Subtle templating differences
General forum
Posted on Jan. 28, 2012, 1:23 a.m. by dude1818
I have a couple of questions. The first is, what's the difference between "when" and "whenever" triggers? I mean, is there any difference between, say, Acidic Slime's trigger and that of In the Web of War? The second question is, why do some lords (like Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund) both have an ability and grant it to others, while other lords (like Corrosive Mentor) just grant the ability to everything? There doesn't seem to be an actual difference.
Rhadamanthus says... #3
Karrthus might represent the beginning of the current standard for that templating. Can you find an example of Corrosive Mentor's style in any set from Shards of Alara or later?
January 28, 2012 10:20 a.m.
Madrush Cyclops and the Allies. And then there's Vampire Nocturnus, which is a weird amalgamation of the two wordings.
Epochalyptik says... #2
When vs. Whenever
It's mostly a grammatical choice to indicate the difference between an event that is expected to occur once ("When," as in "When this creature enters the battlefield") and an event that may be expected to occur any number of times ("Whenever, as in "Whenever a creature enters the battlefield").
Lords
Not really sure. I suppose the only time it would make a difference is if the lord lost the quality of the permanent it gave the buff/ability to (for example, if Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
lost the creature type "Dragon," it would still have haste).
January 28, 2012 2:22 a.m.