How does Simian Spirit Guide react to being discarded from Spoils of the Vault?

Asked by Dankey 7 years ago

Let's say I cast Spoils of the Vault naming a card, and I end up discarding Simian Spirit Guide. It never enters my hand, but is exiled from the effect. Can I claim the red mana from exiling it or is Spoils of the Vault garbage in Ad Naseum decks?

BlueScope says... Accepted answer #1

First of all, discarding means putting a hand from your hand into the graveyard. That's just terminology, however.

As for the functional part of the answer - no, you won't be able to get in this scenario. Simian Spirit Guide has an activated ability (as indicated by the colon), which means you have to announce that you're activating the ability, then pay it's costs (everything before the colon; in this case exiling it), then put it on the stack. It's not a triggered ability that triggers when the card is being put into exile.

Another tricky part about this card is the "from your hand" phrase, which's purpose is to allow you to activate the ability from another zone than the battlefield - in this case, your hand. I guess it's not technically a restriction, but it will prevent you from activating the ability from anywhere else nevertheless.

September 13, 2016 2:38 a.m.

Dankey says... #2

So I guess now the real question is when to cast Spoils of the Vault if it exiles the mana source of your win condition. It seems to me like you need Angel's Grace in hand/Phyrexian Unlife in play, three Simian Spirit Guides in hand, and a Lightning Storm Scried to the bottom of the deck in order to safely fetch an Ad Nauseam without risking a game loss. I've gotta be missing something here.

September 13, 2016 2:57 a.m.

BlueScope says... #3

While I'm personally not piloting Ad Nauseam, it seems that the only condition your evaluation sums up to is "Angel's Grace in hand or Phyrexian Unlife in play", as you'll draw all copies of Simian Spirit Guide as well as Lightning Storm in your deck due to Ad Nauseam drawing your entire library. Spoils of the Vault seems to be the last resort in finding Ad Nauseam, and it's somewhat of a gamble since you lose if you happen to exile all Lightning Storm with it, though better than losing being unable to do anything. Frank Karsten agrees with me on that one, and provides a nice analysis of the chances as well.

Either way, that's somewhat beyond the scope of this question - if your question has been sufficiently answered, please accept an answer to remove it from the unanswered queue.

September 13, 2016 3:19 a.m.

Dankey says... #4

The function of Spoils is to tutor Nauseam. This can't happen without risking a game loss. It's a huge risk, losing at least 2 monkeys is more common than losing all 3 win conditions. Until I can properly understand how to use Nauseam in most situations, I'll simply use Peer Through Depths and avoid auto conceding.

September 13, 2016 4:35 a.m.

This discussion has been closed