Dust Elemental ETB

[GenioDeArena]

Hello everybody, Im a casual player at heart and in my musings Ive found this card:

Dust Elemental
2ww
Flash, Flying, Fear.
When Dust Elemental enters the battlefield, return three creatures you control to their owner's hand.
6/6

It reminded of
Sea Drake
2u
Flying
When Sea Drake enters the battlefield, return two target lands you control to their owner's hand

Now, from forum reading Ive come to notice that if there are not enough land in play by the time Sea Drake enter´s play then you shouldnt return any at all. Will the same thing happen to Dust Elemental if there are no three creatures by the trigger resolves?

Thanx in advance.

A.

[Julian23]

2/1/2007: If you are instructed to return more creatures than you control, you must return all the creatures you control to their owner's hand.

You will return up to three creatures because unlike Sea Drake, Dust Elemtnal's ability doesn't "target" and therfor can't "fizzle" because of no legal targets.

[Nightmare]

The key word missing from Dust Elemental is "TARGET." With Sea Drake, there are not enough legal targets, so the ability cannot be put on the stack. Since there is no drawback to not doing it, nothing happens. With the Dust Elemental, there are no targets, so the ability attempts to return as many creatures as it can - in this case, the Dust Elemental itself.

[Anusien]

NIghtmare is exactly right. Although it's worth pointing out that there can't be a drawback to not doing it because the trigger that would have the drawback would also be removed from the stack.

Sea Drake is a weird exception, not a rule.

[GenioDeArena]

Thanks guys.