Weird & Wacky Rules and Interactions | Command Zone 441 | Magic: The Gathering Commander EDH

[@commandcast]

Sorry everyone. We made a mistake on the It That Betrays section. Turns out, It That Betrays will NOT steal an opponent's commander if they sacrifice it and then put it into the command zone. Previous to the "commander dies trigger" rule change, it did work the way we stated. But since that rule was changed, it no longer does. Here is a link to a twitter post from the Game Rules manager at Wotc for reference: twitter.com/Dunkatog/status/1483910218220118017?s=20 Apologies for the mix-up. -JLK

[@SirKrrrapsalot]

Question. if my opponent has an IT That Betrays in play and i have a Wheel of Sun and Moon attatched to me, does my opponent search my library or do i to find the card i sacrificed? also would a Mindlock Orb prevent this?

[@Natedogg2]

No. They only get it if the permanent ended up in a public zone. If it ended up in a hidden zone like the library, it will not find it there. So it will not get the sacrificed permanent out of your library.

[@koryrutherford9041]

Mistakes happen! Just glad the correct information was given in the end! :)

[@Dark_Jester89]

"you should go talk to a judge first" Well, maybe you should too.

[@Vex-MTG]

Thanks for correcting this! When you had that segment, I was 95% sure that it no longer worked that way, but then when you said that Sheldon told you it did, I figured "Well, Sheldon knows A BIT more about the rules and about commander than me" so figured I'd mis-remembered something. Good to know I've still got my mind. =)

[@GraemeGunn]

There's lots of rules interactions in Magic where when you explain them to your opponent, it sounds like you're lying.

[@chrishiggins2651]

Half of MTG is just who is able to lie more convincingly it feels like

[@brendans1983]

'It sounds weird, I know, but it's how it works online', seems to always be the winning argument at our table. Because only one of us plays online, it gets awkward haha

[@jshtng78]

@@chrishiggins2651 That's why you always have judges on hand who are typically better liars than either player.

[@guyinthecorner0]

@@jshtng78 why would a judge lie?

[@GlaDurDeaD]

Explaining to my girlfriend that suspended cards are always cast in your upkeep regardless of if you want to cast them or not and the face she made I felt this comment.

[@ZaberFangAT]

I've actually used an opponent's Split Second spell to win the game before. I had Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood out (because I was that guy), along with Pristine Talisman. Someone tried to Krosan Grip one of my enchantments, not realising the implications. I activate Pristine Talisman (it's a mana ability that gains life). After that, it was all triggers and Krosan Grip even protected my enchantments from other opponent's responses.

[@ADudeWhoExperiences1393]

Rip to that opponent 🙏

[@rteishe]

Raise your hand if you knew Reconnaisance was going to be on here when they got to discussing Combat Phase shenanigans, haha. Still one of my favorite cards...an Alesha all star. And I'm still having to describe it to & convince people of this on a semi regular basis at my LGS 😆

[@tempeststormwind17]

I knew it would be. I actually run it in my 4 color combat deck.😁👍🏻👍🏻

[@superdantheminecraftman8905]

Question: do you think you could activate Reconnaissance's ability as many times as you want targeting the same creature while holding priority?

[@kk_33]

@@superdantheminecraftman8905 yes you can

[@dapperghastmeowregard]

@@superdantheminecraftman8905 You CAN, however it targets an attacking creature and removes it from combat, so after the first one resolves the rest will fizzle. But if you have an attacking Cephalid Illusionist and a Thoracle in hand with two untapped Islands or something, you can go nuts. You can also do a bit of trickery along those lines with vigilance. For example, attack witj Godsire, at some point tap it to make an 8/8, recon it whenever you need to, and it'll be ready to make another 8/8 whenever you need it to.

[@Beefhaving]

one day I will be able to use it in my Kaalia deck. one day.

[@madtoaster27]

Strangest interaction I encountered: my opponent was tapped out with a Kothophed in play. Kothophed for those who don’t know says whenever a permanent an opponent owns enters the graveyard, draw a card and lose a life. Important part is it’s a must trigger not a may. I had a Smothering Tithe. I made a treasure and sacrificed it. Kothophed saw the token hit the yard. He drew a card and lost a life. When he drew and he couldn’t pay 2 for tithe, I made a treasure and immediately sacrificed it. We got into an infinite loop because I kept sacrificing my tokens as I made them and he ended up dying to his own greed!!!

[@matheusp.c.]

Unlucky opponent kk

[@MTGJosh]

That's awesome!

[@chrishiggins2651]

Damn I’d hate to be that guy lmaooo

[@brendans1983]

That's why Kothophed is worth 20cents, when that interaction was discovered it ruined the poor demon. If Liliana knew all she needed was a smothering tithe...

[@zackkelley2940]

This is why I don't play "must" cards that can backfire on me^^

[@ChaosHedgehog2]

My favorite rule/interaction is actually one I figured out on my own! I realized that putting a creature on the battlefield tapped and attacking didn't count as declaring that creature as an attacker. This meant that playing Medomai the Ageless with Ilharg, the Razeboar's ability can go infinite if your opponent can't deal with either creature! I even pulled this off in a tournament and it felt amazing!

[@dapperghastmeowregard]

I'm still tempted to build a Medomai / Phantom Steed deck.

[@shilohartisan]

I used Ilharg to figure out how to kill someone with Norin the Wary commander damage. Command Beacon puts Norin in hand, Ilharg get him into play tapped and attacking, Hero's Blade and Obsidian Battleaxe autoequip to Norin. Fiery Emancipation makes him deal triple damage. And Conquerer's Flail on Ilharg makes it so people can't cast spells (otherwise Norin combat damage is REALLY easy to fog. :) )

[@jackloveland4286]

This kind of effect also works well if the defending player has a propganda/ghostly prison on the battlefield. They never "see" the creature declare it is attacking so it gets through without having to pay!

[@lucidlullaby894]

Bookmarking this if I ever build a combat focused Jeskai deck

[@mn6334]

I did a Jeskai Polymorph deck and I threw Ilharg/Medomai in there because I really want to pull this combo off eventually.

[@TerasGaiabane]

My favorite rules interaction is the fact that characteristic defining abilities are active in all zones. So creatures like ashaya can have their cost reduced by goreclaw if you have enough lands. The most devious use of this is with nethroi, apex of death and scourge of the skyclaves to reanimate many more creatures than normal. Since magic allows for negative values and nethroi cares about total, if the highest life total is 40, scourge has -20 power so you can target him and up to 30 power of other creatures since the total will still be 10.

