Does Nivmagus Elemental do what I think it does?
Asked by ohnomydondon 11 years ago
How exactly does Nivmagus Elemental work?
aeonstoremyliver says... #2
When an instant or sorcery is cast, it goes on the stack. Nivmagus Elemental allows you to exile that spell off of the stack, placing two +1/+1 counters on it. The spell that was exiled will not resolve, meaning any effects from it will not happen.
October 25, 2012 1:06 a.m.
Whenever you "cast" a card it is placed on the "stack". while a card is on the stack it is considered a "spell". It is at this point that you can activate the ability of Nivmagus Elemental .
So while Nivmagus Elemental is on the field in your control you can cast, say, Unsummon from your hand. Before the spell resolves you announce that you will activate Nivmagus Elemental . Unsummon exiles, Nivmagus Elemental gets stronger, and Unsummon does nothing.
You can keep doing this as long as you have enough mana to cast more spells.
October 25, 2012 1:10 a.m.
shadowdart says... #4
What Nivmagus Elemental does is allow you opponent to concede while one of your instant or sorcery spells are on the stack.
October 25, 2012 1:52 a.m.
Your opponent can concede at any given time, no matter what.
October 25, 2012 2:40 a.m.
I was considering something else entirely. I would want to keep Unsummon for my opponents stuff. I was thinking more along the lines of how an opponent may respond to Barter in Blood when you cast it to get effects from their creatures before they are forced to sac them. if they do so, you may exile the Barter in Blood to add the counters and get overall value out of the card when your opponent may think they have the one up on you.
I also considered the option of Reverberate or Dual Casting , which would allow you to cast a spell like Pillar of Flame , and exile it if you have no real targets. Leaning more towards the application of Dual Casting on Blistercoil Weird . if you cast something, you can untap the Blistercoil Weird have the original resolve, but exile the copy of the instant/sorcery which goes on the stack. You copy the spell before it resolves. The optimal spell I haven't given it much thought, but it could work with atleast afew things while making that Nivmagus Elemental a fatty.
October 25, 2012 3:36 a.m.
You cannot use Nivmagus Elemental in that way with Barter in Blood , or any spell for that matter.
Once a spell has started resolving no one gets priority until it has finished resolving. And players can only cast spells or activate activated abilities when they have priority.
Also you cannot cast a spell that uses the keyword "target" whel there is no legal target.
On a side note, I believe the optimal spell you are searching for is Epic Experiment .
October 25, 2012 4:05 a.m.
I don't think he mean 'after it has started to resolve'. I think he means that if his opponents sacrifice their creatures to something else in response to him casting Barter in Blood , he could then exile the Barter in Blood , so that he does not have to sacrifice his own creatures, which is perfectly legal.
Example:
- Opponent has 2x Trading Post in play, and 2 other creatures.
- You have 2x Nivmagus Elemental .
- You cast Barter in Blood .
- Opponent responds by sacrificing them to the 2 Trading Post s to return artifacts to his hand.
- You respond to his activating the Trading Post s by exiling the Barter in Blood to add 2 +1/+1 counters on one of your Nivmagus Elemental s, allowing you to keep the elementals, and make one of them stronger.
October 25, 2012 8:25 a.m.
Right, and that would be legal.
The thing he said with dual casting also works, although it's quite a bit of work, I think.
October 25, 2012 9:12 a.m.
I'd be a little bit careful with that though. because if you pass priority to let Barter in Blood resolve, and your opponents does nothing, than you won't be able to exile it.(because you already passed priority)
October 25, 2012 11:07 a.m.
Would a Guttersnipe 's ability still trigger if the spell that would trigger it is exiled, or would the ability not happen. Rather, does Guttersnipe's trigger happen upon resolution of the spell that is cast or upon it going onto the stack?
October 25, 2012 11:09 a.m.
FaustHarbinger says... #12
yes Guttersnipe 's ability would work because you are still "Casting" the card, but the card just isn't ever "played"
October 25, 2012 11:30 a.m.
shadowdart says... #13
Really Shane concede at any time? O.o
Mind Blown!
In all seriousness though, the best mechanic for Nivmagus Elemental is storm. Build a good storm count, cast Grapeshot , exile all the copies, swing in for serious damage. Also, hold back an card:Apostle's Blessing
October 25, 2012 11:31 a.m.
Can you only exile cards from the stack, not the graveyard? So you can't cast a buff such as giant growth, wait for it to resolve, then exile it for a total of +4/+4.
October 25, 2012 1:57 p.m.
@Rugbyfh10: once it's done resolving, it hits the graveyard and is no longer a spell, becoming only a card in a graveyard.
October 25, 2012 2:17 p.m.
@Rayenous Thank you for clarifying, I'm not sure what I said to misconstrue my point, but I dont think I have faced an opponent who will just say, "Ok, my i will sacrifice my creatures instead of taking advantage of another ability." I meant it to force an ability as to lure my opponent into a false sense of security, for example if an opponent has a Griselbrand and a golgari guildmage out on the field, and I play Barter in Blood , hes going to sac a 7/7 to make seven creature tokens instead of just eating the Griselbrand . Not the best of examples, but the only one i can think of at the moment.
October 25, 2012 10:54 p.m.
shadowdart says... #17
Well, he's also likely to draw 7 cards with Griselbrand as well, but that has nothing to do with this discussion, unless he draws and plays a Counterspell . Which still works just fine for Nivmagus Elemental
NobodyPicksBulbasaur says... Accepted answer #1
While an instant or sorcery spell that you control is on the Stack, you can choose to exile that spell instead of waiting for it to resolve. If you do, then Nivmagus Elemental gets two +1/+1 counters.
After casting the spell, you get two choices. 1: Wait for the spell to resolve, and get its effect. OR 2: Exile the spell (it won't resolve if it gets exiled), then put two +1/+1 counters on Nivmagus Elemental
October 25, 2012 1:04 a.m.