Honestly (despite being a simple concept) incubation tokens mess me up. For so long double faced tokens did not exist (which is fine) and made it when copying a double faced card it only had access to it's face since tokens can't have backs... but now they do? And now a rule that's existed as long as transforming cards have existed just... no longer exists? I guess?
"As it enters the Battlefield" fpr stuff like Dominus Rex and cards with counters always confuses the tables i sit at. Dominus enters with a Hexproof counter if you discard a hexproof creature, we though we could respond before it gets Hexproof because its a enter the battlefield effect but NOOOOOOO 😂
You and Murph had done a great job here. You two have good chemistry, it' easy to listen to the two of you explainimg these things, giving each other the right amount of time to follow along well. Thank you a lot! 💕
This episode is actually really interesting, so many surprising details that old players may not know either. Thank you a lot. Would definitely watch more of these
Great video 👍. For new players is great source of knowlege. Do more this type of video for new players. Question way did you not invate Profesor for this video? 😉😉😉😁
What's also very important about costs: They cannot be responded to because they do not use the stack ! If you wait until someone uses their planeswalker and takes them for 3 to 4 loyalty, you cannot respond to the cost and destroy that walker with a Lightning Bolt before it reaches 4 loyalty, you can only react to the effect !
I've been playing Magic close to 15 years now, watching this vid made me realise how much MTG jargon i take for granted. I had more than a couple "wait, what?" Moments. I loved this vid, super interesting. thanks for posting it!
As a long time casual listener/ viewer this is a great segment. This is what is needed from the command zone, sharing information that is needed and helpful delivered in a way that is digestible. Considering how many crazy rules and processes that go into the game having such a well known and trusted voice explaining and showing it in clear terms is a huge win for the community.
Excellent video! I'd love to see a follow-up, with stuff like "reflexive triggers" and "intervening if" and other nuanced stuff that gets missed or misunderstood easily.
49:35 And if multiple Angels are entering at the same time, they won't count each other for Giada's effect. For example, if you cast Decree of Justice and make 4 Angel tokens with just a Giada in play, they each enter with one +1/+1 counter, since you only control one Angel when the tokens are entering (Giada itself). The other tokens aren't on the battlefield yet since they're all being created at the same time, so they won't help each other out.
One important exception to what you discussed regarding targeting: Aura spells target when you cast them, but (awkwardly) not when they are put directly on the battlefield, such as by Retether. So you can get Darksteel Mutation onto your opponent’s hexproof creature, it just takes some work!
Also, when it doesn't say target, you don´t need to make the decision until the spell/ability resolves. So your opponents won't know for sure what will you do and how to react.
32:45 Bonus fun fact about Academy Manufactor from Natedogg: Let's say you have a Brenard, Ginger Sculptor in play, along with Academy Manufactor, and you have another nontoken creature die. You can choose to use Brenard's trigger to make a 1/1 Golem food artifact creature token copy of that creature. However, because of the Manufactor, instead of making that 1/1 Golem food artifact creature, you make a predefined food, clue, and treasure. None of those tokens are 1/1 creatures, they're just normal food, clue, and treasure tokens, since the rules define what to create if you're instructed to make a food/clue/treasure token, and that overrides whatever Brendard's trigger is going to make, so you don't end up making any golem creature, you make three noncreature tokens instead.
this should be higher! by the way they explained replacement effects, it appears like you could get a golem token for each kind if you first make the golem and then make the food, all because they forgot to explain layers!
@@kgasawa This isn't about layers. It's because the characteristics of the token are replaced. When an effect says "a tapped Treasure token" or "a token copy of [creature] that is tapped and attacking" or anything like that, those aren't characteristics. Those extra conditions apply to any tokens you create through the effect. But Brenand's description of the token is defining the characteristics of the token. Types, power and toughness are all characteristics. And characteristics _are_ replaced by those replacement effects, because that's what they're replacing!
@@therealax6 that is a layer, characteristics defining effects run at the same layer. And explaining that will make it easier to understand why they Clash and you never see the creature returning due to both effects happening at the same time
This is the exact rule, for reference (bold is mine): "616.1. If two or more replacement and/or prevention effects are attempting to modify the way an event affects an object or player, *the affected object’s controller (or its owner if it has no controller) or the affected player chooses one to apply,* following the steps listed below. If two or more players have to make these choices at the same time, choices are made in APNAP order (see rule 101.4)."
It's more well known now, but one I always like to mention is that auras only target when you cast them. If you blink an aura or recur it from graveyard, it attaches to something by its effect and doesn't target which means it can get around hexproof and shroud. Also I never knew the multiple replacement effects would work like that for damage. Really glad I learned that today.
I've played magic for many years and still I stumble over things. MTG is the most complex game I've ever played and it only keeps adding intricacies. Great episode, keep up the great work guys.
With "cast" and "play" exists one more problem - translation. For example, on Russian language cards both cast and play uses same word, so when card says "вы можете разыграть" we need to look at original card to know, can we play a land or not.
The clone rule mechanic change is what makes them so fun in Volo. He sees them as shapeshifters on cast and copies them every time unless you have one in your gy 🙌
Etali says “,then you may”, which is having you do it at the very instance but for free at resolution. Narset is giving you free casts until end of turn, which is why they are very different
One thing I didn't see is looking for "you control" vs it not being there (asymmetry in rulings). Concordant Crossroads, for example, says "All creatures have haste." That's going to affect your opponents too. Primal Vigor is another card I've seen people miss the fact that everyone gets the doubling effect.
