Would Kulrath Knight's ability still work If I cast Splendid Agony and an opponent had a Dictate of Heliod?
Asked by boneknitter 6 years ago
If I have Kulrath Knight on the field and I cast Splendid Agony but my opponent has something like a Dictate of Heliod on the field, would the ability of Kulrath Knight still prevent the creatures I chose to put the -1/-1 counters on from attacking and blocking since Dictate of Heliod is giving my opponent's creatures +2/+2?
My thought is that it would still work because Dictate of Heliod isn't preventing the counters from being placed on the creatures, the bonus is just greater than the -1/-1 counter and Kulrath Knight doesn't specify what type of counters they have to be. If I'm wrong, that's fine. I'm just curious how this would work since some of my friends play decks that have spells that give their creatures bonuses.
boneknitter says... #2
So how would this work against something like a Heroes' Bane?
May 21, 2017 3:02 p.m.
Kulrath Knight specifies that any creatures your opponents control with any counters on them can't attack or block, so under normal circumstances Heroes' Bane would enter with 4 +1/+1 counters, have a functional Power and Toughness of 4/4, and be unable to attack or block. If you were to target it with Splendid Agony and put two -1/-1 counters on it, the result would be a Heroes' Bane with 2 +1/+1 counters on it.
If your opponent had a Dictate of Heliod on the battlefield and you managed to put 4 -1/-1 counters on their Heroes' Bane, it would result in a creature with no +1/+1 or -1/-1 counters on it that has a Power & Toughness of 2/2 and would be able to attack and block as normal. But that would be a silly thing for you to do, yo.
May 21, 2017 3:18 p.m.
boneknitter says... #4
Yes I know, and I wouldn't do that in that case. Was just trying to consider all avenues because I know questions like this will come up in game play
May 21, 2017 3:24 p.m.
No worries, just covering all the bases here. Kulrath Knight is a great hate card to play against decks that focus on using +1/+1 counters to pump up their creatures. Have fun.
Yesterday says... Accepted answer #1
Yes, it would still prevent them from attacking. Having +X/+X doesn't negate the fact that the creatures still have -1/-1 counters on them, and whether their Power and Toughness is the same or different from their original Power and Toughness doesn't factor.
The only thing that at a glance would seem to contradict this is if a creature has both a +1/+1 counter and a -1/-1 counter placed on it, because these counters actually cancel each other out. I.E., if a creature with a single +1/+1 counter has a single -1/-1 counter placed on it, the result is that the creature will have have no +1/+1 or -1/-1 counters on it.
May 21, 2017 2:58 p.m.