[@mazimus2578]

Time to make a Nethroi lifegain deck to reanimate my entire deck with a single cast

[@dapperghastmeowregard]

That's the core of Nethroi's Pretty Bois. Ironically so far Pentavus has been the workhorse of the deck, but when I built it I thought it would be Workhorse.

[@dapperghastmeowregard]

Possible candidate for future episodes (with research as I'm going off memory and could have a detail wrong): When you cast a Planeswalker and they enter the battlefield, you have priority, so you can use an ability before anyone can respond (primarily to possibly + ability them out of Lightning Bolt range). Although I believe that doesn't work if anything triggers from them entering the battlefield.

[@bycoolboy823]

I have a weird interaction I based an entire deck around!: Mimic Vat says when a creature is dead, exile that card instead of going to grave and pay to make a copy of the exiled "card". Manifested cards are creatures. So I have a deck playing a ton of manifest cards, and sac outlet. When a manifested card dies, even when it's not a creature, you can exile with mimic Vat. Now I have a mimic Vat that can make enchantments or artifacts!

[@bengisclips]

That is definitely the coolest interaction I've seen so far in the comments

[@jaredwright1655]

Important that you let the card hit the graveyard, and remember all your death triggers. Otherwise yeah if you animate a land and sac it mimic vat can pump out token lands!

[@hiddenleaf414]

Wait so when the manifested card goes under the Vat it flips over? So you can Vat our whatever the original face up side of the card was?

[@Tupiaz]

Remember your Sundial of Infinite to keep those cards.

[@harriyama]

Back in unglued a creature was printed with "Denimwalk" (can not be blocked if opponent is wearing denim). Someone asked Mark Rosewater "What spell speed is taking off my pants?" Back when there was: spell speed 1 - creatures/sorceries/etc. spell speed 2 - instants spell speed 3 - interrupts spell speed 4 - mana source (like dark ritual) Mark replied something along of the lines of "it's spell speed 5, you can do it at any time even if you don't have priority, as long as you're wearing underwear", meaning taking of your pants is canonically a game action. Meaning if you mindslave someone you can make them take off their pants.

[@GunbladeKnight]

Something that came up recently at Modern: If you are able to gain control of an opponent's Adventure, YOU are the one that is allowed to cast the creature from exile later and not the owner.

[@cathalmolloy2002]

How does this even happen?

[@kingkaji86]

@@cathalmolloy2002 with cards like Aethersnatch

[@PrimeEnLightenedShadow]

@57:30 Sheldon is wrong according to the Gatherer's last ruling on the card It That Betrays: 6/15/2010: "If the sacrificed permanent that caused the second ability to trigger somehow leaves the graveyard before the ability resolves (possibly because it was returned to the battlefield by the ability of another It That Betrays), the ability simply won’t do anything when it resolves." If it can't find a regular card just because that card left the graveyard (another It That Betrays, or otherwise), then how the hell does a commander leaving the graveyard become an exception?!

[@naszfluckah7314]

Yep, that's incorrect. It That Betrays often comes up as a card that gets around stuff like Rest In Peace, because it doesn't trigger when a permanent is put into a graveyard, it triggers when a permanent is sacrificed. It That Betrays can find the card that was sacrificed in the zone it went to, even if that zone isn't the graveyard, say because Rest In Peace caused the card to be exiled instead of going to the graveyard. It That Betrays can *not* find that card if it changes zones between It That Betrays triggering and the trigger resolving, such as: A commander is sacrificed (It That Betrays triggers), and is then put into the command zone from the graveyard (state-based action), and the It That Betrays trigger goes on the stack, and resolves. Since the sacrificed permanent went to the graveyard, that's where It That Betrays is looking for it.

[@ubermusli]

L1 judge here. Just a little thing about "It that betrays". It does not work the way you say it does, unfortunately. ITB can find the card regardless of which zone it went to when it was sacrificed, that part is true. But, when the ability resolves, the card needs to be in the SAME zone for ITB to be able to bring it back. If the card changes zones before the ability resolves, it will be considered to be a new object with no memory of or relation to its previous existence.

[@Natedogg2]

The video was incorrect. It used to be that ITB could get the commander out of the command zone, but that changed a year and a half ago. Now, the commander goes from battlefield -> graveyard -> command, and since it left the graveyard, ITB loses track of it and it won't return.

[@jokerES2]

Exactly. Card is shorthand for "card in a zone". Cards do not have knowledge of where they were only where they are (for instance, if you had 3 elvish mystics on the battlefield and had reanimated one, there is no expectation that you'd know which was reanimated). ITB refers to card as in "card in a zone", but if the card were to be removed from the graveyard to exile with the trigger on the stack, ITB would not return the creature from exile. It previously worked because the Commander replacement was instead, rather than after, it hit the graveyard. Gatherer refers to this: If the sacrificed permanent that caused the second ability to trigger somehow leaves the graveyard before the ability resolves (possibly because it was returned to the battlefield by the ability of another It That Betrays), the ability simply won’t do anything when it resolves.

[@therealax6]

There's no way Sheldon Menery doesn't know this, since it's been pointed out by many, many people, so I assume he was just thinking of the old rules and got it wrong.

[@ubermusli]

@@therealax6 I'm thinking Sheldon probably just misunderstood the question. He's human after all ^^

[@PidgeMidge]

so if a commander is sacrificed, triggering ITB's ability, state-based actions are checked before it will begin resolving? so it'd look like: commander is sacrificed -> state-based actions checked -> 'yard to commmand zone -> ITB trigger (returning nothing)? state-based actions are checked whenever a player would get priority- would a player get priority before ITB trigger is put on to the stack or would it be "in response" to ITB trigger being put onto the stack (before it resolves)?

