Lodestone Needle
Guidestone Compass

Lodestone Needle // Guidestone Compass

Card Information

Type (Front): Artifact

Type (Back): Artifact

Mana Cost (Front): 1Blue mana

CMC: 2

Part of the Reserved List: No

Color Identity: Mana symbol for U

Set: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan (LCI)

Rarity: Uncommon

Collector Number: 62

Oracle Text

Lodestone Needle

Flash When this artifact enters, tap up to one target artifact or creature and put two stun counters on it. Craft with artifact {2}{U} ({2}{U}, Exile this artifact, Exile another artifact you control or an artifact card from your graveyard: Return this card transformed under its owner's control. Craft only as a sorcery.)

Guidestone Compass

{1}, {T}: Target creature you control explores. Activate only as a sorcery. (Reveal the top card of your library. Put that card into your hand if it's a land. Otherwise, put a +1/+1 counter on that creature, then put the card back or put it into your graveyard.)

Keywords

CraftTransformExploreFlash

Format Legalities

duel(Legal)
brawl(Legal)
penny(Not Legal)
predh(Not Legal)
future(Legal)
legacy(Legal)
modern(Legal)
pauper(Not Legal)
alchemy(Not Legal)
pioneer(Legal)
vintage(Legal)
historic(Legal)
standard(Legal)
timeless(Legal)
commander(Legal)
gladiator(Legal)
oldschool(Not Legal)
premodern(Not Legal)
oathbreaker(Legal)
standardbrawl(Legal)
paupercommander(Not Legal)

Card Rulings

  1. November 10, 2023

    The back faces of some cards with craft refer to cards "used to craft" it. This refers to the cards exiled as part of the cost of the craft ability of the front face. Those cards are considered to be "used to craft" that permanent as long as they remain exiled and the permanent remains on the battlefield, even if the permanent's controller changes or some of its characteristics change (because of a copy effect, for example.)

    Source: wotc
  2. November 10, 2023

    If no card is revealed, most likely because that player's library is empty, the exploring creature receives a +1/+1 counter.

    Source: wotc
  3. November 10, 2023

    If the materials required include multiple objects, you may exile some of them from among permanents you control and the rest from among cards in your graveyard. You don't have to choose all permanents or all cards from your graveyard.

    Source: wotc
  4. November 10, 2023

    If an ability instructs a creature to explore, its controller reveals the top card of their library. If it's a land card, they'll put it into their hand. Otherwise, they'll put a +1/+1 counter on that creature, then choose to either leave that card on top of their library or put it into their graveyard.

    Source: wotc
  5. November 10, 2023

    Once an ability that causes a creature to explore begins to resolve, no player may take any other actions until it's done. Notably, opponents can't try to remove the exploring creature after you reveal a nonland card but before it receives a counter.

    Source: wotc
  6. November 10, 2023

    Lodestone Needle's enters-the-battlefield ability can target an artifact or creature that's already tapped. If so, you'll just put two stun counters on that artifact or creature.

    Source: wotc
  7. November 10, 2023

    You may exile tokens you control as part of the materials required. However, because they aren't cards and won't stay in exile, any abilities that refer to what you "used to craft" the back faces won't refer to anything.

    Source: wotc
  8. November 10, 2023

    Some spells or abilities might cause a creature to explore multiple times in a row. If you reveal a nonland card when a creature explores and leave it on top of your library, then the creature explores again immediately afterwards, you'll reveal the same card again.

    Source: wotc
  9. November 10, 2023

    If a resolving spell or ability instructs a specific creature to explore but that creature has left the battlefield, the creature still explores. If you reveal a nonland card this way, you won't put a +1/+1 counter on anything, but you may put the revealed card into your graveyard. Effects that trigger "whenever a creature explores" trigger as appropriate.

    Source: wotc
  10. November 10, 2023

    If a card that isn't a transforming double-faced card becomes a copy of a card with craft, it'll stay in exile if you activate the craft ability. It won't return to the battlefield.

    Source: wotc
  11. November 10, 2023

    In some unusual cases, noncreature permanents may explore. For example, if the creature card returned by Defossilize is somehow not a creature once it's on the battlefield, it can still explore. You'll take all the same actions, and you may end up putting a +1/+1 counter on the permanent. (Note that some effects target a creature, and those effects would still require a legal target to have it explore.)

    Source: wotc

Price History

Wizard conjuring a magic the gathering cards

To study a single card is to glimpse the heart of a spell - a frozen moment of ambition, artistry, and arcane intent. Within each glyph lies a spark: a story untold, a duel turned, a destiny altered. Treat it not as mere parchment, dear seeker, but as a shard of the Multiverse itself.

Gandareth the Odd
Keeper of Cardboard Secrets and Loremancer of the Lost Ink

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