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| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Dralnu, Lich Lord
Legendary Creature — Zombie Wizard
If damage would be dealt to Dralnu, sacrifice that many permanents instead.
: Target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard has flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost. (You may cast that card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
Neotrup on Has Dralnu, Lich Lord ever …
2 years ago
The update wasn't tied to a specific set, but was changed between Mirrodin Besieged and New Phyrexia, possibly to lay groundwork for the return of Flashback in Innistrad later that year (note that Snapcaster Mage always used the new wording).
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/april-2009-update-bulletin-2009-04-22
"Dralnu, Lich Lord & Recoup
"Recoup was printed with a pretty straightforward wording: "Target sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. Its flashback cost is equal to its mana cost." It immediately ran into a problem. Recoup affected a card in your graveyard. When that card moved to the stack (probably because you played it using the flashback ability that Recoup gave it), it became a brand-new card with no memory of its previous existence—so it no longer had flashback! More importantly, it no longer had the flashback cost that Recoup gave it, and since you pay a spell's cost while it's on the stack, that's a problem. So Recoup got weird errata, and when Dralnu was printed, it said the same basic thing.
"There's another way to tackle the issue. Rule 217.1c is the rule that says cards that change zones forget their previous existence ... with five exceptions (which it goes on to list). We're going to make this sort of thing a sixth exception. If something grants a nonland card an ability that allows it to be played, that ability will continue to apply to that card after it's moved to the stack as a result of being played this way. That lets us bring Recoup close to its printed wording, and Dralnu goes along for the ride."
Note that this references Rule 217.1c, which no longer exists (the 200 rules stop at 212). The relevant rule now is 400.7:
400.7. An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence. There are nine exceptions to this rule:
400.7f If an effect grants a nonland card an ability that allows it to be cast, that ability will continue to apply to the new object that card became after it moved to the stack as a result of being cast this way.
Neotrup on Has Dralnu, Lich Lord ever …
2 years ago
Dralnu, Lich Lord is functionally the same. When it was printed, moving a card from the graveyard to the stack made it a new object, removing flashback, so the phrasing was made to kind of circumvent that rule. Now if an effect is modifying a card in a graveyard to allow it to be cast, that modification sticks around when you move it to the stack, allowing the phrasing to be more straightforward.
Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder only wants to grant Cascade to spells cast from your hand, not all spells, and it wants to grant it to ones you draw after it's trigger happens. I suspect that's the reason it's modifying them during the zone change, but for a more definitive answer you'd want to ask the editors.
Yesterday on Has Dralnu, Lich Lord ever …
2 years ago
And more generally, is there a difference between: a card having an established cost granted to it in a zone before being moved to the stack; and having that cost established as you would move it to the stack?
There was an errata in the text of the second ability from Dralnu, Lich Lord to Dralnu, Lich Lord. Was there anything functionally changed in the card's interactions when this happened, or was this change just to tidy up the wording?
On a similar note, Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder grants cascade to your spells as you cast them. Is there a specific reason why it can't just grant cascade to your spells in general this turn? If it could and did, would there be any functional difference?
Epicurus on Card creation challenge
3 years ago
Nether-Void Furnace
Artifact
You may cast spells you own in your graveyard and in exile as though they were in your hand
Whenever a source an opponent controls causes you to lose life, exile that many permanents you control
I've mentioned on this thread before how much I love/hate Dralnu, Lich Lord . This is another one of those cards that you look at and say "my God, I just know that I can make this thing work." But you try and fail, over and over, until eventually you just put it in your Donate deck, where it belongs.
One. More. Jank.
Goblin_Guide on
3 years ago
meME12 I'm glad you like it! I'm actually in the process of making it more reanimator-focused and switching the commander to Dralnu, Lich Lord. So far in playtesting the deck is really slow and inconsistent and I don't have really great reanimation targets, but I'm excited to see how it goes.
Destroyerbirb on
3 years ago
Also, I find that people underestimate flashback as a mechanic way to often. It is powerful to play a spell multiple times, (similar to Storm) and Dralnu, Lich Lord can help you whenever you are out of gas.
Epicurus on Card creation challenge
3 years ago
Dralnu, the Undying
Legendary Planeswalker - Dralnu
~ is not destroyed when he has zero loyalty
+2 Sacrifice a permanent, then return an instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand
-1 Target spell in your graveyard gains escape until end of turn. Its escape cost is equal to its mana cost, plus exile three other cards from your graveyard.
-8 Until end of turn, you may cast any number of instant and/or sorcery spells you own in exile without paying their mana costs
Initial Loyalty - 0
Haha, hadn't ever tried it before, but apparently this page won't let you enter zero for the initial loyalty.
Dralnu, Lich Lord is one of my all time favorite cards that I could never make actually work in a deck. And he's a lich, so staying alive even after his body has died is kind of the definition of that.
Wildcard for the new page.
| Have (1) | metalmagic |
| Want (1) | midget_overlord |