Aftermath

Aftermath
[[File:{{#setmainimage:MTGA Aftermath.png}}|70x70px]]
Keyword Ability
Type	Static
Introduced	Amonkhet
Last used	New Capenna Commander
Reminder Text	Aftermath (Cast this spell only from your graveyard. Then exile it.)
Storm Scale	7
Statistics	54 split cards/ 27 whole cards 18.5% 18.5% 18.5% 24.1% 20.4%
Scryfall Search
keyword:"Aftermath"

Not to be confused with March of the Machine: The Aftermath.

Amonkhet split card with Aftermath

Aftermath is a keyword ability which allows the second half of a split card to be cast from the graveyard rather than the hand. It was introduced in Amonkhet and uses a special version of the split card frame..

Description

Split cards with aftermath have a new frame treatment — the half you can cast from your hand is oriented the same as other cards you'd cast from your hand, while the half you can cast from your graveyard is a traditional split card half. This frame treatment is for your convenience and has no significance in the rules. Aftermath is present on the "bottom half" of a split card. This half is turned sideways to remind you that this half can only be cast from your graveyard.

Aftermath creates virtual card advantage. The big difference between aftermath and the similar flashback is that with aftermath, you get a different card than what you cast the first time.

The card as a whole is read with a 'to' in the middle instead of an 'and'; i.e.: read Destined // Lead as 'Destined to Lead'.

History

Through Amonket block, Aftermath was printed over five cycles, making it spread equally over colors. A stand-alone Aftermath card was printed in Modern Horizons 2 in , upsetting the balance. It also appeared as a one-off in the Streets of New Capenna Commander decks.

Rules

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

Aftermath

A keyword ability that lets a player cast one half of a split card only from their graveyard. See rule 702.127, “Aftermath.”

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

• 702.127. Aftermath
  • 702.127a Aftermath is an ability found on some split cards (see rule 709, “Split Cards”). It represents three static abilities. “Aftermath” means “You may cast this half of this split card from your graveyard,” “This half of this split card can’t be cast from any zone other than a graveyard,” and “If this spell was cast from a graveyard, exile it instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack.”

Example

Example

Destined
Instant
Target creature gets +1/+0 and gains indestructible until end of turn.
Lead
Sorcery
Aftermath (Cast this spell only from your graveyard. Then exile it.)
All creatures able to block target creature this turn do so.

Rulings

• All split cards have two card faces on a single card, and you put a split card onto the stack with only the half you're casting. The characteristics of the half of the card you didn't cast are ignored while the spell is on the stack. For example, if an effect prevents you from casting green spells, you can cast Destined.
• Each split card is a single card. For example, if you discard one, you've discarded one card, not two. If an effect counts the number of instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard, Destined /// Lead counts once, not twice.
• Each split card has two names. If an effect instructs you to choose a card name, you may choose one, but not both.
• While not on the stack, the characteristics of a split card are the combination of its two halves. For example, Destined /// Lead is a green and black card, it is both an instant card and a sorcery card, and its converted mana cost is 6. This means that if an effect allows you to cast a card with converted mana cost 2 from your hand, you can't cast Destined. This is a change from the previous rules for split cards.
• If you cast the first half of a split card with aftermath during your turn, you'll have priority immediately after it resolves. You can cast the half with aftermath from your graveyard before any player can take any other action if it's legal for you to do so.
• If another effect allows you to cast a split card with aftermath from any zone other than a graveyard, you can't cast the half with aftermath.
• If another effect allows you to cast a split card with aftermath from a graveyard, you may cast either half. If you cast the half that has aftermath, you'll exile the card if it would leave the stack.
• A spell with aftermath cast from a graveyard will always be exiled afterward, whether it resolves, it's countered, or it leaves the stack in some other way.

Naming convention and translation problems

Instead of using the "_____ and _____" convention of regular split cards, Aftermath cards use a "_____ to _____" convention.

In practice, the people who named the cards used different meanings of the word "to". While this works in the English language, this has proved to be problematic in translation. It is unknown if Aftermath cards will return; and if they do, if they will use a single meaning of the word "to"; but as is, it can't be said that there is a coherent naming convention for them in non-English languages.

French examples

• Leave // Chance — "Laisser à (la) Chance"
• Driven // Despair — "Conduire au Désespoir"
• Reason // Believe — "Raison de Croire"
• Grind // Dust — "Réduire en Poussière"
• Struggle // Survive — "Se débattre pour Survivre"
• Onward // Victory — "En avant vers (la) Victoire"
• Spring // Mind is even worse, as it uses a double meaning of the word "spring". The correct translation would be "Sauter à (l') Esprit"; but it would leave out the green half as "Sauter" (to jump) and would completely miss the meaning of the season Spring (Printemps in French) which is used for the effect of the card. The translation team ended up using "Source de Savoir" (Source of Knowledge) to try and keep the meaning of each half of the card.

German examples

• Claim // Fame — "Anspruch auf Ruhm"
• Onward // Victory — "Vorstoß zum Sieg"
• Destined // Lead — "Auserkoren zu Führen"
• Start // Finish — "Von Anfang bis Ende"
• Never // Return — "Niemals Wiederkehren" (without any preposition in the middle)

Other phrases are more difficult:

• Reason // Believe — Could have been easily translated as "Grund zu Glauben", but Reason was translated as "Wissen" instead of "Grund" which makes it effectively impossible to form any coherent German phrase.
• Spring // Mind — "Quell des Verstand(es)" uses spring as in "hot spring" as a translation to capture the original meaning.

And several phrases switch around the position of the two words and put the to at the front:

• Struggle // Survive — "Ums Überleben Ringen"
• Leave // Chance — "Dem Zufall Überlassen"
• Cut // Ribbons — "In Stücke Schneiden"