Reverse the sands

[Guest]

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

Could somebody please explain reverse the sands.
I am on 5 life, my opponent is on 15. I can only change the totals putting
me on 15 and opponent on 5? I think I got that. but how does it work in
multiplayer?

I am on 2, opponent A is on 25, opponent B is on 15.
How would reverse the sands work now, in order to benefit me?

Reverse the Sands
Champions of Kamigawa rare
Sorcery
Redistribute any number of players' life totals. (Each of those players gets
one life total back.)

Thank you
Jonathan Fourie

 

[Guest]

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

Jonathan Fourie (j_fourie@yahoo.com) wrote:
: Could somebody please explain reverse the sands.
: I am on 5 life, my opponent is on 15. I can only change the totals putting
: me on 15 and opponent on 5? I think I got that. but how does it work in
: multiplayer?

: I am on 2, opponent A is on 25, opponent B is on 15.
: How would reverse the sands work now, in order to benefit me?

: Reverse the Sands
: Champions of Kamigawa rare
: Sorcery
: Redistribute any number of players' life totals. (Each of those players gets
: one life total back.)

Fairly simple. You have three players. You have three life
totals - 25, 15, and 2. RtS allows you to decide which player
gets which life total of those three. Obviously, the best
benefit to you is to give yourself the "25" and give the "2"
to one of A or B...the other of A or B gets the "15". Keep
in mind that instants etc. can change the totals while RtS
is on the stack...

RtS does *not* force you to switch the totals in pairs,
though in a 2-player game that...or having the spell Do
Nothing ("any number" includes zero)...is the end result.

It doesn't matter who started with what; in a 5-player game,
for example, you might only want to reassign 3 of the life
totals, leaving the other 2 alone...as the card says "any number
of players", this is legal.

In multiplayer, RtS can be quite a handy card.


Keith

 

[Guest]

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

On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 06:29:50 +0200, Jonathan Fourie <j_fourie@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Could somebody please explain reverse the sands.
>I am on 5 life, my opponent is on 15. I can only change the totals putting
>me on 15 and opponent on 5?

Right. It doesn't let you split up the totals that exist.

>I think I got that. but how does it work in multiplayer?
>
>I am on 2, opponent A is on 25, opponent B is on 15.
>How would reverse the sands work now, in order to benefit me?

You have a choice of six different arrangements to choose from, with three
players (one of which is the arrangement you started with). Usually you'd
give yourself the 25, and depending which of A and B you hated more you'd
give that one the 2 and the other one the 15. But any of the six arrangements
is legal. Similarly, in a six-person game where everyone has a different life
total, you'd have a choice of 720 ways to redistribute them.

Dave
--
\/David DeLaney posting from dbd@vic.com "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://www.vic.com/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ & Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.

 

[RisseR]

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

I know that for some cards, like Sway of the Stars or Form of the
Dragon, setting the life total is considered gaining or losing life to
get to that total, for other cards like False Cure. (Or am I wrong?)

Is this the same with Reverse the Sands? Are you setting the totals to
the new totals, or are we just swapping totals, without the side effect
of actually setting them.

A fine point, to be sure, but how funny would it be to play False Cure,
then Reverse the Sands giving your opponent the HIGHER life total, only
to have him then lose twice the amount that he gained, and die.
Stupid, but hiliarious if you could pull it off.

Peter

***
False Cure {BB}
Instant
Onslaught Rare
- Until end of turn, whenever a player gains life, that player loses 2
life for each 1 life he or she gained.
***
Sway of the Stars {8UU}
Sorcery
Betrayers of Kamigawa Rare
- Each player shuffles his or her hand, graveyard, and permanents he or
she owns into his or her library, then draws seven cards. Each player's
life total becomes 7.
***
Form of the Dragon {4RRR}
Enchantment
Scourge Rare
- At the beginning of your upkeep, Form of the Dragon deals 5 damage to
target creature or player.
- At the end of each turn, your life total becomes 5.
- Creatures without flying can't attack you.
***

 

[Guest]

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

One of the voices in my head - or was it Jonathan Fourie? - just said...
> Could somebody please explain reverse the sands.
> I am on 5 life, my opponent is on 15. I can only change the totals putting
> me on 15 and opponent on 5?

You could also leave them the same, though why you would want to is a
good question. But yes, you've understood the most important idea - you
can't split a life total up.

