Nov 29, 2025
Witchbane Orb
Artist: John Avon TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link
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Witchbane Orb
Artist: John Avon TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link
would black vise get around a witchbane orb? me and my friend were playing a game and he played whitchbane orb my next turn i played black vise does it get around him having hexproof?
Choosing an opponent (or permanent or card etc.) isn’t the same as targeting that opponent. An opponent with hexproof or shroud can be chosen for Black Vice.
Witchbane Orb
Artist: John Avon TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link
Planar Chaos (Part 5) - Witchbane
That evening was a rough and with little sleep for me. I tossed and turned, not sure if I was going to be able to sleep. Not even sure if I wanted to. I just kept reflecting the words that the Lady Vess had said to me in my head over and over again.
That I was going to fool the Chain Veil into thinking I was her.
For anyone with my background, that wouldn’t be difficult. Young warlocks learn how to manipulate artifacts to their will early on in their training. If what Vess said was true, that she had known many warlocks in her time, that little test shouldn’t have been necessary. She should have known from my demonstration the evening before when I dropped her entire horde in the throne room all at once. That meant one of two things
One, Vess didn’t know as much about warlocks as she had led me to believe or she was lying to me about how much knowledge she did have. This wasn’t unlikely, it was something I ran into on Ravnica quite a bit. People ran their mouths thinking that they knew what they were talking about, then admitted they knew nothing under duress in a back alley. As much as I wanted this to be true, I didn’t think it was. there were enough context clues to say that Vess knew exactly what I was capable of. It wasn’t like I held back in our little duel and she also knew that warlocks were capable of silent invocations, something that I was still working on mastering. No, this wasn’t the answer.
That left two: the Chain Veil was insanely powerful and it was going to take every ounce of my being to keep it fooled into thinking I was who I wanted it to think I was. And if that was the case, what was the cost of that going to be? I was a Ravnican, nothing came without a price. So what price would I have to pay on this godforsaken plane? Add to that the increasing headache I was starting to get from earlier in the day, and I couldn’t think straight.
The night grew late and eventually I drifted off to sleep, my mind unsettled.
xxxx
“How exciting!” the small dwarf in front of me exclaimed. “How versed in the Selesnya plant spells?”
I shrugged. “I help with the harvest, I don’t really have anything to do with the magic behind it.”
The dwarf looked disappointed. “That’s okay, your opinion will still be invaluable in what we’re trying to work on with the Simic Combine. They’ve developed a creature that should, in conjunction with our machinery, enable the Selesnya to triple their food harvest!” He was right back to being excited about everything.
“But how would that be possible?” I asked, absentmindedly spinning the ring on finger.
“The creature they’ve created has what’s supposed to be an unsurpassed capacity for electricity, and the more that it gets the more of its converted energy it releases. That energy can then be harnessed for almost anything! Think of the possibilities between our three guilds if we can get that kind of power?”
I did think about it. “Wouldn’t that just limit our output to however much electricity we can produce?”
The dwarf smirked, expecting this question. “That’s the best part! It’s self sustaining, we only have to feed back into it a fraction of it’s output to keep the energy flow up. It’s a potentially limitless source of energy!”
“And there’s no way for the machine to short circuit?”
“There are risks,” the dwarf said dismissively. “But the gain far outweighs that and we have the attention of Niv Mizzet himself to accomplish it!”
No machine should be able to withstand that much power, I thought to myself. No. This would be a disaster if it saw the light of day. But I promised Papa that I would work with them in his stead. I was 16, considered a man by the commune. It was time to really pull my weight.
xxxx
Daylight hit my face and I instinctively rose my hands to cover them from the sunlight. I hadn’t had these memories in years, why were they surfacing now? I guess it didn’t matter as long as I didn’t have to relive the experiment. I would rather relive any other memory but the experiment itself.
I lifted my hands off of my face and looked at the signet ring. I had never taken it off since that day that Papa... I mean my father had given it to me. It was one of the last things I had left from the commune. That and my great-grandfather’s journal, the first of the Warlocks in our family. That was 4 generations ago, and it was ending with me. I just couldn’t see myself settling down like the others in the bloodline had done before me. Besides, now that I was, well this, who would want to settle with me?
I snorted as the image of Lady Vess swam across my imagination for a moment. That woman would just as soon rip my entrails out than anything romantic.
This mental conversation with myself was a waste of time. I rose from my bed and quickly got dressed in my full gear. If something went south today, I wanted to be prepared for it, and to leave if I needed to. Something in the back of my mind told me that I would need to leave after Vess did whatever she was going to do.
xxxx
The.... Geistmage I think he was called? Well whatever. He looked at me appraisingly. I don’t know if he liked what he saw or not. Honestly, I didn’t care.
Lady Vess approached me with the Chain Veil in her hands. “Take it,” she commanded.
Taking a deep breath, I reached out and touched the Chain Veil. Just before I touched it, I spoke out loud the words in the old tongue that would allow me to seem as if I was Vess to the item. A spark of energy flew from my fingers and as I grabbed hold of the veil there was some minor resistance, but it settled.
Vess looked ecstatic that I was able to even hold it. “Yes yes! Now put it on and we’ll begin!”
I donned the Chain Veil, feeling very silly. Then I sat down in the chair provided as the geistmage and his assistance began to hook wires up to the artifact. In my mind, I felt some resistance as the Chain Veil struggled to figure out if I was indeed Vess. There was a lot of intelligence in this artifact, I almost felt like I should make off with it to see if it had any value. But it seemed dangerous enough that I didn’t quite want to.
