Infinite counters with Winding Constrictor?

Asked by Krhaynes1 7 years ago

A friend of mine told me that if you had three creatures out like Woodland Wanderer and 2 Winding Constrictors that you could create infinite counters on wanderer from the constant trigger of adding another counter trigger of constrictor. Is this right? I've never been great with deciphering rules text, but I was pretty sure he was wrong.

nobu_the_bard says... Accepted answer #1

It doesn't work like that exactly. None of these are triggers.

If you control two Winding Constrictors, and put a creature into play that enters with counters such as Woodland Wanderer, he simply will get two additional counters (each Constrictor will modify the number of counters he places to increase by one).

There's a ruling on Oracle for Winding Constrictor that clarifies this: "If you control two Winding Constrictors, the number of counters placed on the artifact or creature is the original number plus two. Three Winding Constrictors adds three to the original number, and so on."

For this to place infinite counters, it would need to be worded as a trigger. Example: "When an ability or effect besides this one places a number of counters on an artifact or creature you control, you may place another counter of the same type on that artifact or creature." This would create it as a trigger that could go infinite off of a pair of permanents that both have this ability (I added emphasis to help draw attention to the distinction in the wording). Also my imaginary trigger is optional so the loop can be ended voluntarily.

January 20, 2017 10:16 a.m.

Krhaynes1 says... #2

Okay thanks, I was on that same thought as well, putting emphasis on the "plus one" wording.

January 20, 2017 10:21 a.m.

Epochalyptik says... #3

The important word here is actually "instead," which indicates that the effects are replacement effects. Instead of some event occurring (in this case, getting the original number of counters), some other event occurs (in this case, getting that number of counters plus an additional counter).

Replacement effects don't trigger or repeatedly invoke themselves; each applies to an event only once.

January 20, 2017 11:45 a.m.

MikooBo says... #4

if you have two Scrounging Bandar, can you trade between the two on upkeep indefinitely for that to go infinite? or does the "at the beginning of you upkeep" clause prevent this?

February 5, 2017 8:45 p.m.

Epochalyptik says... #5

@LithiumHD: In the future, please ask a new question instead of replying to an old thread.

Also, please use a separate thread if you have an unrelated or tangential question.

To answer you, though, Scrounging Bandar's ability is a triggered ability that triggers at the beginning of your upkeep. It doesn't keep triggering after that. You can move the counters off of each Scrounging Bandar once on each of your turns.

February 5, 2017 9:35 p.m.

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