Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Judge's Corner

Cycling Tokens

Short Answers:

-The official rules for the landcycling ability are as follows:

502.18c Landcycling is a variant of the cycling ability. The phrase "[Land type]cycling [cost]" means "[Cost], Discard this card from your hand: Search your library for a [land type] card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library." Any cards that trigger when a player cycles a card will trigger when a card's landcycling ability is played.

-300.6. Some spells and abilities can give a player extra turns. They do this by adding the turns directly after the current turn. If a player gets multiple extra turns or if both players get extra turns during a single turn, the extra turns are added one at a time. The most recently created turn will be taken first.

-Krosan Restorer: "3 target lands" means exactly that, 3 LANDS. Not 1 land 3 times, 3 LANDS.

---

Q: I have one Astral Slide out in play, and I remove my opponent's elephant token from the game with it. My friend's question is, does it come back into play? Or is it gone?

A: 216.3. A token in a zone other than the in-play zone ceases to exist. This is a state-based effect. (Note that a token changing zones will set off triggered abilities before the token ceases to exist.) Once a token has left play, it can’t be returned to play by any means.

---

Q: What are the official rules for a mulligan?

-Diewitt D.

A: At the start of the game, if you don't like your hand for whatever reason, you can shuffle your hand back into your deck and draw a new hand with one less card. You may repeat this process as many times as you wish until you are either satisfied with your hand, or have 0 cards in your hand.

This is the ONLY mulligan rule that is used at tournaments.

---

Q: Can I be killed by a Cabal Archon if Worship is in play?

-Darren N.

A: Yes. Loss of life is not damage, so Worship won't affect it.

---

Q: Player A plays Upheaval and passes. Player B lets Upheaval resolve. Can Player A float mana?

A: No. He already passed, so Upheaval resolves.

---

Q: Player A plays Upheaval. Player B plays Counterspell. Player A plays Counterspell. Can player A float mana anytime during the resolution of these spells?

A: No. Mantra 1.

However, either before or after the Counterspell has resolved (and before Upheaval resolves), Player A can float mana when he has priority.

---

Q: Player A plays Upheaval. Player B floats mana. Can Player A float mana?

A: Yes. Player B's action of floating mana breaks the consecutive pass rule (413.1), and Player A can tap for mana or play any number of spells or abilities before Upheaval resolves.

---

Q: Player A has an Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor in play with enough mana to activate the ability. Player B has a Wirewood Lodge, a Forest, and an elf creature. Assuming that player A will activate Aboshan, is there anyway player B can attack with the creature?

A: Depends on how much mana the Aboshan player has. If Player A has 6 blue mana available, then no. If he has between 3 and 5 blue mana available, then yes.

Once the elf creature is tapped, Player B can activate the Lodge to untap his creature before he declares attackers. (If Player A has 3 blue open, he can then re-tap it, making it unable to attack.)

---

Q: Player A has an Exalted Angel and Astral Slide in play. Player B attacks with a Phantom Centaur. Player A blocks with the Angel, puts damage on the stack, and cycles a card, removing the Angel. When the damage resolves, will player A gain 4 life?

-Tam N.

A: No. The Angel is not there when damage resolves, so its ability won't trigger.

---

Q: Let's say I have a Pestilence out, and I pay 5 mana to deal 5 damage to every creature and player. Now, I have a Will O'The Wisp out as well. The question is, do I have to regenerate Will O'The Wisp only once, or once for every of the 5 damage dealt?

-Dejan M.

A: Once for each damage dealt. You are not dealing 5 damage with the Pestilence, you are dealing 1 damage 5 times. So you have to regenerate 5 times.

---

Q: If I play Faceless Butcher & remove a creature that has an enchantment on it, when that creature comes back into play does it still have that enchantment?

-Jacob R.

A: No. The Butcher only removes the creature. The enchantment then sees that it isn't enchanting anything, and is put into its owner's graveyard.

---

Revisiting the following from the last column ...

>>>Q: If so, would the same hold if instead of "sacrifice" the action in question was "destroy", "remove from game", "return to owner's hand", etc.?

-Martin T.

A: I would have to see the interaction in question before I could make a definite ruling, since the rules don't clearly state anything in that generic situation.<<<

Q: Take Blood Frenzy as a concrete example for "destroy". So if Blood Frenzy effects one of my creatures and an opponent takes control of the affected creature before end of turn, must that creature be destroyed at end of turn?

A: Blood Frenzy

{1}{R}

Instant

Target attacking or blocking creature gets +4/+0 until end of turn. Destroy that creature at end of turn.

I would say yes, the creature would be destroyed at end of turn. When Blood Frenzy resolves, it sets up a delayed triggered ability that destroys the creature at end of turn. It shouldn't matter who controls it, it should be destroyed at end of turn.

---

Q: Take Barbarian Guides as a concrete example for "return to owner's hand". So if Barbarian Guides effects my creature and an opponent takes control of it before end of turn, must that creature be returned to its owner's had at end of turn?

-Martin T.

