Kari Zev's Expertise and split cards
Asked by billpasdmf 7 years ago
So I was just playing a game one xmage against someone who was using Kari Zev's Expertise and Breaking / Entering.
Now, Keri Zev's explicitly states that you can cast a card with a cmc of 2, but my opponent was able to play both halves even though I'm pretty sure that the CMC should constitute both halves, making it 5.
Am I incorrect about this or should I let the people at xmage know so they can fix the card. I'm pretty sure that the card would probably be banned in modern if it allowed people to reliably drop a turn 3 Emrakul.
Kari Zev's Expertise let's you cast a card from your hand with converted mana cost 2 or less. Breaking has a converted mana cost of 2 (Entering has a converted mana cost of 6), so the card qualifies because one of the halves qualifies, so your opponent could cast it without paying it's mana cost. Now your opponent goes to cast the cards and looks at the options on how. The can of course cast Breaking, but the can also cast Entering because when casting a split card you can choose either half, and because it has fuse and is being cast from the hand (albeit in an abnormal way) both halves can be cast. So yes, Breaking / Entering can be cast instead of just either half when it's being cast off of Kari Zev's Expertise. On the stack it will have a converted mana cost of 8 (the sum), but in hand it has 2 converted mana costs, 2 and 6, and both are used for checking if conditions are met.
February 8, 2017 3:44 p.m.
This combo does not work. As of the release of Amonkhet the rules regarding the CMC of split cards changed so that in all zones other than the stack Breaking / Entering always has a CMC based on the combined mana costs, which is it say 8. However, in answer to the interaction between a fused Breaking / Entering and a creature like Emrakul, the Aeons Torn or other creatures that have a triggered ability for being put into the graveyard, yes, if they are milled with Breaking they can be put onto the battlefield with Entering because the triggered ability has not been put onto the stack, much less resolved, when you choose a creature to reanimate with Entering. This is different than how creatures that replace being put into the graveyard work. If a Blightsteel Colossus is hit with Breaking it will be revealed and shuffled back into the library instead of going into the graveyard, so it cannot be chosen with Entering.
billpasdmf says... #1
Obviously I mean CMC of 8 not 5.... sorry.
February 8, 2017 2:20 p.m.