Long road home + commander rule interaction
Asked by freshdemon 5 years ago
If I chose to put my commander in the command zone instead of exile when Long Road Home resolves, will it come back?
I'm asking because I play a Reyhan, Last of the Abzan deck
SteelSentry says... #2
No, if a card is put into exile and is later returned, it will only check the exile zone to return it. If you exile your commander with Long Road Home, it will not return if it is returned to the command zone. Similarly, if someone used Pull from Eternity on the creature while in exile, it will not return to the battlefield from the graveyard.
August 31, 2018 3:51 a.m.
To explain this in more detail, as it is not intuitive, I gonna borrow the words of cdkime on another thread:
"You get to return the card because of the language on these flicker effects: they say "return it" or "return that card" to the battlefield. It doesn't specify the card must be in any specific zone--it merely has to be the same card. These cards will look to whichever zone the card was placed in, even if it was modified by a replacement effect. Compare to Oblivion Ring which specifies "the exiled card" - Oblivion Ring only looks to the Exile zone. If you put the card in a different zone, Oblivion Ring can no longer see it."
Now, I added that it must be a non-battlefield public zone. Public zones are zones where any player has free access to information - battlefield, graveyard, exile, command zone, while the hand and library are examples of non-public zones. Since you can only guarantee that the card is the same exact one if it stays in a public zone, sending the commander back to the command zone works and you do not even accrue commander tax for it.
For another example, lets say you cast Long Road Home on your commander, left it in exile, then someone used Wasteland Strangler to process it and put it in your graveyard. Even in that case, LRH would still be able to locate the card in the graveyard and return it to battlefield.
August 31, 2018 5:19 a.m.
Yes, you will be able to return it from the command zone as long as that's the zone it went to as Long Road Home resolved and it hasn't moved since then. Long Road Home checks the public zone it sent the card to, as modified by replacement effects. It does not check any other zones if the card moved after it resolved as a card moving makes it a new object. Wasteland Strangler can prevent a card fron returning.
August 31, 2018 9:39 a.m.
Neotrup has the specifics correct.
Cards like Long Road Home and Flicker that don't specifically refer to "the exiled card" but rather "it" or "that card" will look for the card in the zone to which it was moved, including considering replacement effects, as long as that zone is a public zone. Further zone changes before the "return" effect finishes will cause the card to become a new object, and the flicker effect can't find it.
So with your commander, Long Road Home would send it to exile, but the Commander replacement effect moves it to the command zone instead (assuming you opt for that). This completely replaces which zone the spell moves the card to, and therefore which zone it checks for the card. As long as the card doesn't move from the command zone before the return effect takes place, it will still return to the battlefield. However, if it does change zones (say you re-cast your commander), it's a new object and Long Road Home can no longer find it. This is important if, say, you re-cast your commander, and then it's exiled again or destroyed by something else and you return it to the command zone. Even though it's only been in public zones the whole time, the initial Long Road Home won't return it to the battlefield for you, because it's a different game object than the one that was originally flickered.
August 31, 2018 4:28 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #6
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Boza says... #1
Yes, it will return. These cards that say "return that card" instead of the exiled card will be able to locate the card in any public zone (exile, command zone, graveyard) and return it to the battlefield.
August 31, 2018 3:09 a.m.