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syntax question

Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2021 7:49 pm
by Legend
Card Name (Uncommon)
U
Enchantment
Whenever you draw your second card each turn, put a charge counter on Card Name. Then you may have it become a blue Illusion creature with power and toughness each equal to the number of charge counters on it until end of turn.

Is "until end of turn" in the correct place or should it be "Then, until end of turn, you may..." ?

Re: syntax question

Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2021 11:12 pm
by spacemonaut
Crawling Barrens suggests put the "until end of turn" at the end like you're currently doing.

"Until end of turn, you may" primarily gets reserved for a different scenario: cards that say "until end of turn, you may play/cast that card". It's used to suggest the rules are giving you an option you can exert anytime between now and the end of turn. This isn't what your card's doing.

I say "primarily" because of one exception: Ebony Fly. I'm genuinely shocked it uses this template, and I would not follow its example—it's bad templating and it's almost certainly due for nonfunctional errata.

Re: syntax question

Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2021 3:50 pm
by Legend
spacemonaut wrote:
2 years ago
Crawling Barrens suggests put the "until end of turn" at the end like you're currently doing.

"Until end of turn, you may" primarily gets reserved for a different scenario: cards that say "until end of turn, you may play/cast that card". It's used to suggest the rules are giving you an option you can exert anytime between now and the end of turn. This isn't what your card's doing.

I say "primarily" because of one exception: Ebony Fly. I'm genuinely shocked it uses this template, and I would not follow its example—it's bad templating and it's almost certainly due for nonfunctional errata.
Thanks.

Regarding Ebon Fly, also probably because "...where X is the result, until end of turn." just wouldn't fly.

Re: syntax question

Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2021 3:52 pm
by Legend
Another question: Does this work as intended? I mean, if neg counters are put on it, will it survive or die to the negs first?

Card Name (Rare)
2B
Creature — Vampire
1/1
Flash
If a counter would be put onto a permanent or player, you may have that counter put onto Card Name instead.
Counters on Card Name are +1/+1 counters instead of any other kind.

Re: syntax question

Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2021 6:00 pm
by spacemonaut
That should maybe get a new topic!

But yes—that's a continuous effect that just always applies. The earliest moment we'd check if it has a -1/-1 counter, we instead see it has a +1/+1 counter, so it can't die to those.

It might be pretty strong though!

Re: syntax question

Posted: Fri Nov 26, 2021 11:08 am
by SecretInfiltrator
spacemonaut wrote:
2 years ago
Crawling Barrens suggests put the "until end of turn" at the end like you're currently doing.

"Until end of turn, you may" primarily gets reserved for a different scenario: cards that say "until end of turn, you may play/cast that card". It's used to suggest the rules are giving you an option you can exert anytime between now and the end of turn. This isn't what your card's doing.

I say "primarily" because of one exception: Ebony Fly. I'm genuinely shocked it uses this template, and I would not follow its example—it's bad templating and it's almost certainly due for nonfunctional errata.
Actually wouldn't Ebony Fly's wording imply that you have the option to turn the permanent into a creature as a special action, and that that option persists until end of turn.

Without the release notes, I wouldn't have ruled that it works like Crawling Barrens. A horrible wording that implies something different than the intended functionality. :o

Re: syntax question

Posted: Fri Nov 26, 2021 12:47 pm
by spacemonaut
SecretInfiltrator wrote:
2 years ago
Actually wouldn't Ebony Fly's wording imply that you have the option to turn the permanent into a creature as a special action, and that that option persists until end of turn.

Without the release notes, I wouldn't have ruled that it works like Crawling Barrens. A horrible wording that implies something different than the intended functionality. :o
That's exactly it! And once it's turned into a creature it stays that way permanently of course.

I expect that one day soon we'll see Ebony Fly come up in an Oracle Changes article saying "Whoops, we gave this the wrong template, ha ha ha, let's sort this out with this nonfunctional change."