[@AbyssalShade]

A few things I was kinda surprised weren't mentioned relating to some of these topics: 1: With Spellskite, if Spellskite isn't a legal target of the spell (or the spell doesn't actually have targets), nothing actually happens. You pay the two life/one mana and the ability resolves, but it's not like a myserious "target" link appears that does nothing. This is relevant for effects that say "whenever becomes a target of ", which can be active on Spellskite when using its ability. One VERY relevant one is that if Spellskite has Ward X, if it legally changes a target to itself, that spell or ability will then be countered unless its owner pays the X! 2: With end of combat, nothing huge here, but one interaction I really like is that you can use Ninjutsu in the end of combat step. Say you used a big scary ninja's ninjutsu ability to hit someone, but it won't be able to get through next turn. BUT, you happen to have something like a Mistblade Shinobi (Ninjutsu U) in your hand - you can replace the scary ninja with the Mistblade so that you have the scary ninja in your hand to use its ninjutsu ability again next turn. During the end of combat step, the creature is still "an unblocked attacking creature." 3: With Deathtouch, I thought it would be worth noting that when you also have Trample, EVEN IF the defending creature has indestructible or protection from the attacking creature, you STILL only need to assign 1 damage and the rest tramples over. The Trample damage assignment only cares that 1 damage is "supposed" to be lethal, not whether or not the creature would actually die from that damage. This is the most unintuitive thing about deathtouch + trample to me, and I really think this should have been highlighted. 4: With "uncounterable" spells, it's also worth noting that you can STILL TARGET "uncounterable" spells with counter spells/abilities. The counter effect will still resolve, and simply fail to counter the spell. This is not often relevant, but if, for example, the counterspell has other effects tacked on, you may want to still cast the spell. For example, maybe your opponent casts an X=50 Braingeyser on themselves while having Lier on the field (so it's "uncounterable"). If you have a Plasm Capture or Draining Whelk in your hand, you can still cast them attempting to counter the Braingeyser. Braingeyser won't get countered, but you WILL get 52 mana/52 +1/+1 counters respectively as a result of your spell's effect. Overall very interesting video! The Spellskite section especially got me thinking about a (probably pretty mean) EDH deck focused around giving everything Ward and having tons of "change target" effects. Perfect deck for Storvald.

[@bengisclips]

One cool thing you can do with mutate is that you can effectively "de-legendarize" a creature. When a creature is mutated onto, none of the the bottom creature's attributes (including types) are carried over to the top creature. So, if you mutate a nonlegendary mutate creature on top of a legendary creature, the resulting creature is not legendary but still retains the text box of the original legendary creature. If you have a clone spell, you can now have multiple instances of a legendary creature's abilities. Or you could just play Sakashima of a Thousand Faces, but that's boring.

[@Matheus_Osh]

yup, did the morph on my kikijiki so i could tap to clone himself. after that i sacrificed all them (tappeds) for pinging. couldnt hit cus of propaganda...

[@punkypinko2965]

As a newer player (about one and half years now), this video was super helpful. Thanks!

[@usurnameunavailable]

My favorite little rules interactions was when someone used a Teferi's Protection to avoid a board wipe (martial coup in case anyone was interested). while all their permanents were phased out, on my turn, I played Nicol Bolas, dragon god while a doubling season was out (it doubles initial loyalty) and immediately ulted with him. now since his -8 is indiscriminate, it gets around protection from everything, and since it's a lose the game trigger and no life loss, there was nothing that could be done, and the person who used the protection lost on the spot.

[@TheyCallMeDio]

So theoretically speaking, Nicol can destroy Zhalfir even when it's phased out?

[@dapperghastmeowregard]

@@TheyCallMeDio That's not that impressive though considering Jeska did the same thing by accident :P [I made myself sad dot jpeg]

[@maximiliangunther9597]

Wow, that's easier than Insult//Injury (or Stomp) + Tainted Strike (or some other infect ability) to kill the phased out player

[@FpA18vz]

The example about lands & clones goes the other way around too! If something was turned into a land with 'Song of the dryads' or 'Imprisoned in the Moon', you can copy the permanent under it through land-clones like 'Vesuva' or 'Thespian's Stage' :)

[@jasperfuhs4988]

Mirror weave actually has another really weird interaction with lands: If you animate a Contested Warzone, then Mirror Weave it, any player you deal combat damage to gives you all of their Contested Warzones, which will turn back into creatures at the end of the turn and you will never have to return them

[@camerinbrummett6511]

That's hilarious, and the first good use of Contested War Zone I've ever seen haha

[@theBlueFox2]

Has anyone seen Kyle Hill discuss how MTG can be used as a computer? This is exactly how these interactions are playing, like lines of commands. I love this game.

[@UnimooseProductions]

Something that I didn't know for awhile, and have also gotten wrong since learning about it is if two permanents enter the battlefield at the same time and one is a clone type card, the clone cannot copy the permanent that entered at the same time. It has come up before with flickering all my creatures in a blink deck, trying to copy Valakut with Vesuva in a Warp World deck, and it could also happen with a Rise of the Dark Realms effect. If the clone is a creature, unless it's toughness is being increased somehow, and there was nothing that the clone could copy that was already in play, the clone will die.

[@Muckeltje]

I entered the comments to type this, but figured "hmm I wonder what other people have to say." It was a sad day for my Marchesa deck when I was told that this is how it works.

[@MrHansilein1991]

to my knowledge there are two cards that can do this because of how they are worded. Cursed Mirror and Renegade Doppelganger don't say they "enter as a copy" but they "become a copy". So you choose a creature after they came into play. wheras with the other clones you have to choose a creature to copy before they actually hit the Battlefield.

[@dapperghastmeowregard]

@@MrHansilein1991 Cursed Mirror is the same as Clone, it happens as it's entering, so other creatures entering at the same time won't be in play for it to see. Renegade does work, because it has an ability that triggers while it's on the battlefield and permanents that enter simultaneously see each other.

[@mazimus2578]

@@MrHansilein1991 Cursed Mirror cannot become a copy of a permament entering the battlefield at the same time because the text "as ~ enters the battlefield" checks the board before it is in play Renegade Doppler can because it is a triggered ability that happens when another creature enters the field

[@adamrobinson6951]

@@MrHansilein1991 Does that mean that Cursed Mirror and Renegade Doppelganger don't copy ETB abilities from the copied creature, since they hadn't copied that creature until after entering the battlefield had resolved?

[@theothercedh6726]

Fun fact for Josh's Grenzo deck: Grenzos ability bypasses rest in peace. Rest in peace is a replacement effect which makes Grenzo put the bottom card of your library into exile instead of your graveyard. But Grenzo doesn't care which zone the card winds up in, just that it is a creature card with power less than or equal to Grenzo, so even if it goes into exile, you can still put it on to the battlefield if the right conditions are met.

[@TaylorCohron]

Sakashima's Will would let you do a one-sided version of the Mirrorweave effect. Just an FYI.

[@joshuavansickler8113]

Reading the subtext of the card explains the card as long as errata, rules changes, or functionality the way companion works has not happened. (Ask your play group before your try and have a companion. Build your yorion/battle of wits deck at your own risk)

[@F3A5T]

I played against Kyle Hill's Smackos deck and he Emrakul'd me and used my scapeshift and failed to find any lands. Its one of my most favorite moments in magic.

