Q: Amy activates Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy while her graveyard has 4 cards in it and chooses to discard Fiery Temper. She wants to play Fiery Temper with madness, but she also wants to transform Jace. Can she do both?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]No. While exiling a discarded madness card was optional in the past, it’s mandatory now [CR 702.34a]. Amy will exile the madness card rather than putting it in her graveyard, which means that Jace will only see 4 cards there when it checks to see if it flips.
[/expand]
Q: Can you stop a madness card with Ulamog’s Nullifier (madness card’s controller owns one other card that’s exiled)?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]No. Superficially, it seems like that should work, but look at what happens in detail. First, it won’t be possible to let your opponent cast the madness spell and counter it with Ulamog’s Nullifier’s ability, because by that time, the madness spell will be on the stack, so there won’t be two cards in exile for you to return to that player’s graveyard.
It’s also not possible to stop the madness card by casting Ulamog’s Nullifier in response to the madness card and using the ability to put the madness card in its owner’s graveyard. Putting the cards from exile into the graveyard happens on resolution of the ability, but that never happens [CR 608.2d]. That triggered ability targets a spell, so if it gets put on the stack when there’s no spell to target, it just gets removed without anything else happening [CR 603.3d].
[/expand]
Q: Amy discards a Vampire Noble while she controls Falkenrath Gorger. While the noble is exiled, Nicole Just the Winds the gorger. What happens?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]Before Nicole will get priority to cast Just the Wind, the game will check to see if any triggered abilities are waiting to go on the stack [CR 603.3]. At this time, Vampire Noble has madness 2B, and it was exiled due to this ability. That causes the second half of the madness ability, the triggered ability that lets its controller cast it from exile, to trigger. Once on the stack, this ability will resolve regardless of what happens to its source, even if it loses the ability [CR 112.7a]. When that triggered ability resolves, even though Vampire Noble won’t have madness at all by this point, the game will give Amy the chance to cast Vampire Noble for 2B.
[/expand]
Q: Amy discards Incorrigible Youths while she controls Falkenrath Gorger. How much does Amy pay to cast Incorrigible Youths?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]This question is a little tricky. Let’s examine the process in detail. As Amy discards Incorrigible Youths, both its instances of madness want to replace that event with her exiling it. As the affected player, Amy will choose which replacement effect to apply first [CR 616.1]. Here’s the trick, though: Whichever one she applies, the other one is still applicable, because madness replaces the event of a person discarding the card, but specifically states that the new event still counts as discarding it [CR 702.34a]. So to cast it for 2R, Amy will need to apply the madness 3RR ability first, then apply the madness 2R ability. The event in the game will start out as [Amy discards Incorrigible Youths], then it will become [Amy discards Incorrigible Youths into the exile zone with its madness 3RR ability], before finally becoming [Amy discards Incorrigible Youths into the exile zone with its madness 2R ability, then attempts to exile it with its madness 3RR ability (which will fail)]. Because it was exiled with the madness 2R ability, the triggered ability that corresponds to that ability will trigger and allow Amy to cast it.
Note: In a real game, the chances of a player specifying which madness ability is exiling the card is practically zero. Fortunately, the chances of this choice mattering are similarly unlikely.
[/expand]
Q: Amy discards Strength of Isolation into exile. Then she points to her Confessor and says “gain 1 life.” After that, Amy tries to cast Strength of Isolation, but her opponent protests that she has missed her chance to do this. How do you rule?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]Both the madness “you may cast this card” ability and the Confessor’s ability trigger when Strength of Isolation is discarded. Amy controls both triggers, so she is able to order them however she chooses [CR 603.3b]. Amy’s play is perfectly valid.
[/expand]
Q: Amy discards Just the Wind into exile. Then, Nicole asks Amy how many cards she has in hand. After answering, Amy plays a land, then attempts to use Just the Wind to bounce Nicole’s creature. Nicole protests that Amy has missed her chance to do this. How do you rule?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]Madness is composed of a replacement effect that exiles the card and a triggered ability that allows its controller to cast the spell when it’s exiled this way. Nicole did not acknowledge this trigger before the time when it would have affected the visible game state, and she has taken a game action that she could not have taken with it still on the stack. This is a Missed Trigger for Amy [IPG 2.1]. No penalty for Amy since getting to cast the spell isn’t detrimental, but the additional fix allows the trigger to go on the stack only if her opponent allows it, which doesn’t seem likely.
