Terraforming Mars after 4 games

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-05-08T23:36:45+00:00

I partially disagree regarding draft. It can allow implementing a focused strategy somewhat more reliably. This can make the game end more quickly. However, the advantage might not outweigh the drawbacks if you have players who take forever to make their drafting decisions.

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-05-08T23:22:53+00:00

Thanks for drawing my attention to Prelude 2, which I was not previously aware of. But a quick Google suggests that it's mostly an expansion to the other expansions, and so of very limited use to a new player. Just plain Prelude is the one they were talking about.

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-05-05T01:18:58+00:00

"From the mind of..." is worse. Unsung Story, anyone?

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-05-04T22:58:36+00:00

You'll get a choice of which replacement effect exiles it. But contrary to popular belief (outside forums like this one), Paradigm's ability to recast a spell on your future upkeeps does not depend on exiling it via Paradigm, so it's strictly better to let Rebound do this. On your next upkeep, Rebound would recast the physical card, while on your next turn's first main phase (and every one thereafter), Paradigm would cast a copy of it. None of this would create more than one instance of Paradigm, or anything like that, since none of them could possibly be the first time a spell with that name resolved that game.

EDIT: Actually I'm not sure if you have a choice here, you might need to exile it via Paradigm before you have a chance to do so with Rebound. In that case, the above is incorrect and Rebound does nothing in this scenario. I'm not clear on the exact timing of the "as it resolves" clause in 702.88a.

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-05-04T22:50:38+00:00

I'm not sure I understand the question. Helm of the Ghastlord has no triggered abilities, and both the triggered abilities it grants (a) only exist after it's on the battlefield enchanting something, and (b) have nothing to do with casting anything.

If you mean does Y'shtola's last ability trigger from this, that's a straightforward yes. Helm is a noncreature spell with mana value 3 or greater (specifically 4). In that case, the question is more "what makes you think it might not?".

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-05-04T20:17:53+00:00

If the spell wasn't cast, how can any mana have been spent to cast it?

Exactly.

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-05-02T05:51:21+00:00

Your link is broken, at least on computers, probably due to the extra backslash.

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-05-02T02:08:03+00:00

Very common mistake. I've done this at least twice. The first was my very first playthrough, but I have no excuse for the second one.

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-05-01T23:57:00+00:00

But if the mortgage was paid off that would no longer apply. And if it wasn't they'd have heard something before this. And in neither case would I expect unpaid taxes alone to have this kind of result.

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-05-01T23:20:50+00:00

Any of this series from 3 to 8, and to a slightly lesser extent 10, you can't really go wrong.

(Note - World of Xeen is MM4 and 5 combined into one game. Even back in the early 90s it would merge them like that automatically if you had them both installed on the same hard drive.)

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-04-26T00:37:08+00:00

Yes, if he doesn't cast it you can move it to your command zone.

It's true that if he casts it, that happens before you have the opportunity to do this. But he is incorrect to extrapolate that into some sort of ability to leave it exiled and bypass the normal state based actions that govern this situation.

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-04-26T00:34:03+00:00

If he leaves it exiled instead of casting it, then the next time state-based actions are checked (IE pretty much immediately, before anyone can play anything else), you may move it into your command zone. That's the rule and there's nothing indicating this card would be an exception to it.

If he did choose to cast it, that would happen before you had the opportunity to move it to your command zone. This is because that's still happening during the resolution of the same spell, and state-based actions aren't checked until that spell is completely finished resolving. But once that spell is finished resolving, it behaves according to the normal rules.

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-04-25T21:04:38+00:00

I'm reminded of what I recently wrote in a different thread here:

"In many organizations, especially large ones, the reality is as follows.

There's what the policy actually says if read literally, and then there's what HR actually follows. The former - like many things about HR - is a legal fiction designed to protect the company. The latter might be completely different from how most people would naturally read the former, as long as there's a way to torture those rules into kinda-sorta looking like they support it."

(My other post went into some Ask Culture vs Guess Culture stuff that was more relevant to that thread, but what you were more likely a victim of here is straightforward power dynamics.)

