Mimic vat + commander = ?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Nov. 15, 2011, 8:29 p.m. by nsmh11
So, while i fully understand the rules with a mimic vat and multiple legends of the same name, what happens if one were to play Mimic Vat and then choice of commander? possibly for the really expensive ones.
Commander is destroyed one way or another. as it's sent to the grave, you imprint it upon the vat and exile it. BUT you can place said commander back in the commander zone, and the Vat would still be imprinted with our commander, yes? Bladewing the Risen for example. Fairly expensive. imprint him, cast him for 3 each turn and you get a dragon from the grave and can swing with the commander.
Or would the Token created by mimic vat not count for commander damage and be better suited to imprinting big eldrazi baddies?
also if you choose someone elses commander they can just put it in their commander zone leaving your mimic vat empty because the card it exiled is no longer there
November 16, 2011 7:14 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #4
The replacement effect that puts a Commander in the command zone instead of the graveyard or exile is optional, so you can choose where he ends up when there's a Mimic Vat on the battlefield.
If you want to imprint your Commander on the Vat, you have to choose to leave it in the exile zone, and it will stay there until something causes it to move elsewhere (like imprinting something else on the Vat, for example). If the Vat leaves the battlefield while your Commander is still in exile, then he's stuck there. You can't just move him to the command zone at will, because the replacement effect can only modify a zone-change event. Right now, Pull from Eternity , Mirror of Fate , and Riftsweeper are the only effects in the game that can recover a Commander stranded in exile.
Like mozerdozer said, the token copies don't count as Commanders because only the physical card has the Commander quality. I think Bladewing is still a fine choice, though. Reanimate a dragon every turn? Sign me up!
November 16, 2011 8:55 a.m.
add a Rings of Brighthearth to double the effectiveness of the vat :-)
November 16, 2011 9 a.m.
hm. well then, that clears that up for me nicely. Bladewing would be a rather bad choice as a commander for this then, since the only spell that could bring him back is one that leaves you with a 7 or less card library. though in a green or white included deck, it could work out nicely. thanks all.
Also maiden77: Parallel Lives will do the same thing for 1 mana more and create a permanent token from the vat. Just a musing ive grown to love in my splicer deck.
November 16, 2011 10:25 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #7
Parallel Lives only changes the number of tokens an effect makes, not anything else about the way the effect works. The "extra" token will still be exiled at end of turn. This is supported by the entry for Parallel Lives in the official Innistrad FAQ, which includes the following note: "If the effect creating the tokens instructs you to do something with those tokens at a later time, like exiling them at the end of combat, you'll do that for all the tokens."
November 16, 2011 10:34 a.m.
GAH! i completely missed that memo. Sad day. Thanks Rhadamanthus. at least i'd still get the 4 golems out of imprinting a splicer.
Need to inform the shop now.
mozerdozer says... #2
Mimic Vat specifically says the creature must be put INTO the graveyard. If you use the commander's replacement effect, it never goes to the graveyard. However, whenever the Commander is exiled face-up, it still goes right back to the command zone. So imprint away.
Commander is a characteristic of the physical card. It is only on the card chosen from the start as commander. It is not a characteristic that can be copied; so the tokens will not work for dealing the 21 damage.
November 15, 2011 9:15 p.m.