Note: When madness was first printed, it was actually possible to discard a madness card, play a land, and then use that land to help cast the madness card! Thankfully, this abomination was fixed when madness returned the first time during Time Spiral block.
Note: The triggered ability that allows Amy to cast the spell is also what puts it into her graveyard if she doesn’t. Because this triggered ability was missed, Just the Wind remains exiled.
Note: If Amy had cast an instant rather than playing a land, it would be possible that the madness trigger is still on the stack waiting to resolve. In this case, Amy would be able to play it.
[/expand]
Q: Amy discards Just the Wind with her Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy, but rather than exiling it, she puts it into her graveyard. A short time later, before taking any other game actions, Amy points at Just the Wind, taps an Island, and says “bounce your Grizzly Bears.” Amy’s opponent protests that Amy, by putting the card into her graveyard, has missed her chance to do this. How do you rule?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]The technically correct play is to exile Just the Wind, then cast it from exile. Putting it in the graveyard could be interpreted as a shortcut for discarding it to exile, electing not to cast it when the madness triggered ability resolves, and then putting it in the graveyard. On the other hand, it’s also possible to interpret Amy’s actions as casting Just the Wind legally, albeit a bit sloppily as far as technical details are concerned (i.e., in a way that players routinely do). As much as I hate to give the cop-out of “use your judgement,” that’s the best answer here. If I believed Amy genuinely realized what was going on and just discarded to the graveyard carelessly, I would let her have it. If I believed that Amy only realized that she could play the card after the fact, I wouldn’t. As a guide recall the following passage from the Out-of-Order Sequencing section in the MTR: “In general, any substantial pause at the end of a completed batch is an indication that all actions have been taken, the sequence is complete and the game has moved to the appropriate point at the end of the sequence” [MTR 4.3]
Note: For more questions about madness and exactly how it works, please see my article here.
[/expand]
Q: In her upkeep, Amy transforms Timber Shredder into Hinterland Logger since a player cast 2 spells last turn. Does this cause the Deathmist Raptor in her graveyard to trigger?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]No. Although the physical actions of transforming a permanent and turning a face down permanent face up are the same, these are distinct game actions, and one will not trigger things that look for the other.
Note: It’s possible for a Hinterland Logger to trigger Deathmist Raptor, but it would have to be on the battlefield face down first. This can happen, for example, if it’s manifested.
[/expand]
Q: How do double-faced cards work in draft?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]Ordinarily, it’s against the rules for a player to show cards in a pack to the other drafters. Obviously, double-faced cards make this rule impractical to follow, so it’s suspended in their case. Both faces of a double-faced card may be revealed at any point during a draft. For further information on applying this rule, see this tip by Josh Stansfield.
[/expand]
Q: Is a double-faced card’s transform trigger generally considered detrimental? In other words, should a player get a Warning for missing one of these triggers?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]In general, the ability that transforms a card into its front face is detrimental, whereas the ability that transforms it into its back face is not. In most cases, this is pretty non-controversial, but there’s a few places where it’s questionable, like Mayor of Avabruck in a deck that’s mostly Humans. Remember that in order to remain consistent, the decision of whether a triggered ability is generally detrimental should not take into account the current game state or strategic concerns.
[/expand]
Q: Amy casts Ulvenwald Hydra on turn 1 before playing any lands by sacrificing two Black Lotuses. What happens?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]When Ulvenwald Hydra resolves and enters the battlefield, its triggered ability will trigger [CR 603.2]. After that, the game will perform state-based actions and put the hydra in Amy’s graveyard for having 0 toughness [CR 116.5]. Then, the hydra’s triggered ability will go on the stack. It will resolve and allow Amy to get a land even though its source is no longer on the battlefield, and indeed, was never on the battlefield at a time when the ability was on the stack [CR 112.7a].
