Because the forum search lead to a 404 page and I couldn't find if this was asked before…

Andrew controls Drakewing Krasis with Midnight Recovery encoded on it. He attacks Nathan, who blocks with an Assault Griffin. Does Andrew get to cast Midnight Recovery? Can he target the Drakewing Krasis? Why? Does this change if it is any other Cipher spell? Does this change if the Krasis would be killed with a Grisly Spectacle in response to the cipher trigger instead?

Thanks

He can cast it and target Drakewing Krasis (assuming he deals trample damage to the defending player).

“Encoded” is just a word describing a link between abilities. It's not a straightforward relationship since it's a link between three abilities: 1) triggered that exiles the cipher spell card, 2) triggered on the creature that triggers when it deals damage and lets you cast a copy of the card, 3) static that gives 2 to the creature. These are not “linked abilities” since they don't follow one of the templates for that, but we follow the same principle (that 2 can copy only the card exiled by 1).

So as long as the creature has 2 when it deals damage to the player, 2 triggers. What happens at resolution is now independent of what happens to the creature or to the card. Since we know exactly what card we are talking about (the one exiled for 1), we don't need the creature to be on the battlefield (or the card to be in exile) at resolution of 2 in order to be able to carry out its effects. If the card is no longer in exile, we use its last known information to determine what it was.

Daniel Kitachewsky
L3, Paris, France
Rules NetRep