How do Ashaya, Soul of the Wild and Realm Razer interact? Does it end in a draw like I think it does?
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2 Answers
Yes, if Realm Razer enters the battlefield while you control Ashaya, the abilities loop and the game is a draw. After Realm Razer enters the battlefield, it is a land along with all of your other nontoken creatures, so its first ability exiles itself and all of those other creatures. That triggers its second ability, which then returns all of those lands and creatures, including itself. That triggers the first ability again, creating the loop.
In this loop, both of the relevant abilities trigger automatically, are mandatory, and do not give the player any choices that change the outcome. As a result, this causes the game to be a draw in accordance with rule 729.4:
If a loop contains only mandatory actions, the game is a draw. (See rules 104.4b and 104.4f.)
As with any similar mandatory loop, players may choose to take instant speed actions that interrupt the loop, such as by killing Ashaya.
answered Aug 5 at 13:30
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1I did not know there was a rule that makes the game a draw in case of an infinite loop. Might be nice to add to complete your answer Commented Aug 8 at 12:48
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The game probably will be a draw, as long as the player with Realm Razer also has the Ashaya, unless someone can interact with the loop. Killing Ashaya for example will stop Realm Razer from exiling your creatures, killing Realm Razer would exile all lands and your creatures permanently1.
It's also possible to exploit the loop to win. If you have a card like Warstorm Surge or Terror of the Peaks these damage effects can kill each opponent within a few loops, the same is true if one of your lands is Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and you have enough mountains or a card like Prismatic Omen. The loops can be used to generate infinite mana, since the lands will enter and be able to be tapped before they leave again, letting you cast instant spells like Comet Storm for massive lethal damage in response to the loop trigger and win the game that way too.
- This is because of the old templating on Realm Razer as two separate but linked triggers. Killing Realm Razer before that trigger resolves puts the return trigger on the stack first so it returns nothing before it exiles everything. Newer exile effects meant to exile cards temporarily are written as an end condition for the exile effect, i.e. Oblivion Ring vs Banishing Light
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There is a black one drop from bloomburrow that pings for a damage on a landfall trigger. That's probably the easiest. Seeing as it will enter with all the other lands, it will see them entering. Commented Aug 6 at 15:39
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@NeilMeyer I chose to use only cards in Naya colors in my examples, since all the cards in the question were those colors and wanted the option to be able to apply assuming this was for some EDH deck - there are definitely tons of other etb effects that can be abused with this loop, even in these colors.– AndrewCommented Aug 6 at 17:05
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@NeilMeyer though the easiest really is probably the Outlaws of Thunder Junction crime lands, which would work and still fit any color combination since there's all 10 color pairs, for Naya that's Abraded Bluffs, Bristling Backwoods, and Creosote Heath.– AndrewCommented Aug 6 at 17:16