Spinal Parasite is another creature with negative base power. If you boost its toughness with another card, then remove its +1/+1 counters, it can remain on the battlefield with negative power.
Prowling Geistcatcher puts a set of cards onto the battlefield under a player's control. These are completely distinct from the creatures that were sacrificed and became those cards in exile. Long, long before any of that though, Insurrection stopped mattering to them when they were sacrificed, because they were gone. Insurrection only applies to the creatures, it doesn't know or care about objects in exile.
Similarly, Lumbering Battlement ends the lifetimes of the creatures that would be affected by Insurrection. Insurrection expiring doesn't change much because the things it applied to stopped existing first. Lumbering Battlement returns the cards to the battlefield under their owner's control, because that's how effects written like Lumbering Battlement default to working when you "exile [something] until" an event.
In the context of what you said (above), when Prowling Geistcatcher leaves play, it puts a set of new cards onto the battlefield whose nature and number match the no-longer-existing cards that used to be permanents but were sacrificed. When it does this, Insurrection does not exist so, by default, one would expect those new cards to come into play under their owner's control-- since, as you point out, that's how exiled and returned cards typically default to working.
Similarly, Lumbering Battlement exiles the creatures until it leaves the battlefield. When it leaves play, it puts a new set of cards onto the battlefield whose nature and number match the no-longer-existing cards that it exiled earlier. When it does this, Insurrection does not exist so, by default, one would expect those new cards to come into play under their owner's control (not mine)-- since, as you point out, that's how effects written like Lumbering Battlement default to working when you 'exile [something] until' an event.
However, Prowling Geistcatcher and Lumbering Battlement aren't typical 'exile-and-return' cards. They are unusual. The text on Prowling Geistcatcher explicitly says, "When Prowling Geistcatcher leaves the battlefield, return each card exiled with it to the battlefield under your control." The text on Lumbering Battlement doesn't explicitly say that they come in under your control but-- unlike the vast majority of exile-and-return cards, it says nothing about the creatures returning under their owners' control. What it says is, "When Lumbering Battlement enters the battlefield, exile any number of other nontoken creatures you control until it leaves the battlefield." It says nothing about control changing. Almost every other exile-and-return card explicitly says that the cards enter under their owner's control, but this one doesn't.
I have two questions:
Since the text on Prowling Geistcatcher says, "return each card exiled with it to the battlefield under your control," doesn't that mean that the creatures return from exile under my control since the text on a card overrules everything else?
Since I was controling the creatures when Lumbering Battlement exiled them, doesn't it seem reasonable that I continue to control them after they return to play-- given that there is nothing on the card that explicitly says that control should change? Or is there an explicit Magic the Gathering rule that requires exiled cards to always return to the battlefield under their owner's control, unless a card explicitly states otherwise?
702.26f Continuous effects that affect a phased-out permanent may expire while that permanent is phased out. If so, they will no longer affect that permanent once it’s phased in. In particular, effects with “for as long as” durations that track that permanent (see rule 611.2b) end when that permanent phases out because they can no longer see it.
I'd like to understand how phasing compares to exiling. Suppose that I have a Prowling Geistcatcher in play. I then cast Insurrection. I sacrifice all the creatures with Prowling Geistcatcher. What happens when Geistcatcher leaves play? Alternatively, suppose that I cast Insurrection, take control of all creatures, then cast Lumbering Battlement. Do I maintain control of the creatures indefinitely after Lumbering Battlement leaves play?
Actually, as the OP said, tokens in a zone other than the battlefield cease to exist when state based actions are checked, so only after Warp World has fully resolved. But Warp World requires to reveal cards from the top of the library, so any token hit with it should simply be skipped as they are not cards. And they can't leave the library anymore anyway.
Warp World says, "Each player shuffles all permanents they own into their library, then reveals THAT MANY cards from the top of their library." The counting of the tokens doesn't appear to treat them as cards. A certain number of tokens go into the library, and then THAT MANY cards-- actual cards-- are put onto the battlefield. Right???? Or am I missing something?
If a permanent is phased out when a turn ends, do "end of turn" effects ignore its existence? For example, if I cast an Insurrection, take control of all creatures, then cast a Guardian of Faith, do the creatures phase back in under my control on my next untap step and remain under my control indefinitely?
Does Scion of the Ur-Dragon have to die before the end of the turn for me to put the exiled artifact into my hand? If I turn Scion into a copy of Hoarding Dragon at some later point into the game (after returning Hoarding Dragon to my library), it sounds like I would have to tutor for a different artifact. I suspect that I wouldn't be able to grab the original one if Scion now dies before the end of the turn. Is the original artifact gone for good? Is there any way for me to gain access to the original artifact if Scion doesn't die the same turn that I exiled it?
