Life and Limb Blood Moon

I have Replenish simultaneously return Life and Limb and Blood Moon to the battlefield.

As I understand, I decide, as the active player, the timestamp order. So, I let Blood Moon have the later timestamp and Life and Limb have the earlier one.

I control three 1/1 Saproling tokens, and a Breeding Pool.

Both L&L and BM have type changing effects that apply in Layer 4. If I apply BM first, Life and Limb no longer applies to Breeding Pool, which suggests that L&L depends on Blood Moon. But applying Life and Limb will change what objects (the 1/1 saprolings) that are affected by BM, so L&L depends on Blood Moon. Therefore, as I understand it, there is a dependency loop. Under the rules, when there is a dependency loop, I ignore dependencies involved in the loop and return to timestamp order, so L&L applies first, then BM.

But, suppose that I use my three 1/1 saprolings as blockers, and they all leave the battlefield. Now, Blood Moon no longer depends on Life and Limb, so we are back to applying Blood Moon before Life and Limb, correct?

Which means that my Breeding Pool would cease to be a 1/1 saproling? And if I gained another Saproling token, it would return to being a Saproling once again?

Yes, since you are the active player, you get to choose the timestamps for the two cards.

If there are no saprolings on the battlefield, then you have a dependency, because applying Blood Moon will change what Life and Limb will apply to (but not vice versa), so we always apply Blood Moon first. Nonbasic lands will become Mountains and will not become 1/1 creature since they're no longer Forests.

If there is a saproling on the battlefield, then there is a dependency loop (since applying Life and Limb changes what Blood Moon will affect, and applying Blood Moon will change what Life and Limb will affect), so we apply things in timestamp order. In your example, since Life and Limb has an earlier timestamp, we apply it first, so Forests and saprolings will become 1/1 creatures, then Blood Moon will make them into Mountains and they'll remain 1/1 creatures.

And yes, this interaction will change as saprolings leave and enter the battlefield. If you have a saproling on the battlefield and then it leaves the battlefield, then we go back to applying Blood Moon first.

Nathan Long
Wizards.Com Boards NetRep