If one of my opponents has Lord of Extinction in their graveyard when I cast Szat's Will, what does Will "see" when looking for creature's power? Is it the number of cards that were present in graveyards before Lord was exiled, or only the cards still present after (just my graveyard)?
To make the scenario even more specific, let's say I have two cards in my graveyard, and my opponents have a total of ten cards in their graveyards, the only creature cards being Lord of Extinction and a Raging Goblin. How many Thrulls are created? 12 from Lord's power when the spell began to resolve? 2 from Lord's power after it and all other opponents' cards were exiled? Something else?
Does the answer change if Lord was on the battlefield and I chose both modes, causing an opponent to first sacrifice it and then exile it?
Szat's Will vs Lord of Extinction
Accepted Answer
The cards present at the time you apply the "create X 0/1 black Thrull creature tokens, where X is the greatest power among creature cards exiled this way" instruction. This is after exiling.all cards from all opponents' graveyards.Settemio wrote: ↑3 years agoIf one of my opponents has Lord of Extinction in their graveyard when I cast Szat's Will, what does Will "see" when looking for creature's power? Is it the number of cards that were present in graveyards before Lord was exiled, or only the cards still present after (just my graveyard)?
608.2c The controller of the spell or ability follows its instructions in the order written. However,
replacement effects may modify these actions. In some cases, later text on the card may modify
the meaning of earlier text (for example, "Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated" or
"Counter target spell. If that spell is countered this way, put it on top of its owner's library
instead of into its owner's graveyard.") Don't just apply effects step by step without thinking in
these cases—read the whole text and apply the rules of English to the text.
608.2g If an effect requires information from the game (such as the number of creatures on the
battlefield), the answer is determined only once, when the effect is applied. If the effect requires
information from a specific object, including the source of the ability itself, the effect uses the
current information of that object if it's in the public zone it was expected to be in; if it's no
longer in that zone, or if the effect has moved it from a public zone to a hidden zone, the effect
uses the object's last known information. See rule 113.7a. If an ability states that an object does
something, it's the object as it exists—or as it most recently existed—that does it, not the
ability.
2Settemio wrote: ↑3 years agoTo make the scenario even more specific, let's say I have two cards in my graveyard, and my opponents have a total of ten cards in their graveyards, the only creature cards being Lord of Extinction and a Raging Goblin. How many Thrulls are created? 12 from Lord's power when the spell began to resolve? 2 from Lord's power after it and all other opponents' cards were exiled? Something else?
No.
The cards present at the time you apply the "create X 0/1 black Thrull creature tokens, where X is the greatest power among creature cards exiled this way" instruction. This is after exiling.all cards from all opponents' graveyards.Settemio wrote: ↑3 years agoIf one of my opponents has Lord of Extinction in their graveyard when I cast Szat's Will, what does Will "see" when looking for creature's power? Is it the number of cards that were present in graveyards before Lord was exiled, or only the cards still present after (just my graveyard)?
608.2c The controller of the spell or ability follows its instructions in the order written. However,
replacement effects may modify these actions. In some cases, later text on the card may modify
the meaning of earlier text (for example, "Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated" or
"Counter target spell. If that spell is countered this way, put it on top of its owner's library
instead of into its owner's graveyard.") Don't just apply effects step by step without thinking in
these cases—read the whole text and apply the rules of English to the text.
608.2g If an effect requires information from the game (such as the number of creatures on the
battlefield), the answer is determined only once, when the effect is applied. If the effect requires
information from a specific object, including the source of the ability itself, the effect uses the
current information of that object if it's in the public zone it was expected to be in; if it's no
longer in that zone, or if the effect has moved it from a public zone to a hidden zone, the effect
uses the object's last known information. See rule 113.7a. If an ability states that an object does
something, it's the object as it exists—or as it most recently existed—that does it, not the
ability.
2Settemio wrote: ↑3 years agoTo make the scenario even more specific, let's say I have two cards in my graveyard, and my opponents have a total of ten cards in their graveyards, the only creature cards being Lord of Extinction and a Raging Goblin. How many Thrulls are created? 12 from Lord's power when the spell began to resolve? 2 from Lord's power after it and all other opponents' cards were exiled? Something else?
No.
Why bother with mere rulings when so many answers can be found in the Rules?
