<\/p>\n