State of the Program for June 3rd 2016

In the News:

Legacy Festival Begins Next Downtime: The Legacy gauntlet will begin with the next downtime. Still no list of decks. A week later, Eternal Masters launches. Finally, the Legacy League turns into a qualifier for the Legacy Champs. What details we have so far are The Legacy gauntlet will begin with the next downtime. Still no list of decks. A week later, Eternal Masters launches. Finally, the Legacy League turns into a qualifier for the Legacy Champs. What details we have so far are here

Late Breaking News: Wizards has announced the Legacy Gauntlet decks. The Gauntlet includes Miracles, Shardless BUG, Storm, Sneak and Show, Reanimator, Lands, Death and Taxes, RUG Delver, Punishing Knight, Infect, Elves, Grixis Pyromancer, Painter’s Stone, and Eldrazi. Decklists Wizards has announced the Legacy Gauntlet decks. The Gauntlet includes Miracles, Shardless BUG, Storm, Sneak and Show, Reanimator, Lands, Death and Taxes, RUG Delver, Punishing Knight, Infect, Elves, Grixis Pyromancer, Painter’s Stone, and Eldrazi. Decklists here

Wizards Releases (Some) Results of Latest Poll: Wizards gave us some information on the responses to the last poll on leagues. The article gives us almost no actual results data. Wizards just claims a positive response to leagues, and recaps their advantages. Wizards is also launching a new poll. Article and link to survey Wizards gave us some information on the responses to the last poll on leagues. The article gives us almost no actual results data. Wizards just claims a positive response to leagues, and recaps their advantages. Wizards is also launching a new poll. Article and link to survey here

Wizards Stops Support for Gaming Conventions: In years past, Wizards had a huge presence at conventions, like GenCon and Origins. Events from Vintage Champs to the Amateur Championships were held at the cons. New products like FtV sets were launched there, and Wizards employees manned booths and were on the event floor. Wizards also supported Magic at the events. This year, Wizards has completely withdrawn from GenCon, and apparently other cons as well. They will not even pay part of the cost of floor space. As I understand it, the TO will now have to pay all the costs of the convention, from tables to judges to product. Wizards, as I understand it, is not even providing the minimal support they provide to a brick and mortar store that runs Game Day. This despite the fact that thousands of players had their first experience with Magic at GenCon, and that every GenCon introduces a couple thousand new players to tournament play.

The Timeline:

This is a list of things we have been promised, or we just want to see coming back. Another good source for dates and times is the MTGO calendar and the weekly blog, while the best source for known bugs is the Known Issues List . For quick reference, here are some major upcoming events. In addition, there are either one or two online PTQs each weekend, with qualifiers running the three days prior to the PTQ.

Item: date and notes

· Power Nine Challenge: Last Saturday of the month, at 11am Pacific. Next one June 25th.

· Legacy Challenge: Second Saturday of the month, at 11am Pacific. Next one June 11th.

· No Downtime on: June 8 and June 22

· League End Dates: all current leagues end July 27, 2016

· Legacy Gauntlet: June 8 through 16

· Eternal Masters: June 16 through July 6. Details : June 16 through July 6. Details here

· Legacy Championship Qualifiers: July 6 through July 20

· Legacy Championship: July 24

· Eldritch Moon Prerelease: July 29-August 1. Details : July 29-August 1. Details here

· Kaladesh Prerelease: October 7-10, on sale October 10th. Product code KLD.

· From the Vault Lore: releases online October 10, 2016.

· Aether Revolt: January 2017 release

Flashback Schedule:

Flashback drafts are 10Tix / 100 Play Points / 2 Tix plus product, not Phantom, single elim and pay out in play points: 200 for first, 100 for second, 50 for third and fourth.

