Studying for L2, and I'm not sure I understand this.

603.6c

Leaves-the-battlefield abilities trigger when a permanent moves from the battlefield to another zone, or when a phased-in permanent leaves the game because its owner leaves the game. These are written as, but aren’t limited to, "When leaves the battlefield, . . .“ or ”Whenever is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, . . . .“ An ability that attempts to do something to the card that left the battlefield checks for it only in the first zone that it went to. An ability that triggers when a card is put into a certain zone ”from anywhere“ is never treated as a leaves-the-battlefield ability, even if an object is put into that zone from the battlefield.

So how are objects that go to the graveyard form the battlefield treated differently if their clause is ”from anywhere"?
I guess I'm basically asking what the actual difference in triggers is if you cast Wrath of God with Worldspine Wurm and Alabaster Dragon on the battlefield (ignoring the wurm tokens of course).

Oracle text on Alabaster dragon is: When Alabaster Dragon dies, shuffle it into its owner's library.

Edit: Just noticed that I posted at 123456 :) Cheerful :)

Edited Doug Malotte (Dec. 5, 2013 03:26:50 PM)

The difference is that leaves-the-battlefield abilities use the game state before the zone change to determine what triggers and how. Abilities such as Worldspine Wurm's last one use the game state after the zone change.

This is especially important if continuous effects affect the objects in either zone.

Let's say there's a Humility on the battlefield and Wrath of God is cast:
- Alabaster Dragon doesn't trigger at all
- Only Worldspine Wurm's last ability triggers, and it's shuffled into the library.

Let's say instead that Yixlid Jailer equipped with Shield of Kaldra is on the battlefield and Wrath of God is cast:
- Alabaster Dragon triggers and is shuffled back.
- Only Worldspine Wurm first triggered ability triggers, so you get 3 Wurm tokens but Worldspine Wurm is not shuffled back.

Daniel Kitachewsky
L3, Paris, France
Rules NetRep