So, I’ve had some interesting questions come up regarding Miracles, but one that I’ve heard more than the others is what their converted mana cost (CMC) is. Usually it’s because of someone windmill slamming a topdecked Banishing Stroke, or Terminus, or Revenge of the Hunted for their Miracle cost, and someone else trying to stop it with Mental Misstep. After all, the assumption seems to be, ‘they’re paying 1 for it, right?’

See, the thing is, CMC doesn’t change based on what you’re paying (except in one case which I’ll get to in a moment). The CMC is whatever is printed in the top-right hand corner of the card, no matter what you actually paid. Terminus has a CMC of 6. Always. It doesn’t matter if you pay 4WW for it, or W, or WUBRG, or for free, or for 7 because of Thalia. So, Mental Misstep won’t ever stop a Terminus, a Banishing Stroke, or a Revenge of the Hunted, because they never have a CMC of 1.

Now, like I said earlier, there is ONE case where CMC changes. That’s with X spells. In almost every game zone, X is always zero. Now, on the stack, it’s whatever you chose for X. So, a Fireball in your hand, your deck, or your graveyard has a CMC of 1. The X is 0. But on the stack, the CMC changes. If you drop a Fireball for X=5, that Fireball on the stack has a CMC of 6. So, because of that, there is ONE miracle that could theoretically ever be Misstep-ed, and that’s Bonfire of the Damned… but you can only Misstep it if they cast it for X=0, which you’re unlikely to see in your lifetime.

Today’s Rules Tip written by
Trevor Nuñez, Level 1 judge from Roswell, NM
**Title and suggestion for this topic from reader Joshua Locke