Embalm mechanic

theyrejustelves
theyrejustelves Posts: 34 Just Dropped In
in MtGPQ General Discussion
Just curious why Embalm seems to be the only mechanic that keeps track of how many of that creature are on the board.
I played a match where the AI cast 2 of the same creature with embalm 2.
When the creature died, there were 4 "embalm'd" gems on the board.  
If I cast 2 of the exact same non-embalm creatures on the board, I have one creature that is essentially reinforced.  Now if I cast the white God, Oketra i think, from Amonkhet, the God will not be able to attack or block as I only have "1" creature on the board.
Maybe I am missing some other cards that also are treated this way, but this seems to be in contradiction to how the game is handled normally.  

Comments

  • WiLDRAGE
    WiLDRAGE Posts: 145 Tile Toppler
    Prized Amalgam worked the exact same.  If it was reinforced twice making it a 6/6 and then destroyed, all 3 copies of it would come back to play after a Zombie entered play.

  • Delnai
    Delnai Posts: 187 Tile Toppler
    Yeah, somehow the "number" of a creature changes when it moves from the board to the graveyard if it has been reinforced. We've seen this before with Prized Amalgam (as @WiLDRAGE mentioned) and Scrapheap Scrounger. (Not sure how Erebos's Titan, Despoiler of Souls, and Ovalchase Daredevil work in this regard.) So the way embalm works -is- consistent with how previous cards which triggered from the graveyard worked. It's confusing though that the "number" of a thing is not consistent across zones. 
  • Ohboy
    Ohboy Posts: 1,766 Chairperson of the Boards
    It's not really inconsistent. 


    Cards have always been separate. They just stacked together to form one creature on the battlefield. 


    This goes back all the way to Origins where lil1 skill 3 would bring back 3 copies if your double reinforced creature died.
  • Delnai
    Delnai Posts: 187 Tile Toppler
    Ohboy said:
    Cards have always been separate. They just stacked together to form one creature on the battlefield. 
    I'd never thought of a "card/creature" distinction. (Probably because it doesn't exist in Magic.) That's really helpful for explaining the confusion in my post. Thanks!
  • Stormcrow
    Stormcrow Posts: 462 Mover and Shaker
    Delnai said:
    We've seen this before with Prized Amalgam (as @WiLDRAGE mentioned) and Scrapheap Scrounger. (Not sure how Erebos's Titan, Despoiler of Souls, and Ovalchase Daredevil work in this regard.)
    Somewhat oddly, Relentless Dead does *not* work this way; when a stack of them gets killed you only get 1 back.
  • shteev
    shteev Posts: 2,031 Chairperson of the Boards
    Stormcrow said:
    Delnai said:
    We've seen this before with Prized Amalgam (as @WiLDRAGE mentioned) and Scrapheap Scrounger. (Not sure how Erebos's Titan, Despoiler of Souls, and Ovalchase Daredevil work in this regard.)
    Somewhat oddly, Relentless Dead does *not* work this way; when a stack of them gets killed you only get 1 back.
    The game knows how many of copies of something there are when they are in the graveyard.... but in play, it treats a stack as if it is a single creature/card/instance/whatever you want to call it.
  • shteev
    shteev Posts: 2,031 Chairperson of the Boards
    WiLDRAGE said:
    Prized Amalgam worked the exact same.  If it was reinforced twice making it a 6/6 and then destroyed, all 3 copies of it would come back to play after a Zombie entered play.

    Interestingly, if you bounce a stack of X copies of a Prized Amalgam back to your opponent's hand, then only one copy is bounced, and X-1 copies go to the graveyard.

    I assume it works the same with other creatures, but I've not really tested it.... it's easy to tell with Prized Amalgams.
  • hawkyh1
    hawkyh1 Posts: 780 Critical Contributor
    does anyone know how I can tell my sacred cat
    embalm activated gem from that of my opponents?

    HH
  • Gunmix25
    Gunmix25 Posts: 1,442 Chairperson of the Boards
    hawkyh1 said:
    does anyone know how I can tell my sacred cat
    embalm activated gem from that of my opponents?

    HH
    I have no idea. Been running a temmet cat deck and when I run into an opponent's embalm deck, I have a tiny kitty of a time trying to find out which gem is mine. A suggestion to the devs... maybe make the PW image flash when you click on a corresponding embalm gem that it owns? I cannot see that being any more difficult to manage if there already mechanics in play that flash the support/creature an activation gem belongs to.  
  • ElfNeedsFood
    ElfNeedsFood Posts: 944 Critical Contributor
    hawkyh1 said:
    does anyone know how I can tell my sacred cat
    embalm activated gem from that of my opponents?

    HH
    Next you'll be asking to actually see your graveyard / exile pile...
  • Pcell777
    Pcell777 Posts: 51 Match Maker
    ElfNeedsFood said:
    hawkyh1 said:
    does anyone know how I can tell my sacred cat
    embalm activated gem from that of my opponents?

    HH
    Next you'll be asking to actually see your graveyard / exile pile...
    If I didnt know better, I'd thought that it should be a standard for a card game...

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