Plainswalker loyalty cost came up a lot when I ran Grist with Doubling Season on the field. 1) Grist enters with double the amount of loyalty counters. 2) when you activate the +1, it’s a cost so it doesn’t get 2. 3) if you end up milling an insect, then you DO get 2 counters (per repeat) because that’s a part of the ability. Reading the card explains the card, but I wish it explained the nuances of the associated rules somehow (‘:
On the subject of the first section, it’s useful to note that a cost paid cannot be reacted to, only the resulting effect This comes up a lot in my Rayami deck where people think they can react to me trying to give Rayami indestructible or hexproof when really the creature is sacrificed as part of a cost most of the time and so he gains the keyword before anything ever goes on the stack
Excellent technical video with some really interesting interactions, not only for cedh, instead (haha) generally viable for any mtg format. Thank you guys. Replacement effects are definitely confusing, on par for me with special game actions, target legality and crazy complicated ones like haunt for instance. These interactions get out of hand so quickly and it sometimes is impossible to look up in time because situations are mad specific. So the answer to the question of which is the most confhsing interaction in MTG, for me its a definite YES 😂. There cannot be too many of these videos👍
Super cool video. There’s a ton of minute differences and nuances between cards and abilities, and even on the same card that can get lost in the shuffle, as referenced, and I feel like this was a really good way to flesh out some of those corner cases to people who don’t understand. I know a lot about the rules, but as evidenced by the fact the I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the torbran/bolt interaction (the entire replacement effect section made my head hurt 😅), there’s always more to learn. Love weird stack interactions. One thing I feel like would’ve been a good thing to talk about, or maybe for part 2, is the fact that you have to finish resolving spells and abilities; ie, if I cast glimpse the unthinkable against someone and they mill an eldrazi titan on card 2, they still have to keep milling all 10 before they shuffle the titan back in. I think a lot of times that can confuse people, or trip them up
A similar style episode that discusses the complications of resolving combat would be cool. I know my play group has had weird ruling questions about extra combats, beginning of combat, end of combat. Maybe you could even include fight mechanics, like how certain keywords apply to fighting (death touch) and other keywords (first strike) don’t and why. Unless you’ve already done an episode like that and I missed it. If you already did, then don’t listen to anything I just said. LOL
Loved this episode and I really hope everyone watches it. Learning how these things work is great. Something that I would love to see yall covered is layers. Specifically in the case of an opponent controlling your Slicer, Hired Muscle while it is equipped with the equipment known as: Inquisitorial Rosette. It's really interesting what actually happens.
That situation doesn't really have anything to do with layers. The controller of the Rosette makes the token, since they control the trigger, but if they're not the attacking player, the token is not created attacking. But the attacking creatures will still gain menace.
@@Natedogg2 wouldn't it be considered layer 6 though since the token is supposed to be created as a tapped and attacking token but since it isn't the controller of the Rosette's attack phase it can't be, thus it coming in untapped? (Removing the ability of it entering tapped and attacking)?
@@nobodyworthy897 No, it has to do with the rules of combat, not with layers. You're not giving the token an ability to be tapped and attacking, that's just what the trigger says to do with the token. And it still enters tapped, just not attacking in this case: 506.3b If an effect would put a creature onto the battlefield attacking under the control of any player except an attacking player, that creature does enter the battlefield, but it’s never considered to be an attacking creature.
I like to help my opponents not having to worry about remembering some triggered abilities, that's why i always have a Torpor Orb at my Kozilek deck to assist them 😇
I want to share one interesting interaction I found playing with my group: korvold player has vexing shusher in play and casts Korvold passing priority (without giving him the "can't be countered" from vexing susher). I cast mana drain and in response he makes Korvold uncounterable. Since Korvold was a legal target for mana drain when mana drain was cast, mana drain wont fizzle. It will resolve (without countering Korvold ofc) and yet you will gain the mana from "countering" Korvold.
Korvold is always a legal target for Mana Drain! "This spell/ability can't be countered" doesn't make something an illegal target for a counterspell. It just means that the counterspell won't be able to counter the spell. In general, if there's a rule or effect that says that a certain action cannot be taken on a certain object, you can still target the object with a spell or ability that would want to take that action - you just cannot take the action. For instance, you can point a Murder at an indestructible creature; it's just not going to do much (but it will resolve!).
Great video! Recommended this to my friend who is pretty new to Magic. These differences are very useful to learn! One minor point of critique, I would've put the Replacement effects at the end of the video, as it's the most complicated instance covered in this video, and having all the prior knowledge before getting to that point would be helpful - it would also make the video slightly less front-heavy on the knowledge dump.
This was very helpful. The MTG Arena app was also useful for learning some of this stuff which you learn from playing and the game follows the rules on the cards and basically teaches you these meanings.
I was so happy when several times in the video I was saying to myself "It probably works like this" and then I was right! Back to school! P.S.: Replacement effects are wild! The affected player gets to choose. Wow.
Great video!!! I always love watching rule based videos; it doesn't matter how good you are, there's always something to learn from it. Couple of comments about it: - 7:50 I think it would have been worse mentioning about mana abilities and the fact that they don't use the stack (i.e: it's a big difference between Ashnod Altar and Altar of Dementia) - 50:28 Although it's true that it's not an ability which can be copied, the effect can still be doubled. For example, a creature entering with X counters will enter with 2X counters instead if you have Doubling Season on the battlefield. - 1:11:19 Council's Judgement and other non targeting effect also bypass 'Ward'.
