Godsend
Last Modified 29.03.2020
This card represents the weapon that, according to MTG lore, eliminated a God! Let us see how this legendary artifact works.
Godsend is a legendary white artifact. It is white because its mana cost contains a white mana symbol. It is legendary because it has such supertype.
Equipment is an artifact subtype. It has the related activated ability Equip. By following this link, you will learn all you need to know about equipment and the Equip ability. I will only remind you here that Equip is a targeted activated ability, not a spell. The Godsend spell itself has no targets, so it cannot trigger Heroic for example.
The first ability of Godsend gives +3/+3 to equipped creature. This effect is applied after effects that set power and toughness to certain values.
Turn // Burn with fuse does not kill equipped creature, because Godsend’s effect is applied after Turn’s effect, and you will have a 3/4 creature with 2 damage marked on it.
Curious readers may read about layer 7 in detail, and more inquisitive readers may help themselves to the whole layer system.
Godsend’s second ability has the following text: “Whenever equipped creature blocks or becomes blocked by one or more creatures, you may exile one of those creatures”.
- Whenever — signal word that helps us determine that this is a triggered ability, one that happens by itself as soon as the triggering event occurs:
- equipped creature blocks or becomes blocked by one or more creatures — the triggering event.
- Whenever equipped creature blocks triggers if the equipped creature is declared as a blocker.
- The ability triggers once, even if the equipped creature blocks multiple creatures (Hundred-Handed One).
- Whenever equipped creature becomes blocked by one or more creatures will trigger if one or more creatures are assigned blocking the attacking creature equipped with the Godsend. It triggers only once, regardless to the number of blocking creatures.
- It also triggers if a creature or multiple creatures become blocking the equipped creature through an effect (Flash Foliage).
- you may exile one of those creatures — that’s the trigger’s effect, we get it when the trigger resolves.
- This trigger isn’t targeted. You simply choose one of those creatures. Therefore, you may choose a creature with relevant Protection, Hexproof or Shroud, if you need to.
- The choice of the creature happens when the trigger is resolving, so there is no way to respond to that choice. Nobody can cancel the choice or do anything to the chosen creature.
- The chosen creature is moved to the exile zone face up and remains there until it is removed from there by a rule or effect.
- Since this trigger’s text has the word may, if it so happens that you miss it, it is considered that you decided not to exile any creature.
Godsend’s trigger may be copied. In that case, you may exile a chosen creature per trigger as they resolve.
Godsend’s third ability “Opponents can’t cast cards with the same name as cards exiled with Godsend.” is static. It has effect only while Godsend is on the battlefield. As soon as Godsend leaves the battlefield, the effect ceases and is never recovered.
This ability refers to cards exiled by the second ability, which means those are linked abilities. Therefore, it does not impact any cards in the Exile zone other than those put there by the second ability of that specific Godsend.
If your cunning opponents destroy your Godsend, and then you play another, the new one isn’t related to cards exiled by the former. If one Godsend changes zone, and then reenters the battlefield, it is considered a new object and has no record of its previous deeds.
The ability effect prevents all opponents of the Godsend’s controller from casting cards with the same name as the exiled cards.
Nope, no casting the Misthollow Griffin exiled by Godsend from the exile zone.
The forbidding effect of Godsend’s third ability unambiguously prohibits casting cards named Misthollow Griffin. Magic Golden Rule #2 tells us that a forbidding effect always overrides the related allowing effect.
If your cunning opponent steals your Godsend through Steal Artifact, now you may not cast cards with the same name as those exiled with that Godsend. Now you are the opponent of the equipment’s controller. It doesn’t matter who controls equipped creature, as the ability is on the equipment, not granted to equipped creature.
If the card leaves the exile zone, the ability cannot read the name of the card, so the restriction to play cards with that name is lifted.
The cunning opponent may use Riftsweeper’s ability to shuffle the card exiled with Godsend into his library. As a result, Godsend’s third ability will no longer impact cards with the same name.
Sometimes the name of the object changes when it hits the exile. Godsend’s effect checks the exiled card’s name, not what it was on the battlefield.
If you exile a Phantasmal Image being a copy of another creature, your opponents may not cast namely Phantasmal Image, not what it was copying.
If you exile Insectile Aberration, it has its front face up in Exile, which is Delver of Secrets. Your opponents may not casts cards named Delver of Secrets.
If you exile a morph, it will be exiled face-up, so cards with the same name as that creature may not be cast. But you will be able to cast such cards as morphs, since a morph spell has no name at all.
Note the word “cast”. A player only casts spells, not lands. Compare this card’s text with that of Fiend of the Shadows.
Suppose equipped creature blocks an animated basic Forest, which you then exile with Godsend’s second ability.
Your opponents may play Forests, since lands aren’t spells and they aren’t cast. The special action of playing a land doesn’t suppose casting anything.
Translated by Witas Spasovski
Oracle Text:
Legendary Artifact — Equipment
Equipped creature gets +3/+3.
Whenever equipped creature blocks or becomes blocked by one or more creatures, you may exile one of those creatures.
Your opponents can’t cast spells with the same name as a card exiled with Godsend.
Equip {3}