What happens when Vapor Snag is cast targeting an enchanted land

Asked by giovannini 1 year ago

Hi folks, I need some help to understand the mechanics of two cards together.

Imagine i have successfully cast Harmonious Emergence on a land, turning it into a 4/5 creature, which is sitll a land.

What happens when my opponent casts a Vapor Snag on it?

I have considered some options:

  1. The land returns to be a land with indestructible. No cards goes back to my hand. Harmonious Emergence stays in the field. (It can be used again in another land? With mana cost, without mana cost?).

  2. The land card return to my hand and Harmonious Emergence stays in the field.

  3. Both the land card and Harmonious Emergence card return to my hand.

  4. [More on a lore-design level] You turn the field into a creature (LoTR like, Fangorn and stuff...or Snow White tripping). It is not an entity you can 'cast out', there is no specific range, it is the entire place...so when you try a creature removal nothing happens (you use removal in one single tree, during the process another tree hits you from behind).

It seems that Harmonious Emergence was designed only thinking about destroying the creature...but what about other removals?

Thank you for your attention.

Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #1

The land will be returned to your hand, you will lose 1 life, and Harmonious Emergence will go to your graveyard. Here's why:

  • Because Harmonious emergence turns the land into a creature, that makes the land a legal target for Vapor Snag
  • Harmonious Emergence's last ability only applies if something would actually "destroy" the enchanted land, meaning an effect that specifically says "destroy" (Murder, etc.) or a lethal amount of damage being dealt to it (the rules of the game say lethal damage "destroys" a creature). That isn't what's happening here
  • If an Aura is on the battlefield but somehow not attached to a legal object as defined by its "Enchant [something]" ability, then it's put into its owner's graveyard
December 20, 2023 10:48 a.m.

giovannini says... #2

Thank you very much Rhadamanthus!

(Vapor Snag really kills the vibe then, cool)

December 20, 2023 12:17 p.m.

Rhadamanthus says... #3

giovannini: Since it's clear you got a satisfactory answer to your question and there don't seem to be any follow-ups or corrections that need to be made, I marked it as the "Accepted answer" so this topic can move out of the list of unanswered questions. In the future you can take care of this yourself using the "Mark as Answer" button on the response that you feel is the best answer to your question.

December 21, 2023 10:14 a.m.

Please login to comment