If I'm playing commander, I believe that the new rules on commanders dying allow the commander to hit the graveyard temporarily even if I choose to put it back into the command zone. If Scion of the Ur-Dragon is my commander, and it dies before the end of the turn but I choose to put it into the command zone, would I still get to put the exiled artifact into my hand?
It gets exiled. Exiling is not depending on control, unlike sacrifice. Just because you no longer control the token doesn't make you unable to exile it.
If I understand correctly, you're saying that in order to sacrifice a permanent, you must control it... whereas you can destroy or exile a permanent that you don't control. That makes sense.
In a multiplayer game, suppose that I make a token with Faerie Artisans and give it to a different opponent (using something like Zedruu the Greathearted or Bazaar Trader). If I make another token using Faerie Artisans, is the first one (which my opponent now controls) exiled? Or does it continue to exist?
If Grolnok, the Omnivore exiles Brazen Borrower with a croak counter on it, can I cast the adventure side of the card (Petty Theft) from exile? (This is really a general question about how adventure cards work.)
To clear up your question about Grolnok. If you control Grolnok and Gaea's Blessing is put into your graveyard from the library. Its own ability triggers. If in the same action any permanent cards were also put into the graveyard from your library then Grolnok will also trigger. You will choose the order for these abilities. Regardless of choice, baring further actions, Gaea's Blessing will not be in exile with a croak counter but will instead be shuffled back into your deck when its ability resolves because it's not a permanent card and thus not eligible for Grolnok's exile ability.
That's very clear. Thank you. Given that I choose the order in which Grolnok, the Omnivore's and Gaea's Blessing's abilities trigger, does that mean that either all of the milled permanents go into exile or all of them get shuffled back into my library? Or does the ability trigger separately for each individual milled card allowing me to choose which permanents go into exile with a croak counter and which permanents get shuffled back into my library-- by choosing the order on the stack?
I have Grolnok, the Omnivore and Hermit Druid in play. If I activate Hermit Druid's ability, do all of the revealed permanents go into exile with a croak counter on them? The cards are obviously going to the graveyard from my library, but they aren't being milled directly into the graveyard from the library, so I'm not sure about this one.
Just want to confirm that I'm understanding correctly. Suppose that Gaea's Blessing is milled into the graveyard from the library. When its third ability does... eventually... trigger, you're saying that Gaea's Blessing is on the stack, not in the graveyard-- because it doesn't get triggered right away. Therefore it doesn't get shuffled into the library, since it's still on the stack when that happens?
No, Gaea's Blessing is in the graveyard. It's triggered ability is on the stack. And when that resolves, all cards that are in the graveyard at that time get shuffled into the library, including Gaea's Blessing.
I was trying to make sense of what peteroupc had said about Gaea's Blessing's third ability in terms of what had been said about the first ability:
Can the first ability of Gaea's Blessing shuffle itself into your library?
No; the first ability (as well as the second) expresses an instruction that's carried out when Gaea's Blessing resolves (C.R. 608.2c). At that time, Gaea's Blessing is on the stack, not in a graveyard (C.R. 608.2, 608.2c, 608.2m).
I am having difficulty integrating what peteroupc said (above) about the first ability's resolution and what you said about the third ability's resolution. Not that either explanation was wrong-- I'm just having difficulty understanding and integrating the answers. When peteroupc says, "At that time, Gaea's Blessing is on the stack, not in a graveyard" is the intended meaning that the card's abilities are still on the stack, and that the physical card can't be shuffled into the library while its ability is still on the stack? Or have I completely misunderstood the explanations?
Gaea's Blessing's third ability doesn't trigger when Gaea's Blessing is put into a graveyard from elsewhere than a player's library (including from the stack). Compare with Legacy Weapon (whose second ability expresses a replacement effect and cares whether Legacy Weapon is "put into a graveyard from anywhere"). In any case, if Gaea's Blessing's ability triggers, it doesn't do anything right away (C.R. 603.2).
Just want to confirm that I'm understanding correctly. Suppose that Gaea's Blessing is milled into the graveyard from the library. When its third ability does... eventually... trigger, you're saying that Gaea's Blessing is on the stack, not in the graveyard-- because it doesn't get triggered right away. Therefore it doesn't get shuffled into the library, since it's still on the stack when that happens?
