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The card Sundial of the Infinite allows you to abruptly end your turn.

What effect does Sundial of the Infinite have on cards like Incandescent Soulstroke which the card states

"Sacrifice it at end of turn"

but gatherer.wizards.com states

"Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step"

Would this creature still have to be sacrificed? And why the discrepancy between what the card actually says and what the rules text is on gatherer?

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  • When the designers realize they missed something, or the wording was confusing, or when they standardize wordings, they can't update the physical cards, so that's where you get the mismatch between the card and gatherer. Always trust gatherer for card wording.
    – Andrew
    Commented Jan 11, 2018 at 18:34

2 Answers 2

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Why is the card text different from the rules text on the Gatherer?

The Gatherer text (typically referred to as Oracle text) has precedence over the card text. For all intents and purposes, you can ignore the text on Incandescent Soulstroke, and pretend that it actually says:

[...] Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.

You might think, "Well if I can't trust what the card says, how can I play the game without looking up every single card?". Over time you will develop a feel for what common errata are. For example, "remove from the game" typically means "exile". At sanctioned tournaments, you are allowed to ask the judges for Oracle text. They will provide it to you.

Does the creature have to be sacrificed even though I ended the turn?

Incandescent Soulstroke sets up a delayed triggered ability. Delayed triggered abilities are basically abilities that will trigger at a later point, when their condition is met. For Soulstroke, that condition is "at the beginning of the next end step".

Sundial of the Infinite ends the turn. When you end the turn, the rules say that you skip straight to the Cleanup step.

715.1d The current phase and/or step ends. The game skips straight to the cleanup step; skip any phases or steps between this phase or step and the cleanup step. If an effect ends the turn during the cleanup step, a new cleanup step begins.

Pulling this all together, if you skipped the end step by ending the turn, then the creature won't be sacrificed (yet). However, it will still be sacrificed during the next end step, whenever that comes. As a couple of commenters pointed out, a clever solution to this problem is to activate Sundial while Soulstroke's triggered ability is on the stack. The trigger will be removed from the stack as part of ending the turn, and it will never trigger again.

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  • The phrase: "the next endstep" appears to be referring to a specific endstep, as opposed to "any future endstep" which is how you took the wording. Is there a rule that clarifies this point? Or is this just the understood interpretation of that clause?
    – John
    Commented Nov 21, 2017 at 17:32
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    If you skip an end step, then by definition it can't have been "the next end step" because it never happened.
    – murgatroid99
    Commented Nov 21, 2017 at 17:40
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    @John I did not interpret it to mean "any future end step". That would mean I get the effect every single end step for the remainder of the game. The card is only as specific as it reads. If the card said "At the beginning of the next end step this turn", then it would only apply to the next end step this turn.
    – Rainbolt
    Commented Nov 21, 2017 at 17:45
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    It's worth mentioning that Sundial of the Infinite can still be used to counter the sacrifice triggered ability. When the triggered ability is in the stack, activate the Sundial to exile all abilities and spells from the stack. It will not be triggered again. Commented Nov 21, 2017 at 19:43
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    @stackoverfloweth That's technically not possible because Sundial has a restriction that says it can only be activated on your turn. Your opponent has an end step too, and you wouldn't be able to save your Incandescent Soulstroke from being sacrificed then. However, the solution suggested by Ítalo Lessa and Sconibulus in the comments above would work.
    – Rainbolt
    Commented Nov 21, 2017 at 22:56
-1

Your elemental will be saved for a turn.

Incandescent Soulstoke's gatherer text

Other Elemental creatures you control get +1/+1.
1R, Tap: You may put an Elemental creature card from your hand onto the battlefield. That creature gains haste until end of turn. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.

From Sundial of the Infinite's gatherer entry.

If Sundial of the Infinite’s ability is activated before the end step, any “at the beginning of the end step”-triggered abilities won’t get the chance to trigger that turn because the end step is skipped. Those abilities will trigger at the beginning of the end step of the next turn. The same is true of abilities that trigger at the beginning of other phases or steps (except upkeep).

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    This doesn't really add much to that isn't covered in the other answer, it just quotes the gatherer pages. You may want to consider adding in why these quotes are relevant.
    – Malco
    Commented Nov 24, 2017 at 16:00

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