[@reubenfromow4854]

@@JacobSmith-rh2sr dude that’s actually Kyle Hill’s younger brother

[@reubenfromow4854]

@@JacobSmith-rh2sr it’s different where he lives because he comes from South Africa

[@araen11]

I played against Kyle's deck =/= I played against Kyle :) dont sweat guys

[@theepicrusins8779]

I did that once.

[@Merlijn1994]

@@JacobSmith-rh2sr also it's kind of relevant that it is Kyle Hill for this comment in this community so of course he used the name

[@TheRandomeDud3]

That end of combat segment, y'all have the best example of this where Milly did her Ninjitsu shenanigans during the attack of the fans episode. In regards to reconnaissance, Wedge from The Mana Source used that during the episode with Wedge and The Professor

[@ella6547]

It also means you can cast settle the wreckage after combat damage is dealt by one opponent to the other to remove their creatures (let's say they were all vigilant) for a nice winning swing.

[@mkill572]

You can also attack with a board of tokens, deal damage, then cast Settle the Wreckage on *yourself* to turn your tokens into land ramp!

[@nenadmladjenovic7953]

This rules needs to be in here: "601.1a Some effects still refer to “playing” a card. “Playing a card” means playing that card as a land or casting that card as a spell, whichever is appropriate." Lots of confusion around it from everywhere.

[@jinxed7915]

It seems simple, but this comes up so often and I see do many people confused over it

[@theadjectiveform]

It's not revealing the card that allows you to fail to find when searching. For example, Intuition says "Search your library for three cards and reveal them." You have to find three cards (as long as you have at least that many in your library), even though you reveal them afterwards. What makes the difference is whether you're instructed to search for cards that have a certain quality, or just for cards.

[@gabrieljalbert6026]

It works the same, since in magic whenever you would search for a card with specific qualities, you have to reveal them, for the same cheating and double-checking reasons rhystic Studies mentioned in his video

[@theadjectiveform]

@@gabrieljalbert6026 When you search for a card with specific qualities, you have to reveal it. But when you have to reveal a card you searched for, the card does not necessarily have to have specific qualities. This is explained in the second sentence of my comment, where I give the example of Intuition. The video says that if you have to reveal the card, you can fail to find the card when searching. But that is not true, as the example of Intuition demonstrates.

[@SEUSS1234]

Sheldon Menery is incorrect regarding the It That Betrays interaction with commanders.

[@Dark_Jester89]

why do you say sheldon?

[@supranova7594]

@@Dark_Jester89 cuz in the video Josh specifically mentions Sheldon as the "Upper" person he asked about the ITB ruling. Also they pinned a correction stating that this was indeed a mistake and no longer works. As far as I'm aware the only "steal a person's commander" card now is necromantic selection board wipe, that returns a creature killed by it. Since its all one effect there is never a spot for state based actions, which is when players are now asked if they'd like to move their commander back to the command zone from whereever they were put.

[@ShinkuDragon]

@@supranova7594 yup i was looking for this. It can, however, steal a progenitus commander but not a regular progenitus which is funny.

[@gerardochavez1528]

Weirdest/funniest interaction I’ve ever had: someone was swinging at me for lethal with a baneslayer Angel. I was playing a changeling deck and my removal in hand was a crib swap; however since the spell has changeling it is considered a demon/dragon so I couldn’t actually target the baneslayer with it!

[@williamstotzkowski148]

For uncounterable spells, ending the turn also removes all spells from the stack which is another way around that

[@GazaElDiablo]

Thespians Stage cloning an Urza's saga... then with 3rd lore counter on the stack, you turn into another land... you have a land that sticks around, gets you the artifact, and has the ability to make constructs each turn :p

[@brendans1983]

Wouldn't it be unusable for 1 turn in this cycle? As in, Thespian would copy the Saga and become an enchantment land with no counters until your first upkeep? And how do you get constructs each turn with it? I think at least one of us is very confused

[@cheesemedley144]

After watching Game Knights and Extra Turns eps countless times, you guys inspired me to finally start building my edh deck. Love your show!

[@Intellectualfreethinker]

Welcome to the best format in magic:)

[@cheesemedley144]

@@Intellectualfreethinker haha thanks! I'm so far down the rabbit hole now

[@sahjhan1]

Another wrinkle with deathtouch: when an attacking deathtoucher is blocked by an indestructible creature, only one damage is assigned to the blocker and it survives the damage. If the deathtoucher also tramples, the trample damage still goes through. So a 10/10 deathtouch trample creature blocked by a 4/4 indestructible creature will deal 1 damage to the blocker and 9 to the player, but the 4/4 blocker survives.

[@Lycrios]

My favorite deathtouch interaction that they didn't mention is when you grant deathtouch to a pinger like Prodigal Pyromancer. Since the creature is dealing the 1 damage, that damage is counted as deathtouch and you can just destroy any non-indestructible creature you can legally target.

[@matthewdawe1439]

This is the worst rule in Magic

[@regular_ian]

@@Lycrios this is why basilisk collar is one of the best cards in my marath deck (as well as the marath decks of many other players, I presume)

[@matthewlevi600]

This is one of the most common questions I see in forums, I'm surprised they didn't mention this during that section.

[@Alternative-Works]

@@Lycrios Same thing with Grafted Exoskeleton and the pyromancer to shoot infect damage at things! Or something like Livewire Lash/Arcbond and a creature with infect...lots of combinations of these things exist. I think they didn't mention this in the episode because it is in the area of things people Do Know pretty well...

[@erchenlu5787]

The weirdest rule interactions I still haven't understand now is how Opalescence works with Humility😂

[@timdornaus]

love these podcast episodes so much more than the 100th set review. also:: killer thumbnail with the wacky waving inflatable flailing arms tube men

[@jonaszeller112]

Killer reference to Family Guy's Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Men. Al Harrington of Al Harrington's Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Men's Emporium would be so proud!!

[@mihhailzurakovski3101]

Dress Down is a whole lot of unintuitive interactions, would like to see a separate episode about this card :)

[@iansweeneysmith3500]

Just a clarification for the Ashiok's Erasure interaction at the end. If you exile a commander this way they do have the option to put it in the Command Zone still so a stifle or flicker doesn't automatically permanently lock it away. Also the card would have to remain in exile for the clause about not being able to cast spells with the same name to work, so if they put it in the command zone they could still cast it (there would be no card 'under' Ashiok's Erasure to check a name against).