Ward in general is often misunderstood. I've seen many people think that it's an extra cost. But it just counters the spell or ability - if a spell or ability can't be countered, you can ignore ward!
another point for Professional Facebreaker that i also struggled with at first was how it can trigger up to 6 times per combat if you are attacking with double strike
Just to clarify for everyone, hangar ack Walker, everflowing chalice, and anything that ETBs with counters WILL be doubled with doubling season primal vigor and other similar effects
End of turn control can also be overridden by using something like Conjurors Closet. This is extra cool because it even gets past if the owner decides to return a commander to the command zone when the exile happens, because the return to control part happens after 😁
I'm working on an Esika/Prismatic Bridge deck and I asked a couple of questions when Esika is in the graveyard. Just like you said, you can't return Prismatic Bridge with Replenish, Invoke Justice,... effects or return it to hand with Auramancer because it will only check the frontface. However, with a card like Underworld Breach/Yawgmoth's will, you can choose to cast the Prismatic Bridge from the yard. Interesting to know for the Prismatic Bridge builders out there.
A good rule of thumb I follow for effects like Underworld Breach is "if I flipped the card over right now, could I play it?" Of course you can't flip cards in random zones, but imagine you could. Can you play it? Underworld Breach: the card would have escape (because it's a static ability), so you can. Yawgmoth's Will: you can, because it's giving you permission to take the action. But for an effect like Past in Flames, if you're trying to cast a back side of a card, the answer is no. The card never gained flashback in the first place! If you could flip it over right now, it would be too late, because Past in Flames has already resolved.
1:25:23 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim, Thank you for telling me that card exists, it's a perfect fit for a white/black deck with silly little infinite combo tucked in i'm making.
My most common pod was totally doing Rug of Smothering wrong when I joined. It took a while to get them to understand how the multiple "each" in that text means the damage scales up.
Not only little words, but also the formatting of the words is important. As a former judge this would trip me up all the time. For example "Do X, draw a card" is different from: Do X Draw a Card.
talk about a mechanic being at the center of an imbroglio with OTHER cards : when a card say "look at the top 4 cards of your deck and put a card of type X in your hand and the rest ..." - those effects do not count towards others mentionning "For each card you've DRAWN this turn do..." Since you PUT the card in your hand, you were not told to draw a card!!!
Hi Miss Rachel!question for you about the word Target…me and my friends are playing and he use the card Charref Graverobber…the card says “when it come to the battlefield return target creature from your graveyard to your hand” if he dont have a creature in his graveyard does the Charred Graverobber fizels?coz it does not have a target?or still comes to play even it dont have a target?can you help me with this coz its very confusing.thankz!@therachelweeks
So I have a question. In a recent 4 person commander game, an opponent played “Triumph of the Hordes” to run his creatures over everyone else’s and win by dealing everyone poison counters. I attempted to play “Wild Ricochet” in response of that sorcery to give my own creatures the abilities of the card and I was told that because “Triumph of the Hordes” doesn’t target anything I couldn’t play it. After researching “Wild Ricochet” and according to the rulings by Magic I can target an instant or sorcery spell even though that spell may not target something. Long story short..my question is, could I have actually been able to redirect the trample, infect and +1/+1 abilities to my own creatures and then copy the spell or could I only copy the spell and would the original spell still affect the original casters creatures.
You could only copy the spell and the original spell still affects the caster's creatures. Wild Ricochet can copy spells without targets, but it won't change the outcome of the targeted spell because there aren't any new targets to choose. In this case your board and your opponent's board would both gain +1/+1, trample and infect.
34:00 I actually won my way out of a game with Abundance, the Phenax player Eater of the Dead comboed off to mill all of us out, but I had Starfield of Nyx in play, let me reanimate Abundance to replace my draws, played 3 more rounds with no library to win.
1:21:55 its because they're copies of cards, not cards themselves. Its like tokens not being able to exist anywhere but the battlefield, copies can't exist anywhere but the stack, thats why anything that copies either copies something on the stack or casts the copy as part of the effect that made the copy, so it never exists off the stack other than while a spell or ability is in the middle of resolving. If they let you cast this turn with Zethi, it would be the actual card, would would resolve as normal and not be in exile with a kick counter for her next attack.
As someone who has played Yugioh, Pokémon, Cardfight Vanguard, Force of Will, Digimon, and Magic. I can safely say, reading the card is the most broke mechanic.
The easiest way to understand these interactions is in the punctuation or identified as a reference in a follow up or prior requirement. There is nothing to link shuffling of Etrata into your deck to the previous conditions. It is not a pre-requisite to exiling a target creature or checking to see whether your opponent would meet the conditions whereby they would lose the game. The only requirement is that the opponent has to have two legal targets to exile. There are cards where they say “do X and if you did, then do Y” where you likely cannot copy the effect if X cannot happen again as it is something like shuffling the card into your deck.
This was GREAT! I’ve been playing for 25+ years and I still learned and helped me be able to explain rulings to others. Some thoughts to do another: Lose of Life versus Damage versus Combat Damage, and Cast vs Copy, and First Strike/ Double Strike damage versus combat damage and the triggers that happen on first strike vs regular. And a big one Torment of Hailfire needing to resolve all of X before other triggers and Fever Visions and if you draw and it’s more than 7 do you still discard. Please do more of these!! These are all things I’ve come across that would help others.
Oh no. I'm having flashbacks to playing my Splicers/Shape Anew Deck, discarding my Blightsteel Colossus, and my opponent targeting Blightsteel with Surgical Extraction. I didn't know any better. I just took it. I was wronged more than a decade ago and I didn't even know it.
I don't know if this has already been mentioned, but at 50:29, I wanted to clarify that the statement that "The effects can't be doubled" for ETB cards, which is only partially true. While Panharmonicon cannot double the counters on a creature that comes into play with counters on it (because there is no trigger), other doublers like Doubling Season DO work on ETB effects. If you look at Doubling Season, this is stated in the rulings list from 8/7/2020 and then reiterated again in a recent ruling for 9/1/2023 that "Doubling Season affects permanents that enter the battlefield with counters."
