Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Judge's Corner - with Bill Guerin

Q: I was observing a match today between my friends. Player A was playing mono black, had a Shambling Swarm in play. Player B had a Nantuko Blightcutter (with Threshold) effectively making it a 3/3 creature. Player A attacked with the Shambling Swarm, and player B decided to block with the Blightcutter thus killing it. Player A said that when the Swarm was destroyed, he could distribute the 3 -1/-1 counters on the Blightcutter thus killing it, arguing that the tokens were a colourless source. I said that the tokens come from a black source (the Swarm) and that he was targeting the Blightcutter (which had Protection from Black). Who is correct?

-Kian Chong

A: You are. It's the ability of the Shambling Swarm putting the tokens on the creatures, and (unless the Swarm's color had been changed prior to it dying) since the Swarm was black before it died, it can't target the Blightcutter for the tokens.

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Q: I have a question about a game my brother and I played. I had played a Goblin Legionnaire. A few turns later my brother had played a False Demise on it. My turn after that I played a Squee's Embrace on it. He played Reins of power and took control of it and then skull catapulted it at me. We couldn't figure out where it would go next, (my hand or his control), so we just ended up flipping a coin. Where would it have gone? 

-Dbzdolphin

A: Depends on whose turn it was. If it was your turn, you, if it was his turn, him. 

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Q: Ok, say my opponent plays a Plague Wind and I have only one creature in play. Is it possible to use Divert since the Plague Wind targets, in essence, only one permanent and destroy my opponent's creatures? More generally, can a spell with multiple targets in its text, but only one possible (note: possible, not legal) target in the game be diverted by Divert?

-Dimitris Tsementzis jr.

A: Plague Wind can't be Diverted, since it does not use the word "target." Only spells that use the word "target" target things.

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Q: Can I use Fountain Watch to protect my Ivory Mask, or does Ivory Mask's ability negate the Fountain Watch's ability? Because Ivory Mask has the ability you can't be the target of spells or abilities, so does Fountain Watch's ability work?

A: Fountain Watch will protect your Ivory Mask just fine. See above.

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Q: I had a spiritual asylum out so my lands cant be the target of spells or abilities. My opponent played Armageddon. Does that affect my land?

A: No. See above.

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Q: In another game I had a megrim out and played mind burst, which cause him to discard. As he discarded he played his card for madness. Does he still have to take the 2 life away for the megrim being that he had to discard to play the madness?

Wgw106

A: Yes. Explained in a previous column.

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Q: I have a Morphling out with plenty of blue mana available. My opponent has a Preacher. My opponent taps the preacher to steal my only creature (Morphling). I tap a blue mana and make Morphling untargetable. My opponent tells me he still gains control because the Preacher doesn't target. But I have to target a creature. I tell him if I should target the Morphling it still can't be targeted. Can my opponent take control over the Morphling with his Preacher when the Morphling cannot be target of spells or abilities?

-Marianne Bak

A: Preacher
{1}{W}{W}
Creature -- Preacher
1/1
You may choose not to untap Preacher during your untap step.
{T}: Gain control of target creature of an opponent's choice that he or she controls as long as Preacher remains tapped.

Interesting … Preacher has you choose the target creature. It does use the word target, so it won't be able to take an untargetable Morphling.

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Q: Hi!! I have a question. When a card says "All creatures able to block _______ do so". Does that mean that all of my opponents have to block the creature I attack with?

-Claudio Mueri

A: unless there is an effect that prevents an untapped creature from blocking that creature (Dueling Grounds, for example), all of your opponent's untapped creatures must block that creature.

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Q: If I have a Yawgmoth's Agenda in play and a Cabal Coffers in my graveyard, can I play the Coffers or is Yawgmoth's Agenda's ability restricted to "spell" cards only?

A: 401.1. A spell is a card on the stack.

So you can get mana from the Coffers and play a spell just fine. 

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Q: If I have an Agenda in play and my opponent makes me discard my Legacy Weapon, does my Legacy Weapon get removed from the game?

-Tom Kok

A: 419.8a If two or more replacement or prevention effects are attempting to modify the way an event affects a permanent or player, the affected permanent's controller or the affected player chooses one to apply to that permanent or player. Then the other applies if it is still appropriate. If one or more of the applicable replacement effects is a "self-replacement effect" (see rule 419.6d), that effect is applied before any other replacement effects.

The Weapon is a self-replacement effect, so it will be shuffled in, and then the Agenda won't be able to remove it from the game.

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Q: A few questions about Putrefaction:

1) What if someone cannot discard a card when playing a white spell (if the spell is the only care they have in their hand), can they still play the spell in question? Or does Putrefaction add an additional cost of "discard a card" to play spells?

A: They will be able to play the spell just fine. They play the spell, then Putrefaction triggers. Once the Putrefaction ability resolves, they discard a card if they have one in their hand.

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Q: I'm also curious if the effects of Putrefaction stack. 2 makes the person discard 2 cards, 3, 3 cards, etc.

-Chris

A: Multiple Putrefactions are cumulative, yes.

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Q: Hello, I was wondering if you can tap Winter Orb to turn of its abilities or do you need a Voltaic Key to do it? 

-Rpgraccoon

A: You can't just tap a card just because you feel like it. You will need an effect such as Touchstone's to tap the Winter Orb.

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Q: Friend #1 enchants friend #2's Wild Mongrel with a Shade's Form. Can friend #1 pump the Mongrel using Shade's Form's first ability? I don't think it can because the enchantment says "enchanted creature has:…." If the enchantment gives the creature the ability, shouldn't the owner of the creature be the only one allowed to pump it? 

-fire rodan

A: Shade's Form
{1}{B}{B}
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature has "{B}: This creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn."
When enchanted creature is put into a graveyard, return that creature to play under your control.

So only the controller of the creature will be able to pump it, since it grants the creature an ability.

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Q: What happens if you say, cast an Alexi's Cloak on a Coalition Honor Guard? Would any creature targeting spell they cast be countered due to no legal targets, assuming that either Coalition Honor Guard is the only Flagbearer in play or that any other Flagbearers in play were equally untargetable? 

-sockopath

A: If you make a flagbearer untargetable, then since your opponent can't target it, he'll be able to target whatever he wants.

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Q: Regeneration abilities can only be paid once they die and not when they're already in a graveyard right?

-gregone519

A: Unless the card states otherwise, abilities of cards can only be played when they are in the in-play zone. So you can't play an ability of a card in a graveyard that regenerates that card.

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Q: How exactly does the combo between Worldgorger Dragon and Animate Dead work? I read the article on Brainburst explaining it, but I still don't understand. If you tap a land, then it gets removed from the game, then comes back into play, does it come back into play tapped?

-Ryan 

A: The land comes back into play untapped. So when the lands come back into play, you tap them for mana before they get removed again.

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A couple of other things here before I leave. Rob Lawing wrote in to me concerning an answer in my last column, bringing up the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). I still need time to do a bit of research on the judge's list, so I'm holding that until (hopefully) my next column.

Secondly, I'm about to head off to play Type 1.5. Every Sunday afternoon (excluding holidays), Otherworld Comics in Placentia holds a 1.5 tournament. Registration at 1pm, starting at about 1:30. $5 entry fee, Packs to top 3 players, based on attendance. 3-4 rounds of Swiss, with a cut to top 4, rounds also dependant on attendance.

Otherworld Comics
1876 N. Placentia Ave.
Placentia, CA 92870-2303
(714) 985-0661

Use Mapquest for directions, or feel free to email me for more info.

-Bill Guerin 
PojoMagicJudge@hotmail.com  
DCI Level 2 Judge