Aurelia's Fury
Last Modified 17.04.2021
Today again we cast a suspicious glare at Gatecrash cards. Why am I interested in this paticular card? First of all, there is {X} in its mana cost. That always signifies fun. Secondly, this spell can have any number of targets: from zero to… many! Thirdly, it requires the division of damage. Curiouser and curiouser! So, specially for the fans of Boros Legion we will discuss Aurelia’s Fury.
Oracle Text:
Instant
Aurelia's Fury deals X damage divided as you choose among any number of targets. Tap each creature dealt damage this way. Players dealt damage this way can't cast noncreature spells this turn.
From the top of my head I can come up with at least 10 questions about Aurelia’s Fury:
- When are the targets and damage distribution for Aurelia’s Fury chosen?
- What happens if one or more targets become illegal? How does Aurelia’s Fury interact with Protection, Hexproof and Shroud abilities?
- Can this spell’s targets be changed and how to do it correctly?
- Will be the Planeswalker tapped?
- Is Aurelia’s Fury’s casting cost affected by Goblin Electromancer’s ability?
- How many counters will Quirion Dryad get after casting Aurelia’s Fury?
- Can Aurelia’s Fury be cast “from Cascade”? What value will {X} have?
- What will {X} be if the spell is copied?
- What happens if the damage is redirected from one creature to the other one?
- What happens to a noncreature spell if Aurelia’s Fury is cast in response to it and targets that spell’s controller?
Do you know the correct answers to each of these questions? Let’s find out!
Aurelia’s Fury is an instant spell, it means that you can cast it any time you have the priority or whenever an effect allows or tells you to cast it.
As there is colored mana in the mana cost of this spell, its color is defined as red and white. It doesn’t mean that the spell is “red-white” or “gold”. It just means that the card has two colors and can be considered multicolored.
Upon casting of Aurelia’s Fury, Quirion Dryad’s ability will trigger only once. On its resolution you’ll be able to put one +1/+1 counter on Dryad.
Upon casting of Aurelia’s Fury, Belligerent Hatchling’s both abilities will trigger and each will remove -1/-1 counter from the Hatchling on resolution.
You’ll be able to get Aurelia’s Fury from your sideboard on resolution of this Wish.
There is a variable X in Aurelia’s Fury mana cost that isn’t defined in the spell’s text. This means that the value for X must be announced by the player during the process of casting. More precisely, right after the spell is put on the stack. This value can’t be changed.
If you control Goblin Electromancer then the casting cost of Aurelia’s Fury is reduced by {1}. This doesn’t affect the value of X. These effects work like this:
Assume that the announced value for X is 2. Aurelia’s Fury total cost is thus {1WR}, its mana value = 4!
X in the mana cost is 0 in any zone except the stack. This means that Aurelia Fury has mana value = 2 anywhere except the stack, where it’s X + 2.
After the value for the spell’s variable was announced during casting, it’s time to choose the number of targets, targets themselves and the damage distribution. Keep in mind that every target must be assigned at least one damage. All targets must be legal when chosen.
If you exiled Aurelia’s Fury during resolution of Cascade trigger, no doubts, you’ll be able to cast it.
You may imprint Arelia’s Fury on Isochron Scepter, because it’s mana value = 2.
As in both cases you cast the spell without paying its mana cost, the only legal choice for X is 0.
Note that, unlike Fireball, Aurelia’s Fury doesn’t divide the damage automatically, so the player must do that during casting.
The requirement of assigning at least one damage to each target immediately tells us that if we’ve chosen X = 0 (or we had to, because we are casting it during resolution of Suspend trigger), we won’t be able to choose any targets for Aurelia’s Fury. Unfortunately, Fury becomes utterly useless to the joy of the hostile Phantasmal Images.
When copying a spell, we get a copy with the same value for X, same targets and same damage distribution as the original spell.
If the copying effect also allows us to choose new targets for the copy, we may leave any number of targets unchanged, even if they are already illegal or may become illegal. If we decide to choose any or all targets, all the new ones must be legal and choosing them can’t cause the targets we didn’t change to become illegal.
On resolution of Aurelia’s Fury the legality of the targets is checked one more time. If there is at least one legal target at that point, the spell resolves and deals damage to every legal target according to the distribution announced during casting.
Damage done by Aurelia’s Fury can be redirected or prevented.
Harm’s Way redirects the damage. If your opponent is cunning enough, he can redirect the damage of Aurelia’s Fury from himself to you. That can be a nasty surprise.
Divine Deflection prevents damage. The source of the new damage is then Deflection itself, not Aurelia’s Fury. The target for this damage won’t participate in the following events.
Shielded Passage prevents damage that would be dealt to target creature this turn, so it won’t receive any damage from Aurelia’s Fury.
When the damage is dealt, we follow the next Aurelia’s Fury’s instruction: tap all creatures that were dealt damage this way. Note that every creature that was dealt damage this way becomes tapped. It doesn’t matter how it was done, whether they were among initial targets of the spell or the damage was redirected to them. Compare to the Thundermaw Hellkite’s trigger.
If a player is dealt damage he or she will only be able to cast creature spells this turn. In 2HG game you’ll need to target both opponents in order to rip the enemy team off other options.
It’s quite obvious that this effect doesn’t affect any spells that were already cast by this time. It also doesn’t matter whether they are still on the stack or has already resolved.
At the last stage of resolution Aurelia’s Fury is removed from the stack. Only afterwards the SBA are performed.
Translated by Lev Kotlyar
Let’s assume that you control these three wonderful creatures: Mayor of Avabruck (1/1), Daring Skyjek (5/3, indestructible) and Knight Exemplar (3/3).
Cunning opponent casts Aurelia’s Fury with X = 4, targeting all our creatures with the following damage distribution: Knight Exemplar gets two damage, the rest gets one each. On resolution of the spell, the damage is dealt and the creatures are all tapped. Then the SBA are performed. Major of Avabruck has lethal damage marked on it, so it dies. Both Humans lose weight. SBA are performed again and Knight Exemplar goes to rest in peace. Daring Skyjek loses more weight and indestructibility and follows his comrades during the third round of SBA. Happy End.