Ruling Question: Voltaic Key
Asked by Reznorboy 4 years ago
This has probably been asked before, but I wanted to make sure and tried finding an answer in other places.
If I were to have Wishclaw Talisman and Voltaic Key already on the field, (assuming that Wishclaw Talisman still has 3 Wish Counters on it), and it is my turn, would it be feasible, assuming I have 3 colorless mana open, to activate Wishclaw Talisman's ability by paying the 1 mana, tapping it, and removing the counter, putting the ability on the stack, then activate Voltaic Key in response to the ability, allow it to resolve, untapping Wishclaw Talisman, the searching ability still on the stack, then with the Talisman now untapped, activate the Talisman again, (potentially repeat this if I had enough Voltaic Keys, Wish Counters, and mana) then allow everything to resolve, searching for more than one card and putting more than one in hand?
In future, please remember to ask rules questions in the Rules Q&A portion of the forum.
To answer your quesiton though - yes, you can do what you're asking. The "An opponent gains control of Wishclaw Talisman" is part of the effect of the ability, not the cost. So there is nothing stopping you from putting multiple search triggers on the stack by untapping Wishclaw Talisman. Similarly, you could copy the activated ability and achieve the same effect (though there are much fewer cards which let you do that).
The important thing is that you can't let any of them resolve until you've stacked as many as you can, otherwise you break the chain (since you can't activate abiliities of cards you don't control) and can't continue to put the abilities on the stack (though the existing ones will still resolve).
October 19, 2020 9:18 p.m.
TriusMalarky says... #4
It's sort of one of the first things cEDH players bring up when asked 'why is Wishclaw Talisman good'. Volatic Shenanigans are by far one of the best reasons to have Wishclaw, so any black-based artifact strat in EDH should automatically have Wishclaw. Especially because you're running Volatic anyways(there are so many good things to untap with it) and you'll also have sac outlets in all likelihood(it's black... in EDH).
TL;DR yes, it's a viable series of events and it is extremely powerful. It's also $2 for both cards.
VampDemigod says... #1
Voltaic Key can be activated before you pass it, that effect’s on the right of the :.
October 19, 2020 9:12 p.m.