The Battlefield

Grindstone

3.00 TIX

Painter's Servant

$67.53

AI DraftFeb 26, 2026

Grindstone + Painter's Servant

Overview

If Painter's Servant has entered the battlefield and a color was chosen (choose one of the five colors) , its static effect makes all cards not on the battlefield that chosen color in addition to any other colors. That means when Grindstone mills two cards, those two cards will share the chosen color, so Grindstone's mill will repeat. The repetition can continue any number of times (i.e., until the library is emptied or the repeating condition stops being true) [Ruling 2024-04-12].

Step 1

Painter's Servant enters the battlefield; as it enters, its controller chooses a color (that choice must be one of the five colors) .

Step 2

Because Painter's Servant is on the battlefield, its static ability makes all cards that aren't on the battlefield the chosen color in addition to their other colors (and if a card is normally colorless, it becomes the chosen color while affected) [Ruling 2008-05-01].

Step 3

You activate Grindstone's ability and it resolves: the targeted player mills (puts from library into graveyard) the top two cards of their library.

Step 4

Immediately after those two cards are milled, Grindstone's ability checks whether the two milled cards share a color. With Painter's Servant's effect in place those cards will share the chosen color, so the ability repeats. The repetition can occur any number of times while the condition holds [Ruling 2024-04-12].

Step 5

The process continues repeating (each repetition mills two more cards and then checks for a shared color) until the check fails (for example, Painter's Servant is not applying, or the library has no cards left to mill) [Ruling 2024-04-12].

Resolution

With Painter's Servant on the battlefield and a color chosen, Grindstone's activation will mill two cards, see that they share that chosen color, and repeat — and it can keep repeating until the targeted player's library is empty or something changes that stops the cards from sharing a color [Ruling 2024-04-12]. If Painter's Servant is not affecting the cards (e.g., it isn't on the battlefield when the mill happens), and the two milled cards are both colorless, the effect does not repeat [Ruling 2004-10-04]. If an affected card is normally colorless, Painter's Servant makes it the chosen color (not both colorless and the chosen color) while the effect applies [Ruling 2008-05-01].

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