· Triple Lorwyn: June 1 to June 8

· 2 Lorwyn, Morningtide: June 8 to June 15

· Triple Shadowmoor: June 15 to June 22

· 2 Shadowmoor, Eventide: June 22 to June 29

· Triple Shards of Alara: June 29 to July 6

· 2 Shards, Conflux: July 6 to July 13

· Shards, Conflux, Alara Reborn: July 13 to July 20

· Triple Magic 2010: July 20 to July 27

· Triple Zendikar: August 17 to August 24

· 2 Zendikar, Worldwake: August 24 to August 31

· Triple Rise of the Eldrazi: August 31 to September 7

· Triple Magic 2011: September 7 to September 14

· Triple Scars of Mirrodin: September 14 to September 21

· Mirrodin Besieged, 2 Scars of Mirrodin: September 21 to September 28

· New Phyrexia, Mirrodin Besieged, Scars of Mirrodin: September 28 to October 5

· Triple Innistrad: October 26 to November 2

· Dark Ascension, 2 Innistrad: November 2 to November 9

· Triple Magic 2012: November 9 to November 16

· Triple Avacyn Restored: November 16 to November 23

· Triple Magic 2013: November 23 to November 30

· Triple Return to Ravnica: November 30 to December 7

· Triple Gatecrash: December 7 to December 14

· Dragon’s Maze, Gatecrash, Return to Ravnica: December 14 to December 21

Opinion Section: Crunching Numbers on Eternal Masters

The Eternal Masters spoilers are over. We know the entire card list. We know what Wizards included, and did not include.

So how do I feel about this? I hate it. I am really, really disappointed. After looking at Eternal Masters, plus Modern Masters and Modern Masters 2015, and at Wizards reprints in recent sets, I have to conclude that Wizards has no intention of ever reprinting enough cards to make Eternal formats viable. They will “withhold” so many cards for “future use” that none of the reprint sets like Eternal Masters will ever make Legacy and Vintage more than small niche formats. And I’m not talking about the Reserve List – I’m talking about the non-reserve cards that could easily be reprinted, but are not. Apparently Wizards is fine with the idea that the average Legacy deck will cost thousands of dollars, excluding reserve list cards. Wizards seems fine with the idea that reprintable commons and uncommons are over a hundred dollars a playset. I think Wizards is making a mistake, but I don’t think things are going to change.

How strongly do I feel this? I sold off all my paper Power cards, and am selling off paper original duals lands and Legacy staples. I may keep a few decks, but I just don’t see much future for the older Eternal formats. I may keep playing the formats online, but I’m not investing. I sold off my digital Doomsdays when they were well over $50 apiece, but I have not bought them back, even when they dropped below $15.

Now I get that Wizards cannot print a reprint set with nothing but chase cards. If they did, the EV of cracking those packs would be way above their cost, so stores and dealers would never sell the packs to the public. They would just crack them all and sell the singles – at a profit. But this set is nowhere close to that level. In paper, the EV of the packs is slightly below the retail price. Online, the EV is under $6, a buck and change below the retail price. I also ran the numbers using prices from mid‑March, back before the set was spoiled. The numbers looked better, but a huge part of those better numbers came from cards like Daze pulling the average commons value way above the $0.01 that 90% of the commons in the set retail for. Here’s the breakdown.

Online, there are just nine cards in Eternal Masters worth more than the cost of the pack. They are Toxic Deluge, Winter Orb, Daze, Enlightened Tutor, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Sneak Attack, Maze of Ith, Force of Will, and Wasteland. That’s not much. It makes EM a true lottery.

Dismember, The set is not a complete EV bust, but Wizards could so easily have added just a little bit more. Most importantly, Wizards could have put in a few of the format-staple commons that are not yet at super-high prices, but will get there. Cards like Gitaxian Probe Spell Snare and Simian Spirit Guide . These are all in the $2-$5 range, in paper and online. They would not have seriously skewed the EV of the set, but might have kept these cards from turning into $15 commons and uncommons. Or Wizards could have added just a couple moderate-value rares, like Creeping Tar Pit . Just something to show that Wizards actually wants to keep formats affordable, even if it means seeing some prices actually decrease.

