Component Collector is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
If it's neither day nor night, it becomes day as this creature enters. Whenever day becomes night or night becomes day, you may tap or untap target nonland permanent.
Complete guide
Component Collector is a versatile Homunculus that ensures your game starts tracking the sun and the moon as soon as it hits the battlefield. It thrives on the constant shifting between day and night, allowing you to manipulate the board state with every transition. This blue creature turns the natural flow of time into a powerful tactical advantage.
Mastering the Day/Night Cycle
When Component Collector enters the battlefield, it checks if the game is currently tracking day or night. If it is neither, the game officially becomes day. This sets the stage for future turns: if a player casts no spells during their turn, it becomes night at the start of the next turn. If a player casts two or more spells during their turn, it becomes day again. Note that the initial shift from 'nothing' to 'day' does not trigger the Collector's second ability, as that requires a transition from one state to the other.
Tactical Tapping and Untapping
Whenever day becomes night or night becomes day, Component Collector allows you to target a nonland permanent and either tap or untap it. This happens at the very beginning of the untap step, before players untap their permanents. Because this is a triggered ability, you can use it to freeze an opponent's creature for a turn or untap one of your own artifacts or creatures to use an activated ability twice in a round.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
A frequent error is trying to target a land with this ability; remember, the Oracle text specifies 'nonland permanent.' Additionally, players often forget that the transition check happens at the start of the untap step. If the ability triggers on your turn, it happens before you untap, so you should usually use it to tap an opponent's blocker or untap something you want to use during your upkeep.
Interaction examples
Roaming ThroneWith Roaming Throne on the battlefield naming 'Homunculus,' any transition between day and night will trigger Component Collector twice. This allows you to tap two threats, untap two blockers, or any combination thereof, doubling your control over the board every time the cycle shifts.
Day // NightIf the game is in its starting state (neither day nor night), playing Component Collector makes it day. According to official rulings, this initial change does not trigger the 'whenever day becomes night or night becomes day' ability. You must wait for the next untap step where a player's previous spell-casting habits cause a shift to night for the first trigger to occur.
Solemn SimulacrumYou can use the day/night shift to get extra value out of nonland permanents. If you attacked with Solemn Simulacrum on your turn and it survived, and the game becomes night at the start of your opponent's turn, you can use Component Collector's trigger to untap the Simulacrum, leaving you with a surprise blocker.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Component Collector
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
Day and night are designations that the game itself can have. The game starts as neither. Once the game becomes day (or less commonly, night), the game will be exactly one of them—day or night—going back and forth for the rest of the game.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
If it is night, and the active player of the previous turn cast two or more spells during their turn, it becomes day.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
Before a player untaps their permanents during the untap step, the game checks to see if the day/night designation should change.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
If a triggered ability triggers whenever day becomes night or night becomes day, it only triggers if it was already either day/night and becomes the other. It does not trigger when the game becomes day or night for the first time.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
If it is day, and the active player of the previous turn cast no spells during their turn, it becomes night.
No other card is named in this ruling.
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