#triggered abilities

[magicjudge]

If I have oscar rubbish reclaimer and dream halls in play, can I cast a card from discard by discarding a card that shares a color with it instead of paying its mana cost?

Yes, this works and is actually really neat tech.

Dream Halls doesn't care where the spell is being cast from, so you can use its alternate cost to cast cards you discarded via Oskar's ability. This lets you make a nice chain of spells as long as you have the right cards in hand.

Please note that Oskar's ability will resolve before the spell you discarded the card for, so if you do chain this way, you'll end up with a bunch of spells on the stack at once, leaving you vulnerable to cards like Whirlwind Denial.

Also, Oskar's trigger instructs you to cast the card right away, so timing restrictions don't matter as you're not casting the spell normally.

[mtg-realm]

Magic: the Gathering - Game Error

‘BIG OOF’ - Me, like almost always.

[magicjudge]

Hiya, I'm reading through the rules, and I'm just not sure on when state triggers are checked. If I have Emperor Crocodile and another creature on the battlefield, and a creature with Devour enters the battlefield sacrificing the other creature as it enters, did I ever control zero other creatures, two other creatures, or always just one other creature? And how do state triggers see that?

State triggers, like the one on Emperor Crocodile, are triggers that don't look for an event to happen but instead look for something to be true about the state of the game at any time. (Since such a state can last for a long time, a state trigger can't trigger again if it already has a trigger on the stack waiting to resolve.)

For example, your Emperor Crocodile's ability will trigger during the resolution of Victimize if you sacrifice your only other creature as it resolves. Even though you controlled other creatures both before and after the resolution, there was still a brief period where you didn't and that's long enough to cost you your croc.

The case of Devour is a tricky one, since Devour is a replacement effect that modifies how the permanent enters the battlefield, i.e. it happens during the process of putting the Devour creature onto the battlefield.

While I wouldn't fault anyone for thinking that this is the same as the Victimize situation, it actually isn't. Victimize is worded in such a way that you sacrifice the creature and then, as a different action, you return the two creatures to the battlefield. As a replacement effect, Devour removes that gap meaning you go from a situation where you control one creature, then it's sacrificed at the same moment that the Devour creature enters the battlefield. There's no gap and so your croc is happy.

[magicjudge]

Can you explain the how and why of The Ozolith/Resourceful defense interaction with Modular?

Ok, so if you control both of these permanents and a creature ((with some counters on it) and that creature leaves the battlefield, then both the Ozolith and Resourceful Defenses will trigger. Each of those triggers will work fully and you'll end up with a matching set of counters added to both of them.

Why? Because you're not actually moving the counters that were on your creature, but rather just putting new ones of the same types and amounts on the other card. It's one set of counters getting replicated twice, not the actual physical counters moving from one card to another, even if that's what the cards imply.

[magicjudge]

If I have Elenda on the Battlefield and get hit with a board wipe, then in response cast something like Supernatural Stamina. How does that resolve? Will Elenda get the counters from things dieing to the board wipe since she returns to the Battlefield? How many tokens will she make? Is it equal to her power when the board wipe went off or her new power after coming back from the graveyard?

Unfortunately for you, Elenda is a new object after changing zones and so all the triggers from creatures dying were created by an Elenda that no longer exists and thus won't end up putting any counters on the new Elenda.

As for how many tokens you make, it's based on Elenda's power when she died, but that will include the +2/+0 buff from Supernatural Stamina.

[magicjudge]

My opponent has enchanted me with Trespasser's Curse. I wait until their turn, when they are the active player. With the stack empty, I flash in Green Slime. Can I counter Trespasser's Curse's triggered ability and destroy it?

Maybe. It depends on whose turn it is, actually. (Yes, the asker specified their opponent's turn, but I'm explaining more generally.)

When Green Slime enters the battlefield, both it and Trespasser's Curse will trigger, but which one will be put on the stack first depends on which of you is the active player, i.e. whose turn it is. That player puts their trigger on the the stack and then the other player does the same.

If it's your turn, then there won't be a legal target for Green Slime's trigger and so it will be removed from the stack with no effect, but if it's your opponent's turn, then Curse's trigger is there and a legal target and so Green Slime will counter it and eat the whole curse. Om nom nom.

[magicjudge]

Scrappy Bruiser has the text "Whenever Scrappy Bruiser attacks, up to one target attacking creature gets +2/+0 and gains trample until end of turn. Return that creature to its owner's hand at end of combat. (Return it only if it's on the battlefield.)" The part in parentheses is reminder text, meaning it's a consequence of the other rules on the card rather than a functional part of the card. Why is it not necessary to specify that as part of the rules text of the card?

Whenever a card changes zones, e.g. battlefield to graveyard, it becomes a new game object with no connection to its existence in the previous zone.

This means that effects like Scrappy Brawler's trigger can't track the creature to its new zone unless they specifically mention that zone. Since Scrappy Brawler's ability doesn't mention another zone, its delayed trigger will only be able to do anything if the creature hasn't changed zones in the interim.

[magicjudge]

Hi! I had a question about the card Resourceful Defense as I'm unable to find an answer anywhere. I may be over thinking it but: If I were to blink a creature card (with let's say Cloudshift) that has one or more +1/+1 counters on it, would I be able to target that same creature with Resourceful Defense as the Cloudshift resolves and the creature re-enters the battlefield?

Yes, this situation works.

When Cloudshift exiles the creature, Resourceful Defense will trigger. Cloudshift will then return that creature to the battlefield. Finally, the Resourceful Defense trigger is put on the stack and can target the returned creature.

The net result here is that the creature is only without its counters for the period between Cloudshift's resolution and the trigger's resolution. (Also any counter modifying effects like Hardened Scales will affect the number of counters the creature gains from the trigger.)