That’s not all that has me unhappy about Eternal Masters.

The second card I am going to gripe about is Duress . Now Duress is a fine card, and is highly playable in all Eternal formats. However, Duress has been in something like five of the last six core sets, and special sets, and so forth. If EM needed a one mana discard spell, why not Thoughtseize ? Thoughtseize just rotated out of Standard, so the price is not that high. Including it would help availability without hurting dealers very much. Or if the set needed a one mana discard spell at common, how about Inquisition of Kozilek ? It is very expensive in both paper and online, and very hard to find in smaller stores. It needs a reprint. Duress, frankly, does not.

Then we have Fog . An actual one green mana, “creatures deal no damage” Fog. Mark Rosewater likes to talk about why Wizards puts “skill tester” cards in sets – but Fog, and in a set like EM? Is Fog included because the set needs an answer to Reckless Charge and Overrun effects? If so, why not reprint less generic versions? We could have Undergrowth or Snag , neither of which have appeared online before. We could have had Respite or (Moment’s Peace) or Lull or Constant Mists . Why yet another version of the most generic, most often reprinted card of this type?

And this brings us to the card that started me on this rant: Serra Angel . Not a clone or functional reprint – actual Serra Angel. Serra Angel, which was in the very first Magic set: Alpha. More importantly, it was in every core set since (except Fifth.) Serra Angel has been reprinted in paper 25 times, not including oversized and not-tournament-legal versions. We have seen 14 versions on MTGO. The card is everywhere. I used to “collect” them – basically I just sorted them out of piles of draft leftovers, etc., and gave them away to everyone at events I ran, just for fun. I still have a huge stack left over. If there is one card that we are not short of in the Eternal formats, other than basic lands, it is probably Serra Angel.

Reprints and Reprints: I know that Eternal Masters is a reprint set. That’s a given. However, that does not mean that Wizards had to give us cards that have already been reprinted over and over. Serra Angel is just the worst offender – the set is full of cards that are in no way scarce. Take Llanowar Elves for example. Why Llanowar Elves instead of Fyndhorn Elves? Fyndhorn Elves is a functional reprint – the exact same card with different name. Lawnmower elves have been in twelve core sets and several special set. Fyndhorn Elves were in Ice Age, and were a “Mythic” in FtV 20, but have never been otherwise reprinted in paper. Fyndhorn Elves sell for maybe $0.50 in the paper world, compared to $0.25 for Lawnmowers. Why not reprint the Fyndhorns, instead of giving us yet another copy of something that already has a bazillion copies in circulation?

I did not run the numbers for paper, but I did go through the entire EM list and count the number of online reprints for each card. By reprints, here, I mean the number of times after its first introduction online. Online, Fyndhorn Elves appeared in Masters Edition, then was reprinted in Vintage Masters, as a promo and in FTV Twenty. Thus, online, Fyndhorn Elves has been “reprinted” three times online.

Here’s how Eternal Masters breaks down, in terms of online reprints.

The set could have been so much more. So many of these cards are standard, generic cards, widely available bulk commons, for which an equivalent older variants exist and is in need of a reprint. It really feels like Wizards phoned this one in. When they made a list of needed limited effects – stuff like a Gravedigger effect, a Pacifism effect, a Fog, a Wrath, a Llanowar Elf, a counterspell, they gave us Gravedigger, Pacifism, Fog, Wrath of God, Llanowar Elf and Counterspell. An hour or two with Gatherer could have made this set so much more interesting. It’s like R&D was not even trying.

Or maybe Wizards put all their effort into making limited game play absolutely insane. Let’s hope that’s it.

Judge Question of the Week:

I have been training new judges for many years, and part of that training involves setting out scenarios and problems that teach various parts of the rules. They start simple – i.e. a creature with trample is blocked by a creature with protection – and get harder as they go. The goal is to determine what areas of the rules I need to teach, and what my candidate already knows. And to have some fun. Here we go.

