questions about splice into the arcane magic

[Soddda]

Am trying to figure out "Splice into the arcane" card. The card I am looking at is called "Consuming Vortex"

First, what exactly is an Arcane spell?

Second, why would I pay more to cast it with the splice cost? I mean normally it costs 1+blue, and the splice cost is 3+blue... I could understand if the cost was less, but not sure whats the benefits if I have to pay more?

[Arix]

An arcane spell is any spell with the "Arcane" subtype. For example, look at Consuming Vortex's type line, and how it says "Instant - Arcane". That's an arcane spell.

As for why you would splice, it's because splice lets you keep the spell in your hand. If you just cast it normally, then you get the effect, and then it's gone. On the other hand, if you splice it onto another Arcane spell (say, Ideas Unbound), then you get the card's effect, but you keep the card, perhaps to splice again or just to cast it normally.

[dwarf]

If you cast Ideas Unbound and splice Consuming Vortex into it, and the Ideas unbound gets countered, does the effect from consuming vortex still happen?

[Arix]

No. The whole spell gets countered.

[dwarf]

Is there some way to counter just one of the effects (either the spell its being spliced into or the spliced spell?

Also what happens for example if you splice Psychic Puppetry into ideas unbound, and the target of psychic puppetry becomes illegal? Does both ideas unbound and psychic puppetry get countered?

[Arix]

The thing to keep in mind is that splcie actually adds text to the original spell. When you splice Psychic Puppetry onto Ideas Unbound, you don't have two different spells doing different things - you have one spell, named Ideas Unbound, that draws cards and either taps or untaps something. As with any spell, if all of its targets become illegal, then the whole spell is countered.

The only way you can really "counter" one part and not the other is if both the original spell and the spliced part target two different things and you make one of those targets illegal.

[dwarf]

do both cards go to the graveyard if countered?

[Arix]

No. Again - it's not two separate spells. It's one spell doing multiple things.