Root Cage?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.rules (More info?)

Hi everybody,

I just traded for some cards and stumbled upon a card named Root Cage,
which prevents Mercenaries from untapping.

Is there some special reason for the existence of that card? I mean,
okay, a 3/3 creature for 4 mana is OK, but it does have a drawback.
Did it somehow become too strong in tournaments? Is there some trick
with Mercenaries that I fail to see? I mean, they were printed about
what, nine years ago? There certainly were more powerful creatures
since then, and they did not get extra hosed as far as I know.

Any insights on this one?

Thanks,

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.rules (More info?)

"Reinhard Schilmöller" <schilmo@uni-muenster.de> wrote in message
newsine.A41.4.58.0407061531480.82920@zivunix.uni-muenster.de...
> Hi everybody,
>
> I just traded for some cards and stumbled upon a card named Root Cage,
> which prevents Mercenaries from untapping.
>
> Is there some special reason for the existence of that card? I mean,
> okay, a 3/3 creature for 4 mana is OK, but it does have a drawback.
> Did it somehow become too strong in tournaments? Is there some trick
> with Mercenaries that I fail to see? I mean, they were printed about
> what, nine years ago? There certainly were more powerful creatures
> since then, and they did not get extra hosed as far as I know.
>
> Any insights on this one?

This card doesn't only prevent cards with the name 'Mercenaries' to untap,
it also prevents creatures with the creature type "Mercenary" to untap.
There are quite a few mercenaries in Mercadian Masques Block. It's standard
practice for WotC to print a few cards that hose the block-specific
mechanics, to prevent the mechanics to be TOO strong, and totally dominate
the format. In Mercadian Masques Block, the "rebel "mecanic proved to be a
lot more powerful than the 'mercenary' mechanic, so it's quite logical you
didn't hear about it.


Jasper Overman

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.rules (More info?)

Jasper Overman <NOSPAM@overman.org> wrote:

> This card doesn't only prevent cards with the name 'Mercenaries' to untap,
> it also prevents creatures with the creature type "Mercenary" to untap.

Actually, if the card Mercenaries didn't have the creature type
Mercenary, Root Cage would have no effect on it.
--
Daniel W. Johnson
panoptes@iquest.net
http://members.iquest.net/~panoptes/
039 53 36 N / 086 11 55 W

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.rules (More info?)

On Tue, 6 Jul 2004, Daniel W. Johnson wrote:

>>This card doesn't only prevent cards with the name 'Mercenaries' to untap,
>>it also prevents creatures with the creature type "Mercenary" to untap.
>
>Actually, if the card Mercenaries didn't have the creature type
>Mercenary, Root Cage would have no effect on it.

Oh, I see. Root Cage's text doesn't talk about creatures *named* Mercenaries
but creatures *typed* Mercenaries.

>>There are quite a few mercenaries in Mercadian Masques Block. It's standard
>>practice for WotC to print a few cards that hose the block-specific
>>mechanics, to prevent the mechanics to be TOO strong, and totally dominate
>>the format. In Mercadian Masques Block, the "rebel "mecanic proved to be a
>>lot more powerful than the 'mercenary' mechanic, so it's quite logical you
>>didn't hear about it.

Thanks for the information. I looked up some lists and found out about the
mercenaries in Masquerade cycle. Its a rather interesting concept, but I can
see how the rebels were more powerful than the mercenaries.

Well, regardless how much you think you know about Magic, there's some new
rules for you to learn all the time. I hadn't realized such things always
look for creature types instead of names... Hey, then the original
Mercenaries creature from Ice Age is a powerful hoser against Masquerade
mercenaries decks! Just pay 3 and ignore all the bigger and smaller
Mercenary creatures your opponent is throwing at you. Too bad it wasn't
reprinted in Mercadian Masques. (On the other hand, a white Mercenary
probably wouldn't have fit the theme, though.)

Thanks,

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.rules (More info?)

Reinhard Schilmöller <schilmo@uni-muenster.de> wrote:

> Oh, I see. Root Cage's text doesn't talk about creatures *named* Mercenaries
> but creatures *typed* Mercenaries.

Yes, cards don't care about names of cards unless they explicitly say
so:

Plague Rats
{2}{B}
Creature -- Rat
*/*
Plague Rats's power and toughness are each equal to the number of
creatures named Plague Rats in play.

Eradicate
{2}{B}{B}
Sorcery
Remove target nonblack creature from the game. Search its controller's
graveyard, hand, and library for all cards with the same name as that
creature and remove them from the game. That player then shuffles his or
her library.

And the only rules that care about names are 100.2 (deck construction)
and 420.5e (the Legend rule).

> Hey, then the original
> Mercenaries creature from Ice Age is a powerful hoser against Masquerade
> mercenaries decks! Just pay 3 and ignore all the bigger and smaller
> Mercenary creatures your opponent is throwing at you.

Well, no. That ability on the Mercenaries card just prevents damage
from that Mercenaries card.

202.2. Text that refers to the object it's on by name means just that
particular object and not any other duplicates of it, regardless of any
name changes caused by game effects.
--
Daniel W. Johnson
panoptes@iquest.net
http://members.iquest.net/~panoptes/
039 53 36 N / 086 11 55 W