Inkmoth Nexus and soul bonding
Asked by fitzjmm 13 years ago
Scenario: Inkmoth Nexus on the field. I tap it to make it a flyer. I then play Silverblade Paladin. I bind it to Inkmoth Nexus since it's a creature. I then played blessing-of-nature. Fly over the top and it's 10 poison counters right?
Additional question: Can I pair Inkmoth Nexus to Silverblade Paladin each turn I make it a flyer? It says enters the battlefield, so I'd think not, but at the end of the turn it turns back into a land and it's a new creature when it's tapped. Just thinking outside the box and wondering.
May 1, 2012 9:31 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #3
No, because nothing entered the battlefield. The Nexus was already on the battlefield, it just gets different characteristics when you turn it into a creature.
May 1, 2012 9:33 a.m.
I asked because I used it last night and a guy flipped out saying it wasn't legal because Inkmoth Nexus doesn't remain on the field at the end of the turn. He also said I couldn't re-bond Silverblade Paladin to another creature after and we had a pretty heated argument about it. I was pretty sure I was right, but doesn't hurt to double check. I've only been playing a couple of months and usually defer to those playing longer.
May 1, 2012 9:35 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #5
The full rules for soulbond clarify that the creatures become unpaired if one of them stops being a creature. That isn't immediately obvious from the reminder text, which is an extreme abbreviation of the full rules text for the keyword ability.
Wait a minute, I think I misunderstood your initial question. Are you saying you animated Inkmoth Nexus with its own mana, bonded it to Silverblade Paladin and gave it counters with Blessings of Nature, and then attacked with it on a different turn? Like I said in the above paragraph, the bond breaks if one of the two stops being a creature.
May 1, 2012 10:13 a.m.
Inkmoth Nexus never leaves or enters the battlefield when it's ability is activated and it becomes a creature.
Once a Soulbond has been broken (there are three ways, listed below), then the creature may be repaired. When you activate Inkmoth Nexus, it does not enter the battlefield, so it can not be paired with a Soulbond creature already on the battlefield. During your second main phase, Inkmoth Nexus and the Soulbond creature are bonded, and you may not repair the Soulbond creature to another battlefield until the bond is broken.
702.93e A paired creature becomes unpaired if any of the following occur: another player gains control of it or the creature it's paired with; it or the creature it's paired with stops being a creature; or it or the creature it's paired with leaves the battlefield.
May 1, 2012 10:16 a.m.
What I did was pay the 1 mana to animate Inkmoth Nexus. I had been animating him for about 3 turns hoping for this combo to work. I was praying for the miracle on Blessings of Nature (Had 3 in the deck and none had been drawn) and sitting with Silverblade Paladin in my hand. I got the miracle, so I placed it on the Inkmoth Nexus. I then played Silverblade Paladin and bonded him to the nexus. I then attacked with the Inkmoth Nexus. At that point my opponent lost it and started telling me I couldn't play things like that.
As I said, I'm pretty new, but I really felt this is how it should of worked.
May 1, 2012 10:28 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #8
Oh. That's a bit different than what you said at first (I was wondering where you got the 9,000 mana to do it in the order you initially listed), but yeah, you played it out correctly. Whatever your opponent was trying to say doesn't have anything to do with how soulbond works.
May 1, 2012 10:48 a.m.
Did you draw into the Miracle, and then cast it for its Miracle cost? That wouldn't work, because you would have to have the Inkmoth Nexus animated before you cast Blessings of Nature. You would have had to animate it during your upkeep in order for it to have been a legal target.
So many "haves".
May 1, 2012 10:53 a.m.
metawarlord says... #10
All right, here's how it goes down. Inkmoth is activated for one mana, the Paladin and Inkmoth are soulbound, the counters are placed on the inkmoth, then it swings for ten infect. There we go, problem solved. If that doesn't work, soulbound ends and may be done again on your next turn, and the inkmoth loses its counters because it stopped being a creature and the land can't have counters that were supposed to be on a creature.
May 1, 2012 12:22 p.m.
@Miasma I was activating Inkmoth Nexus prior to my draw hoping to pull the miracle. I had the 5 mana to pull this off. I pay the 1 to turn nexus, then I draw and pay the 1 for miracle and then I paid the 3 for Silverblade Paladin. Green is so easy to find mana I had plenty. I was turning the Inkmoth Nexus each turn prior to my draw hoping for the miracle.
Probably not the smart way to play, but I had the mana and it wasn't hurting me to turn him. We were at a drawing stalemate and neither had our fliers out.
May 1, 2012 1:05 p.m.
@fitzjmm - Good play. Perfectly legal. :)
@metawarlord - Actually, the +1/+1 counters remain on the Inkmoth Nexus. Counters aren't affected by changes to characteristics of a card/token. The only time SBA's remove counters is when you have an assortment of +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters on the same permanent.
May 1, 2012 1:22 p.m.
@Miasma. Thanks. I honestly didn't think of it until we were stalling. Then I realized I had another play I could make. He lost it when I hit him with it. I came just to make sure it was legal.
Another note, I was under the impression it would lose it's counters. Knowing now it doesn't makes this even more awesome. I may start tapping the nexus just praying for the miracle LOL.
May 1, 2012 1:29 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #14
I've done it with Increasing Savagery which is pretty hilarious. Waited till I had 5 mana Including the inkmoth. Paid 1 to animate 4 to cast IS (tapping the inkmoth) and passed turn. The guy across from me started wigging out.
Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #1
The creature has 5 power and double strike, so yes, it will deal 10 damage. Is there anything specific about this that had you confused? I'm just curious about why you asked the question.
May 1, 2012 9:30 a.m.