The Battlefield

Maddening Cacophony

$5.44

Riverchurn Monument

$2.07

AI DraftFeb 26, 2026

Maddening Cacophony + Riverchurn Monument

Overview

Maddening Cacophony’s kicked state is determined when you cast it (kicker) per the casting rules . Its effect (each opponent mills eight cards; if kicked, instead each opponent mills half their library, rounded up) resolves as a single one-shot effect when the spell resolves . Riverchurn Monument’s activated abilities are separate effects you activate and resolve independently; its basic ability mills two cards for each targeted player when that ability resolves, and its Exhaust ability mills an amount equal to the number of cards in each targeted player’s graveyard as measured at resolution. The two cards interact only by changing how many cards are in libraries and graveyards depending on the order in which the spell and the Monument abilities resolve (order of resolution matters).

Step 1

Casting Maddening Cacophony: When you cast the spell you declare whether you pay its kicker cost as part of casting it and follow the casting steps in rule ; once cast the spell is on the stack and will resolve later as a single one-shot effect (either "each opponent mills eight cards" or, if kicked, "each opponent mills half their library, rounded up") .

Step 2

Activating Riverchurn Monument before casting Cacophony: Activate Monument’s ability and choose targets when you activate it (it’s an activated ability). When that ability resolves it mills the chosen players for the amount specified by that ability at resolution (either 2 cards or, for Exhaust, equal to the number of cards in their graveyard at that moment). Then, when Cacophony resolves afterwards, its milling will operate on the then-current libraries (which are smaller because of Monument).

Step 3

Activating Riverchurn Monument after resolving Cacophony: Cast and resolve Cacophony first (kicker already declared at casting); that moves whichever number of cards to opponents’ graveyards. Then when you activate Monument afterward, the Exhaust ability (if used) will count cards in graveyards as they exist after Cacophony resolved, so it may mill more cards.

Step 4

Resolution ordering matters: Because these are separate spell/ability resolutions, change the order in which libraries and graveyards are altered by changing the order the spell and Monument ability resolve. There is no rule that links them together automatically .

Step 5

State-based consequences: If milling by these effects causes a player to have no cards in their library, they don’t lose the game just because they were milled; they lose only if they attempted to draw from an empty library since the last time state-based actions were checked .

Resolution

There is no special linkage between Maddening Cacophony’s kicker and Riverchurn Monument. Whether Maddening Cacophony is kicked is decided while you cast that spell and cannot be changed by activating Monument. Monument’s activated abilities resolve separately and cause additional milling when they resolve; the number of cards they mill (in particular the Exhaust ability’s value) is determined at that ability’s resolution, so whether you resolve Monument before or after Maddening Cacophony changes the resulting graveyard and library sizes. State-based loss from drawing from an empty library is checked normally .

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