After eighteen years we’re finally returning to Lorwyn (and also Shadowmoor)! We’ve got Merfolk and Giants and Kithkin, oh my! We’ve got one of the cutest Magic arts of all the time in the new Crib Swap! We’ve got, you guessed it, a fair number of triggered abilities that might earn players Warnings! I have used too many exclamation points in this paragraph!
One mechanic involves a trigger that upgrades to a Warning when missed:
1. The Evoke mechanic as a whole, as seen on Catharsis
“When this permanent enters, if its evoke cost was paid, its controller sacrifices it.”
Evoke generally lets a player cast a creature for a significant discount, letting them benefit from the creature’s enters trigger but making them sacrifice the creature more or less immediately. If the player forgets to sacrifice an evoked creature, they will earn a Warning.
Note that the sacrifice trigger here is not a delayed trigger, so if it’s been longer than a turn there’s no remedy to perform.
Eight cards have one or more triggers that upgrade to a Warning when missed:
1. Meek Attack
“[Put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield]. At the beginning of the next end step, sacrifice that creature.”
This homage to Sneak Attack does something red loves to do: temporarily get a discounted creature, then sacrifice it later. The sacrificing it later part is important, and if a player forgets to do so, they will earn themselves a Warning.
Since this is delayed trigger, the remedy never expires. If it’s noticed a few turns later than a creature was put into play with this ability and should have been sacrificed but wasn’t, have the player sacrifice it now.
2. Heat Shimmer
“[Create a create token copy, except it has haste and] At the beginning of the end step, exile this token.”
“[Create a create token copy, except it has haste and] At the beginning of the end step, sacrifice this token.”
Much like Meek Attack above, forgetting to get rid of the token copy created by Heat Shimmer or Kindle the Inner Flame will earn a player a Warning. Note, however, that these are not delayed triggers. This means the remedy has the usual one-turn window in which we can apply it, but the creature’s trigger will trigger every end step anyway, so this probably isn’t a huge deal.
4. Lava Leaper
“Whenever a player taps a basic land for mana, that players adds one mana of any type that land produced.”
“At the beginning of each player’s draw step, that player loses 3 life, searches their library for a card, puts it into their hand, then shuffles.”
Two symmetrical triggers in the same set! Both Lava Leaper and Mornsong Aria are great when they benefit you, and much less so when they benefit your opponent. If a player forgets one of these triggers for themselves, there is no penalty; if they forget it for an opponent, they earn a Warning.
6. Chaos Spewer
“When this creature enters, you may pay {2}. If you don’t, blight 2.”
“At the beginning of your first main phase, you may blight 2. If you don’t, you lose 3 life.”
Chaos Spewer and Gutsplitter Gang both offer the player a choice of “pay or get a negative effect.” Remember, just because the limited format synergizes with -1/-1 counters to some degree doesn’t mean that these triggers are not generally detrimental! The cards in a vaccuum don’t get anything from the player putting -1/-1 counters on their creatures, so a player forgetting either of this triggers earns themselves a Warning.
“When this creature enters, mill two cards.”
Everybody’s favorite “self-mill with no other interaction” trigger is back for another round of people arguing about it! Luckily, it’s a bit more obvious with this particular creature; a 2/2 with lifelink for 2 is already rather good. Anyway, if a player forgets to mill, Warning for them!
Six notable cards have a trigger that does NOT upgrade when missed:
“Whenever this creature attacks, blight 1.”
Unlike Scarblade Scout above, Shadow Urchin does benefit from the blight it puts on other creatures. In this case, players shouldn’t get a Warning for missing Urchin’s attack trigger.
2. Moonshadow
“This creature enters with six -1/-1 counters on it.”
Just a friendly reminder that effects like this are replacement effects, not triggered abilities. If a player forgets to put counters on Moonshadow as it enters, handle the error as a Game Rule Violation.
3. Blossombind
“When this Aura enters, tap enchanted creature.”
This set’s Claustrophobia. If someone somehow forgets to tap the enchanted creature, tap it now. This remedy never expires.
“Champion a Faerie.”
Having to trade another Faerie for Clique might seem like a downside, but Clique directly benefits from that exchange by forcing your opponent to tap out. As such, this trigger should not be considered generally detrimental.
5 and 6. Bitterblossom and Bitterbloom Bearer
“At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life and [create a token].”
Losing life is a negative, sure, but getting a creature in exchange is certainly something! Both of these cards are significantly better because of their triggered abilities, so these should not be considered generally detrimental.
That’s it for Lorwyn Eclipsed! We’ll see y’all in March for, you guessed it, another Universes Beyond set. What Ninja Turtle did you want to be when you were a kid?