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The Phasing of Zhalfir
Enchantment — Saga
rare
Read ahead (Choose a chapter and start with that many lore counters. Add one after your draw step. Skipped chapters don't trigger. Sacrifice after III.) I, II — Another target nonland permanent phases out. It can't phase in for as long as you control this Saga. III — Destroy all creatures. For each creature destroyed this way, its controller creates a 2/2 black Phyrexian creature token.
Card Kingdom
CardmarketSemantic Tags
Removes multiple permanents at once. Includes destroy-all, exile-all, mass bounce, and damage-based sweepers.
A card or token on the battlefield. See rule 110, “Permanents.”
Broadly benefits from sacrificing permanents — overlaps aristocrats but includes non-creature sacrifice.
Creates creature tokens, Treasure tokens, Food tokens, Clue tokens, or other token types.
Cares about tokens being on the battlefield — payoffs for having or creating tokens. Distinct from token_generation (which creates them).
Format Legality
Price history
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Printings (3)
| Set | Rarity | TCGplayer | Card Kingdom | Cardmarket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dominaria United Promos#59s | rare | · | · | · |
| Dominaria United Promos#59p | rare | · | · | · |
| Dominaria United#59 | rare | · | · | · |
Related Concepts
A keyword ability found on some Sagas that allows their controller to choose which chapter it starts on. See rule 702.155, “Read Ahead.”
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
An attacking or blocking creature that phases out is removed from combat.
Phasing out doesn't cause any "leaves the battlefield" abilities to trigger. Similarly, phasing in won't cause any "enters the battlefield" abilities to trigger.
Permanents that phase out as The Phasing of Zhalfir's first and second chapter abilities resolve don't phase in during their controllers' untap steps while the Saga is on the battlefield. After it leaves the battlefield, they will phase in during their controller's next untap step as normal.
Choices made for permanents as they entered the battlefield are remembered when they phase in.
Phased-out permanents are treated as though they don't exist. They can't be the targets of spells or abilities, their static abilities have no effect on the game, their triggered abilities can't trigger, they can't attack or block, and so on.
As a Saga with read ahead enters the battlefield, its controller chooses a number from one to that Saga's greatest chapter number. The Saga enters the battlefield with the chosen number of lore counters. Neither choosing the number nor putting the counters on the Saga use the stack, and neither can be responded to.
Any continuous effects with a "for as long as" duration, such as that of Extraction Specialist, ignore phased-out objects. If ignoring those objects causes the effect's conditions to no longer be met, the duration will expire.
As a permanent is phased out, Auras and Equipment attached to it also phase out at the same time. Those Auras and Equipment will phase in at the same time that permanent does, and they'll phase in still attached to it.
Normally, permanents phase back in during their controller's untap step, immediately before that player untaps their permanents. Creatures that phase in this way are able to attack and pay a cost of {T} during that turn. If a permanent had counters on it when it phased out, it will have those counters when it phases back in.