Question about the commands

ILikeBananas · Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 140

Let say I play a command that has 2 targets like profane command. If 1 target becomes illegal, what happens to the spell? Also, if possible, can someone find me the section in the rules book? Thanks in advance!

lennin · Guest

it resolves

Gorbadoc · Joined: 29 Oct 2007 Posts: 56

413. Resolving Spells and Abilities

Hardtrack · Joined: 10 Aug 2005 Posts: 285

413.2a If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that’s moved out of the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. Other changes to the game state may cause a target to no longer be legal; for example, its characteristics may have changed or an effect may have changed the text of the spell. If the source of an ability has left the zone it was in, its last known information is used during this process to determine its characteristics. The spell or ability is countered if all its targets, for every instance of the word “target,” are now illegal. If the spell or ability is not countered, it will resolve normally, affecting only the targets that are still legal. If a target is illegal, the spell or ability can’t perform any actions on it or make the target perform any actions.
Example: Aura Blast is a white instant that reads, “Destroy target enchantment. Draw a card.” If the enchantment isn’t a legal target during Aura Blast’s resolution (say, if it has gained protection from white or left play), then Aura Blast is countered. Its controller doesn’t draw a card.
Example: Plague Spores reads, “Destroy target nonblack creature and target land. They can’t be regenerated.” Suppose the same animated land is chosen both as the nonblack creature and as the land, and the color of the creature land is changed to black before Plague Spores resolves. Plagues Spores isn’t countered because the black creature land is still a legal target for the “target land” part of the spell.

Bolding mine.

DESTRUCTOR · Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 113

the commands have 4 choices to pick 2, in what order i have to select them?

example: austere command says: Choose two - Destroy all artifacts; or destroy all enchantments; or destroy all creatures with converted mana cost 3 or less; or destroy all creatures with converted mana cost 4 or greater.

can i 1º say destroye all the creatures with converted mana cost 4 or greater. and destroy all artifacts? (obviouslly declaring them at the same time as i believe the spell works)

lennin · Guest

Hardtrack · Joined: 10 Aug 2005 Posts: 285

You can choose any two you want (note you can't choose the same one twice). There is no specific order in which you have to pick them (but the game won't move on until you picked both), but they do resolve in a certain order: in the order they are written on the card.

For Austere Command this means that you will first destroy all artifacts and then destroy all creatures with converted mana cost 4 or greater. Usually this doesn't matter in the slightest, but it can be important in a few weird cornercases.

Gorbadoc · Joined: 29 Oct 2007 Posts: 56

Such as Incendiary Command while you have Hostility in play. Player damage + creature damage doesn't work too well.

DESTRUCTOR · Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 113

ok thanks, i asked because of the red and green commands just find the white command text 1º Razz

and i believe i asked wrong it was not order to pick them it would have to be order of resolving...

rdeg87 · Joined: 29 Apr 2007 Posts: 158

So for example if an oblivion ring is played on a 4 power creature. With the white command i can kill both By choosing to destroy enchantments first and then 4 powered creatures second

Gorbadoc · Joined: 29 Oct 2007 Posts: 56

Austere Command boinks creatures according to casting cost, not power.

No, you could not kill the creature with the same spell that destroyed the oblivion ring that removed that creature even if you wanted to. The critical difference in this case is how Oblivion Ring's return effect works. Oblivion Ring's "When A, B" wording indicates a triggered effect; the effect that will return the creature goes onto the stack the next time a player has priority, which is after Austere Command finishes resolving.

Evilbobby · Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 5

Gorbadoc · Joined: 29 Oct 2007 Posts: 56

In particular, spells, activated abilities and triggered abilities can't be played or resolved while another spell is resolving. Continuous effects (including static abilities, state-based effects, and replacement abilities) are another story; the game actually looks at those during each effect. The commands' stepwise resolution matters when the first mode changes the game state in a manner such that the second mode will interact with the change.

Example: if you choose to gain life and search your library with Primal Command, gaining life does not affect your library, so the order does not affect the outcome (of course, if you had Lich in play, that would be a different matter...).

Example: if you choose the bounce-to-library and shuffle-graveyard-into-library effects on Primal Command, and target your opponent's permanent and your opponent's graveyard, the order matters because the shuffle effect finds itself interacting with a library that was changed by the bounce effect (thus making Primal Command an expensive way to remove an artifact or enchantment in a pinch).

Example: suppose you play Austere Command to destroy enchantments and creatures with casting cost 3 or less, and your opponent has Boggart Shenanigans and a bunch of cheap goblins in play.
1.a: The Shenanigans go to the graveyard.
1.b: You check to see if any static effects or state-based effects have changed and check to see if any triggered events should go on the stack (if so, they'll be placed on the stack when the spell finishes resolving).
2.a: THEN the goblin creatures go to the graveyard as part of a different effect.
2.b: When you check for continuous effects, Shenanigans' effect no longer exists, so it won't trigger.

This is different from what would happen if an effect said "Destroy enchantments and creatures," because in that case the enchantment and creatures would die simultaneously as part of one effect, and when you check for triggered effects, you look both at the current game state AND back in time to just before the effect that would have done the triggering. See rule 410.10d.

Example: if you choose player damage and creature damage with Incendiary Command while you have Hostility in play, the player damage instead puts tokens into play per a replacement effect. Then, as a separate effect, damage is dealt to creatures, including the freshly created tokens.