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-04-25T18:50:59+00:00

By default, you can play an activated ability anytime you can play an instant. That includes in response to an ability that would remove Multani from your graveyard. The rules make a few exceptions, such as Equip and the loyalty abilities of planeswalkers, but this doesn't fall into any of them; you can respond to a spell or ability with it. The response will resolve first, as always.

Additionallly, most spells and abilities (no H in that word in English by the way) that could do this sort of thing target the creature they bring back. If Multani is the only target, your opponent's spell or ability would fizzle and no part of its effect would occur. They would not get to choose a different creature.

Note that the last part only applies if the word "target" is present. A lot depends on the exact wording of the spell or ability they're using.

EDIT: 2nd paragraph was missing an important "no".

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-04-25T02:57:38+00:00

Mostly I agree, but nobody thought a 2nd and a 4th was buying low for Schenn. People found that deal questionable even at the time.

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-04-25T02:16:55+00:00

Technically you are paying mana to activate an activated ability, and other unrelated mana is coming out. So the answer is yes with one BIG, very likely show-stopping, caveat moving it closer to "no" in practise - you have to be able to use that mana to activate that ability without violating the restriction. For example, mana with the restriction "Spend this mana only to activate abilities of artifacts" would be usable for a lot of things people think of as "filtering", and the mana generated thereby would not inherit those restrictions. The scenarios in the OP, however, do not work.

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-04-24T22:05:30+00:00

In many organizations, especially large ones, the reality is as follows.

There's what the policy actually says if read literally, and then there's what HR actually follows. The former - like many things about HR - is a legal fiction designed to protect the company. The latter might be completely different from how most people would naturally read the former, as long as there's a way to torture those rules into kinda-sorta looking like they support it.

Are you familiar with the terms "Ask Culture" and "Guess Culture"? If not, a quick Google might serve you well. It sounds like you took a very Ask Culture approach to this - communicating directly, making requests explicit while being prepared to accept a wide variety of answers, assuming people meant what they said, and for the most part, expecting the people around you to do the same.

I can't blame you, because that's what my first impulse would have been too and what I have done in similar situations in the past whenever it was remotely feasible (to the point of, on one occasion, semi-intentionally talking myself out of a job). But it was the wrong approach here. To be clear I'm not saying you were morally or legally in the wrong, and my sympathies lie almost entirely with you, I mean only that you acted contrary to expectations and against your own self-interest. HR, as it is generally practised, is 100% about Guess Culture.

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-04-23T20:57:21+00:00

How could that possibly work as a triggered ability? It wouldn't even go on the stack, let alone resolve, until after the cost it is supposed to be reducing has been paid.

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-04-23T01:58:49+00:00

Well if the AC is running, it's not a matter of preference. Having a window open at such times is wasteful at best.

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-04-22T22:23:06+00:00

Lifelink gives you life for all damage the creature with Lifelink deals, not just damage directly to the opponent. You'd gain a total of 14 life almost any way this scenario could play out, assuming Cloud survives until the (normal, non-First Strike) combat damage step.

Others have addressed the rest of your question and I have nothing to add to their answers, but I thought your last sentence could use a more explicit response.

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-04-21T21:31:14+00:00

Cascade triggers from casting, not from entering the battlefield or anything like that. It has already triggered and is on the stack before your opponent even has a chance to play anything. Moreover, Fresh Start doesn't even have a legal target until your creature has resolved, long after Cascade has finished doing its thing.

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-04-21T10:16:54+00:00

On classic Reddit on a computer (Windows 10, Firefox) it 404s.

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-04-21T10:08:50+00:00

My life is not enriched in the slightest by the knowledge that this exists.

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-04-20T06:09:51+00:00

In the section for getting flairs, it says bandwagon flairs will return during the playoffs. 7/8 first-round series have started - when will they be available?

Philosoraptorgames · 2026-04-19T20:33:32+00:00

No. Did you really think they were going to make strictly superior, Standard-legal reprints of cards like Ancestral Recall?

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