Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Judge's Corner

Correction:

It seems I made an error in my last article, and it propagated quickly … so I'll lead off by correcting it…

(Again, my original answer is in >>> and <<<.)

>>>Q: Situation: 6 cards in graveyard. I cast Pyroclasm and I have a Werebear in play. Does Pyroclasm go to the graveyard and give my Werebear threshold or does my Werebear die before Pyroclasm hit the graveyard?

Jester

A: Your Werebear would die. Pyroclasm won't go to the graveyard until it has fully resolved, and the Werebear will be a 1/1 with 2 damage on it and die before then.<<<

I was trying to think too much about it…

The Werebear actually lives. Here's why:

Pyroclasm does 2 damage to everything, including the Werebear.
As the final step in Pyroclasm resolving, Pyroclasm goes to the graveyard, giving him threshold.
Now we check State Based Effects … the Werebear is 4/4, and it has 2 damage on it, and the Werebear lives.

Thanks to Mark Beardsley and Christopher Richter for alerting me to the error, and to Rune Horvik for finally setting me straight. (By the way, congratulations Rune on your advancement to level 4!)

Now on to our regularly scheduled programming…

Q: Can you Land Grant or Tithe for a dual land?

A: Sure, as long as the dual land counts as a Forest (for Land Grant) or Plains (for Tithe).

Q: Does Price of Progress hit duals?

A: Yes. Price of Progress looks at any and all non basic lands, which currently are any cards of type land that are not named Forest, Island, Mountain, Plains, or Swamp.

Q: Would Wake of Destruction hit all lands… for example, I hit blue green dual; would it take out all duals with blue or green and island and forest?

A: No. Wake of Destruction will only destroy all lands with the same name as the one you originally targeted. So if you hit Tropical Island, you will only destroy all Tropical Islands, not any land that may count as a forest or island.

Q: If I tap my lands and add mana can my opponent say Orim's Chant like this…

me: I'll add 4 to my mana pool
opponent: I'll Orim's Chant you in response

Can that work and I'll take 4 burn, even if I was playing something; or do I have to declare first the spell I'm playing then tap my lands?

-Noel

Your opponent can't do that, even if you tap the lands first. Tapping for mana resolves immediately and doesn't go on the stack (411.1), so your opponent wouldn't get priority to play the Orim's Chant before you cast whatever it is you're casting.

Q: If you tap a static enchantment does it still effect the environment? Say for instance Crusade, which gives all white creatures +1/+1, if I Twiddle and tap it, does it still give +1/+1 or no?

-Chris Plunkett

A: White creatures would still get +1/+1. Tapping an enchantment doesn't make its' ability stop happening.

Q: If I were to have Harsh Judgement in play, called color red, and then shock (or other red burn) myself, would they damage only cycle once or be infinitely cycled due to the "instead" phrasing?

-alex moser

A: It will only cycle once … replacement effects are only applied once each time the effect applies. (419.6a)

Q: Some of the people that play in the local card shop near me love to play with Mogg Maniac. One of there favorite tricks is to attack with the Maniac, allow their opponent to block, put damage on the stack and then they try to cast a series of direct damage to the Mogg Maniac, with the hopes of sending more damage to me (through the Maniac). Does this work the way they think it does OR could I just cast Engulfing Flames on the Mogg Maniac after they finish so that the Maniac dies, and I only take one damage?

-Andrew Cole

A: Mogg Maniac will only take damage (and therefore its' ability will trigger) only if Mogg Maniac is in play. So unless Mogg Maniac's toughness is being increased somehow, only one of the burn spells will hit it (and therefore only one spell's worth of damage will be sent your way).

Q: If one plays an Alloy Golem and chooses black as its color, does a protection from black work even though it is a black artifact and not just a black creature?

Brandon Watson

A: The Alloy Golem is in all ways black, so protection from black will apply against it (meaning it can't block a creature with protection from black, and any damage it deals to a creature with protection from black will be prevented).

Again, thanks for keeping me on my toes, and keep those emails coming!!

Bill Guerin
PojoMagicJudge@hotmail.com
DCI Level 2 Judge