.mtgr

Appearance

0017: Entering tapped, replacement order, fizzle causes, and choosers ​

Status: Accepted. Item 1 extended by decision 0021 (tokens, attacking).

Context ​

Writing out Thoughtseize, shock lands, Veil of Summer, ward, and Council's Judgment against spec 0.3.0 showed four things the format could not record, or could record in more than one way:

  1. A land that enters tapped. If a player declines Watery Grave's "As this land enters, you may pay 2 life", it enters tapped. play and move had no way to say so, and a separate tap line would be wrong.
  2. Where a replacement effect's choice goes. The Sowing Mycospawn example put Stomping Ground's "pay 2 life" choice and payment before the move onto the battlefield, but the spec never said so, and another writer could put them after.
  3. Why a spell fizzled. When Veil of Summer gives the target player hexproof, Thoughtseize does not resolve, but nothing in the file connects the two. Hexproof is a continuous effect, which the format does not record (spec section 15).
  4. Who made a choice. Choices were assumed to be made by the object's controller. With ward, the opponent decides whether to pay; with Council's Judgment, every player votes.

Decision ​

  1. play and moves to the battlefield take an optional tapped: #1 "Watery Grave" play from hand tapped.
  2. A replacement effect's choices and payments come immediately before the event they change.
  3. fizzle takes an optional cause: the object whose effect made the targets illegal, when the source knows it (#2 "Thoughtseize" fizzle by #9).
  4. A choice line names its chooser with by PLAYER when it is not the object's controller, and only then. No other cause is written on a choice line.
  5. An effect that does nothing writes no line. Ward trying to counter a spell that can't be countered leaves no countered line.

The spec also now states that target and choose object are different: only targets are affected by hexproof and ward.

Rules basis ​

Checked against the Comprehensive Rules effective 2026-09-25.

  • 614.1c: "Effects that read '[This permanent] enters with . . . ,' 'As [this permanent] enters . . . ,' or '[This permanent] enters as . . .' are replacement effects." Entering tapped is how the permanent enters, not a later tap, so it belongs on the event line.
  • 614.1d: "Continuous effects that read '[This permanent] enters . . .' or '[Objects] enter [the battlefield] . . .' are replacement effects." This covers lands that always enter tapped, such as Bojuka Bog.
  • 614.12: to determine how replacement effects that modify how a permanent enters apply, check the permanent "as it would exist on the battlefield". They are settled before the permanent is on the battlefield, so their choices are written before the event.
  • 608.2b: "If all its targets, for every instance of the word 'target,' are now illegal, the spell or ability doesn't resolve." Illegal targets usually come from another object's effect, which is the cause.
  • 115.1, 115.10: targets are declared as a spell or ability is put on the stack; "Spells and abilities can affect objects and players they don't target", chosen as they resolve.
  • 702.11b: hexproof means a permanent "can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control". 702.21a: ward triggers when a permanent "becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls". Both affect only targeting, which is why target and choose object must stay distinct.
  • 702.21a: ward counters the spell "unless that player pays [cost]". The player paying is the opponent, not the ward ability's controller.
  • 701.38a: "To vote, each player, starting with a specified player and proceeding in turn order, chooses one of those choices." Several players make choices for one spell.
  • 101.2: when an effect directs something to happen and another effect says it can't, "the 'can't' effect takes precedence". A ward trigger resolving against a spell that can't be countered does nothing.

Alternatives rejected ​

  • A tap line after the land enters. Rejected: the permanent never becomes tapped, and "whenever a permanent becomes tapped" abilities would appear to trigger.
  • Replacement choices after the event. Rejected: reads more naturally, but suggests the choice was made after the permanent was already on the battlefield.
  • Recording continuous effects such as hexproof to explain a fizzle. Deferred: continuous effects are a larger design (spec section 15). The fizzle cause covers the common case now.
  • A separate chooser field. Rejected: by PLAYER already means "the player's own action".
  • A line for a counter attempt that fails. Rejected: the format records what happened, and nothing happened.

Consequences ​

  • Grammar, keyword reference, and examples are updated; see examples/targeting.md.
  • A parser replaying a ward trigger has to read the spell's text to know why nothing was countered, as with any static ability.