A: Barbarian Guides

{2}{R}

Creature -- Barbarian

½

{2}{R}, {T}: Target creature you control gains the snow-covered landwalk ability of your choice until end of turn. Return that creature to its owner's hand at end of turn. #(It's unblockable as long as defending player controls a snow-covered land of that type.)#

Again, a delayed triggered ability, so it will return to your hand at end of turn, no matter who controls it (assuming you control it when the Guides' ability resolves, of course).

---

Tournament Report - FNM - Diamond Bar, CA

Wake

3 Exalted Angel

2 Memory Lapse

4 Counterspell

4 Compulsion

3 Deep Analysis

3 Cunning Wish

4 Renewed Faith

4 Wrath of God

2 Mirari's Wake

3 Moment's Peace

2 Mirari

10 Island

3 Forest

3 Plains

3 Brushland

4 Krosan Verge

3 Skycloud Expanse

Sideboard:

1 Ray of Revelation

1 Ray of Distortion

2 Circular Logic

1 Chastise

2 Seedtime

1 Moment's Peace

1 Opportunity

1 Elephant Ambush

1 Flash of Insight

1 Krosan Reclamation

2 Reprisal

1 Mana Short

Round 1 - Ben H. - Beasts

Game 1 - He takes a mulligan. I get stuck on 5 land and never see a Wrath, so after a couple Moment's Peace, I am unable to stop the assault.

Sideboard: In: 2 Reprisal. Out: 2 Exalted Angel.

Game 2 - I have to burn a couple of times early, as I have to use Skycloud Expanse to give me my second blue for Counterspells. I Wrath at 4, and have the Moment's Peaces to keep him from going lethal. I bounce between 1 and 9 life for the rest of the game, but the outcome is never in doubt, as I have the combo out, and use Krosan Reclamation twice when I finally deplete my deck. I make 4 Elephants and smash into game 3.

Game 3 - I have to take a mulligan this time. He gets me down to 1 turn 4, and then I stabilize and get the combo out. The first Wish I cast, I get 2 Moment's Peaces, and start drawing cards, looking for the second Wish to go infinite. I go down to 6, and time is called. I do a lot of Compulsioning, and can't find a Wish until the last 2 cards, and all of my Moment's Peaces are removed from the game, so Ben wins the game on the turn when time was called. I flip over my last 2 cards, and see a Cunning Wish ... and a Renewed Faith? I check my sideboard, and, sure enough, there's the other Wish. Turns out I could have gone infinite much earlier =\.

Games: 1-2, Matches: 0-1

Round 2 - Mark I. - Mirror

Game 1 - We both lay down a Verge turn 1, and I call Scott over to look. He comments, "It's going to be a 1-0 match then?"

I get the Compulsion turn 2, and go through the deck much faster than Mark. We both lay an Exalted Angel early on, and they both get Wrathed away after hitting a couple of times. He then gets his Compulsion, and starts drawing cards. He has the Wake, but I have the Mirari, which is the all important factor here. I go into Krosan Reclamation mode, and then cast Mirari'd Deep Analysis and Opportunity to deck him.

Sideboard: In: 2 Seedtime, 2 Circular Logic. Out: 1 Wrath of God, 3 Moment's Peace.

Game 2 - I don't get a blue mana for the first 10 turns, and he gets the early Compulsion. I finally get the Compulsion down, along with the Mirari, but he has an Exalted Angel beating on me. He is able to counter my counters, and gets lethal board position for the draw. I extend my hand, and we draw with 3 minutes left on the clock.

Games: 2-3, Matches: 0-1-1

Game 3 - Raymond C. - R/G (not the netdeck)

Game 1 - He casts a bunch of early creatures, depleting his hand, and taps out of green mana for Kamahl on turn 4. I Wrath his team away, and have plenty of time to do what I want. A pair of Angels come in for the kill.

Sideboard: Nothing.

Game 2 - See game 1. He holds back a little bit to recover from the Wrath, but I Wrath again.

Games: 4-3, Matches: 1-1-1

Turns out Ben drew in round 2 with Chris, and Mark won. So Chris can either play Mark, or ...

Round 4 - Chris - Beasts

She just concedes to me.

Games: 6-3, Matches: 2-1-1

Round 5 - Phillip - R/B discard.

Phillip is running an original deck. It uses Megrim, Words of Waste, Impatience, and a bunch of discard and Corrupts and Soul Feasts to control the game.

Game 1 - I keep a hand with 6 land and a Compulsion. 8 turns later, after activating Compulsion a bunch of times, I've seen 23 of my land in the top half of my deck. He's able to get me down to 4, but then a Mirari'd Wish gets the 2 Rays, and I wreck his game plan, and eventually find an Angel to beat with.

Sideboard: Nothing.

Game 2 - He gets even less pressure this game. I take control early, Mirari and Ray of Revelation take out his enchantments, and Chastise takes care of a couple of attackers. All that matters then is sending in the Angel for the clean-up.

Games: 8-3, Matches: 3-1-1

Ben is also at 3-1-1 at this point, and since only 1 10 pointer can make it in to the top 4, he makes it on his better tie-breaks. So I end up 5th.

See you Thursday.

Bill Guerin

Ask Judge Bill A Question

DCI Level 2 Judge