Does Master of Cruelties and Kaalia of the Vast work?
Asked by DemMeowsephs 4 years ago
In my commander edh deck that wins with Liliana's Contract, I have Master of Cruelties and Kaalia of the Vast. In my playgroup, I attacked with Kaalia, placing master of cruelties out tapped and attacking. Yet he can only attack alone? So does it become an insta kill with my opponent's life total becoming one and then killing them with the two damage from Kaalia, or does their life total just become 1? Can I even use master of cruelties in the deck?
ZugzwangKG says... #4
While master of cruelties will be attacking, unfortunately his ability which sets a life total to 1 will not trigger.
Rule 508.3a states: "... triggers if that creature is declared as an attacker attacking that player or planeswalker. Such abilities won’t trigger if a creature is put onto the battlefield attacking."
Just for good measure, rule 504 reiterates: " If a creature is put onto the battlefield attacking... Such creatures are “attacking” but, for the purposes of trigger events and effects, they never “attacked.”"
So he won't trigger if kaalia puts him on, but he would the next time you attack with him.
February 7, 2021 9:53 a.m.
Normally that would be correct, but as it’s explained by Magicjudges, his ability does in fact work if Kaalia summons him. https://blogs.magicjudges.org/rulestips/2013/08/kaalia-of-the-vast-and-master-of-cruelties-yes-it-works/
April 24, 2021 6:55 p.m.
To clarify, his ability triggers during the blocking portion of combat, not while assigning attackers. So as long as no blockers were assigned to MoC then his ability triggers regardless of assigning him as an attacker during combat.
Kogarashi says... Accepted answer #1
Please link cards using double square brackets to make the question easier to understand, like so:
Liliana's Contract , Master of Cruelties , Kaalia of the Vast
Master of Cruelties has an attacking restriction (can only attack alone) and a triggered ability. The attacking restriction is only checked when it's declared as an attacker as part of the Declare Attackers step. Kaalia's ability bypasses this. He's a valid choice for Kaalia's ability.
The triggered ability triggers during the Declare Blockers step, and only checks that (1) the creature was attacking (whether officially declared as such or placed on the battlefield attacking by an effect) and (2) wasn't blocked. As long as your opponent doesn't block Master of Cruelties , its ability will trigger.
It's important to note that there's nothing about Kaalia's ability that prevents blockers from being declared, so it isn't a guaranteed win.
From the Gatherer rulings on Master of Cruelties :
August 28, 2019 4:33 p.m.