This one came up at GP Minneapolis. It was judge call, and once it was over, one of the players suggested making it the Judge Question of the Day. I agree.

Andy has a 1/1 Soldier token enchanted with Gryff’s Boon in play. Andy casts Descend upon the Sinful . Prior to casting it, Andy had a land, an instant and several creatures in his graveyard – one type short of Delirium. His opponent, Nicolette, has several creatures in play, but no responses. When Descent resolves, Andy goes to put a 4/4 Angel token into play. Nicolette objects, saying that Descent does not count, so Andy does not have delirium. Andy counters that he has Land, Creature, Instant and Enchantment (the Gryff’s Boon) in the graveyard, so he gets the angel token. The Boon counts because the creature it was enchanting was exiled, so it went to the graveyard.

Who’s right?

As always, there are no relevant cards not mentioned. FYI: Andy and Nicolette are not their real names. Judge questions, especially those on judge tests, always invent names for the players. The active player’s name always starts with “A.” The non-active player’s name always starts with “N.” Wizards has a random name generator that produces A and N names.

Cutting Edge Tech:

Standard: Last weekend we had two Standard GPs: GP Minneapolis and GP Manchester. Coverage of GP Minneapolis is : Last weekend we had two Standard GPs: GP Minneapolis and GP Manchester. Coverage of GP Minneapolis is here . Coverage of GP Manchester is here . And the deck of the week has to be the GW Tokens deck that splashed for Chandra without splashing red. Seriously.

Modern: Last weekend, I played UB Mill in a side event. The deck is a blast, and won me a box of boosters. I wrote a mini tournament report in the Weekly Highlights section, below. It’s worth the read. Note that the Crypt Incursion in the sideboard is because I could not find a fourth Set Adrift.

Vintage: The VSL Season 5 has begun. More importantly, the Bazaar of Moxen was played in Annecy last weekend. The winning deck is another humans variant with Scab-Clan Berserkers.

Card Prices:

Note: all my prices come from the fine folks at MTGOTraders.com . These are retail prices, and generally the price of the lowest priced, actively traded version. (Prices for some rare promo versions are not updated when not in stock, so I skip those.) You can get these cards at MTGOTraders.com web store, or from their bots: MTGOTradersBot(#) (they have bots 1-10), CardCaddy and CardWareHouse, or sell cards to MTGOTradersBuyBot(#) (they have buybots 1-4). I have bought cards from MTGOTraders for over a decade now, and have never been overcharged or disappointed.

Standard staples: Standard is rebounding this week. We are still seeing the reaction to recent Standard GPs. It should continue to be interesting.

Modern staples: Modern is a bit more reasonable this week. The lands opened in recent flashbacks took some hits, but that won’t last. We also know the list for Eternal Masters, and know that EM won’t affect this list.

Legacy and Vintage: Legacy and Vintage are mixed this week. Eternal Masters is now out. Not a lot of effect – I wonder if people are thinking it won’t matter because the EV is so low people won’t draft it.

Set Redemption: You can redeem complete sets on MTGO. You need to purchase a redemption voucher from the store for $25. During the next downtime, Wizards removes a complete set from your account and sends you the same set in paper.

Complete Set Price Last Week Change % Change Battle for Zendikar $76.67 $72.05 $4.62 6% Dragons of Tarkir $127.95 $129.94 ($1.99) -2% Magic Origins $125.09 $122.20 $2.89 2% Oath of the Gatewatch $123.58 $122.88 $0.70 1% Shadows over Innistrad $88.30 $97.71 ($9.41) -10%

The Good Stuff:

The following is a list of all the non-promo, non-foil cards on MTGO that retail for more than $25 per card. These are the big ticket items in the world of MTGO. Worth promised to up the supply of some needed cards seems to be happening, Eternal Masters is looking good. That said, the list grew by a half dozen cards this week.

