1) 400.7d Abilities that trigger when an object moves from one zone to another (for example, “When Rancor is put into a graveyard from the battlefield”) can find the new object that it became in the zone it moved to when the ability triggered, if that zone is a public zone.
701.5a To counter a spell or ability means to cancel it, removing it from the stack. It doesn’t resolve and none of its effects occur. A countered spell is put into its owner’s graveyard.
1) A spell that is "countered", by definition, moves from the stack to the graveyard (barring any externalities). Thus, Reiterate Ruling's ability will trigger when the countered spell moves from one zone to another. This means that the ability is able to find the countered spell in the graveyard and return it to its owner's hand.
2) If "it" refers to the targeted instant spell, however, it won't be able to be returned to hand. Since the ability would trigger on the targeted spell countering a spell (while the targeted spell is still on the stack), and not the targeted spell going into the graveyard, by the time the triggered ability is put onto the stack, the targeted spell will have become a new object with no correlation between it and the triggered ability.
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For clarity, I would probably word it as follows if (1) is your intention:
"When target instant spell counters a spell this turn, return the countered spell to its owner's hand."
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How to use card tags (please use them for everybody's sanity)
[c]Lightning Bolt[/c] -> Lightning Bolt
[c=Lightning Bolt]Apple Pie[/c] -> Apple Pie
Vowels-Only Format Minimum deck size: 60 Maximum number of identical cards: 4 Ban list: Cards whose English names begin with a consonant, Unglued and Unhinged cards, cards involving ante, Ancestral Recall
I was attempting 2): to return a counterspell back after its use. I reasoned that it was probably only possible if refering to the countering act itself if it was going to be done in any elegant way.
That sounds just fine. The wording may be kind of hard to grok though (I fully understand it, but the question is whether new players will.) Is there a way to formulate it easier?
Instant
When target instant spell counters a spell this turn, return it to its owner's hand.
Would the above card work within Magic rules?
1) 400.7d Abilities that trigger when an object moves from one zone to another (for example, “When Rancor is put into a graveyard from the battlefield”) can find the new object that it became in the zone it moved to when the ability triggered, if that zone is a public zone.
701.5a To counter a spell or ability means to cancel it, removing it from the stack. It doesn’t resolve and none of its effects occur. A countered spell is put into its owner’s graveyard.
1) A spell that is "countered", by definition, moves from the stack to the graveyard (barring any externalities). Thus, Reiterate Ruling's ability will trigger when the countered spell moves from one zone to another. This means that the ability is able to find the countered spell in the graveyard and return it to its owner's hand.
2) If "it" refers to the targeted instant spell, however, it won't be able to be returned to hand. Since the ability would trigger on the targeted spell countering a spell (while the targeted spell is still on the stack), and not the targeted spell going into the graveyard, by the time the triggered ability is put onto the stack, the targeted spell will have become a new object with no correlation between it and the triggered ability.
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For clarity, I would probably word it as follows if (1) is your intention:
"When target instant spell counters a spell this turn, return the countered spell to its owner's hand."
[c]Lightning Bolt[/c] -> Lightning Bolt
[c=Lightning Bolt]Apple Pie[/c] -> Apple Pie
Vowels-Only Format
Minimum deck size: 60
Maximum number of identical cards: 4
Ban list: Cards whose English names begin with a consonant, Unglued and Unhinged cards, cards involving ante, Ancestral Recall
Is there a way to make 2) happen?
If target instant spell counters another spell this turn, return that instant to its owner's hand instead of putting it into that player's graveyard.
Other than that, thank you very much