Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Judge's Corner

Noxious Bidding

To start out, I'd like to borrow a "Short Answer" (from NetRep Reply 708) from Jeff Jordan, the MTG-L NetRep, that seems to come up quite often in this column. If I ever make a mantra about this, this will almost certainly be the wording ...

** Once a spell or ability is played, it cannot be undone. You cannot "stop" it from having been played by doing anything to either the source of the ability, to the spell card in whatever zone it was played from, or to the land used to get mana to pay its costs.

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Q: If player A plays Patriarch's Bidding naming Zombies and there are 2 Noxious Ghouls in his graveyard, do all non-zombie creatures get -2/-2; one comes into play, giving -1/-1, then another for an additional -1/-1 or -4/-4; each Ghoul 'sees' the other coming into play at the same time (-2/-2 and -2/-2)?

A: The creatures in play will get -4/-4 total. Each Noxious Ghoul will trigger the ability of both Ghouls.

410.10a Comes-into-play abilities trigger when a permanent enters the in-play zone. These are written, “When [this card] comes into play, . . . “ or “Whenever a [type] comes into play, . . .” Each time an event puts one or more permanents into play, all permanents in play (including the newcomers) are checked for any comes-into-play triggers that match the event.

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Q: Also, if player B names soldiers, will his soldiers come into play in time to get any -1/-1's or will they come into play after the Ghouls?

-Ari C.

A: They come into play at the same time, and will get -4/-4.

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Q: I want to return all my Forests to my hand using a Quirion Ranger. Can I activate the cost, place the ability on the stack, then in response activate the cost again and again thus returning all of my Forests to my hand but fizzling the rest of the abilities due to the "once each turn" clause on Quirion Ranger?

-Takanu S.

A: "Play this ability only once each turn" means exactly that. Once you've played the ability this turn, you can't play it any more.

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Q: I have Karona, False God on the board, if I play Yavimaya's Embrace on her, am I able to keep her instead of giving her to my opponent?

-Wish

A: No. The exchange of control of Karona during the next person's upkeep will have a later timestamp than the Embrace, so the next player will take control of Karona.

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Q: If I have an active Nevinyyral's Disk and Feldon's Cane in play. Is there any way to activate the disk and cane in order to put all the cards destroyed by the Disk back into my library (minus the Cane)?

A: No.

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Q: I use Mishra's Helix to tap my opponents lands during my turn, he taps for blue mana to prep for a Counterspell. Can I declare an "attack phase" to split my main phase up, empty his pool, and still be able to play artifacts this turn?

-Glen

A: Yes. (Your wording is a little off - you have 2 main phases, separated by the attack phase, not one main phase split up - but you have the idea.)

See you Monday.

Bill Guerin

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DCI Level 2 Judge