Question about Cipher.
Asked by Rayenous 12 years ago
I'm not sure this is the right place for this, as Cipher in not actually released yet but...
Does anyone know if a Cipher encoded on a creature will remain encoded if it is no longer a creature?
i.e.: If I encode onto a 'Man-Land', or a Keyrune, does it work like an aura, which would fall off, or would it work like a +1/+1 counter which remains?
My first guess is that it will remain encoded to the permanent, regardless of the permanent type... but I can't say for sure.
I was wondering this due to looking at spoilers and thinking of the combination of "Whispering Madness", encoded onto "Dimir Keyrune".
My belief is that it will work similar to Haunt, which doesn't care if the encoded permanent is still a creature.
January 2, 2013 11:58 a.m.
The Cipher ability states "Then you may exile this spell on a creature you control. Whenever that creature deals combat damage to a player, its controller may cast a copy of the encoded card without paying its mana cost."
So, for your example, you could only encode it onto the keyrune when it was a creature. When it stopped being a creature, the encoded spell would no longer fulfill the creature part so would be removed.
Not sure if it would go into the graveyard or remain exiled though
January 4, 2013 7:35 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #4
@lorddeox: That's incorrect as far as we can tell. Things like cipher and haunt don't continually check whether the relevant permanent remains a creature. They don't function like Auras and won't be removed if the permanent stops being a creature.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #1
We will need to see the official CR update to know for sure, but the wording of cipher makes me think the ability doesn't care whether or not the encoded creature remains a creature after the cipher spell has been encoded on it.
January 2, 2013 8:56 a.m.