Chaos Orb

Artifact

{1}, {T}: If Chaos Orb is on the battlefield, flip Chaos Orb onto the battlefield from a height of at least one foot. If Chaos Orb turns over completely at least once during the flip, destroy all nontoken permanents it touches. Then destroy Chaos Orb.

Legality

Format	Legality
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oldschool 93/94	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal

Discussion (39)

Rhadamanthus on Chaos Orb and Relm's Sketching

1 month ago

The word "battlefield" is being overloaded in Chaos Orb's rules text. The first instance of the word is being used to mean "the battlefield zone" and the second is being used to mean "the physical representation of the battlefield zone". The Orb's text doesn't say anything about a zone change before flipping it, so that means it doesn't change zones and it's on the battlefield through this whole process until it gets destroyed at the end.

I agree with Polaris that it would be best to use related Un/silver/acorn rulings as a guide here, since the "normal" rules of the game don't have any more details on exactly how to play and use dexterity cards and those effects have been solidly in Un/silver/acorn territory for many years now. I remember reading an urban legend of a kitchen-table player who animated Chaos Orb, made a token copy with Dance of Many, then went and got a couch cushion for the token to wipe the entire battlefield.

It's interesting to note that the current Oracle text of Falling Star still says "onto the playing area", so it avoids a lot of the ambiguity and confusion in the Orb's rules text. I wonder why Chaos Orb wasn't re-templated that way as well.

Polaris on Chaos Orb and Relm's Sketching

1 month ago

Reading the updated Oracle text, I don't believe Chaos Orb enters or leaves the battlefield during its activation, until of course it leaves via destroying itself. Even if it were to, the token wouldn't vanish mid ability, as removing objects from zones they can't exist in is a state-based action and will only be checked after the current ability resolves. Your Chaos Orb token will function.

As for what to do with a token, the oracle rulings on Slaying Mantis do tell us that "f you create a token that's a copy of Slaying Mantis, it also enters via flying elbow. However, you must use a Magic card-sized object to represent the token."

sylvannos on Chaos Orb and Relm's Sketching

1 month ago

If I make a copy of Chaos Orb, does the token cease to exist after it's been activated as per CR 111.7 since it is no longer on the battlefield? The oracle text on Chaos Orb says " flip it onto the battlefield," implying it must be off the battlefield. If Chaos Orb does count as leaving the battlefield when it is activated, where does it go? Is it technically exiled? In the "air space" zone?

(Yes, there's a reason WotC no longer prints these kinds of cards)

DrukenReaps on Alternate Ban List

2 years ago

Caerwyn A number of these things is why I'm just spitballing the idea of this here. Obviously Falling Star and Chaos Orb need to be on my list and they aren't xD There are cards which just don't belong in a game like this. Looking at you Ante...

For Coalition Victory I see little reason for confusion over it referencing a creature's colors rather than identity. We have many cards that reference color all over the place with Bloom Tender and Sisay, Weatherlight Captain to name a few. All the devotion gods. To add to that we also have cards referencing identity with Commander's Plate. These are cards which often see play and I've never once seen anyone confuse a card's colors with the card's color identity.

Iona in the 99 doesn't feel like any more of a major issue to me than Void Winnower. I've played with and against Void Winnower and it has the same result more often than not of Iona. Frankly Void Winnower can be meaner, since it always hits every opponent. There are a number of these hefty lock pieces that come down and then everyone at the table groans or people even concede. I played against Iona when she was legal and I do see with Painter's Servant she has even more potential. I just see other cards that are just as effective and "unfun" not banned.

DemonDragonJ on Legacy Banlist

3 years ago

Sproet, I did add those cards to this list, initially but I then removed them, since I chose to list only cards that are banned for power level/gameplay reasons (i.e., dexterity cards, such as Chaos Orb or Falling Star); if I were to add those cards, I would also need to add all cards that reference ante and all cards of the conspiracy type, as well.

Tymn77 on Yorion Stax

3 years ago

Intended for friendly playgroup on TableTop Simulator with custom house ban list: No mana-positive cards that stay in play (eg Sol Ring, Mana Crypt/Mana Vault are out, but Arcane Signet, Black Lotus, and rituals are ok) and no tutors for non-land cards. Also, no Shahrazad or Chaos Orb because obviously.

CharonSquared on Favorite Cube-Cards

3 years ago

Galepowder Mage, Command the Chaff, Recurring Nightmare, Problematic Volcano, Ohran Viper, Spiritmonger, Chaos Orb ... and lots more =P

TheVectornaut on New hubs to be added

4 years ago

Femme_Fatale, for the sake of disambiguation, I agree that only the Kamigawa flip cards should have that keyword assigned to them. I'm more than happy to take the time to submit fixes for all the coinflip cards too (along with the oddballs like Chaos Orb ), although it might take me a few days. I don't want any changes to be disruptive though.

Out of curiosity, is it possible to add other mechanics to the list of keywords you can select from in the card editor? If there was a "Flip a Coin" option there, it would be easy to distinguish between the two types of cards. There already seems to be precedent for having mechanics that aren't keyword abilities, keyword actions, or ability words in the list already (Counters and Tokens, most notably.) This would also negate the need for a dropdown hub for the mechanic, assuming it was popular enough to get one in the first place. Unlike the very common Tokens and Counters options, Flip a Coin would only include ~67 cards, but that's still 66 more than Aura Swap has. I do also recognize that there could be a slippery slope here culminating in adding every possible line of rules text to a field intended for words that are supposed to replace rules text, so maybe a hub is preferable after all? I'm just spitballing.