@@commandcast good point. Just wanted to help make sure that it was clear that (like everything) there are always exceptions to things like this. But the whole triggered vs. replacement effects definitely blew my mind a little because this has definitely happened in my play group and I've always treated replacement effects in the same vein as triggered abilities. This was definitely an informative video to watch! :)
One weird one that I'm not even sure if I'm doing right is the interaction between Fractal creature tokens and creatures with Evolve. Cards that make Fractals say "create a 0/0 Fractal creature token. Put X +1/+1 counters on it". Evolve says "whenever a creature enters the battlefield, if that creature has greater power or toughness than this creature, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature". I think that it's similar to clone that the Fractal essentially enters with the counters so therefore its P/T is always X/X but the way its phrased makes it seem like it enters the battlefield as a 0/0
The Fractal token doesn't enter with the counters. It enters, then it gets the counters after it enters. When we check what it looks like immediately after it enters, it's a 0/0 since it has not gotten the counters yet, so unless the evolve creature has a negative power, you don't get an evolve trigger.
Don't know how long you've been playing, but it's even worse for people that have been around a long time because the rules have changed very significantly over the years.
Yes, it will count the printed power and toughness of the vehicle spell on the stack. 208.3. A noncreature permanent has no power or toughness, even if it’s a card with a power and toughness printed on it (such as a Vehicle). **A noncreature object not on the battlefield has power or toughness only if it has a power and toughness printed on it.**
I'm with Rachel in being blindsided by the multiple replacement effect ordering. So, I understand that the ordering is made by the player being effected, or the permanent/spell being effected controller, but what happens if multiple players are being effected? Take the same Torbran + Damage doubling example, but instead of Lightning Bolt, it's Pyrohemia. Then who decides? Or is each instance of damage decided separately, where some things will minimize the damage, while others will maximize the damage (like, say, on a Brash Taunter)
Then each player gets to choose the order the replacement effects are applied to them. The affected player chooses the order the replacement effects are applied to them, and what that player decides won't affect how the other players are affected by the same event.
@@Natedogg2 Is this set on a rule? I ask for future references if an argument comes in a game. Edit. Nevermind, I already took a dive into the rulings it is pretty clear haha. Thanks anyways.
@@juliomiguelpenaruelas2702 Here's the rule in question: "616.1. If two or more replacement and/or prevention effects are attempting to modify the way an event affects an object or player, the affected object’s controller (or its owner if it has no controller) or the affected player chooses one to apply, following the steps listed below. If two or more players have to make these choices at the same time, choices are made in APNAP order (see rule 101.4)."
Magic is complicated! What cards have you gotten hung up on? What wording nuances are or were most confusing to you?
Faced down double faced cards
This is a great one. @@glitchyikes
Honestly (despite being a simple concept) incubation tokens mess me up. For so long double faced tokens did not exist (which is fine) and made it when copying a double faced card it only had access to it's face since tokens can't have backs... but now they do? And now a rule that's existed as long as transforming cards have existed just... no longer exists? I guess?
Is jetmir a triggered ability?
"As it enters the Battlefield" fpr stuff like Dominus Rex and cards with counters always confuses the tables i sit at.
Dominus enters with a Hexproof counter if you discard a hexproof creature, we though we could respond before it gets Hexproof because its a enter the battlefield effect but NOOOOOOO 😂
Reading the card explains the card… if you know what you’re looking for. This episode was so fun to shoot. Hope you enjoy!
You and Murph had done a great job here. You two have good chemistry, it' easy to listen to the two of you explainimg these things, giving each other the right amount of time to follow along well. Thank you a lot! 💕
This episode is actually really interesting, so many surprising details that old players may not know either. Thank you a lot. Would definitely watch more of these
This is why I love magic. So much complexity and nuance.
The Zedruu sharing is caring deck sounds incredibly fun. I've always wanted to build Zedruu but never knew what direction to take it until now
Great video 👍. For new players is great source of knowlege. Do more this type of video for new players.
Question way did you not invate Profesor for this video? 😉😉😉😁
I really like having Murph on these rules episodes. He explains things very well and very concise.
I agree!
What's also very important about costs: They cannot be responded to because they do not use the stack ! If you wait until someone uses their planeswalker and takes them for 3 to 4 loyalty, you cannot respond to the cost and destroy that walker with a Lightning Bolt before it reaches 4 loyalty, you can only react to the effect !
This is very helpful to know to!
I've been playing Magic close to 15 years now, watching this vid made me realise how much MTG jargon i take for granted. I had more than a couple "wait, what?" Moments. I loved this vid, super interesting. thanks for posting it!
As a long time casual listener/ viewer this is a great segment. This is what is needed from the command zone, sharing information that is needed and helpful delivered in a way that is digestible. Considering how many crazy rules and processes that go into the game having such a well known and trusted voice explaining and showing it in clear terms is a huge win for the community.
Excellent video! I'd love to see a follow-up, with stuff like "reflexive triggers" and "intervening if" and other nuanced stuff that gets missed or misunderstood easily.
49:35 And if multiple Angels are entering at the same time, they won't count each other for Giada's effect. For example, if you cast Decree of Justice and make 4 Angel tokens with just a Giada in play, they each enter with one +1/+1 counter, since you only control one Angel when the tokens are entering (Giada itself). The other tokens aren't on the battlefield yet since they're all being created at the same time, so they won't help each other out.
As a channel with a series dedicated to explaining cards, rules, and card interactions, I always like these videos.
Great series, Tough Rules and Cool Interactions, learned a lot from those videos.
Your channel is great, too!!!
@@danacoleman4007 Oh snap! Thanks a bunch! I'm glad you've been enjoying the channel.
how has this episode not been done before? glad yall finally did it
One important exception to what you discussed regarding targeting: Aura spells target when you cast them, but (awkwardly) not when they are put directly on the battlefield, such as by Retether. So you can get Darksteel Mutation onto your opponent’s hexproof creature, it just takes some work!