Name Set Rarity Price Rishadan Port MM Rare $ 197.16 Black Lotus VMA Bonus $ 149.36 Liliana of the Veil ISD Mythic Rare $ 98.67 Misdirection MM Rare $ 84.90 Mox Sapphire VMA Bonus $ 63.41 Tarmogoyf FUT Rare $ 57.41 Wasteland TE Uncommon $ 55.31 Wasteland TPR Rare $ 54.59 Show and Tell UZ Rare $ 52.97 Tangle Wire NE Rare $ 51.64 Tarmogoyf MMA Mythic Rare $ 50.87 Ancestral Recall VMA Bonus $ 50.44 Mox Jet VMA Bonus $ 49.34 Tarmogoyf MM2 Mythic Rare $ 47.60 City of Traitors TPR Rare $ 46.11 City of Traitors EX Rare $ 46.02 Infernal Tutor DIS Rare $ 45.50 Gaea's Cradle UZ Rare $ 42.06 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy ORI Mythic Rare $ 40.64 Cavern of Souls AVR Rare $ 39.24 Scalding Tarn ZEN Rare $ 38.50 Mox Ruby VMA Bonus $ 38.26 Lion's Eye Diamond MI Rare $ 38.07 Exploration UZ Rare $ 38.01 Voice of Resurgence DGM Mythic Rare $ 37.85 Food Chain MM Rare $ 37.75 Underground Sea ME2 Rare $ 37.35 Time Walk VMA Bonus $ 37.25 Grove of the Burnwillows FUT Rare $ 36.62 Volcanic Island ME3 Rare $ 35.45 Volcanic Island ME4 Rare $ 35.13 Mox Emerald VMA Bonus $ 34.91 Verdant Catacombs ZEN Rare $ 34.64 Containment Priest C14 Rare $ 33.71 Underground Sea ME4 Rare $ 33.51 Volcanic Island VMA Rare $ 33.34 Batterskull NPH Mythic Rare $ 32.86 Mox Pearl VMA Bonus $ 32.84 Griselbrand AVR Mythic Rare $ 32.84 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet OGW Mythic Rare $ 32.70 Containment Priest PZ1 Rare $ 32.48 Mox Opal SOM Mythic Rare $ 32.30 Mox Opal MM2 Mythic Rare $ 31.54 Ensnaring Bridge ST Rare $ 30.84 Force of Will MED Rare $ 30.75 Underground Sea VMA Rare $ 30.74 Inkmoth Nexus MBS Rare $ 30.13 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar BFZ Mythic Rare $ 29.93 Scapeshift MOR Rare $ 29.25 Horizon Canopy FUT Rare $ 29.25 Ensnaring Bridge 8ED Rare $ 28.94 Ensnaring Bridge 7E Rare $ 28.57 Undiscovered Paradise VI Rare $ 27.86 Blood Moon MMA Rare $ 27.83 Blood Moon 9ED Rare $ 27.81 Lion's Eye Diamond VMA Mythic Rare $ 27.70 Blood Moon 8ED Rare $ 27.16 Collected Company DTK Rare $ 26.62 Celestial Colonnade WWK Rare $ 26.38 Unmask MM Rare $ 26.06 Force of Will VMA Rare $ 25.56 Misty Rainforest ZEN Rare $ 25.42

The big number is the retail price of a playset (4 copies) of every card available on MTGO. Assuming you bought the least expensive versions available, the cost of owning a playset of every card on MTGO is $ 27,490. That’s up about $730 from last week’s number.

Weekly Highlights:

I went to GP Minneapolis last weekend. Ingrid was judging, I was not. I ended up in several drafts, a couple Standard events and one Modern event. Surprisingly, I came home with more loot than I would have got judging, which is nice. Also a couple nice stories, but the one I want to tell now is the Modern event. I had decided to try this deck.

