Book Burning, what do they mean by unless the player has a burning book
Asked by SprkySprkyBoomMan 4 years ago
Do they mean if they have one in there deck, hand, or if they just own it in their collection of cards?
Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #2
That first line break in the card's text and the less than ideal phrasing caused a lot of confusion back when it was first printed, and I'm not surprised to hear they're still confusing people today. The current Oracle text is re-worded to be a bit clearer:
"Any player may have Book Burning deal 6 damage to him or her. If no one does, put the top six cards of target player's library into his or her graveyard."
It just asks if anyone wants to be dealt 6 damage by the Book Burning spell on the stack, and if no one does then the targeted player will get milled for 6.
Caerwyn says... #1
You are misreading the card--the Book Burning referenced in the card's rules text is itself.
So, just to walk through how it works:
Player A casts Book Burning .
Book Burning resolves, so you are going to do what the card says to do.
Player A and B (and C, D, E, F, etc. if multiplayer, with each player having the choice in order) can choose to have the resolving copy of Book Burning deal 6 damage to them. I'm guessing Player A will rarely want to take 6 damage from their own spell, but the rules text does allow that.
If no player takes the 6 damage, then the target player puts the top 6 cards of their library into their graveyard.
If one player takes the 6 damage, then there is no additional effect.
October 17, 2019 11:33 a.m.