Aura spells always target. But when you put an Aura on the battlefield directly without casting it, it's not a spell!
Also, when it doesn't say target, you don´t need to make the decision until the spell/ability resolves. So your opponents won't know for sure what will you do and how to react.
This is a great point.
32:45 Bonus fun fact about Academy Manufactor from Natedogg:
Let's say you have a Brenard, Ginger Sculptor in play, along with Academy Manufactor, and you have another nontoken creature die. You can choose to use Brenard's trigger to make a 1/1 Golem food artifact creature token copy of that creature. However, because of the Manufactor, instead of making that 1/1 Golem food artifact creature, you make a predefined food, clue, and treasure. None of those tokens are 1/1 creatures, they're just normal food, clue, and treasure tokens, since the rules define what to create if you're instructed to make a food/clue/treasure token, and that overrides whatever Brendard's trigger is going to make, so you don't end up making any golem creature, you make three noncreature tokens instead.
this should be higher! by the way they explained replacement effects, it appears like you could get a golem token for each kind if you first make the golem and then make the food, all because they forgot to explain layers!
@@kgasawa This isn't about layers. It's because the characteristics of the token are replaced.
When an effect says "a tapped Treasure token" or "a token copy of [creature] that is tapped and attacking" or anything like that, those aren't characteristics. Those extra conditions apply to any tokens you create through the effect.
But Brenand's description of the token is defining the characteristics of the token. Types, power and toughness are all characteristics. And characteristics _are_ replaced by those replacement effects, because that's what they're replacing!
@@therealax6 that is a layer, characteristics defining effects run at the same layer. And explaining that will make it easier to understand why they Clash and you never see the creature returning due to both effects happening at the same time
One of the best TCZ episodes of all times, a must for any player. Wasn't expecting all this condensed knowledge in just one video!
I didn't know the opponent would get to choose the order of replacement effects when they are affected. That's NUTS and not confusing at all.
Make Torbran targeted pingers good, not great. The opponent chooses how Torbran's and damage doublers effects are ordered
This is the exact rule, for reference (bold is mine):
"616.1. If two or more replacement and/or prevention effects are attempting to modify the way an event affects an object or player, *the affected object’s controller (or its owner if it has no controller) or the affected player chooses one to apply,* following the steps listed below. If two or more players have to make these choices at the same time, choices are made in APNAP order (see rule 101.4)."
As an illiterate yugioh player this is very helpful
Illiterate? Yalls cards are walls of text anymore
@@TantalusWolfram
Yu-Gi-Oh cards have so much text on them that our brains eventually overload and we stop being able to read altogether.
Kid you not, I went though hooked on phonics to remember how junctions works.
Now that’s an oxymoron
Since you used "as", this statement does not use the stack and can't be interacted with
It's more well known now, but one I always like to mention is that auras only target when you cast them. If you blink an aura or recur it from graveyard, it attaches to something by its effect and doesn't target which means it can get around hexproof and shroud.
Also I never knew the multiple replacement effects would work like that for damage. Really glad I learned that today.
I've played magic for many years and still I stumble over things. MTG is the most complex game I've ever played and it only keeps adding intricacies. Great episode, keep up the great work guys.
With "cast" and "play" exists one more problem - translation. For example, on Russian language cards both cast and play uses same word, so when card says "вы можете разыграть" we need to look at original card to know, can we play a land or not.
Wow. I imagine this is INCREDIBLY frustrating.
Really glad they're separating the wording on the newer cards, like The Belligerent from LCoI
Same happens in Brazil with Portuguese
The clone rule mechanic change is what makes them so fun in Volo. He sees them as shapeshifters on cast and copies them every time unless you have one in your gy 🙌
Replacement effect are the bane of my existence. Thanks for making it easier for me
Etali says “,then you may”, which is having you do it at the very instance but for free at resolution.
Narset is giving you free casts until end of turn, which is why they are very different
YES to this episode, helped clear up a lot of questions, thanks y'all!
Happy to help!
absolutely love those plastic cases they send with card kingdom orders
One thing I didn't see is looking for "you control" vs it not being there (asymmetry in rulings). Concordant Crossroads, for example, says "All creatures have haste." That's going to affect your opponents too. Primal Vigor is another card I've seen people miss the fact that everyone gets the doubling effect.
Please more like this. Game is so complicated, and this helps ALOT!
Plainswalker loyalty cost came up a lot when I ran Grist with Doubling Season on the field.
1) Grist enters with double the amount of loyalty counters.
2) when you activate the +1, it’s a cost so it doesn’t get 2.
3) if you end up milling an insect, then you DO get 2 counters (per repeat) because that’s a part of the ability.
Reading the card explains the card, but I wish it explained the nuances of the associated rules somehow (‘:
This video reminded me of a conversation I had month or so ago about doubling season and Planeswalkers. That was tough to explain.
On the subject of the first section, it’s useful to note that a cost paid cannot be reacted to, only the resulting effect
This comes up a lot in my Rayami deck where people think they can react to me trying to give Rayami indestructible or hexproof when really the creature is sacrificed as part of a cost most of the time and so he gains the keyword before anything ever goes on the stack
Excellent technical video with some really interesting interactions, not only for cedh, instead (haha) generally viable for any mtg format. Thank you guys. Replacement effects are definitely confusing, on par for me with special game actions, target legality and crazy complicated ones like haunt for instance. These interactions get out of hand so quickly and it sometimes is impossible to look up in time because situations are mad specific. So the answer to the question of which is the most confhsing interaction in MTG, for me its a definite YES 😂. There cannot be too many of these videos👍
This is probably the MOST helpful video you have done!
