Un-set cards dealing 1/2 damage to permanents

Asked by SteelSentry 9 months ago

If I use a card like Saute targeting a planeswalker or battle, or a creature like Protean Hydra, does it remove half a counter from them, or is there a rule I'm not sure of that rounds the damage in one direction for the replacement effects? I'm aware that in most cases it won't matter, but there's fringe interactions that I will need to know since most people don't have decks that deal with damage in increments of 1/2.

Somewhat related, if an effect turns the damage dealt into mill (like Mindcrank), would the opponent mill 3 or 4 cards if hit with Saute?

Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #1

In regular Magic, any effect that might result in a fractional result will specifically tell you which way to round, so there's no default rule for it.

In Un-Magic, you're encouraged to be a little creative with interpretations where the rules aren't clear and you're able to come up with something fun that makes sense and is agreeable to each player. The fractions in Unhinged were meant to just interact with life totals and P/T, and other things weren't strictly defined. For Protean Hydra, maybe you could turn one of the +1/+1 counters into a +1/+0 or +0/+1 counter. For Mindcrank, maybe one of the cards could be simultaneously in the graveyard and the library until it moves somewhere else (like on Yet Another Aether Vortex or Masterful Ninja).

Or, to keep it simple, you could just come to an agreement with the other players on a fixed rounding convention for Saute when dealing with odd interactions like this.

May 31, 2023 1:20 p.m.

Rhadamanthus says... #2

I had another thought about this. It's not clear from your question whether or not you know the following already, but I'll add it just in case: Silver-bordered cards (from Unglued/Unhinged/Unstable, plus some special promo cards) and acorn-stamped cards (from Unfinity) aren't meant to be used in "normal" games of Magic. They aren't legal in any tournament format, and for casual games it's polite to check with the other players beforehand to make sure they're okay with you using them.

May 31, 2023 4:18 p.m.

SteelSentry says... #3

I'm aware of that, haha. It's for a silver bordered commander deck I'm building. Just curious if someone had encountered it before, since fractional damage existed before both of those card types.

I suppose "figure it out" is probably the best answer I'm going to get, though there's also nothing forcing these permanents from having non-integer counters if it comes down to it. As for mill, who knows. :^)

May 31, 2023 6:21 p.m.

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