I went to the GP short a few cards – most notably a couple Manic Scribes and the Set Adrifts. I was able to draft a Scribe, but could only buy two Set Adrifts, leaving me one short. Still, the deck looked like fun. I had played an Archive Trap deck back when it was Standard legal, but I had not played it since. I entered the four round event without even playing a test game.

Preparation is overrated.

Round one I played a very nice opponent with a fairly standard Zoo deck. He won the die roll and got off to a very fast start. He was also careful to play around Archive Trap, but I managed to get some Hedron Crabs and so forth in play, and milled away about a third of his library. My life total was getting low, so I had to chump with the crab. He used Ghor-Clan Rampager to give his dude +4/+4 and trample, which would have been lethal. Once the Bloodrush resolved, however, I used one of the cards that has made this deck a ton better: Crypt Incursion . I gained 24 life and tons of time. Game two I got a Profane Memento into play and gained even more life. Really nice opponent, but zoo is a really good matchup for me.

Game two I faced an opponent with a very strange brew. He was basically a RW control deck with a bunch of Planeswalkers and oddities like Ricochet Trap. He clearly knew his deck. I was a bit worried – which changed to very worried when the fifth card I milled was Emrakul. I saw more of his deck, but I can only beat an Eldrazi game one if I can exile it with Crypt Incursion with the shuffle trigger on the stack. That almost worked – but then he hit the second Emrakul.

I sideboarded in the Surgical Extractions and Extirpates, and prepared to win game two. I sided out the Jace’s Phantasms because he had Wrath of God and Path to Exile, and the Ensnaring Bridges because the only creatures I saw were Squadron Hawks. Like I said, an interesting brew. I think he went undefeated.

Game two went as planned – I milled Emrakul, and extracted them with the trigger on the stack. I was then able to mill him out. The deck has a lot of synergy: in this game, it was Mesmeric Orb milling me to give Manic Scribe Delirium.

Game three proved that preparation would have been a good thing. He dropped a fast Leyline of Sanctity and I realized I had forgotten to bring in the Set Adrifts. Set Adrift can put the Leyline on top of the library. That lets you mill it, then hit it with Extirpate or Surgical Extraction. At least, it does so if you remember to side in the Set Adrifts.

The third match was a lot of fun for the people watching. My opponent was pretty salty. He complained heavily about my “unfair” deck. Have I mentioned he was playing Tron? The spectators were enjoying the irony. Early game one I got a couple cards in play, while he made comments like “what does that even do?” Then he resolved Sylvan Scrying, and I played Archive Trap. He read it and said “That mills me for 13? That’s stupid.” I then played the second copy, leading to a bunch of comments about “god draws.” However, he was pretty slow, while I drew a Visions from Beyond into another one, plus more mill. He lost.

This time I read my sideboard cards, and thought about the matchup. He had helpfully told me that he was no longer playing Eldrazi, so I didn’t have to worry about them. (Actually, he said “if I was still playing Emrakul, you would just effing lose.” but I appreciated the info either way.) I still sided in the Surgical Extractions and Extirpates.

After some quiet swearing and grumbling, he asked the judge if he could just add his entire sideboard to his deck. That is legal now, so he did. It was a tall stack. I wished him luck. He grumbled.

Here was my opening hand: Watery Grave, fetchland, Hedron Crab, Extract, Surgical Extraction, Mind Funeral, Mesmeric Orb. I kept. He got the god draw. Here’s our game.

His turn one: Play Urza’s Tower, Expedition Map, go.

My turn one: draw Island. Play Watery Grave untapped, Hedron Crab, go.

His turn two: Play Urza’s Power Plant, crack Expedition Map for Urza’s Mine, go.

(Here’s where I got lucky.)