[@dantemalick2872]

Only way to permanently get rid of a commander is with the stupid phase out enchantment with an instant speed removal

[@mazimus2578]

@@dantemalick2872 What card is this? None of the enchantments with phasing can permanently phase out a creature

[@dantemalick2872]

@@mazimus2578 out of time then destroy it in response to its exile trigger

[@dantemalick2872]

The phase in resolves be4 the phase out soo it's gone for good

[@supranova7594]

@@dantemalick2872 it doesn't work like that because it has new word templating like banisher Priest is not as strong as fiend hunter because it is no longer 2 triggers just all in one. You can see this directly on the gatherer rulings. 6/18/2021 If Out of Time leaves the battlefield before its enter the battlefield trigger resolves, creatures will untap, but they won’t phase out. However it does also point out 6/18/2021 If Out of Time happens to be a creature when its enter the battlefield trigger resolves, it will phase out along with all other creatures. You’ll never remove the last counter since it’s phased out, so all creatures will remain phased out indefinitely.

[@efe8025]

I really like when these kind of situations happen, that's why I love my Kadena morph deck

[@greengovich9742]

You can't target opposing hexproof permanents with banishing light or oblivion ring, because those cards choose targets on ETB, therefore the hexproof permanent will be safe. It only works with auras I think Edit: wording

[@ANitschkeProduction]

Right auras only target if they are cast, not if they enter the battlefield some other way.

[@g.mendes0482]

One of my favorite interactions I have learned over the years is the choose-versus-target rule... I like to play Reality Acid in my blink deck for that reason, plus it targets any permanent including lands (if I want to lose friends at the table haha)

[@marsmandel42]

I did know about all of these but I didn't think about "Den of the Bugbear". That's awesome. I have to put it into my decks.

[@Oopsall]

The card certainly doesn't read like that. It should say it GAINS that ability rather than "is an x/y creature WITH z ability"

[@Matheus_Osh]

@@Oopsall was thinking the same. imma check with some judge

[@Fyredude23]

This was a great episode! I’d love to see another on this topic in the future!

[@elambruce7491]

Y’all should check out how Sphinx of the second sun and cards like seize the day interact! If you can give yourself extra post-combat main phases you can trigger Sphinx more times

[@mazimus2578]

Just from Sphinx and 1 copy of Seize the Day with flashback you get this Pre Combat Main Additional Combat Additional Postcombat Main Additional Beginning Phase Combat Postcombat Main Additional Combat Additional Postcombat Main Additional Beginning Phase Additional Beginning Phase End

[@joshcurry8952]

I have an odric banding and flanking deck that definitely causes combat confusion and i love it. It would be cool to see you guys to talk about banding.

[@danacoleman4007]

YES!!

[@PrimeEnLightenedShadow]

@41:50 While yes, the aura gets around hexproof and shroud this way, since it doesn't target in this case, it should be noted that it doesn't get around protection. This is because of that "can't be enchanted/equipped" part of the ability. It makes the protected permanent an illegal enchant in the same way that an ordinary land is an illegal enchant for a Rancor, causing the lack of targeting to be irrelevant. In particular, I've seen one comment (maybe more, can't remember) on the Gatherer about using Venser's plus to put the card Reality Acid on Progenitus, as a way to kill it, but you can't actually get that far.

[@chrisgebben2043]

Exactly it gets around hexproof and shroud but not protection so this is not even close to the answer for Progenitus without non-damage wipes

[@AxillaryPower2]

The thing that I do that gets the most people questioning, "are you allowed to do that" is slipping in instant effects between the beginning of the First strike Damage step and "normal" Damage step. What I liked to do was have a Leonin Shikari, Basilisk Collar, and a mix of attacking First/Double Strike and non-First/Double Strike creatures; you can have your small First/Double Strike creature hold the Basilisk Collar during the First Strike damage, and then in the next damage step move the equipment to another creature to either kill something else or to a bigger creature for more Life link. FYI, in case it comes up (as it would in the above example with something like Fireshrieker), a creature that did First Strike damage but then loses First/Double Strike before normal damage DOES NOT get to do its damage again (702.7c). Conversely, a creature who didn't have First Strike during the First Strike Damage step but then gains First Strike afterwards DOES get to do its damage on the normal damage step. These are because "The only creatures that assign combat damage in [the normal Damage] step are the remaining attackers and blockers that had neither first strike nor double strike as the first combat damage step began, as well as the remaining attackers and blockers that currently have double strike. (510.5)"

[@theetiologist9539]

When they said weird and wacky I literally thought the whole episode was just going to be a deep dive for Mutate.

[@wizardmn9854]

For It That Betrays: The interaction does not work the way it is described in the video and many people have (rightfully) called it out as erroneous. The only reason it used to work, and something that was touched on in the video, is that ITB indeed does not care about what zone it goes to as long as the resulting zone is a public zone. So, Battlefield to Graveyard or Battlefield to Exile are both fine. However, the only reason that works (or, worked, regarding commanders) is because the commander replacement effect made it into "Battlefield to Command zone" (a single zone change) with no zone in between. Rule 400.7 has this to say: "400.7. An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence. There are nine exceptions to this rule:" One of the exceptions is what governs this interaction which is 400.7d. This reads: "400.7d. Abilities that trigger when an object moves from one zone to another can find the new object that it became in the zone it moved to when the ability triggered, if that zone is a public zone." Note that this rule says it can find it in "the" zone it went to when the ability triggered, if it is public. With the new rules, "the" zone the sacrificed commander goes to is the Graveyard (or, in certain cases, Exile) and that is the zone it went to in order for ITB to trigger. Importantly, you'll notice that the first part of this rule section (400.7) says that when an object changes zones, it is a new object. Going from the Battlefield to the Graveyard is a zone change that has an exception in this case (because ITB is triggering off that zone change). However, going from the Graveyard to the Command Zone is not an exception because ITB isn't triggering off that. As far as ITB is concerned, it is still in the yard. When the ability resolves, it doesn't see it there anymore and the ability does nothing.

[@Mathewu_]

With grenzo dungeon warden, if you use his activated ability with rest in peace on the battlefield he will still return the card to the battlefield even though it is not in the graveyard.

[@Turokmaster11]

Another funny thing with the cant be countered text is that it doesn't make the spell an illegal target for counterspells. They can still target it with a counterspell it just won't do anything. Been hilarious when someone tries to counter my mistcutter Hydra on mtgo and just wastes their card

[@dapperghastmeowregard]

Less hilarious when somebody Phthisises your Darksteel Colossus :P.

