Why in Arena when I cast Espeth Conquers Death to exile Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider nothing happens?
Asked by shawngurath 4 years ago
Is Vorinclex not exile-able, or is there a glitch in Arena?? clearly its casting cost is over 3
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #2
Saga rules:
714.2. A chapter symbol is a keyword ability that represents a triggered ability referred to as a chapter ability.
714.2a A chapter symbol includes a Roman numeral, indicated here as “{rN}.” The numeral I represents 1, II represents 2, III represents 3, and so on.
714.2b “{rN}—[Effect]” means “When one or more lore counters are put onto this Saga, if the number of lore counters on it was less than N and became at least N, [effect].”
714.2c “{rN1}, {rN2}—[Effect]” means the same as “{rN1}—[Effect]” and “{rN2}—[Effect].” 714.2d A Saga’s final chapter number is the greatest value among chapter abilities it has. If a Saga somehow has no chapter abilities, its final chapter number is 0.
714.3. Sagas use lore counters to track their progress.
714.3a As a Saga enters the battlefield, its controller puts a lore counter on it.
714.3b As a player’s precombat main phase begins, that player puts a lore counter on each Saga they control. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack.
Vorinclex's ability, emphasis mine:
If an opponent would put one or more counters on a permanent or player, they put half that many of each of those kinds of counters on that permanent or player instead, rounded down.
Half of 1, rounded down, is 0. So when your saga enters the battlefield, and at the beginning of your precombat main phase, you will put 0 Lore counters on your Saga, and none of its chapters will trigger.
February 6, 2021 12:34 a.m. Edited.
Rhadamanthus says... #3
shawngurath: Answers to your question have been up for a while. Since there don't seem to be any follow-ups or corrections to be made, I marked one 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 best answers your question.
Polaris says... Accepted answer #1
The reason is Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider hard-counters Sagas. You, the opponent, cast a Saga. When it enters the battlefield it tries to put a counter on itself, but because of Vorinclex's last ability it puts 1/2 rounded down to zero counters. It never gets any counters at all while Vorinclex is in play (unless you had a Vorinclex out yourself), even during your subsequent draw steps.
Removing Vorinclex will let the saga progress normally; on your draw the turn after you remove Vorinclex, Elspeth Conquers Death will get its first counter and exile a permanent, and the subsequent turns will trigger chapters 2 and 3.
February 5, 2021 5:42 p.m.