Unstable: With The Grand Calcutron on the battlefield, do cards that interact with a player's hand still interact with their program?
Asked by Yesterday 6 years ago
If I have a The Grand Calcutron on the battlefield as well as a Scroll Rack, can I activate the rack to practical use or does it look and find 0 cards in my hand because I have a 'program' instead? (In the case of the latter, I really don't know how one is meant to avail of The Grand Calcutron as a decent commander.)
If I have X and activate the ability to put it into an opponent's hand, would it go into their program? Who chooses where a card goes in its owner's program if the card wasn't drawn? Would X and Sen Triplets still allow me to cast cards from my opponent's program as they would from their hand?
Follow up question, as this seems relevant here ;)
If you use Scroll Rack or a 'draw X cards' spell, would you put 1 card in your hand/draw 1, choose where to put it, and so on until you've drawn all cards that spell allowed you to, or do you simply draw all spells and then arrange your hand as you see fit?
This seems relevant, because the first way (which I think is correct) makes it a bit more challenging to line up your plays properly.
December 14, 2017 9:10 a.m.
The first would be correct.
When an effect instructs you to draw N cards, where n is more than 1, you do so one at a time. For that reason, if you cast Jace's Ingenuity when an opponent has Nekusar, the Mindrazer in play, it will create three separate triggers.
December 14, 2017 10:06 a.m.
Scroll Rack here has the ability to put n cards in your hand at once rather than draw them, which is nice.
No. The Grand Calcutron's ability overrides X in this case. You're limited to the first card in your program.
This definitely contradicts what I've heard before. I understood that The Grand Calcutron only limits the castability of cards within your own hand, as though the correct wording really ought to be "Players can't cast spells from their program except for the first in that program."
That cards that you cast from other zones are therefore pretty neat in a dedicated deck, like spells with flashback. Am I misinformed?
December 14, 2017 12:14 p.m.
To the above, it is stated in the Unstable FAQAWASLFAQPAFTIDAWABIAJTBT (FAQ) when explaining rules about X that The Grand Calcutron overrides the ruling.
I understood the same, that you can cast spells from anywhere else, as this isn't stated explicitly so it should follow the normal rules. However, after rereading the card and the gatherer, you can read it as 'the only card you may cast is the first card of your program, period.' So flashback, etc, cards can't be cast as long as they are not the first card of your program.
@Boza, thanks for the confirmation.
December 15, 2017 3:48 a.m.
It could also be interpreted as "The only card that you may play from programs is the first card in your program."
Frickin' Unstable, man.
December 15, 2017 9:58 a.m.
Your program is basically your hand, just in a specific order, so anything that affects your hand affects your program instead
December 17, 2017 7:50 a.m.
I'm just terribly unsure to what extent you are unable to cast spells that aren't from your program. It seems that either you can't play cards from programs except the first card in your own program - or you can't play cards at all ever in general except the first card in your own program.
December 17, 2017 9:15 a.m.
Yes, you can ONLY cast the FIRST card in your program, unless it's a card that allows you to, say, cast another card from your hand for free or something, in that case, I think you can pick anything in your hand/program.
December 17, 2017 10:18 a.m.
Can't always trumps can, so something that allows you to cast something from your program for free while you can't cast those things from your program results in you being unable to cast it. It's just unclear wording on The Grand Calcutron what exactly it means you can't do. Certainly you can't cast spells from within your program apart from the first in that program. Apparently you can't cast cards from within other players' programs. Possibly you can't cast anything from... without the programs either. It's sort of a critical distinction to solve before anybody could build a dedicated Commander deck.
December 18, 2017 1:59 p.m.
Yeah, it's a bit confusing. The one thing that I thing most unclear, is what happens if you put X in someone's program...
December 18, 2017 2:44 p.m.
I had initially assumed that it would mean you could cast things from opponents' programs, but apparently according to Rosewater, The Grand Calcutron says you can't cast your opponents' cards with X even with the ability. Also, apparently if X is the first card in an opponent's program then they're basically screwed. It's actually a very disappointing interaction as I was hoping to make a Sen Triplets deck featuring both.
December 18, 2017 3:03 p.m.
I had initially assumed that it would mean you could cast things from opponents' programs, but apparently according to Rosewater, The Grand Calcutron says you can't cast your opponents' cards with X even with the ability. Also, apparently if X is the first card in an opponent's program then they're basically screwed. It's actually a very disappointing interaction as I was hoping to make a Sen Triplets deck featuring both.
December 18, 2017 3:05 p.m.
Every time they draw a card they can put it before X and can play that card as such, but yeah, the rest of their hand is basically screwed.
Also, I did some more searching and the answer is given already by the almighty Rosewater ;).
"No, The Grand Calcutron only requires you to play the first card in your program if youre playing a card in your hand. A Commander, Flashback, impulsive draw, etc. are all fine to play whenever."
Sauce Show
December 19, 2017 3:45 a.m.
Urghhhh, that directly contradicts the other thing he said though. D:
December 19, 2017 6:57 a.m.
If the grand calcutron is out and players may only play the first card of their program, does that mean they can't cast their commander from the command zone or flashback cards in graveyards?
No, The Grand Calcutron only requires you to play the first card in your program if youre playing a card in your hand. A Commander, Flashback, impulsive draw, etc. are all fine to play whenever.
If The Grand Caluctron in on the battlefield and my X is in my opponent's hand, can I cast cards in their program?
No. The Grand Calcutron's ability overrides X in this case. You're limited to the first card in your program.
So you're only restricted from playing cards from within your own program apart from the first - not any other cards outside the program. Except if you have an X in an opponent's program, in which case you also can't play those cards?
December 19, 2017 7:30 a.m.
You should read the ability that [the grand calcutron] has as:
"If TGC is on the battlefield each player's hand becomes a program.
If you would cast a card from A hand, you're limited to cast the first card in YOUR program.
If you would cast a card from anywhere else, proceed as normal."
It makes sense they had to explicitly add X as an exception as it is the only card that lets you cast other players hand cards in Unstable (i think). However, this statement should hold true for each card that enables this. IE Sen Triplets allows you to cast cards from their hand, but it is no longer their hand, it's a program. The Grand Calcutron says you can you play the first card of YOUR program, so sen triplets won't let you cast it.
December 19, 2017 7:44 a.m.
That's lame, that's really lame, that's super duper lame. =(
Okay thanks though.
Boza says... #1
Q1: From the FAQ: If I'm forced to discard, do I lose cards from my program?Yes. Your program is still your hand, and those cards can be discarded.
So, in theory, scroll rack works as normal, except when you draw cards, you have to put them in your program however you like.
Q2: Yes.
Q3: If the card is put into your hand by your own effect, you choose where it goes. If it goes there with someone else's effect (I am thinking X), you choose where it is put in their program. Also, from FAQ:
X and calcutron are fun! Show
No. The Grand Calcutron's ability overrides X in this case. You're limited to the first card in your program.
Q4: From FAQ:
Title goes here Show
No. The opponent can never cast X. In fact, if X is the first card of their program, they can't cast any card in their program, at least until new cards are put ahead of it. Note that you can't cast X either, as it's not the first card in your program.
December 14, 2017 7:52 a.m.