I see a fair number of questions about this card, so I thought it couldn’t hurt to simply answer them all in one place! If the Vampire dies, do I lose the creatures I took control of with him? No. The effect doesn’t state a duration (e.g., “as long as you control Captivating Vampire”), so […]
Category: Abilities
Torpor Orb doesn’t stop Clone effects or other ʺas this entersʺ abilities.
As Scars of Mirrodin’s time in Standard is coming to a close, it seems fitting to give a final hurrah to one of the most confusing cards in the block: ! This confusion can be attributed mostly to the difficulty people have in understanding the difference between triggered and static abilities, but once you know […]
Multiplayer Monday: What happens when a player leaves the game.
Today, we’re covering what happens when a player leaves the game when the game consists of only individual players (not teams). This comes up most frequently in EDH/Commander and any other casual game with a bunch of players in a free-for-all. What happens when Susie is eliminated in the middle of the game, or even […]
Triggered abilities: The difference between “graveyard from the battlefield” and “graveyard from anywhere.”
Now you may be wondering why it is that you shuffle into your graveyard if you mill it, but you don’t get to draw a card if you mill your . It’s pretty simple; they’re a different breed of trigger. Simulacrum has a ‘graveyard from the battlefield’ trigger, meaning it only works if it goes […]
You control a trigger if you controlled its source when it triggered.
Does this work or not: You make the call! Active Player: “?” Non-Active Player: “Sure. After it resolves, I cast on my . I take your slime and use the trigger to destroy your !” Spells and abilities begin their time on the stack controlled by the player who puts them there, and triggered abilties […]
Triggers can trigger at any time, but wait to go on the stack until a player would get priority.
I cast while you control . What happens? After a creature spell resolves, a player receives priority. But it’s not as simple as that. Before priority can be received, first the game has to check for state-based actions (SBAs) – things like creatures with lethal damage dying, or +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters canceling each other […]
Sigarda won’t save you from sacrificing your own Phantasmal Image, even if an opponent targets it.
‘s ability is pretty cool. If an effect an opponent controls says “sacrifice a creature” Sigarda says, “No, I’d rather not.” So she keeps you safe from things like and . But what if the opponent targets your Phantasmal Image (copying something other than Sigarda) with ? On the surface, it almost looks like the […]
Can you respond to the choice of what to copy with Phantasmal Image? It depends!
This is a very common question with any kind of copy creature. The most important thing to note is that the static ability that lets you choose to copy something is NOT a triggered ability (if it was, pretty much every Clone-type creature would die for being 0/0 before you could choose to copy something!). […]
Surgical Extraction vs. Miracles
Miracle causes lots of questions, as it’s a pretty complex mechanic. First, there’s the static ability that says “You may reveal this as you draw it if its the first card you drew this turn.” Then once you do that, there’s the triggered ability that say “When you do, you may cast this for its […]