Does Mairsil, the Pretender's gimmick work with Izzet Chemister's ability?
Asked by DoctorScarf 6 years ago
Okay, so I'm cooking up a Mairsil, the Pretender brew for my next build and I came across a mega sick-as card, namely Izzet Chemister . If I were to cage the chemister with Mairsil, would I be able to cast literally everything that I've caged if I use his second ability? If this works, I'm surprised I haven't seen any other lists with the two paired up with each other.
Please link all cards you're asking about, so it's easier for people to tell what you're asking about. Izzet Chemister
Unfortunately things won't quite work the way you'd like in this regard. Izzet Chemister's abilities are linked abilities, which only care about each other. You could only cast cards exiled with the first ability.
From Mairsil's rulings: "If Mairsil gains an activated ability that’s normally linked to another activated ability of the card it came from, those two abilities Mairsil gains are linked for as long as Mairsil remains on the battlefield. For example, if Mairsil exiles Izzet Chemister, cards exiled with the first ability Mairsil gained from Izzet Chemister can be cast if you activate the second ability it gained that way. Izzet Chemister itself can’t be cast this way, and if Mairsil leaves the battlefield before activating that second ability, the cards exiled with that first ability are lost forever."
The emphasized section specifically shows that you couldn't cast the caged cards, even though they were exiled with this instance of Mairsil, because they weren't exiled due to the ability linked to the casting ability. The part that makes the Chemister's abilities linked is the fact that the second activated ability specifically refers to the effect of the first activated ability.
Relevant rule: "607.5. - If an object acquires a pair of linked abilities as part of the same effect, the abilities will be similarly linked to one another on that object even though they weren’t printed on that object. They can’t be linked to any other ability, regardless of what other abilities the object may currently have or may have had in the past."
August 21, 2018 8:53 a.m.
And while Boza's response isn't quite accurate (Mairsil can't cast any cards caged with that instance of Mairsil), they're accurate in that you can only use Mairsil's second Chemister ability to cast cards exiled with that instance of Mairsil using the first Chemister ability.
Boza says... #1
Izzet Chemister for reference. It has some synergy - you may sacrifice Mairsil/Chemister to cast all cards exiled with it, but only the current Mairsil. You have no access to cards caged by prior iterations of Mairsil via the last ability of Chemister.
All cards that reenter the battlefield are considered new permanents with no memory of their previous existence. That is the reason why mairsil uses cage counters - that is so far the only way the game has to track cards in exile.
August 21, 2018 8:47 a.m.