Super cool video. There’s a ton of minute differences and nuances between cards and abilities, and even on the same card that can get lost in the shuffle, as referenced, and I feel like this was a really good way to flesh out some of those corner cases to people who don’t understand. I know a lot about the rules, but as evidenced by the fact the I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the torbran/bolt interaction (the entire replacement effect section made my head hurt 😅), there’s always more to learn. Love weird stack interactions. One thing I feel like would’ve been a good thing to talk about, or maybe for part 2, is the fact that you have to finish resolving spells and abilities; ie, if I cast glimpse the unthinkable against someone and they mill an eldrazi titan on card 2, they still have to keep milling all 10 before they shuffle the titan back in. I think a lot of times that can confuse people, or trip them up
This was a great episode! Lots of good information - there were definitely tricky details in here that I had not been aware of. 😅
A similar style episode that discusses the complications of resolving combat would be cool. I know my play group has had weird ruling questions about extra combats, beginning of combat, end of combat. Maybe you could even include fight mechanics, like how certain keywords apply to fighting (death touch) and other keywords (first strike) don’t and why.
Unless you’ve already done an episode like that and I missed it. If you already did, then don’t listen to anything I just said. LOL
Loved this episode and I really hope everyone watches it. Learning how these things work is great. Something that I would love to see yall covered is layers. Specifically in the case of an opponent controlling your Slicer, Hired Muscle while it is equipped with the equipment known as: Inquisitorial Rosette. It's really interesting what actually happens.
That situation doesn't really have anything to do with layers. The controller of the Rosette makes the token, since they control the trigger, but if they're not the attacking player, the token is not created attacking. But the attacking creatures will still gain menace.
@@Natedogg2 wouldn't it be considered layer 6 though since the token is supposed to be created as a tapped and attacking token but since it isn't the controller of the Rosette's attack phase it can't be, thus it coming in untapped? (Removing the ability of it entering tapped and attacking)?
@@Natedogg2 either way. It's still a scenario where I'm sure a lot of Magic players get wrong because it's such a weird scenario.
@@nobodyworthy897 No, it has to do with the rules of combat, not with layers. You're not giving the token an ability to be tapped and attacking, that's just what the trigger says to do with the token. And it still enters tapped, just not attacking in this case:
506.3b If an effect would put a creature onto the battlefield attacking under the control of any player except an attacking player, that creature does enter the battlefield, but it’s never considered to be an attacking creature.
@@Natedogg2 ooooh okay, well, it's still a fringe case, and would be neat to be shown.
What a great video! I was way too proud of knowing the whole replacement example with Torbrann. Looked it up when when I was making him.
"Ray...when somebody asks you if you're a dragon you say YES!!!"
-Ghostbusters
nothing more satisfying that stifling an atherflux reservoir activation
I love the kickstarter playmat. Might get on that!
“Whenever one or more” still trips me up.
Just look for the or. If it says “or”just look at as either or both. More creatures, or more players.
I like to help my opponents not having to worry about remembering some triggered abilities, that's why i always have a Torpor Orb at my Kozilek deck to assist them 😇
"in magic, everything that isnt a land, if its on the stack, its a spell"... wait, no, not if its an ability, right?
I want to share one interesting interaction I found playing with my group: korvold player has vexing shusher in play and casts Korvold passing priority (without giving him the "can't be countered" from vexing susher). I cast mana drain and in response he makes Korvold uncounterable. Since Korvold was a legal target for mana drain when mana drain was cast, mana drain wont fizzle. It will resolve (without countering Korvold ofc) and yet you will gain the mana from "countering" Korvold.
Korvold is always a legal target for Mana Drain! "This spell/ability can't be countered" doesn't make something an illegal target for a counterspell. It just means that the counterspell won't be able to counter the spell.
In general, if there's a rule or effect that says that a certain action cannot be taken on a certain object, you can still target the object with a spell or ability that would want to take that action - you just cannot take the action. For instance, you can point a Murder at an indestructible creature; it's just not going to do much (but it will resolve!).
Keep up the good work guys? Some good info to have in your back pocket,
Great video! Recommended this to my friend who is pretty new to Magic. These differences are very useful to learn!
One minor point of critique, I would've put the Replacement effects at the end of the video, as it's the most complicated instance covered in this video, and having all the prior knowledge before getting to that point would be helpful - it would also make the video slightly less front-heavy on the knowledge dump.
I was today years old when I learned about the replacement stacking. WOW! Good job!
The only thing I hate about videos like this is having to unlearn years of playing incorrectly depending on how far back you go! 🤣
This is super informative. Thanks for this episode 😄👌🏼
Best video in a while, very helpful information!
This was very helpful. The MTG Arena app was also useful for learning some of this stuff which you learn from playing and the game follows the rules on the cards and basically teaches you these meanings.
I was so happy when several times in the video I was saying to myself "It probably works like this" and then I was right! Back to school! P.S.: Replacement effects are wild! The affected player gets to choose. Wow.
I wish that would happen to me sometime. Just once.
Great video!!! I always love watching rule based videos; it doesn't matter how good you are, there's always something to learn from it.
Couple of comments about it:
- 7:50 I think it would have been worse mentioning about mana abilities and the fact that they don't use the stack (i.e: it's a big difference between Ashnod Altar and Altar of Dementia)
- 50:28 Although it's true that it's not an ability which can be copied, the effect can still be doubled. For example, a creature entering with X counters will enter with 2X counters instead if you have Doubling Season on the battlefield.
- 1:11:19 Council's Judgement and other non targeting effect also bypass 'Ward'.