[/expand]
Q: Can I use Conspiracy to make all my Eldrazi Scion tokens into Clues and grow my Tireless Tracker whenever I sac one for mana?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]No. Conspiracy asks you to pick a creature type, but Clue isn’t a creature type; it’s an artifact type [CR 205.3g]. It’s not any more possible to make your Eldrazi Scions into clues with conspiracy than it is to make them into Equipments.
Note: Speaking of conspiracies, Contraption is also an artifact type, and Steamflogger Boss is futureshifted…
[/expand]
Q: Amy has 18 Clue tokens and a Graf Mole when she plays Leyline of Singularity. How much life does she gain?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]None. While the action performed by the legend rule is often colloquially referred to as “sacrificing” the permanents that don’t remain on the battlefield, this is an abuse of notation [CR 704.5k]. There is no rules term for “putting a permanent into your graveyard as a result of the legend rule,” but in any case, it’s a distinct game action from sacrificing, so Graf Mole won’t trigger here.
[/expand]
Q: Amy has Forest and Fortified Village that she wants to put into play with The Great Aurora. Can she make Fortified Village enter the battlefield untapped?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]Yes. Fortified Village has a replacement effect that modifies how it enters the battlefield [CR 614.1c]. In order to do this, it must apply before Fortified Village is on the battlefield, that is, while it is still in Amy’s hand [CR 614.4]. The Great Aurora puts all the lands in at the same time, so the Forest is still in Amy’s hand at this time too. She may reveal the Forest to Fortified Village’s ability to make it enter the battlefield untapped.
[/expand]
Q: Amy controls Goldnight Castigator and a planeswalker. Her opponent wants to Lightning Bolt the planeswalker. How many loyalty counters are removed from it as a result?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]The process of “bolting a planeswalker” is actually achieved by casting the Lightning Bolt targeting the planeswalker’s controller, then redirecting the damage on resolution [CR 306.7]. This redirection is a replacement effect, and so is the Goldnight Castigator’s damage doubling [CR 614.1a]. Amy is the affected player, so she can apply these effects in whatever order she wants [616.1].
Suppose Amy applies the Goldnight Castigator’s effect first. The Lightning Bolt’s 3 damage is doubled, then that six damage is dealt to her planeswalker. If Amy has a good understanding of the rules, she’ll probably apply the planeswalker redirection effect first. This changes the event that will happen in the game from [3 damage to Amy] to [3 damage to Amy’s planeswalker]. This is no longer an event that Goldnight Castigator interacts with, so that effect will not apply [CR 616.1e].
[/expand]
Q: What happens if both players have 13 life when Triskaidekaphobia‘s trigger resolves?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]Exactly what it says on the card: each player loses the game. If all the players in a game lose at the same time, the game is a draw [CR 104.4a].
Note: If this happens, so long as there is enough time in the round, the match continues since Magic matches are played “first to two” not “best of three” [MTR 2.1]. The player who chose whether to play or draw in the drawn game also gets to make this choice in the next one [MTR 2.2].
[/expand]
Q: Amy wants to discard Nether Shadow to activate Sinister Concoction. Can she discard before she mills so that the card she mills will be above Nether Shadow in her graveyard?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]Yes. After the total cost to activate this ability is determined, Amy can pay these costs in any order [CR 601.2h]. As long as Amy pays all of that cost, she can discard first, then mill even though that’s not the order they’re written on the card.
Note: This rule only applies to paying costs. Following the instructions of a resolving spell or ability does not have this freedom; these must be performed in the order written [CR 608.2c].
[/expand]
Q: Amy activates Sinister Concoction while she controls The Gitrog Monster. Both the card she discards and the card she mills are lands. Does she get to draw one card or two?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]Two. Although the order these costs are paid isn’t fixed, they don’t happen all at once [CR 601.2h]. Discarding and milling happen in two distinct game events, not one, so The Gitrog Monster will trigger twice.
