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TheyCallMeTim
05-11-2012, 01:36 AM
I've also been seeing fire/ice and counterbalance and dark confidant come up recently and people not sure of how it works so I'll reiterate that here as a bonus:

For split cards the card has 2 mana costs all the time except when it is on the stack, where it only has the mana cost of the side being cast. So for example if you flip an assault/battery off a dark confidant you would take damage equal to it's converted mana cost. It's converted mana cost is 1 and 4 so you would take 1 and 4 damage (5 total).

If you then cast assault then a counter balance would need to flip 1 to counter it. ( 4 would not work)

If you flip assault/battery with a counterbalance it will have a converted mana cost of 1 and 4 then. So say your opponent cast a one drop. Counter balance will check if the card flipped has a converted mana cost of 1. It does (also happens to have a converted mana cost of 4 too) and it counters it. Likewise assault/battery would counter a 4 drop too because it has a converted mana cost of 4 too. It cannot counter a 5 drop because it does not have a converted mana cost of 5, just 1 and 4.

The Dark Confident and Counterbalance scenarios seem to contradict each other. I would think it would have the same converted mana cost regardless of which card triggered the reveal (1,4 or 5, but not all three)

citanul
05-11-2012, 03:03 AM
Assault Battery is seen as 2 cards, one with a converted mana cost of 1, the other with a converted mana cost of 4. Counterbalance will accept either of them. The chosen side when cast indicated the mana cost of that spell.

As for Confidant, it sees both cards and you will lose life for both of them, being 1 and 4.

cdr
05-11-2012, 10:22 AM
The Dark Confident and Counterbalance scenarios seem to contradict each other. I would think it would have the same converted mana cost regardless of which card triggered the reveal (1,4 or 5, but not all three)

Split cards not on the stack have two converted mana costs - 1 and 4 in the case of Assault/Battery.

A card like Counterbalance cares whether the CMC matches a value, and since there are two CMCs either can match.

A card like Dark Confidant cares what the CMC is, and since there are two CMCs you pay life for both - 1 and 4.