“That should do it,” the geistmage said and his assistance went over to a large lever. “Now I should warn you -”
“He doesn’t need to be warned. Just activate the Veil when the power hits Stormborn, I want to see if this will work.” Vess’ eyes glowed slightly purple.
Alright, sounded simple enough. The assistance threw the lever and bolts of electricity came down the wires and into the veil, funneling into a nearby orb, they had called it a Witchbane orb. The electricity burned on my face, and I quickly activated the Veil to see if this experiment could work.
Pure agony filled my being as I tapped into the Veil. Voices whispering in my head that I was the vessel but not the vessel. I cried out in pain.
“Stormborn! Throw a blast my way!”
Through the pain I heard Vess and in a moment of desperation I mustered the power of the ancients and threw a blast of energy at her. I missed her but that wall behind her crumbled into dust. There were spiral marks in my palms where the blast energy coalesced. They were bleeding.
There was a short circuit and the orb we were connected to burnt out, as did the electricity. I sat there in such pain that I was unable to do anything. As soon as I was, I raised my weak arm and threw the Chain Veil from my face.
“I didn’t sign up for torture,” I rasped out.
Vess, calmly reclaimed the veil, reattaching it to her hip. “Oh yes you did, sweetie. You just didn’t know it at the time.” She patted my cheek patronizingly.
The geistmage looked over at the orb. “I don’t think this is usable anymore, miss.”
“It doesn’t matter. The experiment was unsuccessful so you can pack it up and return it to your master tomorrow.”
I shakily stood. “Good. I’ll be leaving now.”
Vess raised an eyebrow at me before waving a hand in dismissal. “You served your purpose. You may leave.”
Very unsteadily, I made my way out the door slowly regaining control of my motor functions. I had in my bag the manual on Leylines from her library, so I wasn’t leaving completely empty handed.
As I left, I absentmindedly pressed my palm against the doorframe of her manor and left a mark. On Ravnica it was a mark for thieves that said there was nothing of value and there was danger here. I doubted anyone would see it, but old habits.
As I stood outside on the path I noticed a distinct lack of corpses. I also noticed something in the sky, massive, hovering over an area almost directly in front of me. It was wrong and it was the source of the wrongness that I felt ever since I had come to Innistrad. As I stared at it in the distance, my eyes connected with it’s massive purple orb in the center. I had no doubt that this was it’s eye and that it was looking at me. Not just direction. At me.
My headache intensified and I started to do the mental exercises that the Izzet had taught me a long time ago to stave it off. That.. Thing.. was the source of my headache I just knew it. Now I just had to make a choice. Go up to this thing? Or try to leave.
“Ain’t she a beauty?” a voice beside me asked. I jumped.
It was the odd man from what seemed like ages ago. “She?” was all I could think of to ask.
“Yep, that there is Emrakul, the last of the known Eldrazi titans. She’s gonna tear up this place but good.”
I gulped. That meant I should probably leave. “Right, so then where’s the next place we’ll be heading towards?”
The man looked at me. “Me? I’ll be going back to my domain. You’re going to head towards her.” he pointed towards the monster in the distance.
I blinked. “Are you mad?”
“Probably. Not the point. There are some more walkers over there I want you to meet. Remember Jace Beleran? So get going.”
For a moment, I considered it. “And if I refuse?”
Suddenly the blade of a scythe was at my throat.
“Then I’ll Reap what I’ve Sown right here if you get my drift.” All at once he and his weapon vanished. I started to reluctantly walk towards the monster.
What powers had I gotten myself involved with?
Rejected Flavor Text:
“Yes, I’d like to return this for a refund, please. Your sales guy assured me it’d keep my patio bug-free, but lately the only thing it’s been zapping is eldritch spirits.”
If I control a witchbane orb and an opponent plays shock, would they still need to be able to target me to redirect at a planeswalker?
Correct — they can’t damage the planeswalker without targeting you.
When they cast they spell, you are not a legal target (because you have hexproof) and neither is the planeswalker (because it’s not a creature or player).
The damage is only redirected if the spell is cast targeting you and resolves.
Witchbane Orb from Innistrad
Art by John Avon
Posting this in case others have similar questions. (By the way, if you guys ever want me to answer something privately, just say so.)
I have questions about hexproof. Specifically player hexproof such as the card Witchbane Orb gives you in relations to milling effects.
Would it prevent you from being milled when someone uses Psychic Strike and things like that? I assume that a card like Mind Sculpt just generally wouldn’t work but are there any situations where having hexproof wouldn’t work the way a novice might assume?
Would you please provide an overview of how hexproof works? Thank you!
— youdontknowshitaboutcats
Hexproof works exactly the same for players as it does for creatures: it stops them being targeted. It doesn't stop anything else. Just as you can do things to a creature that has hexproof by using things that don't target it (like Day of Judgment, or Unforge), you can do things to a player that has hexproof by using things that don't target them (like Exsanguinate, or Assassin's Strike).
"You have hexproof" simply means "you can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control."
That's it. It doesn't stop you from being attacked, milled, dealt damage, etc. It just stops you from being targeted.
Psychic Strike isn't affected in any way by you having hexproof. Psychic Strike targets a spell, not a player. When Psychic Strike resolves, it will counter its target and mill you (if you're the target's controller) for 2.
Mind Sculpt targets an opponent. If you have hexproof, you're not a legal target for Mind Sculpt. Your opponent can't legally cast Mind Sculpt targeting you if you have hexproof. If you somehow gain hexproof in response to someone casting Mindsculpt targeting you, then when Mind Sculpt tries to resolve, it will "fizzle" (be countered by the game because its target is illegal).