“I’m just a simple person:

2° turn Winding Constrictor, 3° turn Rishkar, Peema Renegade and I attack”

Back in September 2014 Khans of Tarkir was released, and deck builders around the world  tried to find a way to create a deck based on Hardened Scales, succeeding only in part. Who could expect that one day Winding Constrictor would be printed…

Constrictor has a lot of little friends (Walking Ballista, Verdurous Gearhulk, Rishkar), who all make up the skeleton of a Tier 1 Standard Deck.

This creature has toughness = 3, so it doesn’t die from a Shock and, if left alive for 2 or 3 turns, leads to an avalanche of +1/+1 counters entering the battlefield.

As we can see, Constrictor has 2 abilities that increase the number of counters placed on creatures, artifacts and players. Let’s start noticing that these are not triggered abilities, we’re talking about static abilities that generate replacement effects. This has several consequences.

It’s not possible to play in response to Constrictor’s additional counter. If we have a Constrictor on the battlefield, and we cast a Walking Ballista paying 4 mana, Walking Ballista will enter the battlefield as a 3/3 creature – it will not enter asa 2/2 then become a 3/3. There isn’t any moment where Ballista is a 2/2 and and can be killed by a Shock.

Furthermore, you can’t forget the additional counter. When we talk about a “Missed Trigger” infraction, we refer to triggered abilities and not to replacement effects. If a player forgets to put the additional counter, the opponent has to tell them, and a judge that notices what’s happening will take action announcing the mistake. (If you are a spectator, and you realize the error, do not intervene directly, call a judge, eventually after stopping the game)

Panharmonicon doesn’t duplicate Constrictor’s ability and you can’t counter it with Disallow.

Two replacement effects that can be applied to the same event, will apply one after the other, in the order chosen by the player affected by the event or who controls the object influenced by the event. Practically:

• We control 2 Constrictors and we cast Walking Ballista paying 4 mana — the Ballista would enter the battlefield with 2 counters. We choose one of our 2 Constrictors whose replacement effect transforms the event from “it enters battlefield with two counters” to “in enters the battlefield with 3 counters”. Let’s apply the effect of the second Constrictor, and the event changes from “it enters the battlefield with three counters” to “it enters the battlefield with four counters”. Each Constrictor gives an extra counter.
• We control a Constrictor and a Doubling Season, and we cast Walking Ballista paying four mana. This time we must be careful with the order in which we apply the two effects. If we apply first Constrictor and then Doubling Season, Walking Ballista will enter the battlefield with (2+1) x 2 = 6 counters. If we apply first Doubling Season and then Constrictor, Walking Ballista will enter the battlefield with (2 x 2) + 1 = 5 counters. Both choices are legal: letting enter the Ballista with 5 counters instead of 6 is probably a strategic mistake, but it’s legal. Your opponent or a judge will let you do it, and you can only blame yourself.

 How does Constrictor interact with Verdurous Gearhulk?

Constrictor increases the counters that are put on *something* by one, no matter where they come from. If we put all four counters on a creature, Constrictor sees a single creature gaining four counters and makes them five – one more. If we distribute four counters on four creatures, Constrictor sees four creatures gaining a counter, and gives them one more – so four creatures get two counters each, and the total number of counters is eight.

How does Constrictor interact with Ruinous Path, or with any other spell cast with Awaken?

Awaken first puts the counters on a land, then transforms it into a creature. Constrictor increases only counters placed on artifacts or creatures. If we put four counters on a land, they remain fours – unless, when Ruinous Path resolves, the land is also an artifact (eg. Darksteel Citadel) or creature (eg. animated Wandering Fumaroles).

In the end, what happens if an object earns multiple kind of counters simultaneously? Constrictor has a little errata on the Oracle text, which specifies that the object will gain an additional counter for each type:

“If one or more counters would be placed on an artifact or creature you control, that many plus one of each of those kinds of counters are placed on that permanent instead.

If you would get one or more counters, you get that many plus one of each of those kinds of counters instead.”

Hopefully this summary was helpful, but don’t forget to call a judge if you have any questions that weren’t answered.

Credits