Good day judges, every now and then there would be a card previewed during a set’s preview season which would make you go, “hmmm… so how does this card work?.”

Such cards require some delving into, no I’m not referring to the mechanic Delve nor Delver of Secrets, because what we’ll be sharing is not a secret and won’t turn anyone into some Insectile Aberration.

So for our first Delving Deeper post, let’s all check out what Chuanjie Seow L2 judge from Singapore has for all of us

 

Hi everyone,

First, we refer to this part of the Comprehensive Rules which received an update when Ixalan was released on September 2017:

CR 614.12 Some replacement effects modify how a permanent enters the battlefield. (See rules 614.1c–d.) Such effects may come from the permanent itself if they affect only that permanent (as opposed to a general subset of permanents that includes it). They may also come from other sources. To determine which replacement effects apply and how they apply, check the characteristics of the permanent as it would exist on the battlefield, taking into account replacement effects that have already modified how it enters the battlefield (see rule 616.1), continuous effects from the permanent’s own static abilities that would apply to it once it’s on the battlefield, and continuous effects that already exist and would apply to the permanent.

The Sun and Moon

Blood Moon, the sister of Blood Sun. First we look at how both cards work? How about having them both in play?

Blood Moon applies in layer 4 (type-changing effects) while,
Blood Sun applies in layer 6 (ability adding and removing effects).
So when we put them together, we apply Blood Moon first, causing all non-basic lands to be just Mountains. Then, Blood Sun causes them to lose their non-mana abilities, but they are just Mountains so they do not have any non-mana abilities! All the lands will still be able to tap for one red mana.

Other scenarios where there are type changing/adding effects involved:

Prismatic Omen’s ability give lands all 5 basic land types in addition to their other types will still be applied no matter if it enters the battlefield before or after Blood Sun. Your lands are able to tap for any colour! Yay!

Sea’s Claim is similar to Prismatic Omen as above, just that the land is an Island tapping only for one blue mana.

Interaction with lands with abilities

Alright, so now we get to the complex portion of this article where we look into the interactions between lands with abilities and Blood Sun.

“Enters the battlefield tapped” lands

Because of CR614.12 as quoted above, Blood Sun causes lands that would otherwise enter the battlefield tapped to enter untapped as it removes all abilities of Hallowed Fountain upon entering the battlefield. Yay for your cheap Tundra! This works for all “Enters the battlefield tapped” lands such as Meandering Stream.

Manlands

Blood Sun removes the ability of manlands animating themselves.

What happens when you activate Shambling Vent when Blood Sun is on the stack?

Shambling Vent will still be animated until end of turn, but with Blood Sun in play, it will lose its lifelink ability as it is still a land. Shambling Vent is still an Elemental until end of turn as it is applied in layer 4 (type-changing effects) before Blood Sun’s layer 6.

Glimmervoid and Friends

So with Blood Sun in play, Glimmervoid becomes a rainbow land without drawback. No more sacrificing of Glimmervoid after getting Shatterstorm’ed!

Similarly for City of Traitors, Blood Sun will remove the triggered ability of sacrificing the City when you play a land. Hurray for your pain-free Sol Land!

Painlands and Gainlands

Painlands work as normal. The 1 damage dealt to you is tied to the mana ability, hence the Sun does not affect it in any way.

However due to the damaging effects of the Sun, Horizon Canopy is wilted and will lose its ability to sacrifice itself to draw you a card.

Grove of the Burnwillows will still tap for red or green mana, and your opponent will gain life as this is a part of the mana ability. It can still tap for colorless mana if you wish.

All hail Punishing Fire with Blood Sun.

Lands of the Weatherlight Saga

With a lot of sunshine from Blood Sun, Lotus Vale turbo-charges and ignores its replacement effect of sacrificing 2 untapped lands or itself. Enjoy your Black Lotus turn after turn! Same goes for Scorched Ruins providing you CCCC without land sacrifice.

If Gemstone Mine is in play before Blood Sun, it can still produce any color until it is depleted of mining counters. However, if Blood Sun is in play, Gemstone Mine will enter the battlefield without any mining counters. You cannot activate the mana ability as it doesn’t have mining counters.

Others

Dryad Arbor looks at the Sun and wonders what is happening.

It will be unaffected by Blood Sun in any way. It still taps for green mana, is still a Forest Dryad and it is still a creature, as creature and land subtypes are not affected by Blood Sun.

Similar to Dryad Arbor, card types are not affected by Blood Sun so it retains its Artifact card type. However, Darksteel Citadel will lose indestructible as it is a non-mana ability.

Blood Sun removes the triggered ability of City of Brass dealing 1 damage to you whenever it’s tapped. The desert construction workmanship is good vs the Sun. Enjoy your pain-free, no-strings-attached rainbow land.

If your tribe claimed the Unclaimed Territory before Blood Sun enters the battlefield, Blood Sun will not affect Unclaimed Territory at all.

However if your tribe tries to claim it when Blood Sun is on the battlefield, you will not get to choose a creature type when Unclaimed Territory  enters the battlefield as Blood Sun removes this ability. It can only tap for colorless mana. Even if Blood Sun gets removed afterwards, you won’t get to retroactively choose a creature type, and thus can only tap for colorless mana.

Sun melts the Ice Age

With Blood Sun in play, Glacial Chasm loses :
Cumulative upkeep
ETB sacrifice a land trigger
Creatures you control cannot attack
Prevent all damage dealt to you

Gah! Ice age block and Blood Sun not friends.

 

Now we come to the part where Blood Sun gets confusing. BEHOLD!

With Blood Sun on the battlefield Dark Depths loses its activated ability to remove an ice counter and will keep stopping Marit Lage from gaining her freedom.

However if Blood Sun is already on the battlefield when Dark Depths is played, Blood Sun will melt all the ice and Dark Depths will enter the battlefield with no ice counters! Once Blood Sun is removed from the battlefield, Dark Depths‘s sacrifice trigger will trigger and release Marit Lage upon your foes!

Here is where things gets weird. The “Pay one mana or sacrifice” ability of The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is also in layer 6, the same as Blood Sun. Applying Blood Sun‘s ability first will change the text or the existence of Tabernacle’s effect (CR613.7a). Hence Tabernacle is dependent on Blood Sun.

We refer to CR613.7 If a dependency exists, it will override the timestamp system. Hence it does not matter if Blood Sun or Tabernacle is on the battlefield first. Once Blood Sun is on the battlefield, Blood Sun will remove The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale’s ability.

The Great Father of Machines, Yawgmoth has no fear of the Sun!

Why? While Blood Sun affects layer 6, Urborg applies in layer 4. Put together, Urborg adds the Swamp subtype to all lands including itself (layer 4) then Blood Sun removes this ability (layer 6) which happens after Urborg has infected all the lands with Yawgmoth’s touch! Therefore you end up with Urborg that’s a Swamp with no other abilities, and Phyrexian infected lands everywhere on the battlefield!

The only land that got shafted and nerfed by the September Ixalan rules update. With Blood Sun in play, Vesuva will lose its copying ability, and just enters the battlefield untapped as itself that does nothing. Even if Blood Sun is removed, Vesuva continues to do nothing.

Post Verified by Smith Lo

Edited by Zie Aun Tan