[@jaydub5515]

A crazy interaction I discovered on accident once was in my modern Elf deck years ago, where of I had enough mana and toughness, I could infinitely pump my team with Ezuri and Devoted Druids. I was familiar with the Vizier part of the combo, but just stumbled across their interaction

[@shayneweyker]

Devoted druid, a copy of it, and ezuri, renegade leader is one of the more dangerous things elves can do in commander. And mirage mirror is a pretty good way to copy devoted druid in green only commander deck.

[@jaydub5515]

@@shayneweyker is mirage mirror the artifact that copies and activated ability? If so I got to try that in my blue green Ezurii elf deck for Commander. I run a zuri and devoted druid in my modern elves, but that's a new take for EDH

[@justinsantopadre9390]

At my LGS, someone plays Jacob Hauken. We were wondering if the backside, which is an enchantment, still triggers his loyal drake, which says “if you control your commander…”

[@hiddenleaf414]

I’m not a judge but I believe you would still draw the card.

[@Natedogg2]

"Commanderness" can't be added or removed. No matter which side is face up, the card is your commander.

[@m.j.k.3094]

hey, guys! many thanks for your interesting and a non-native-speaker-friendly educative episode. it´s quiet useful for a very casual tempest born mtg dinosaur as me :). i just want to say you´re doing great and many of my builds are based on your show.. and my wife hates you, i believe you sure have a fanclub as such ;). have fun. cheers, m

[@MichaelMoore99]

Ending the turn also isn't countering a spell, but gets rid of it. The weird interaction that I love is that Moonmist kills the Origins flip-walkers (except Nissa), because a planeswalker has to ETB to get loyalty counters. Transforming it directly makes it a planeswalker with no loyalty, so it dies.

[@Lcngopher]

I remember playing at an fnm when i played feather in standard and casting gods willing to fizzle what i believe was banefire with x being 5 making it uncounterable

[@dapperghastmeowregard]

My favorite was somebody banefiring another player's Silent Arbiter. I'm like "I have Nim Shrieker with Cranial Plating, I like Arbiter." Look at my hand, but unfortunately not much I can do- oh wait yes there is, literally the thing I built the deck around, sac a treasure and a food to make Arbiter indestructible and tap it :33.

[@koryrutherford9041]

【L1] It That Betrays does NOT still work. When something changes zones it becomes a new object with no relation to its previous existence. One of the exceptions to this is triggers like ITB can find the object in the zone it goes to. That's why it USED to work because the first public zone a commander went to was the Command Zone and so It could find it there. But now the commander makes a pit stop in the graveyard and THEN goes to the CZ. So the zone ITB can track it to is the Graveyard. Once it moves from the graveyard to the CZ it's ANOTHER new object that ITB can't find. So ITB checks the graveyard, finds nothing and returns nothing 400.7.: An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence. There are nine exceptions to this rule: 400.7d: Abilities that trigger when an object moves from one zone to another (for example, "When Rancor is put into a graveyard from the battlefield") can find the new object that it became in the zone it moved to when the ability triggered, if that zone is a public zone. 903.9a: If a commander is in a graveyard or in exile and that object was put into that zone since the last time state-based actions were checked, its owner may put it into the command zone. This is a state-based action. See rule 704. 603.6.: Trigger events that involve objects changing zones are called "zone-change triggers." Many abilities with zone-change triggers attempt to do something to that object after it changes zones. During resolution, these abilities look for the object in the zone that it moved to. If the object is unable to be found in the zone it went to, the part of the ability attempting to do something to the object will fail to do anything. The ability could be unable to find the object because the object never entered the specified zone, because it left the zone before the ability resolved, or because it is in a zone that is hidden from a player, such as a library or an opponent's hand. (This rule applies even if the object leaves the zone and returns again before the ability resolves.) The most common zone-change triggers are enters-the-battlefield triggers and leaves-the-battlefield triggers.

[@silaspollok187]

You can also use ninjitsu in the end of combat step to get your creature back to your hand

[@T_Peazy]

Also, because returning an unblocked creature to your hand is a cost you can activate it multiple times and pick up all your creatures to put a single ninja into play.

[@nollhypotes]

@@T_Peazy You'd have to pay the mana cost for every creature though, right?

[@T_Peazy]

@@nollhypotes yeah. But there is a ninja that had Ninjutsu for U

[@monkey5402]

I wish more players knew about the acronym DEBT to describe what protection does. It means that these things cannot happen from sources a permanent or player has protection from: D - Damage E - Enchanted B - Blocked T - Targeted

[@dapperghastmeowregard]

Specifically prevent all damage (it can still take damage if it blocks Excruciator or something) and can't be enchanted, equipped, or fortified (maybe we should update it to attachEd :P)

[@monkey5402]

@@dapperghastmeowregard Damage is prevented by protection. So if an effect says that damage can't be prevented, protection can't stop that portion.

[@AttackOfTheDodo]

So, with Banishing Light, my understanding that the card knows to look in exile is because it states that it exiles it's target. Therefore, it intrinsically associates the exile zone with the card it's affecting. I would imagine that It That Betrays works in the same way, where the term "Sacrifice" inherently references placing the sacrificed item into the graveyard, meaning that It That Betrays must pull the card from the graveyard. Gatherer even states, "If the sacrificed permanent that caused the second ability to trigger somehow leaves the graveyard before the ability resolves, the ability simply won't do anything when it resolves." The main reason why it SHOULDN'T get your opponent's sacrificed commander is because it changed zones, from graveyard to command zone, causing it to become a new object, not seen by any previous interactions.

[@Intellectualfreethinker]

But does it even have time to enter the command zone before it that betray's sacrifice trigger sees it? I would think it's ability has priority, considering what they talked about with necromantic selection. I know it's a different scenario, but to me that would make sense. Plus the trigger goes on the stack when the sacrifice happens, so it would see the commander before it can go to the zone. I'm not a judge, so maybe I'm wrong.

[@AttackOfTheDodo]

@@Intellectualfreethinker So what happens in order is; Effect that causes commander to become sacrificed resolves, sending it to the graveyard under normal circumstances. Then, after resolution, state-based actions are checked. All effects that go on the stack when a creature dies/gets sac'd will go on the stack in turn order and the active player gets priority. During these actions, the owner of a commander in exile or GY may move it to the command zone (as long as the commander was put there since the last time state-based actions were checked). Once everything is on the stack that should be on the stack, and when we get around to resolving It That Betrays's second ability, if the commander's owner moved it, It That Betrays can no longer see it in the graveyard because it changed zones while the ability was on the stack, but before it resolved. This is because the commander gets moved during state-based actions, which doesn't use the stack.

