Welcome back to Personal Tutor, where we learn how to maximize our opportunities for player education. We've been away for a while, but we've returned with our monthly goal to transcend the basic answer to create an informative response that the players will really remember and teach them something about the rules, rather than just resolving this ruling. You may even find this process helps you come to a better understanding of the rules yourself.

Here's this month's scenario, found in the Mid-Atlantic Judges' Slack chat:

On Saturday at a Modern Grand Prix, Augustus asks to speak to you away from the table. He asks, “If I give the Reiterate in my graveyard Flashback with Snapcaster Mage, can I Buyback it?”

The short answer here is “No.” But we don't think that's the best answer for educating players, which is an important role of a judge! So tell us: how would you answer this question.

As usual, we're going to ask you to provide an actual quote from yourself in this situation, rather than a general description.

L1s and Judge Candidates, feel free to give your answers immediately. L2s, please wait a day to add your input. L3+, please wait two days. We'll be back with our answer in a couple weeks.

“No, the replacement effect that moves a flashbacked card to exile cannot be overridden.”

This was actually my first ever judge call, with Jace and Soulfire Grandmaster.

Edited Russell Deutsch (April 7, 2016 09:00:53 AM)

“No, Flashback says to exile the card instead of putting it anywhere else when it leaves the stack– so the spell can't get back to your hand.”

@ Russell: Jace, Telepath Unbound doesn't actually give the card flashback– if you target a spell with his -3, you can cast it using any alternate/additional costs (including buyback, overload, etc) and the exile bit only replaces the spell going to the graveyard, so if you cast the spell with buyback, you do get it back to hand. That said, Soulfire Grand Master doesn't actually give spells buyback– its ability only works on spells cast from your hand– so they're still SOL.

“You can pay the buyback cost, it just wont do anything cause of the replacement of flashback.”

But isn't that too much of an answer i ask myself as i write it here ^^

Not sure… not sure..

Originally posted by John Brian McCarthy:

L2s, please wait a day to add your input.

Explaining why a post mysteriously disappeared…

I would explain the static effect created by buyback only applies to cards that would go to the graveyard. Because flashback puts the card directly into exile the effect created by buyback will never have the opportunity to effect the spell.

Basically because the card goes to exile instead of the graveyard buyback won't work.

The player may choose to pay the additional cost of buyback but that becomes an “I know what you want to do but that's not how that works” situation.

I'm thinking that you ‘can’ pay the buyback cost. However it will still be exiled upon resolving instead of going to your hand? I could be wrong though. I think it's kind of like Spellskite in the fact that you ‘can’ pay for it. It wouldn't help you, but you ‘can’ pay.

Edited Chris Evans (April 7, 2016 10:55:05 PM)

When you play a spell by flashback cost have an effect that moves the spell card from the stack into the exile as part of resolution. Because that, even if you pay the buyback cost because you can pay it… as any additional cost, the flashback's effect “wins” over the buyback's effect and the reiterate will be put into exile.

If I understand correctly, the following would happen, which I'd explain to the player:

“You can pay the buyback cost and it will grant a replacement effect, that the spell is put into your hand rather than the graveyard upon resolution. However, Flashback will have granted a replacement effect, too, stating that instead of leaving the stack, the spell is exiled. As the spell resolves, you will have to choose the order in which the effects apply. Then, if you choose the Buyback's effect first, the card would now be put in your hand from the stack, hence still leaving the stack. The Flashback's effect would now apply, ultimately exiling the spell. On the other hand, if you chose the Flashback's effect to apply first, the spell would then be exiled rather than put into your graveyard, thus the Buyback's effect can no longer be applied. Ultimately, you won't be able to return the spell to your hand and it will always get exiled.”

Originally posted by John Brian McCarthy:

As usual, we're going to ask you to provide an actual quote from yourself in this situation, rather than a general description.

Just a reminder to people about the stated guidelines for this exercise. Just like a live call, it's okay to do some research before answering, but when you post your answer please phrase it in the same way that you would answer the players. If you also want to post a little bit of discussion about your thought process, that's fine. Just make sure to post your answer to the players in quotations.

“You see, flashback states that the card will be exiled instead of leaving the stack to go *anywhere*. It means you can pay the buyback cost, but the card will be exiled instead of going to your hand, regardless. ”

Edited Yurick Costa (April 8, 2016 05:48:21 AM)

“Yes, you can do it, but think that flashback says that card will go to exile instead of putting it anywhere, even your hand.”

Originally posted by Ellen McManis:

@ Russell: Jace, Telepath Unbound doesn't actually give the card flashback– if you target a spell with his -3, you can cast it using any alternate/additional costs (including buyback, overload, etc) and the exile bit only replaces the spell going to the graveyard, so if you cast the spell with buyback, you do get it back to hand. That said, Soulfire Grand Master doesn't actually give spells buyback– its ability only works on spells cast from your hand– so they're still SOL.

Yup, thank you. All that was revealed in the call's response, but the player's original question was, “If I flashback a spell with Jace and use Soulfire's ability, does the spell go to my hand?”

Originally posted by John Brian McCarthy:

Welcome back to Personal Tutor, where we learn how to maximize our opportunities for player education.

“You can pay the buyback cost. That Snapcaster Mage has summary reminder text on Flashback, would you like to read the full version?”

Fairly tough one to stay within the lines on. The player is to me demonstrating some awareness that when he does this it might not turn out well, but I don't want to stray too far towards straight up coaching.

702.33 Flashback appears on some instants and sorceries. It represents two static abilities: one that functions while the card is in a player’s graveyard and another that functions while the card is on the stack. “Flashback ” means “You may cast this card from your graveyard by paying rather than paying its mana cost” and “If the flashback cost was paid, exile this card instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack.”
702.26 "Buyback appears on some instants and sorceries. It represents two static abilities that function while the spell is on the stack. “Buyback ” means “You may pay an additional as you cast this spell” and “If the buyback cost was paid, put this spell into its owner’s hand instead of into that player’s graveyard as it resolves.”
“If you still have any further question, I'd like to answer it.”

–John B