Note: This works because the costs to cast a spell are paid in a definite order (even though most people don’t think of it this way since it usually doesn’t matter). In contrast, a cost like sacrifice two lands is paid by choosing two lands, then putting both of them in the graveyard at the same time. Kicked Bog Down will only cause The Gitrog Monster to trigger once.
[/expand]
Q: Nicole counters Amy’s Show and Tell with a delirious Invasive Surgery. She wants to exile all the Show and Tells in Amy’s hand and library, but leave the one she just countered in the graveyard so she can eat it with Deathrite Shaman later. Can she do that?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]Yes. Invasive Surgery allows its controller to search the graveyard, hand, and library for “any number” of cards with the same name. She can exile any or all of Amy’s Show and Tells.
Note: The answer would be different if Nicole had used Quash to counter Show and Tell. Quash instructs its controller to search for “all cards” with the same name as the countered spell. The hand and library are hidden zones, so Nicole can “fail to find” cards there, since she’s looking for cards that have a certain characteristic (being named “Show and Tell”) [CR 400.2,701.15b]. The graveyard is a public zone, though, so she has to find all the Show and Tells there, including the one that was just countered.
[/expand]
Q: Amy sacrifices a 2/2 Zombie token with Victimize to return two Diregraf Colossuses to the battlefield. She has no other cards in her graveyard. How many +1/+1 counters are placed on each colossus?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]Diregraf Colossus has a replacement effect that modifies how it enters the battlefield [CR 614.1c]. This effect thus counts how many Zombies are in its controller’s graveyard before it enters. Both colossuses will count themselves and their friend entering at the same time [CR 614.4]. The Zombie token that was sacrificed is also in the graveyard at this point, since state-based actions will not make it vanish until after Victimize has finished resolving [CR 704.3, 704.5d]. Unfortunately, Diregraf Colossus only counts “Zombie cards,” which does not include tokens [CR 108.2].
[/expand]
Q: Amy has a Prismatic Lace, a Verdigris, and two copies of Illusion // Reality in her graveyard when she casts Seasons Past. Given that Amy wants to pick Illusion//Reality, which other cards may she return?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]To determine whether a split card and another card have different converted mana costs, the game performs what’s called a “negative comparison” [CR 708.6b]. It does this by asking the corresponding positive question (relative comparison) in this case, “do you have the same converted mana cost?”, to each half of the split card. The answer to the negative comparison is no if either half of the associated relative comparison is yes.
In this case, Prismatic Lace has the same converted mana cost as Illusion, so this means the game will get a “no” answer when asking if Prismatic Lace and Illusion//Reality have different converted mana costs, so Amy can’t pick that one. In the same way, she can’t pick Verdigris because it has the same converted mana cost as Reality.
When comparing Illusion//Reality to the other copy in her graveyard, the game looks at both halves of each card. When comparing the Illusion half, the game will see that the other card’s Illusion half has the same CMC, but the Reality half doesn’t, which combines into a “yes, the CMC is the same” answer. Comparing Reality against the other card also results in a “yes, the CMC is the same”; these two answers combine into “no, the CMC’s are not different” and mean that both copies of Illusion//Reality cannot be taken.
Note: If Amy were using All Suns’ Dawn to return things, the answer would be different. All Suns’ Dawn doesn’t ask if each card’s colors are different, but has you pick a card of each color. If you want to pick Illusion//Reality as your blue card, the game will ask both halves for a relative comparison: “are you blue?” and get a yes and a no answer [CR 708.6a]. These are combined into a single “yes,” allowing it to be picked, and allowing either Verdigris or the other Illusion//Reality to be picked for the green card. Likewise, Illusion//Reality can be picked as the green card, allowing Prismatic Lace to be picked as the blue card.
[/expand]
Q: Amy uses Imagecrafter to make her Persistent Nightmare into a Human, then casts Moonmist. What happens?
[expand title=”Answer Here”]Nothing much. Imagecrafter can’t transform because it isn’t a double-faced card [CR 701.25c]. Persistent Nightmare also can’t transform because its back face is a Sorcery [701.25d].
[/expand]
You can see other articles in this series here.