[@Sniperdragon11]

Yeah I haven't seen the video yet but from a bunch of posts in groups people think ITB can steal commanders again IT CAN'T (unless your opponent is dumb) I can't belive these guys messed up in such a big way

[@Dark_Jester89]

@@Sniperdragon11 dont be so hard on these folks, they talked to people in the office about it, they didn't do what they tell us to do, and call judges to fact check it. take it easy

[@blaqkfenix]

Also as a combat trick you can ninjitsu after damage to prevent Etrata from shuffling into your library but still resolving the hit counter.

[@ctomsky]

Man, the whole discussion about 'stifle trapping' just reminded me of how clunky that new Commander death rule is. I just wrote a whole email to the RC with a proposal for a sorcery-speed special action that returns your Commander to the Command Zone.

[@Alternative-Works]

Yeah I still don't know why we don't have a rule that says you can always return your commander to the zone...sorcery speed so you can't do it in response to something obviously. Would it really be that abusable?

[@barrymcguire8586]

When you guys where talking about the Deathouch and Trample interactions I thought about the interaction with Trample and excess damage. I have heard some people think it just doesn't work because the creature only takes lethal damage and the rest tramples over. Actually you can assign as much of the damage as you want to the blockers or the players. So Aegar and Toralf do in fact work with trample.

[@HalcyonVentures]

Just Aegar though, Toralf specifically cares about non-combat damage

[@MrAwsomness5]

I wonder if spellskite is going to go up in price now

[@rustyanvile]

Go up? They only showcased the downsides of it.

[@Intellectualfreethinker]

​@@rustyanvile Would be hilarious to run it in a deck designed to give to your opponents if you could reliably take they're turn, and kill them with the interaction. I'll bet anything people will do it.

[@Torriotorres]

Changeling does not affect super-types, like snow and artifact, which are creatures frequently too. So you need to use other means to get a changeling to become a snow or artifact creature, which could synergize with arti or snow themes.

[@Cryonicity]

For the end of combat step, i just wanted to let everyone know that you can ninjutsu after damage in this step

[@RazgrizAce67]

A crazy rule I came across was against a Kumena, Tyrant of Ozaca merfolk deck that used the tribal enchantment Merrow Commerce as one of the "merfolk" to tap to activate Kumena's abilities. Thought it would have to be a creature but nope, just needs to be "merfolk" in the type.

[@carlosicuret350]

This one wasn't mentioned but Kaalia of the Vast and Master of Cruelties Instant Kill is one of my favorites 😁

[@frikifit]

I think they didn’t mention it because it is far from whacky or new...

[@SupaAbe]

Thank you so much for this video! The amount of knowledge I learned from this video is going to help me and my play group a lot in the rules and interactions for cards. Thanks again!

[@pierrebernard142]

Additionnal Reconnaissance trick : could be used after the first strike damage phase to damage an opposing creature while keeping intact yours and then finishing the big creature with some kind of bold spell

[@ExodusDragon]

So go to 29:50 in the video talking about cloning lands...how does the interaction work with say Runo Stormkirk and Faceless Haven...since Runo abilities say they enter attacking. If the clones just come into play as lands or do they come in attacking as the land creature also do they come in tapped?

[@Natedogg2]

You get a noncreature Haven that's tapped. It is not attacking since it's not a creature.

[@luizobom123456]

Awesome episode! We need more of these please!!! Thanks for the great content :D

[@rsm014]

Trinisphere messed me up trying to understand it. Also had no idea that deathtouch and trample worked like that.

[@Leonjrxx]

Does the Deathtouch + Trample combo work on mtgArena? I've never seen that interaction

[@christiansh]

I had the reverse version of the land copying thing. With [Thespian Stage], you can copy a land, which applies to creatures turned into lands by effects (that do not change the copy-able values). So you can [Imprison in the Moon] an Avacyn or similar and then Thespian Stage to copy it.

[@DarthTUK]

Thing with Banishing Light you should have mentioned is that if a exile effect like Banishing Light targets something and the source (in this case Banishing Light) leaves before the trigger resolves the exile never happens. For example they target your token, the token stays in play and doesn't cease to exist in exile when the trigger resolves because it is never actually exiled (similarly if they tried to Banishing Light something with an ETB that trigger wouldn't go off either).

[@KeiruKeiru]

One of the simplest explanations I've used with auras enchanting hexproof permanents is that auras not attached to anything go to the graveyard as a state based action. If the effect did target, it would create a passing of priority that would contract the state based action.

[@only1sn1not1taken]

@43:50 Are you sure this works on enchantments and not just enchantment auras? Things like Oblivion Ring are an ETB trigger so the way it's put onto the field shouldn't matter for it's effect.

[@nolanrabideau804]

One rules interaction that comes up in commander sometimes is what happens to permanents a player controls but doesn't own when they leave the game. Part of the rules for a player leaving the game says "gain control effects end" but if they control something that they don't own but didn't "gain control" of like from Bribery or Villainous Wealth for example, the card they control becomes exiled and the owner does not get it back. see rule 800.4a

[@obsidiansiriusblackheart]

27:25 are we sure that Maze of Ith/Argothian Elder combo is legal? If you activate Ith, doesn't the creature transition out of the "attacking" status (ie, can't be untapped repeatedly the way the example shows?)

[@grip7777]

A ton of confusing stuff when I first started playing commander. I learned pretty early on that if you had a commander that deals damage with pings (i.e.) damage that doesn't come from attacking it doesnt count as commander damage. I had a slimefoot the stowaway memeish deck that tried to win with saccing saprolings and while it isn't impossible to win with that (you can still kill opponents and give it infect) it isn't winning by pinging 21 times. Another thing I did learn with that deck though is that you can put "when this creature dels damage to an opponent"-cards (cards like Keen Sense is a good example) that attaches to it and reap the benefits even when it does ping. All of these effects only apply however IF the card states that IT does the damage, it doesn't count loss of life or similar, it has to state it the way warstorm surge/slimefoot does.

[@zim5635]

In addition to auras not being cast getting around hexproof, copies of auras also get around hexproof because they become the auras on etb and then you pick a target. One of my favorite edge case wierd rules is that if someone has cast teferi's protection they can still die to commander damage if there is an effect that says damage can't be prevented like with skullcrack or leyline of punishment

[@Intellectualfreethinker]

It that betrays to opponents commander: I will look for you, I will find you, and you are mine.