Ward in general is often misunderstood. I've seen many people think that it's an extra cost. But it just counters the spell or ability - if a spell or ability can't be countered, you can ignore ward!
another point for Professional Facebreaker that i also struggled with at first was how it can trigger up to 6 times per combat if you are attacking with double strike
Just to clarify for everyone, hangar ack Walker, everflowing chalice, and anything that ETBs with counters WILL be doubled with doubling season primal vigor and other similar effects
Yep! You're still putting counters on cards. It just isn't causing a triggered ability to trigger.
More videos like these please
End of turn control can also be overridden by using something like Conjurors Closet. This is extra cool because it even gets past if the owner decides to return a commander to the command zone when the exile happens, because the return to control part happens after 😁
The damage dealing replacement effects are important in my group. Our group pretty much all agrees its the most counterintuitive rule in the game.
I'm working on an Esika/Prismatic Bridge deck and I asked a couple of questions when Esika is in the graveyard. Just like you said, you can't return Prismatic Bridge with Replenish, Invoke Justice,... effects or return it to hand with Auramancer because it will only check the frontface. However, with a card like Underworld Breach/Yawgmoth's will, you can choose to cast the Prismatic Bridge from the yard. Interesting to know for the Prismatic Bridge builders out there.
A good rule of thumb I follow for effects like Underworld Breach is "if I flipped the card over right now, could I play it?"
Of course you can't flip cards in random zones, but imagine you could. Can you play it?
Underworld Breach: the card would have escape (because it's a static ability), so you can.
Yawgmoth's Will: you can, because it's giving you permission to take the action.
But for an effect like Past in Flames, if you're trying to cast a back side of a card, the answer is no. The card never gained flashback in the first place! If you could flip it over right now, it would be too late, because Past in Flames has already resolved.
Love Rachel and the murph dog, keep em coming!
1:25:23 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim, Thank you for telling me that card exists, it's a perfect fit for a white/black deck with silly little infinite combo tucked in i'm making.
Gosh I sometimes forget how complicated magic is
I can read. I have a problem with reading comprehension. 😂
My most common pod was totally doing Rug of Smothering wrong when I joined. It took a while to get them to understand how the multiple "each" in that text means the damage scales up.
I would have loved you to have talked about Sagas
Thank You! This was a great podcast
Glad you enjoyed it!
Not only little words, but also the formatting of the words is important. As a former judge this would trip me up all the time. For example "Do X, draw a card" is different from:
Do X
Draw a Card.
The replacement effects section blew my mind. I agree with Rachel's reaction... "WHY!?"
Rule 616.1
talk about a mechanic being at the center of an imbroglio with OTHER cards : when a card say "look at the top 4 cards of your deck and put a card of type X in your hand and the rest ..." - those effects do not count towards others mentionning "For each card you've DRAWN this turn do..." Since you PUT the card in your hand, you were not told to draw a card!!!
Oh my god, that goes absolutely crazy with Smaug. You would end up with 39 treasures, 39 clues, and 39 foods. Insane.
Hi Miss Rachel!question for you about the word Target…me and my friends are playing and he use the card Charref Graverobber…the card says “when it come to the battlefield return target creature from your graveyard to your hand” if he dont have a creature in his graveyard does the Charred Graverobber fizels?coz it does not have a target?or still comes to play even it dont have a target?can you help me with this coz its very confusing.thankz!@therachelweeks
So I have a question. In a recent 4 person commander game, an opponent played “Triumph of the Hordes” to run his creatures over everyone else’s and win by dealing everyone poison counters. I attempted to play “Wild Ricochet” in response of that sorcery to give my own creatures the abilities of the card and I was told that because “Triumph of the Hordes” doesn’t target anything I couldn’t play it. After researching “Wild Ricochet” and according to the rulings by Magic I can target an instant or sorcery spell even though that spell may not target something. Long story short..my question is, could I have actually been able to redirect the trample, infect and +1/+1 abilities to my own creatures and then copy the spell or could I only copy the spell and would the original spell still affect the original casters creatures.
You could only copy the spell and the original spell still affects the caster's creatures. Wild Ricochet can copy spells without targets, but it won't change the outcome of the targeted spell because there aren't any new targets to choose. In this case your board and your opponent's board would both gain +1/+1, trample and infect.
@@commandcast Thank you very much for the response! It’s much appreciated!
37:10: First of all, if you'd cast Ancestral Recall, i'd say, "did we agree on banned cards in turn 0?" haha. just kidding. this is a great episode.
This is just what I needed.
34:00 I actually won my way out of a game with Abundance, the Phenax player Eater of the Dead comboed off to mill all of us out, but I had Starfield of Nyx in play, let me reanimate Abundance to replace my draws, played 3 more rounds with no library to win.
1:21:55 its because they're copies of cards, not cards themselves. Its like tokens not being able to exist anywhere but the battlefield, copies can't exist anywhere but the stack, thats why anything that copies either copies something on the stack or casts the copy as part of the effect that made the copy, so it never exists off the stack other than while a spell or ability is in the middle of resolving.
If they let you cast this turn with Zethi, it would be the actual card, would would resolve as normal and not be in exile with a kick counter for her next attack.
What is the interaction between Walking Ballista's 'enters with' text and Hardened Scales? - if X=2 would I get a third +1/+1 counter?
Yes! Hardened Scales sees any instance of +1/+1 counters and replaces it with one more.
All things on the stack is not a spell. If I remember correctly activated or triggered abilities are not spells
"You think you're so smart because you know words!" 😊
Great episode!!!!!
39:57 I feel like Rachel had way too much fun doing the Agatha voice for this commercial 😂
As someone who has played Yugioh, Pokémon, Cardfight Vanguard, Force of Will, Digimon, and Magic. I can safely say, reading the card is the most broke mechanic.
Love this video! Gave good clarification on triggered abilities. Does strionic resonator work with etrata the silencer?
