Ertai's Meddling Permanents
Asked by notorius-B.D.A.W.G 5 years ago
With Ertai's Meddling it exiles the spell on the stack and after the delay creates a copy of the spell, the card is still exiled. If that copy resolves, say it was a creature like Runeclaw Bear , I presume the owner/controller gets a Runeclaw Bear permanent even though the card is in exile. Is that right?
notorius-B.D.A.W.G says... #2
Thanks, but I'm still not sure I properly understand the card/rules.
Comparing to Delay , since Ertai's Meddling (or the copy) doesn't have or gain suspend, I take it there's some differences?
April 21, 2019 1:17 p.m.
Delay specifically grants the spell suspend and gives it counters. When the last time counter is removed, it'll be cast again, triggering anything that looks for when spells are cast, and allowing different modes to be chosen. Additionally, Delay will trigger things like Baral, Chief of Compliance that look for spells being countered, while Ertai's Meddling doesn't actually counter the spell.
Let's say you're casting Golgari Charm , and have a Demon's Horn on the battlefield. When you cast Golgari Charm , you gain 1 life from the Horn, and choose "Destroy target enchantment."
If your opponent uses Ertai's Meddling on your Charm, with X=3, then you exile it with 3 delay counters on it. At the beginning of each of your upkeeps, you remove a delay counter, and when you remove the last, you move Golgari Charm back to the stack copying the previous choices made. You aren't casting it, so Demon's Horn doesn't trigger, and since it's copying the previous version, you can't choose one of the other two modes, only destroying a target enchantment.
Now let's say your opponent used Delay instead. It's countered, first off, so something like Baral will trigger. Second, it's exiled with three time counters and gains suspend. Again, you remove counters at the beginning of each of your upkeeps, and when the last is removed, you cast the spell without paying its mana cost. You can choose a new mode and/or new targets, and it will trigger Demon's Horn again.
If your spell was Bond of Agony instead of Golgari Charm , then Ertai's Meddling allows it back on the stack with whatever value of X you'd previously used. Delay , on the other hand, makes you cast it without paying its mana cost, which means X must be 0.
April 21, 2019 1:57 p.m.
notorius-B.D.A.W.G says... #4
OK thanks for clearing that up. The choices, including targets remain locked-in, so if the enchantment Golgari Charm was targeting is no longer on the battlefield (has been flickered etc), then the Golgari Charm copy will fizzle due to illegal targets right.
Thanks for the help guys.
April 21, 2019 2:12 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #5
Yes, it is an exact copy of what it was before. You do not get to rechose modes or targets.
April 21, 2019 6:54 p.m.
Can I please check to see if I can stifle the ertai's meddling trigger to stop the spell ever being put on stack? Or will it go back to stack in next turn again?
February 8, 2020 2:05 a.m.
Gidgetimer says... #7
Removing counters and putting the spell back on the stack are a single trigger. This means that it will still be exiled with delay counters and will have one removed and the card pit back on the stack on their next turn.
Suspend on the other hand is two triggers. You can stifle just the one to cast the card and it will not be cast again.
Gidgetimer says... Accepted answer #1
After the last delay counter is removed the card is put back on the stack as a copy of the spell that was originally cast. The card does not remain in exile.
What Ertai's Meddling does is simply delay the spell resolving for a number of turns. It has to make the card a copy of the original spell to accomplish this because simply putting the spell back on the stack would negate anything paid into an X cost, allow different modes to be selected, and negate any additional costs paid. Allowing the card to be cast without paying its mana cost would do that as well as causing cast triggers to happen again.
For permanent spells the card will enter the battlefield as the permanent.
April 21, 2019 12:52 p.m.