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Perplexing Chimera
Enchantment Creature — Chimera
rare
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, you may exchange control of this creature and that spell. If you do, you may choose new targets for the spell. (If the spell becomes a permanent, you control that permanent.)
3/3
Semantic Tags
A card or token on the battlefield. See rule 110, “Permanents.”
Format Legality
Price history
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Printings (1)
| Set | Rarity | TCGplayer | Card Kingdom | Cardmarket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born of the Gods#48 | rare | · | · | · |
Related Rules
If an ability would produce one or more mana of an undefined type, it produces no mana instead.
Some abilities produce mana based on the type of mana another permanent or permanents “could produce.” The type of mana a permanent could produce at any time includes any type of mana that an ability of that permanent would produce if the ability were to resolve at that time, taking into account any applicable replacement effects in any possible order. Ignore whether any costs of the ability could or could not be paid. If that permanent wouldn’t produce any mana under these conditions, or no type of mana can be defined this way, there’s no type of mana it could produce.
To “tap [a permanent] for mana” is to activate a mana ability of that permanent that includes the {T} symbol in its activation cost. See rule 605, “Mana Abilities.”
An ability that triggers whenever a permanent “is tapped for mana” or is tapped for mana of a specified type triggers whenever such a mana ability resolves and produces mana or the specified type of mana.
A replacement effect that applies if a permanent “is tapped for mana” or tapped for mana of a specific type and/or amount modifies the mana production event while such an ability is resolving and producing mana or the specified type and/or amount of mana.
If an object’s enters-the-battlefield triggered ability or replacement effect refers to X, and the spell that became that object as it resolved had a value of X chosen for any of its costs, the value of X for that ability is the same as the value of X for that spell, although the value of X for that permanent is 0. This is an exception to rule 107.3i.
The tap symbol is {T}. The tap symbol in an activation cost means “Tap this permanent.” A permanent that’s already tapped can’t be tapped again to pay the cost. A creature’s activated ability with the tap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since their most recent turn began. See rule 302.6.
The untap symbol is {Q}. The untap symbol in an activation cost means “Untap this permanent.” A permanent that’s already untapped can’t be untapped again to pay the cost. A creature’s activated ability with the untap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since their most recent turn began. See rule 302.6.
Rulings
You may exchange control of Perplexing Chimera and any spell cast by an opponent, not just one with targets.
Neither Perplexing Chimera nor the spell changes zones. Only control of them is exchanged.
You may change any of the spell’s targets. If you change a target, you must choose a legal target for the spell. If you can’t, you must leave the target the same (even if that target is now illegal).
If you gain control of an instant or sorcery spell, it will be put into its owner’s graveyard as it resolves, fails to resolve, or is countered.
If Perplexing Chimera leaves the battlefield or the spell leaves the stack before the triggered ability resolves, you can’t make the exchange.
Gaining control of a spell and changing its targets won’t cause any heroic abilities of the new targets to trigger.
In some unusual cases, you may not control Perplexing Chimera when its triggered ability resolves (perhaps because the triggered ability triggered again and resolved while the original ability was on the stack). In these cases, you can exchange control of Perplexing Chimera and the spell that causes the ability to trigger, even if you control neither of them. If you do, you’ll be able to change targets of the spell, not the spell’s new controller.
You make the decision whether to exchange control of Perplexing Chimera and the spell as the triggered ability resolves.
After the ability resolves, you control the spell. Any instance of “you” in that spell’s text now refers to you, “an opponent” refers to one of your opponents, and so on. The change of control happens before new targets are chosen, so any targeting restrictions such as “target opponent” or “target creature you control” are now made in reference to you, not the spell’s original controller. You may change those targets to be legal in reference to you, or, if those are the spell’s only targets, the spell will doesn’t resolve for having illegal targets. When the spell resolves, any illegal targets are unaffected by it and you make all decisions the spell’s effect calls for.