Harrow, Valakut, Knight of the Reliquary, Lavaball trap...

[Pogey]

Hi!

Three questions:

1) If I have Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle in play with four mountains, and cast either Harrow or fire off a Khalni Heart Expedition, and bring two more mountains in to play, will either of those mountains activate my Valakut? I'm guessing the answer is no, because they see each other coming into play, and by the time they hit play, neither one came in after the other, and there were only four mountains in play when they both entered the battlefield.

2) I have Knight of the Reliquary in play with either 1 or 2 land cards in my graveyard, putting her at 3/3 or 4/4. My opponent casts Lavaball Trap. The Knight will live due to state based effects not being checked until the Lavaball trap has resolved, at which point making her larger than 4/4 and sustaining the damage from the trap. True or false?

3) If I cast Polymorph targeting a guy, and the guy leaves play in response, my Polymorph doesn't flip cards for a new guy, does it?

Thanks in advance!

[Filth]

Originally Posted by Pogey

1) If I have Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle in play with four mountains, and cast either Harrow or fire off a Khalni Heart Expedition, and bring two more mountains in to play, will either of those mountains activate my Valakut? I'm guessing the answer is no, because they see each other coming into play, and by the time they hit play, neither one came in after the other, and there were only four mountains in play when they both entered the battlefield.

The Mountains enter the battlefield simultaneously, so as soon as you put them onto the battlefield and Valakut goes to check if it should trigger, you control six Mountains which is enough to satisfy the "five other Mountains" condition for each of those Mountains. You get two free Lightning Bolts.

Originally Posted by Pogey

2) I have Knight of the Reliquary in play with either 1 or 2 land cards in my graveyard, putting her at 3/3 or 4/4. My opponent casts Lavaball Trap. The Knight will live due to state based effects not being checked until the Lavaball trap has resolved, at which point making her larger than 4/4 and sustaining the damage from the trap. True or false?

Assuming the Trap targets two lands you control, this is correct. Or if you want to nitpick, the lands are destroyed before the damage is dealt, so the Knight wouldn't die even if state-based actions were checked during the spell's resolution. It becomes a 5/5 or 6/6 before the Trap deals 4 damage to everyone.

Originally Posted by Pogey

3) If I cast Polymorph targeting a guy, and the guy leaves play in response, my Polymorph doesn't flip cards for a new guy, does it?

Nope. None of its targets are legal when it tries to resolve, so it's countered upon resolution.

[Pogey]

All answers as expected. Thank you kind sir.

[Mellow]

Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle will not trigger if you cast Harrow with only 4 mountains. You have to sacrifice one for Harrow, so when it resolves you have 5 mountains.

If you sac an Expedition you will get one 3 point damage. The first land will satisfy the 5 mountain clause and the second one will trigger its ability.

[Filth]

Originally Posted by Mellow

Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle will not trigger if you cast Harrow with only 4 mountains. You have to sacrifice one for Harrow, so when it resolves you have 5 mountains.

Well, you also can't cast Harrow if you have nothing but Mountains and Valakut(s), it costing green mana and all that. So we'll just have to assume he has some other lands as well, and that he's sacrificing one of them to Harrow.

Originally Posted by Mellow

If you sac an Expedition you will get one 3 point damage. The first land will satisfy the 5 mountain clause and the second one will trigger its ability.

This is also wrong, because... uh, I don't really know how to explain it better than I already did. The lands enter the battlefield simultaneously, and both of them will trigger Valakut. There's no time when you control exactly five Mountains during one of the effects' resolution; in both cases, you go from 4 to 6 Mountains immediately, and then Valakut sees each of the Mountains you fetched plus "five other Mountains" and suddenly feels the need to Lightning Bolt something - twice.

[Mellow]

Well according the rulings for Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle.

10/1/2009 - Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle's triggered ability has an "intervening 'if' clause." That means (1) the ability won't trigger at all unless, at the time a Mountain enters the battlefield under your control, you control five or more Mountains other than that new one, and (2) the ability will do nothing if you control fewer than five Mountains other than that new one by the time it resolves.

So if the mountains enter at the same time neither will trigger it because you only control 4 mountains when they enter the battlefield.

[Mellow]

Nevermind, after further explanation I get it. There are 5 "other" mountains in play when it checks each one. Sorry about the confusion.

[Filth]

The amount of Mountains you have is checked after the Mountains have entered the battlefield, not before that. When they have entered the battlefield, you control six mountains, not four.

Have you heard of the Scapeshift + Valakut combo? Sac eight lands, get Valakut and seven Mountains, deal 21 damage. That combo wouldn't work if Valakut checked the amount of Mountains before the new Mountains (and the Valakut itself, even) have entered the battlefield. But it doesn't, so the combo works. And so does Harrow + Valakut, for the same reason.

EDIT: Sigh, I spent too much time typing this post again. :/

[AtriumXP]

What if you had instead searched for 6 mountains and 2 Valukuts in the combo above? Would each Valukut trigger six times (totaling twelve) rather than seven?

[Filth]

Originally Posted by AtriumXP

What if you had instead searched for 6 mountains and 2 Valukuts in the combo above? Would each Valukut trigger six times (totaling twelve) rather than seven?

Well, yes. But I've never seen anyone use the combo in any format except EDH, where you're allowed to play only one of each card that isn't a basic land, so that may be why the thought of fetching two Valakuts didn't cross my mind. Of course dealing 36 damage is better than 21 if you can do it.

[raging shambler]

Would warp world affect Valukut ability after everything is shuffled and permanents are put back into play or valukut start registering them over until again.

[Filth]

If you put Valakut and 6 or more Mountains onto the battlefield with Warp World, then yes, Valakut will trigger for each of those Mountains. Valakuts or Mountains that were on the battlefield before Warp World started resolving will be gone before the new lands come in, so they don't count towards the amount of Valakut triggers.

[raging shambler]

thanks