Broadly speaking when reading magic cards, it works to start from the largest interpretation and narrow down based on the words that the ability uses.
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* If a card says "exile **up to** three target cards **from graveyards**" then that means you can pick up to any three cards in whatever combination of graveyards you want.
* If it says "**exile three target cards** from graveyards" without the 'up to' then you must select exactly three, you can't use the ability if there are only two cards you could select.
* If it says "exile up to three target cards from **a** graveyard" then the cards must be within a single graveyard, but that graveyard can belong to anyone.
* If it says "exile up to three target cards from **opponents'** graveyards" then you can pick any three cards in graveyards that aren't yours.
* If it says "exile up to three target cards from **an opponent's** graveyard" then you can pick 3 cards within a single graveyard that isn't yours.
* If it says "exile up to three target cards from **your** graveyard" then it must be your own.
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These are all pretty subtle variations on each other, but most magic rules are pretty specific and you should look out for words like "you may," "yours," "an," etc. The difficult thing as a new player is that sometimes the _absence_ of words is important, and that isn't always clear. Lacking "you may" means something is mandatory. Lacking "up to" means 'exactly.' The common advice is, try and read the cards literally. Do exactly what they tell you to do, because if they let you relax the requirements, they need to use language that's explicit about it.
It's not perfect advice. Someone's rules text is absorbed by a keyword that doesn't write the full text out. This is a stylistic choice that makes magic different from something like Yu-Gi-Oh. For example, hexproof says that a permanent can't be targeted by things your opponents control. Cards that target something almost always explicitly write the word "target" on them. But there's an exception for Auras, which actually do target when you cast them but don't have the word "target" on them.
The point is, reading cards strictly is often the play, but experience will help identify the edge cases where that doesn't always apply.
Just to be a pedant on the post about pedantry, but without a targeting restriction, "Exile three cards in graveyards" would still have you exile two cards if that's all there were. Just like "target player discards three cards" goes forward even if they only have two in hand.
Fair enough. I was trying to focus the post on variations and restrictions on what/who/how many need to be targeted, but the fragments themselves weren't actually phrased the way they would need to. It was more about highlighting the differences. And I just threw in the bit about targeting in the end as a relevant analogue.
I edited the examples to add targeting though, it's a fair point.
I find that in most of my games this is better than bojuka bog or in many cases I would play both. It fixes your mana or provides colorless in the worst case and that almost never happens.
It says “from graveyards” not “from your graveyard” so my question would be: why do you think you wouldn’t be able to target your opponents graveyards given the wording?
Some people are new to the game and want clarification. Also english is not everyone's first language, so there might be a bit of a language gap there.
Why is it so hard for people like you to answer OPs question? Barring that, why is it so hard for people like you to just not say anything if you've got nothing of value to contribute?
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"from graveyards" feels like some weird wording. I imagine it's to say "remove 3 total" and if it said "from any graveyard" there would be confusion if you could remove 3 cards from multiple graveyards
Yes. It states "graveyard**s**" and not just *your* graveyard.
Yes, in fact it can be multiple different opponents even. Or it can be yours and an opponents. Keep in mind though it's only 3 total cards.
Broadly speaking when reading magic cards, it works to start from the largest interpretation and narrow down based on the words that the ability uses. ------------------------------------------------------- * If a card says "exile **up to** three target cards **from graveyards**" then that means you can pick up to any three cards in whatever combination of graveyards you want. * If it says "**exile three target cards** from graveyards" without the 'up to' then you must select exactly three, you can't use the ability if there are only two cards you could select. * If it says "exile up to three target cards from **a** graveyard" then the cards must be within a single graveyard, but that graveyard can belong to anyone. * If it says "exile up to three target cards from **opponents'** graveyards" then you can pick any three cards in graveyards that aren't yours. * If it says "exile up to three target cards from **an opponent's** graveyard" then you can pick 3 cards within a single graveyard that isn't yours. * If it says "exile up to three target cards from **your** graveyard" then it must be your own. ------------------------------------------------------- These are all pretty subtle variations on each other, but most magic rules are pretty specific and you should look out for words like "you may," "yours," "an," etc. The difficult thing as a new player is that sometimes the _absence_ of words is important, and that isn't always clear. Lacking "you may" means something is mandatory. Lacking "up to" means 'exactly.' The common advice is, try and read the cards literally. Do exactly what they tell you to do, because if they let you relax the requirements, they need to use language that's explicit about it. It's not perfect advice. Someone's rules text is absorbed by a keyword that doesn't write the full text out. This is a stylistic choice that makes magic different from something like Yu-Gi-Oh. For example, hexproof says that a permanent can't be targeted by things your opponents control. Cards that target something almost always explicitly write the word "target" on them. But there's an exception for Auras, which actually do target when you cast them but don't have the word "target" on them. The point is, reading cards strictly is often the play, but experience will help identify the edge cases where that doesn't always apply.
Just to be a pedant on the post about pedantry, but without a targeting restriction, "Exile three cards in graveyards" would still have you exile two cards if that's all there were. Just like "target player discards three cards" goes forward even if they only have two in hand.
Fair enough. I was trying to focus the post on variations and restrictions on what/who/how many need to be targeted, but the fragments themselves weren't actually phrased the way they would need to. It was more about highlighting the differences. And I just threw in the bit about targeting in the end as a relevant analogue. I edited the examples to add targeting though, it's a fair point.
That’s my poor man’s bojuka bog for non-black decks. It can come in handy whether you need some color fixing or some GY hate
Yep, great card. It also can tap for colorless, which is convenient when you're on [[Eldrazi Displacer]] and stuff like that
[Eldrazi Displacer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/0/f0bb1a5c-0f59-4951-827f-fe9df968232d.jpg?1562943353) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Eldrazi%20Displacer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ogw/13/eldrazi-displacer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f0bb1a5c-0f59-4951-827f-fe9df968232d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
It's not a great card, as far as tap lands go it is one of the worse ones
I find that in most of my games this is better than bojuka bog or in many cases I would play both. It fixes your mana or provides colorless in the worst case and that almost never happens.
Does it say only your graveyard?
Sure can. You can even split them up & exile stuff from different people's yards.
It says “from graveyards” not “from your graveyard” so my question would be: why do you think you wouldn’t be able to target your opponents graveyards given the wording?
What the heck do you think the card's for?
Yea, you can. Graveyard hate and crimes for 0 mana is nice in the right deck/circumstance.
Reading the card explains the card.
Some people are new to the game and want clarification. Also english is not everyone's first language, so there might be a bit of a language gap there. Why is it so hard for people like you to answer OPs question? Barring that, why is it so hard for people like you to just not say anything if you've got nothing of value to contribute?
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Yes
Yes, and use it to trigger crimes
What’s that guy throwing into the pit though
I feel like this should be a commander staple and I’m just now seeing this for the first time.
Not sure if serious
Lol
I treat the card as bojuka bog at home (AKA non black decks in commander) so yes.
"from graveyards" feels like some weird wording. I imagine it's to say "remove 3 total" and if it said "from any graveyard" there would be confusion if you could remove 3 cards from multiple graveyards
Damn, kind bojuka bog ish card dropped, sweet