Gatherer: Invasive Surgery’s delirium ability isn’t checked until after the sorcery spell has been countered. If that spell is put into your graveyard, it will be counted.
My lands opponent uses Boseiju to cast life from the loam, I cast invasive surgery targeting the life from the loam, what happens?
Gatherer says delirium checks after the spell is countered, so in the case of a normal life from the loam, the loam is in the yard, and if I have delirium then I surgical all 4 loams. But if the loam resolves, is delirium checked? Gatherer's wording is ambiguous here.
IANAJ but I think this is what happens, and it's a little weird. The upshot is that you will extract the other 3 loams (assuming 4 in the deck, none of which have been exiled yet) but then the one on the stack will resolve and go to the graveyard.
That's because the Boseiju-boosted Loam isn't in one of the three zones checked by the extraction effect (hand, GY and library), it's on the stack. Since the countering effect doesn't work, the card is never moved from stack to GY before the delirium effect happens.
That's only a reminder that an effect's resolution is performed in a certain order.
As it stands, the Life from the Loam would not be countered and would not be put into the graveyard as a result of the counterspell in time for the next half of Invasive Surgery's effect. However, since the "Surgical" effect is not conditional (ie: if that spell is countered in this way, you may...), you would still search his or her library, graveyard, and hand for any other copies.
Please forgive this swipe at the thread. But I thought that this rules text here referred to countering a spell cast from something like Sen Triplets where the countered spell ends up in a graveyard different from the player who cast it. Kind of a strange sequence of events, but if you both happen to have copies of the countered spell in your deck it would matter. Or I suppose you could be countering your own stuff.
I wonder if some people are seeing clearly the words "countered" and "counted", as they both appear in that bit there.
"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."
"Politicians are like diapers. They should be changed often and for the same reason."
"Governing is too important to be left to people as silly as politicians."
"Politicians were mostly people who'd had too little morals and ethics to stay lawyers."
In the case of Sen Triplets, using the earlier example of Loam (this time cast without* Boseju) and Invasive being played from opponent's hand:
-you cast Loam from their hand targeting lands in your graveyard, holding priority
-you cast Invasive Surgery from their hand targeting Loam
-Loam is countered, going to their graveyard and you now check your graveyard for delerium.
That's my interpretation of what would happen at least. The aspect of a sorcery being countered and counted would have to be the same player casting a sorcery, holding priority, and Invasive targeting their own spell. The self-countered sorcery will be in the yard as Invasive counts/checks for delirium.
Note that @limbo's first post discusses a Loam cast with Boseju targeted by Invasive; failure to counter the sorcery will not stop the 'surgical' effect as @iamajellydonut points out - at the time of the 'surgical' search, the original Loam remains on the stack where it cannot be found by Invasive. Hopefully this clears up confusion about the 4th copy (Reading @limbo's second post).
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)