Like Gaea's Blessing's second ability, Grolnok's second ability is a triggered ability (C.R. 603.1); if it triggers, it doesn't do anything right away (C.R. 603.2). (It doesn't express a replacement effect such as found in Dauthi Voidwalker.) If you control Grolnok and Gaea's Blessing is put into your graveyard from your library, both Grolnok's first ability and Gaea's Blessing's third ability will trigger, and eventually go on the stack at the same time, and you choose the order in which they go there (C.R. 603.3, 603.3b).
In saying that I choose the order in which Grolnok's ability and Gaea's Blessing's ability go on the stack, you mean that I choose whether Gaea's Blessing gets exiled with a croak counter or whether it gets shuffled into my library-- depending on that order, right?
Can the first ability of Gaea's Blessing shuffle itself into your library? Does the third ability do so automatically?
If Grolnok, the Omnivore is in play and Gaea's Blessing is on the stack, are there any situations in which permanents which would otherwise be exiled with a croak counter get shuffled into my library? More generally, when Grolnok is in play and a permanent enters the graveyard, is that permanent instantly exiled as soon as it hits the graveyard? Or is it in the graveyard for any period of time, or under certain circumstances?
Similarly, Lumbering Battlement exiles the creatures until it leaves the battlefield. When it leaves play, it puts a new set of cards onto the battlefield whose nature and number match the no-longer-existing cards that it exiled earlier. When it does this, Insurrection does not exist so, by default, one would expect those new cards to come into play under their owner's control (not mine)-- since, as you point out, that's how effects written like Lumbering Battlement default to working when you 'exile [something] until' an event.
However, Prowling Geistcatcher and Lumbering Battlement aren't typical 'exile-and-return' cards. They are unusual. The text on Prowling Geistcatcher explicitly says, "When Prowling Geistcatcher leaves the battlefield, return each card exiled with it to the battlefield under your control." The text on Lumbering Battlement doesn't explicitly say that they come in under your control but-- unlike the vast majority of exile-and-return cards, it says nothing about the creatures returning under their owners' control. What it says is, "When Lumbering Battlement enters the battlefield, exile any number of other nontoken creatures you control until it leaves the battlefield." It says nothing about control changing. Almost every other exile-and-return card explicitly says that the cards enter under their owner's control, but this one doesn't.
I have two questions:
Since the text on Prowling Geistcatcher says, "return each card exiled with it to the battlefield under your control," doesn't that mean that the creatures return from exile under my control since the text on a card overrules everything else?
Since I was controling the creatures when Lumbering Battlement exiled them, doesn't it seem reasonable that I continue to control them after they return to play-- given that there is nothing on the card that explicitly says that control should change? Or is there an explicit Magic the Gathering rule that requires exiled cards to always return to the battlefield under their owner's control, unless a card explicitly states otherwise?
Does Scion of the Ur-Dragon have to die before the end of the turn for me to put the exiled artifact into my hand? If I turn Scion into a copy of Hoarding Dragon at some later point into the game (after returning Hoarding Dragon to my library), it sounds like I would have to tutor for a different artifact. I suspect that I wouldn't be able to grab the original one if Scion now dies before the end of the turn. Is the original artifact gone for good? Is there any way for me to gain access to the original artifact if Scion doesn't die the same turn that I exiled it?
If I'm playing commander, I believe that the new rules on commanders dying allow the commander to hit the graveyard temporarily even if I choose to put it back into the command zone. If Scion of the Ur-Dragon is my commander, and it dies before the end of the turn but I choose to put it into the command zone, would I still get to put the exiled artifact into my hand?
I was trying to make sense of what peteroupc had said about Gaea's Blessing's third ability in terms of what had been said about the first ability:I am having difficulty integrating what peteroupc said (above) about the first ability's resolution and what you said about the third ability's resolution. Not that either explanation was wrong-- I'm just having difficulty understanding and integrating the answers. When peteroupc says, "At that time, Gaea's Blessing is on the stack, not in a graveyard" is the intended meaning that the card's abilities are still on the stack, and that the physical card can't be shuffled into the library while its ability is still on the stack? Or have I completely misunderstood the explanations?
In saying that I choose the order in which Grolnok's ability and Gaea's Blessing's ability go on the stack, you mean that I choose whether Gaea's Blessing gets exiled with a croak counter or whether it gets shuffled into my library-- depending on that order, right?
If Grolnok, the Omnivore is in play and Gaea's Blessing is on the stack, are there any situations in which permanents which would otherwise be exiled with a croak counter get shuffled into my library? More generally, when Grolnok is in play and a permanent enters the graveyard, is that permanent instantly exiled as soon as it hits the graveyard? Or is it in the graveyard for any period of time, or under certain circumstances?