Goblin Dark-Dwellers and Split cards
Asked by Nephilim 8 years ago
So I was looking up Modern Land Destruction and came across an article written on Channel Fireball. In it was the following:
"One of the big combos of the deck is Goblin Dark-Dwellers with Boom/Bust. Boom is a great combo for targeting your own fetchlands or Flagstones so that you arent losing any value while still getting to destroy their land. Bust isnt always a realistic spell to cast, as it does cost quite a bit, but Goblin Dark-Dwellers will make that even easier. You can target a Boom // Bust in the graveyard and choose Bust. Youll also be left with a 4/4 menace creature when all is said and done for a quick close."
I'd also recently seen someone say something similar, but it was in regards to one of the new Expertise cycle being used in Modern and again using a Split card but casting the more expensive half of the card.
Put simply my question is this: How is this legal? It would seem that only the part that qualifies to be cast should be. In the case of the GDD only Boom is low enough CMC to be cast, so it should but not Bust.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #2
@Raging_Squiggle: Note that "fuse" is an ability found on some split cards in the Return to Ravnica block. The cards themselves are just split cards; not all of them have the fuse ability.
As for the question, Squig is correct. Split cards have two sets of characteristics. In this case, we have an effect (Goblin Dark-Dwellers's ability) checking whether a card has a certain characteristic. When you perform a "positive comparison" like this, a split card passes the check as long as at least one of its halves meets the criteria. In this case, Boom meets the criteria. Therefore, Boom/Bust passes the check and you can cast either half.
708.6. Some effects perform comparisons involving one or more split cards in a zone other than the stack or involving one or more fused split spells.
708.6a Anything that performs a positive comparison (such as asking if a card is red) or a relative comparison (such as asking if a card's converted mana cost is 3 or less) involving one or more split cards in any zone other than the stack or involving one or more fused split spells gets only one answer. This answer is "yes" if either side of each split card in the comparison would return a "yes" answer if compared individually.
Raging_Squiggle says... #1
Fuse cards represent 2 sets of characteristics, one set for each side of the card. if one set of the characteristics is legal for something (ie Goblin Dark-Dwellers or Isochron Scepter), then the other half is also available to be chosen upon being cast for free. Only thing you can't do is cast both sides together.
January 12, 2017 8:05 p.m.