Discussion Forum

Q: When multiple creatures go to the graveyards at the same time when Mimic Vault is in play - from combat, due to a Day of Judgement, Pyroclasm, or a Ratchet Bomb will the Vat's effect still trigger? The card states inpart...."Whenever a nontoken creature....". Does the "a" mean a single creature card. If multiple (mass) creatures being placed in the graveyard simultaneously how will the effect be resolved? Can all creatures be removed?

A: it chooses 1 creature only. even if all creatures go to the graveyard, the vat chooses 1 creature. If multiple nontoken creatures are put into their owners' graveyards from the battlefield at the same time, the imprint ability will trigger that many times. You put the triggered abilities on the stack in any order, so you'll determine in which order they resolve. However, since exiling those cards is optional, and choosing to exile a card this way causes the previously exiled cards to return to their owners' graveyards, the order generally doesn't matter: You'll wind up with at most one of those cards exiled, and the rest will be in the appropriate graveyards.

Q: Can Mimic Vat copy other cards removed from the game or only the card or cards it has removed?

A: only the card that mimic vat removed from play

Q: Can multiple copies of Mimic Vat also copy a removed creature card that was removed by another Mimic Vat?

A: yes. but if there are multiple creature that were removed at the same time, then 1 vat can remove 1 creature then the other vat can remove another creature from play to imprint.

Q: Can two creature cards be removed from the game if two Vats are in play or will each trigger the other returning removed cards?

A: no. the reason is that each vat has it's own specific card that they removed.

[QUOTE=jiggs]
Q: Can multiple copies of Mimic Vat also copy a removed creature card that was removed by another Mimic Vat?

A: yes. but if there are multiple creature that were removed at the same time, then 1 vat can remove 1 creature then the other vat can remove another creature from play to imprint.
[/QUOTE]

NO, that's incorrect. Each vat can imprint 1 and only 1 creature card at a time and can only create a copy of the creature it imprinted. If you have 2 vats in play where one imprinted a mulldrifter and the other imprinted a baneslayer then the first can create mulldrifter copies and the second baneslayer copies. They cannot both start making baneslayers.

and mimic vat's ability is that whenever a nontoken creature is sent to the graveyard you may exile it so you can pick the one card you like and than never have to bother with the other crap that goes along with it so it only triggers when you want it to trigger.

oops... my mistake.... i thought the question was for copying multiple creatures that go to the graveyard with multiple vats in play. sorry! ; )

Someone suggested that this combo was insane in one of our Forums:

Clone Shell and Mimic Vat

So I gave it some thought - that is hard for a Goblin Guide!

Let me see the possibilites - my head hurts from this...Exile a card with Clone Shell. When another creature goes to the graveyard (your opponent's or your own) Exile it with Mimic Vat! Then when the creature exiled by Clone Shell is returned to the graveyard by the Vat re-exile it. Ooooppps - it doesn't work because Vat states the card exiled has to go to the graveyard from the battlefield.
But.....when Clone Shell goes to the graveyard the fun begins. You can put into play Clone shell's exiled creature then you can Exile Clone Shell! When you put a token copy of Clone Shell into play since it is destroyed at the end of turn you will put the creature it exiled into play immediately.
Before I get to carried away with this insaneness I better get one of those high level Judges to check over my Goblin scribbling. What happens when a token creature is destroyed or takes lethal damage, etc.?

[QUOTE=goblinguide]Someone suggested that this combo was insane in one of our Forums:

Clone Shell and Mimic Vat

So I gave it some thought - that is hard for a Goblin Guide!

Let me see the possibilites - my head hurts from this...Exile a card with Clone Shell. When another creature goes to the graveyard (your opponent's or your own) Exile it with Mimic Vat! Then when the creature exiled by Clone Shell is returned to the graveyard by the Vat re-exile it. Ooooppps - it doesn't work because Vat states the card exiled has to go to the graveyard from the battlefield.
But.....when Clone Shell goes to the graveyard the fun begins. You can put into play Clone shell's exiled creature then you can Exile Clone Shell! When you put a token copy of Clone Shell into play since it is destroyed at the end of turn you will put the creature it exiled into play immediately.
Before I get to carried away with this insaneness I better get one of those high level Judges to check over my Goblin scribbling. What happens when a token creature is destroyed or takes lethal damage, etc.?[/QUOTE]

This would not work, if I understand what you're saying..

When Clone Shell is on it's way to the graveyard, if you exile it to imprint it onto Mimic Vat, the imprinted creature under Clone Shell would not come into play, because Clone Shell never went to the graveyard (the imprinted card would remain exiled).

When you create a copy of Clone Shell with Mimic Vat, you will trigger it's Imprint ability again (exiling one amongst the top four cards of your library to be imprinted on 'copied' Clone Shell, and placing the rest on the bottom in any order). However, as Mimic Vat states that the token copy it generates is exiled at the end of the turn, once again the card imprinted on 'copied' Clone Shell would not come into play either.

Essentially, you'd be exiling cards from your library without purpose.

think it would work. mimic vat says whenever a creature is put into a graveyard from battlefield, you may exile it. meaning it has to hit the graveyard first before exiling begins. clone shell lets you choose from top 4 cards of your library to exile. so when the original clone goes to the graveyard the exiled creature gets in to play. once the original clone hits the graveyard, you can exile it using vat. now next turn you pay 3 and tap the vat, token clone shell comes into play. since it is a copy then the clone shell ability triggers, allowing you to choose 1 of the top 4 cards of library to exile. here's the tricky part: before end of turn step, preferably at the 2nd main phase, destroy the clone shell token. why? so that it will go to the graveyard. generally, token creatures hit the graveyard first before it is exiled. so when token clone shell bites the dust, the exiled card of the token shell will come out! mimic vats effect that removes the token creature at the beginning of the end step does not happen because the token clone shell is removed during the main phase.

Rulebook:

110.5f A token that’s [exiled], or that’s in a zone other than the battlefield, ceases to exist. This is a state-based action; see rule 704. (Note that if a token changes zones, applicable triggered abilities will trigger before the token ceases to exist.)

Ah, correct you are. I had mistaken the wording of Mimic Vat with something else (what that is, I'm not sure). I thought it read "whenever a creature would be sent to the graveyard from the battlefield" blah blah blah. But yeah, it doesn't say that. The Clone Shell would hit the graveyard, and you could then imprint it onto Mimic Vat.

But yes, you could sacrifice / destroy the copy of Clone Shell, and trigger it's ability. Which wouldn't be all that difficult to pull off considering all the ways you can sacrifice artifacts / creatures in standard. Edit: In my previous post, I was commenting on the copied Clone Shell being exiled at the end of turn, not that it couldn't be sent to the graveyard before then.

Good to know I can still cheat Eldrazi and other big beasties into play, since Lurking Predators rotated out :D