> I think I got that. but how does it work in
> multiplayer?
>
> I am on 2, opponent A is on 25, opponent B is on 15.
> How would reverse the sands work now, in order to benefit me?

Exactly the same way. One player will end up with 25, one will end up
with 15, and one will end up with 2. You decide which player gets each
life total. So, for example, you can give yourself the 25, opponent A
the 15, and opponent B the 2. Or you could distribute these three life
totals any other way you see fit among the three players. There are six
possible ways to do this in total; I'm sure you can figure them all out.

(This is what the reminder text is trying to tell you, but this is, in
my opinion, a case where WotC's templating people dropped the ball: many
players find Reverse The Sands' reminder text more confusing than the
rules text it's supposed to clarify).

 

[Guest]

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

Risser <knucklehead000@yahoo.com> wrote:

> I know that for some cards, like Sway of the Stars or Form of the
> Dragon, setting the life total is considered gaining or losing life to
> get to that total, for other cards like False Cure. (Or am I wrong?)

"some"? Try "all".

Life, Life Total
Life total is a sort of score. Each player starts the game with 20 life.
Any increase in a player's life total is considered to be gaining life.
Any decrease in a player's life total is considered to be losing life. A
player whose life total drops to 0 or less loses. This is a state-based
effect. See rule 420.5.

> Is this the same with Reverse the Sands? Are you setting the totals to
> the new totals, or are we just swapping totals, without the side effect
> of actually setting them.

It's the same for anything that messes with life totals.

> A fine point, to be sure, but how funny would it be to play False Cure,
> then Reverse the Sands giving your opponent the HIGHER life total, only
> to have him then lose twice the amount that he gained, and die.
> Stupid, but hiliarious if you could pull it off.

Yes, your opponent's response of False Cure is a reason you might leave
the higher total with your opponent.
--
Daniel W. Johnson
panoptes@iquest.net
http://members.iquest.net/~panoptes/
039 53 36 N / 086 11 55 W

 

[RisseR]

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

> Um. How would you go about NOT setting them?

Well, I think in terms of computer programs. If I have two objects
that are holding two "LifeTotal" objects, I could swap these two
LifeTotal objects without setting or resetting either life total. I've
just swapped the actual things called life total. Or, I could reset
the value on the actual objects to effect the switch.

That is, if I give you my life total and you give me yours, we haven't
actually set anything, we've just switched things. I think this idea
is caused by the reminder text which implies that the entire thing is
taken away and then given to another person, as opposed to the values
being set or reset.

Or, think of it like a box of candy. If I have 15 pieces and you have
25 pieces and we were told to switch, we'd switch boxes. You wouldn't
take out 10 pieces of your candy and put them in my box.

Or, think of it like an actual spin-down life counter, where we could
just switch dice as opposed to changing our own.

So, you know, it's not *that* strange a question.

Getting all, like, defensive and stuff,
Peter

 

[Guest]

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

On 24 Aug 2005 05:48:14 -0700, Risser <knucklehead000@yahoo.com> wrote:
>I know that for some cards, like Sway of the Stars or Form of the
>Dragon, setting the life total is considered gaining or losing life to
>get to that total, for other cards like False Cure. (Or am I wrong?)

If you set a life total to a specific number, and that cause the life total
to get [more positive / more negative], then that causes the player with
that life total to [gain / lose] life, yes. You can't change a life total
and have it NOT gain-or-lose.

>Is this the same with Reverse the Sands? Are you setting the totals to
>the new totals, or are we just swapping totals, without the side effect
>of actually setting them.

Um. How would you go about NOT setting them? Would the player keep the old
total but somehow have that number MEAN the new number? I am not sure how
you're thinking this works at all. You're changing players' life totals
(generally; it might work out that one or more players' DON'T change); that
means the players will gain or lose life, yes.

>A fine point, to be sure, but how funny would it be to play False Cure,
>then Reverse the Sands giving your opponent the HIGHER life total, only
>to have him then lose twice the amount that he gained,

That's fine.

>and die.

But this is not guaranteed. If he went from 15 to 25 life, for example, he'd
gain +10+ life. NOT 25. Then False Cure would make him lose 20, leaving him
at 5...

Dave
--
\/David DeLaney posting from dbd@vic.com "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://www.vic.com/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ & Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.