My turn two: Play fetchland. Mill three cards, break fetchland for Swamp, mill three more cards – including an Urza’s Mine. Read Surgical Extraction carefully. Cast Surgical Extraction targeting Urza’s Mine. He reads Surgical Extraction. He makes some comments about god draws and swears a bit, then concedes and storms off.

The onlookers were totally enjoying the show.

The prize structure was built to allow players at 2-1 to split the final round evenly, since this was one of the last events on Sunday. The TO would have been happy to see us all leave, but my opponent wanted to play it out. I was fine with that.

My opponent won the die roll and played an elf. I played a Hedron Crab. My opponent played another elf, then more elves, then used Chord of Calling to get a Dryad Arbor. I played another land and a Mesmeric Orb. That milled him three on my turn, and another half dozen on his upkeep. He dropped more elves on turn three, while I just played a land and cast Mind Funeral (so good against a low land count deck.) He attacked for some, and played an elf lord – but between Mind Funeral and the Mesmeric Orb, I was milling away. I dropped my fourth land and passed, at ten or so. He untapped (milling more cards), pumped his team and attacked for ten more life than I had. I cast Crypt Incursion in response, eating a bunch of creatures and going up to 30 something. I drew for the turn, played a Visions from Beyond into a Glimpse and activated a Shelldock Isle which has another Mind Funeral under it. That left him with a half dozen cards in his library, which Mesmeric Orb took care of.

I sideboarded in the last Crypt Incursion.

Once again, he got off to a fast start, but his early Chord activated my pair of Archive Traps. Once again, he tapped a ton of permanents to build his board, and Mesmeric Orb did a lot of work. The deciding turn (turn five or six, IIRC) came when he cast Collected Company into Eternal Witness, targeting a second Elvish Archdruid . That Archdruid would have been lethal. However, my Crypt Incursion removed that Archdruid, plus ten other creatures, from the graveyard. I went from 11 to 44 life, and won pretty handily from there.

The deck is so much fun. When I get a chance, I will take it into a league. Or six.

PRJ

“One Million Words” and “3MWords” on MTGO

This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.

HammyBot Super Sale: HammyBot was set up to sell off Erik Friborg’s collection, with all proceeds going to his wife and son. So far, HammyBot has raised over $8,000, but there are a lot of cards left in the collection. Those cards are being sold at MTGOTrader’s Buy Price.

Answer to the Judge Question of the Week:

Andy has a 1/1 Soldier token enchanted with Gryff’s Boon in play. Andy casts Descend Upon the Sinful . Prior to casting it, Andy had a land, an instant and several creatures in his graveyard – one type short of Delirium. His opponent, Nicolette, has several creatures in play, but no responses. When Descent resolves, Andy goes to put a 4/4 Angel token into play. Nicolette objects, saying that Descent does not count, so Andy does not have delirium. Andy counters that he has Land, Creature, Instant and Enchantment (the Gryff’s Boon) in the graveyard, so he gets the angel token. The Boon counts because the creature it was enchanting was exiled, so it went to the graveyard.

Who’s right?

Nicolette is right. Descent does not count itself, of course. You resolve all parts of the spell, then put the card into the graveyard as the very last step of resolution. The Descent is not in the graveyard when it checks for Delirium. The same is true of Gryff’s Boon. Once the creature it was enchanting is gone, Gryff’s Boon is indeed headed for the graveyard. However, what will put it there is a State Based Action (SBA). SBA’s include things like “if a creature has lethal damage, destroy it” and “if a player attempts to draw from an empty library, that player loses the game.” The SBA that is relevant here is “if an aura is present on the battlefield and not enchanting a legal permanent, it goes to the graveyard.”

SBAs are checked any time a player would get priority. At that point, if anything would cause an SBA to happen, it happens. However, SBAs do not happen during the resolution of a spell. So, the way this plays out:

· Descend starts to resolve.

· All creatures are exiled.

· Delirium is checked, but Andy only has three card types in the graveyard at the moment so nothing happens.

· Descend goes the graveyard.