How delirious are you feeling today? Hopefully enough to achieve Delirium while you cast your next spell! This powerful new ability can take a normal card and put it over the top- but, there is a catch! The card you are casting cannot be the fourth type going to your graveyard if you are hoping to get the added effect. That’s right, unless there are already four different card types in your graveyard you will not get the Delirium effect. A spell doesn’t go to the graveyard until the very last step of resolution. First it does everything it says to do, then it moves from the stack to the graveyard. Some other things to consider are:

• For all the instant and sorcery spells with Delirium (e.g., To the Slaughter), it checks only as the spell resolves, not when it is cast: if you are able to put things in your yard to end up with four types before your instant or sorcery resolves, you can achieve Delirium and get the better effect.
• Delirium does not care about the number of cards in your graveyard, just the number of different card types. For example, if there is one artifact creature, one enchantment and one instant – you’ve unlocked Delirium with just three cards. The eight possible types are: artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, sorcery, and tribal.
• When activating abilities that require Delirium (e.g., Stallion of Ashmouth, you must have Delirium to activate the ability. After the ability is on the stack, it does not matter what happens to the number of card types in your graveyard for that activation. The opponent can’t respond to your activation by removing cards from your graveyard before you’ve finished activating and paying the costs.
• Triggered abilities with an ‘intervening if’ cannot trigger if there are not four types in your graveyard at the moment they should trigger, and will do nothing if that number falls below four before the ability resolves. For example: Angel of Deliverance attacks and deals damage to your opponent. Her triggered ability checks to see if you have Delirium. If you do, it goes on the stack; otherwise, it does not. When the ability resolves, it checks again to see if Delirium is met; if it is, the ability resolves and has an effect. If somehow your graveyard was emptied or brought to less than four types before the ability resolves, it will do nothing.

Hope you’re a little less delirious after this lesson! See you tomorrow!

Today’s Rules Tip written by Daniel Clarke