As long as Grist isn’t on the battlefield, it’s a 1/1 Insect creature in addition to its other types.
This is the first line of text on the Magic: the Gathering card Grist, the Hunger Tide, a planeswalker first printed in Modern Horizons 2.
I first encountered this version of Grist at a very casual local commander game. It was a really weird pod, and the Grist player was a little stand offish. I assumed that having Grist as your commander was just an exercise of the oft discussed house rule allowing planeswalkers as commanders, and thought nothing of it.
It wasn’t until some months later that I learned something about that first line of text. Here’s how the Gatherer rulings explain it:
“Grist, the Hunger Tide can be your commander as its first ability works before the game begins during deck construction.”
“Grist, the Hunger Tide can be your commander as its first ability works before the game begins…”
“…its first ability works before the game begins…”
“…before the game begins…”
Grist’s ability makes it a legendary creature before the game begins, so it’s a valid choice to be your commander despite it appearing to be only a planeswalker.
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this line of rules text for months.
As long as Grist isn’t on the battlefield, it’s a 1/1 Insect creature in addition to its other types.
As long as Grist is in your binder, it’s a 1/1 Insect creature in addition to its other types.
As long as Grist is in a box collecting dust, it’s a 1/1 Insect.
As long as Grist is in an unopened booster pack, it’s an insect.
Every copy of Grist, the Hunger Tide, in every language, in every country, that is not currently on the battlefield of an active game of Magic: the Gathering, is an insect.
Grist, the Hunger Tide by Yongjae Choi
At time of writing there are 1,505 copies of Grist, the Hunger Tide across all printings for sale on TCGplayer.
26 on StarCityGames.
62 on CoolstuffInc.
61 on Card Kingdom.
~232 on ebay.
Each of them is, as you read this, an insect.
If I buy a proxy Grist, the Hunger Tide does it become a creature the moment it rolls off the printer? What if I create one by hand? What if I write “Grist, the Hunger Tide” on a basic land? On a scrap of paper jammed into a sleeve? What if I simply write “G,tHT” and tell you that’s what it’s standing in for? What if I say “This basic mountain is my Grist?”
Are they insects?
Grist, the Hunger Tide by Victor Adame
Two days ago as of writing, Wizards of the Coast announced Arena Anthologies. These small scale, Arena-only sets are composed of existing cards and serve as a way to slow-feed Magic’s digital platform with cards previously only available in paper. The first two of these sets hit Arena yesterday.
Grist, the Hunger Tide was added to Arena in Arena Anthology 2.
As long as Grist isn’t on the battlefield, it’s a 1/1 Insect creature in addition to its other types.
If Grist sits in your Arena collection, is it a creature?
If Grist in a deck in your Arena folders, is it an insect?
The answer, according to Arena Game Director Jay Parker, is yes.
“In general, Arena is only doing rules processing (where we care what the words on the cards say) during gameplay. But Grist doesn’t work like that. So we had to add a bunch of caveats in several places to specifically look for our buggy little friend” – WotC_Jay
When building decks on Arena, you don’t need individual copies of the card for each deck you make. As long as you own a single copy of Grist, the Hunger Tide, you can put it in 5, 10, 100 decks. How many creatures are there?
If Wizards of the Coast one day shutters Arena’s servers, there’s a good chance of it living on through fan-hosted versions. Will the Grists on those versions of Arena be insects?
Grist, the Hunger Tide by Wooden Cyclops
One day, someone will shuffle up to play a game of commander with Grist, the Hunger Tide as their commander for the final time. It will be the last time Grist’s ability functioning before the game begins will matter. When that game ends, will Grist still be their commander?
One day, someone will play Grist, the Hunger Tide for the final time. When that game ends, will Grist, the Hunger Tide still be a creature?
One day, someone will play the final game of Magic: the Gathering. Will they know it when they begin? Will they know it when it’s over? When that game ends, will Grist, the Hunger Tide still be an insect?
What will it take for Grist, the Hunger Tide to stop being a creature? Will it be the day nobody alive knows how that rule works? Will it be the day no living thing knows the rules to a game called Magic: the Gathering? Will it be when the final cardboard copy of Grist, the Hunger Tide crumbles to dust and pulp? Or will it be the day the last lines of Arena code are finally deleted?
Jace will no longer be a planeswalker when nobody remembers what Shandalar or Dominaria or Mirrodin are.
But Grist doesn’t work that way.
One day there will be no more battlefields. There will be no more graveyards, or libraries, or hands.
But Grist, the Hunger Tide will still be a creature.
As long as Grist isn’t on the battlefield, it’s a 1/1 Insect creature in addition to its other types.