[@dominicyanez7960]

About 32:00 in. The copy effects are great. One of my favorites is to use vesuva to copy someone's commander that has a songs of the dryad attached to it.

[@Philigan87]

That Aura trick is really useful to know. I run an enchantress deck that uses replenish, and previously I've thought having a greater auramamcy on the field would prevent my auras from being attached to my enchantment-creatures. Glad to know I can do this now! :)

[@TranquilReindeer98]

It's not too crazy, but it's one of the first times where I felt like I reached a higher level of understanding about the game: When Ashaya, Soul of the Wild is on the field, Creatures trigger their own Landfall effects when they ETB

[@pogeman2345]

Something that never happened to me personally, but is definitely a wacky thing is the multiple ninjutsu trick. You basically attack with a lot of creatures, then if they're unblocked and you have the mana, you ninjutsu all of them back into your hand and just place down one ninja.

[@chrisstac6273]

Mystic Reflection sitting in the foretold exile with a land that can become a creature. Player casts their scary Commander. In response I turn this land into a 1/1, cast Mystic Reflection. Their commander enters and is locked up as a non basic land. Take that Skeletor!

[@TJMoose75]

So this has happened a few time in my play group because I build a "Chaos" deck. In the deck I have Timesifter which says, "At the beginning of each upkeep, each player exiles the top card of their library. The player who exiled the card with the highest mana value takes an extra turn after this one. If two or more players’ cards are tied for highest, the tied players repeat this process until the tie is broken." A friend of mine seems to always play Emrakul, the Promised End and that creates basically a stack for turns where there is a pending extra turn for the player that got Emrakul'd that they never get to take until Timesifter is removed. I also run things like, Knowledge Pool, Shared Fate, Hive Mind & Shimmer. Those games can get out of hand real fast and it usually lives up to the "Chaos" theme.

[@caedmonr112]

One that I actually had an argument with a close magic friend about was with the escape mechanic. I cast an escape spell from my graveyard, and he exiled my graveyard in response, thinking it would essentially counter the spell. Escape however is an alternate casting cost, not an ability. So when he got priority to activate the ability to exile my graveyard, the spell was already on the stack, and was unaffected

[@mkill572]

Here’s some interactions I’d like to see i a follow-up episode: * Legend rule shenanigans. For example, Sharuum and Bladewing, the Risen can reanimate themselves with their own ETB if you copy them because the copy ETBs, you let the original die to legend rule, _then_ the reanimation trigger goes on the stack, so you can target the card in the graveyard * If you think trample + deathtouch is weird, look up banding + trample * Replacement effects deserve a mention. If you reanimate something with a “if it leaves the battlefield, exile it instead” effect and blink that thing, you’re already exiling it to the blink effect, so it comes back * Any “you control the opponent” effect lets you look at their hand and any face-down cards. This includes Opposition Agent!

[@Tarragonable]

just the other day, one of my opponents in a cEDH game was about to go off with Worldgorger Dragon/Animate Dead loop, and as soon as it entered, another opponent destroyed it with a Seal of Cleansing(?) so he ended up exiling all his own lands and shame scooping.

[@frikifit]

Yeah that combo is so fragile and trash that I’m surprised people still try to use it lol

[@dapperghastmeowregard]

Oh man, I had a similar, but less impressive story. My friend tries to blow up Reaper King, in response I Turn To Mist him. "Cool, attack you with Zur, tutor up Seal of Cleansing, pass."

[@proffejor]

I knew about the deathtouch and trample interaction, but foolishly thought it that the text on Sword Of Kaldra (and similar text on Kaldra Compleat) "Whenever equipped creature deals damage to a creature, exile that creature." would work the same way, because I did not realize that the deathtouch interaction was due to the specific rules regarding deathtouch. Silly me!

[@pereklund4345]

So in the conversation about interesting rules. manifest is similar to morph. I managed to get a Notion Thief manifest against my friend's Niv-Mizzet. so when he played a wheel effect I could turn Notion Thief and just take everything and he could not do anything because it was not an effect that came on the stack and thanks for a great episode.

[@Natedogg2]

That's not quite right. While turning it face up doesn't use the stack, players do get a chance to respond once it's turned face up. You only move on to the next step or phase if all players pass on an empty stack without doing anything. Even if the action you took didn't use the stack, it was still an action and everyone else would get priority again after it's turned face up but before the wheel effect resolves.

[@pereklund4345]

@@Natedogg2 Thanks good to know shell take it with me next time I play. I was of the opinion that since one did not get on the stack, my friend who plays Niv-Mizzet could not answer that. but fun to learn something new. =)

[@jkattack2640]

My favorite jank rule abuse is with panglacial wurm and selvala, explorer returned. While searching my library with any effect, you can look at the top card (you can't reorder it) and if you want to draw it, activate selvala as part of paying costs for panglacial wurm, drawing the card. Then fail to cast panglacial wurm and move on with your search.

[@LadyTsunade777]

One very important points about Split Second: Morph is a special action and _NOT_ an activated ability. Thus, Split Second cards are vulnerable to: Kheru Spellsnatcher, Mischievous Quanar, Silumgar Spell-Eater , Stratus Dancer, Voidmage Apprentice, and Willbender.

[@WiiTara]

Another interaction regarding not being able to be countered: This line of text does not prevent anyone from targeting a counter at this spell. If someone plays Supreme Verdict you can still play Force of Will and Target the Verdict. It just wont counter it when resolving.

[@Merlijn1994]

Good times on arena when opponents not only try to counter your Toski but, as it inevitably resolves, try to kill it. Reading the card does explain the card

[@ctomsky]

I think the coolest rules interaction I've ever read (though its since been errata'd) was being able to cast Squee the Immortal out from under an Ixalan's Binding because by the time the game checked if it was legal to cast Squee, he was already technically on the stack instead of in exile under Ixalan's Binding, thereby making him legal to cast.

[@only1sn1not1taken]

I actually did not catch the nuance of the new commander death rule. I had still been thinking of it as a replacement effect as I always had so I assumed that taking control of a commander in my Thassa deck that I wouldn't be able to flicker it or else they'd just send it to the command zone. It's good to know that it's actually treated as a state based trigger and all the nuance that comes along with that. So this puts it along the lines of Master of Waves and a flicker effect where the elementals won't die since he left with his buff and returned as part of the same action.