Mairsil ETB
Asked by SlimJim83 3 years ago
I have a question about Mairsil, the Pretender
. I know that if he leaves the battlefield for any reason and then returns he still sees cards that were exiled the previous time(s) his ETB triggers happen, such as blinking him with Identity Thief. My question is, if I copy him with something like Clone, the legend rule kicks in and I have to sacrifice one of them, but since the ETB triggers still happen, will Mairsil see cards exiled with the copy? Thanks in advance.
Yes, that helped greatly. I was looking for a commander to make a creature based combo a little more death proof and the blink and clone effects make it a little more redundant. It's not foolproof, but it definitely gives me more chances to try again if I get hated out the first time. Thanks again.
June 25, 2020 3:06 p.m.
Tylord2894 says... #3
There's one interaction about Mairsil that isn't directly tired to your question but is useful to know if you're making a deck around him.
The second ability of Mairsil restricts you that you can only use each ability of the "caged" cards only once per turn. If you activate an ability of Mairsil and then Mairsil is blinked, you can activate that ability again that turn. This is because that single-use restriction applies to the "Mairsil" game object that used an ability. When Mairsil is blinked, you now have a new "Mairsil" object, so the new object doesn't have that restriction applied yet.
A common combo with Mairsil is AEtherling. With any ETB or "free" ability, you get massive (or infinite) value.
June 25, 2020 3:25 p.m.
In addition to the above, if you were to have multiple copies of Mairsil (via Helm of the Host or Sakashima the Impostor for instance), then each copy can activate each caged ability once per turn, for additional activations, because they are separate game objects from each other.
June 25, 2020 9:10 p.m.
Reading the Gatherer entry for Mairsil will give some interesting deckbuilding potentials:
If Mairsil has a crew ability, creatures can crew Mairsil. It’ll become an artifact creature, but its power and toughness remain unchanged.
Not only is funny to crew Mairsil, it gives a source to infinitely tap another creature.
Additionally, for Cloneing Mairsil, even if you keep the original, you still get the ETB effect to exile a card with a cage counter:
If you have a creature enter the battlefield as a copy of Mairsil, its first ability triggers. You won’t be able to activate any abilities before the “legend rule” applies, but the triggered ability will still let you exile another card with a cage counter regardless of which Mairsil you keep.
Which can be very fun with the abovementioned Helm of the Host.
June 26, 2020 3:18 a.m.
Okay, now my deck is looking at a radical redesign lol. Thanks for the help, all.
Tylord2894 says... #1
Yes, Mairsil
will "see" the card that you exile when he is cloned.
Mairsil is an interesting exception among cards that have abilities like his. Take something with imprint, such as Isochron Scepter, as an example. On the surface, Mairsil and the scepter do very similar things. They ETB and exile something, and you can then use that something later. They differ in how they let you do that. The scepter has a pair of linked abilities, the ETB and activated ability. Because of this, a copy of the scepter won't "see" what the original exiled and visa versa. Mairsil, on the other hand, puts a "cage counter" on the exiled card as part of the ETB. Mairsil then looks at to see what cards have said counter on it. In other words, the two abilities of Mairsil aren't tied together.
Hope this helps!!
June 25, 2020 2:49 p.m.