The easiest way to understand these interactions is in the punctuation or identified as a reference in a follow up or prior requirement.
There is nothing to link shuffling of Etrata into your deck to the previous conditions. It is not a pre-requisite to exiling a target creature or checking to see whether your opponent would meet the conditions whereby they would lose the game.
The only requirement is that the opponent has to have two legal targets to exile.
There are cards where they say “do X and if you did, then do Y” where you likely cannot copy the effect if X cannot happen again as it is something like shuffling the card into your deck.
This was GREAT! I’ve been playing for 25+ years and I still learned and helped me be able to explain rulings to others. Some thoughts to do another: Lose of Life versus Damage versus Combat Damage, and Cast vs Copy, and First Strike/ Double Strike damage versus combat damage and the triggers that happen on first strike vs regular. And a big one Torment of Hailfire needing to resolve all of X before other triggers and Fever Visions and if you draw and it’s more than 7 do you still discard. Please do more of these!! These are all things I’ve come across that would help others.
Oh no! Ooohhh no! I must have misread a post I saw. I've been playing my Jaxis deck the opposite way of what's correct.
Remember folks. Talk to your playgroup about Torpor Orb.
but The One Ring is perfectly fine.
When will you all be completing the cycle of how to play x color? There's Red and White then ya kinda stopped
Questing Beast from the Ice Cauldron was still a better love story than Twilight..
Oh no. I'm having flashbacks to playing my Splicers/Shape Anew Deck, discarding my Blightsteel Colossus, and my opponent targeting Blightsteel with Surgical Extraction. I didn't know any better. I just took it. I was wronged more than a decade ago and I didn't even know it.
I don't know if this has already been mentioned, but at 50:29, I wanted to clarify that the statement that "The effects can't be doubled" for ETB cards, which is only partially true. While Panharmonicon cannot double the counters on a creature that comes into play with counters on it (because there is no trigger), other doublers like Doubling Season DO work on ETB effects. If you look at Doubling Season, this is stated in the rulings list from 8/7/2020 and then reiterated again in a recent ruling for 9/1/2023 that "Doubling Season affects permanents that enter the battlefield with counters."
Yep! This is because Doubling Season is a replacement effect and doesn't require a trigger to apply.
@@commandcast good point. Just wanted to help make sure that it was clear that (like everything) there are always exceptions to things like this. But the whole triggered vs. replacement effects definitely blew my mind a little because this has definitely happened in my play group and I've always treated replacement effects in the same vein as triggered abilities. This was definitely an informative video to watch! :)
One weird one that I'm not even sure if I'm doing right is the interaction between Fractal creature tokens and creatures with Evolve.
Cards that make Fractals say "create a 0/0 Fractal creature token. Put X +1/+1 counters on it". Evolve says "whenever a creature enters the battlefield, if that creature has greater power or toughness than this creature, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature". I think that it's similar to clone that the Fractal essentially enters with the counters so therefore its P/T is always X/X but the way its phrased makes it seem like it enters the battlefield as a 0/0
The Fractal token doesn't enter with the counters. It enters, then it gets the counters after it enters. When we check what it looks like immediately after it enters, it's a 0/0 since it has not gotten the counters yet, so unless the evolve creature has a negative power, you don't get an evolve trigger.
I'm jealous of Murph's Dreamcast. I had a Sega Saturn for year, but it died eventually and now I'm sad that I didn't keep it around anyways.
I lost it in the order of replacement effects
The more I play magic, the more confusing it gets. Yeesh!
Don't know how long you've been playing, but it's even worse for people that have been around a long time because the rules have changed very significantly over the years.
I've seen someone make twenty two copies of Nyxbloom Ancient before. Ever wanted to see a single land tap for thirty two billion mana? XD
Judge! It's only 31,381,059,609 mana! My opponent is trying to cheat me into letting them have an extra 618,940,391 mana they shouldn't have! :)
My playgroup has been doing the damage doubling thing wrong the whole time we've been playing magic lmao oops
I learned some things!
I have a very specific question for the comments. For the new Legendary Talion, do the power and toughness of vehicles count as a hit for his ability?
Yes, it will count the printed power and toughness of the vehicle spell on the stack.
208.3. A noncreature permanent has no power or toughness, even if it’s a card with a power and toughness printed on it (such as a Vehicle). **A noncreature object not on the battlefield has power or toughness only if it has a power and toughness printed on it.**
@@Natedogg2 Thank you so much for the clarification
Love the Dreamcast ❤❤❤
You're supposed to read the cards?! I just flip the table and run to my room!
I'm with Rachel in being blindsided by the multiple replacement effect ordering. So, I understand that the ordering is made by the player being effected, or the permanent/spell being effected controller, but what happens if multiple players are being effected? Take the same Torbran + Damage doubling example, but instead of Lightning Bolt, it's Pyrohemia. Then who decides? Or is each instance of damage decided separately, where some things will minimize the damage, while others will maximize the damage (like, say, on a Brash Taunter)
Then each player gets to choose the order the replacement effects are applied to them. The affected player chooses the order the replacement effects are applied to them, and what that player decides won't affect how the other players are affected by the same event.
@@Natedogg2 Is this set on a rule? I ask for future references if an argument comes in a game.
Edit. Nevermind, I already took a dive into the rulings it is pretty clear haha. Thanks anyways.
@@juliomiguelpenaruelas2702 Here's the rule in question:
"616.1. If two or more replacement and/or prevention effects are attempting to modify the way an event affects an object or player, the affected object’s controller (or its owner if it has no controller) or the affected player chooses one to apply, following the steps listed below. If two or more players have to make these choices at the same time, choices are made in APNAP order (see rule 101.4)."
Waiting for the episode about the best equipment in Edh? Boros is not a bad combo colors😅