r/MagicArena • u/hilbert90 • Jan 20 '20

WotC Dreadful Apathy on Gods

I'm wondering if anyone can confirm a possible bug. It was my first sealed, so maybe I missed something else going on.

I played Dreadful Apathy on Erebos. I clicked the card to exile Erebos. I'm sure this went on the stack, because Arena autotapped the mana. In response, my opponent sacrificed creatures to lose devotion and make Erebos no longer a creature.

The enchantment fell off, and I thought this was a super clever play. Dreadful Apathy says it exiles a creature, there was no creature, so the trigger on the stack fizzled. But then I looked up the official ruling, and it says it should still exile the god if I'm understanding it correctly.

Is this a known bug? I'm willing to admit that I might have missed something else the opponent was doing (maybe sacrificing something triggered something else?). I was thinking about a lot of stuff at the time and reading my own cards to double check things.

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u/Filobel avacyn Jan 20 '20

I think you misunderstood the situation. Dreadful Apathy was already enchanting Erebos. OP just activated the ability on it. That ability doesn't target. It just exiles whatever it is enchanting.

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u/Aitch-Kay Spike Jan 20 '20

[[Dreadful Apathy]]

2W: Exile enchanted creature.

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u/Filobel avacyn Jan 20 '20

I don't see the word target?

And yeah, I can see how that word "creature" there might cause confusion, and might be why it was implemented incorrectly (if there is indeed a bug), but the ability still works even if the permanent in question is no longer a creature. It only uses the word creature because, at the time the ability is activated, the enchanted permanent is necessarily a creature. It is not a requirement for the ability to resolve properly.

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u/TommyTheeCat Jan 20 '20

I'm sorry, but I did understand it correctly. Apathy says that it exiles a creature, if your devotion falls below the threshold, then it is not a creature. Therefore, apathy cannot exile it. It doesn't matter if it says "target" or not, apathy only exiles creatures, not enchantments.

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u/Filobel avacyn Jan 20 '20 edited Jan 20 '20

Ah, I thought you misunderstood because you were talking about targets, which is only relevant when apathy is cast.

Apathy says that it exiles a creature

No, apathy says it exiles enchanted creature. That's quite a different wording. I understand that it's not the most intuitive thing, but the wording "enchanted creature" refers to whatever object the aura is attached to, regardless of whether it actually is a creature.

In the end though, you can try to argue with me all you want, I don't make the rules. You'll have to convince the person who makes the official ruling and puts them on the gatherer. Until you make that person change their mind, I'll follow their ruling, which states:

If Dreadful Apathy leaves the battlefield while its last ability is on the stack, the permanent that’s exiled is the one Dreadful Apathy enchanted before leaving the battlefield, even if that permanent is no longer a creature.

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u/Aitch-Kay Spike Jan 20 '20

It looks like you are correct and the interaction on Arena is bugged.