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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Judge's Corner
One note before I get started. I am getting several questions that I have answered 5+ times. As a general rule, first, read my previous columns. I may or may not answer questions that I have answered before.
Second, if I have made a mantra for it, I won't answer any more questions for it. The three mantras we have so far are as follows:
1. "I can't play any spells or abilities while something is resolving."
2. "Increasing the power of creatures once their damage has been put on the stack won't make them do more damage."
3. "If the card doesn't say 'TARGET,' it doesn't target."
Now on to the questions…
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Q: What happens if I have a Penumbra Bobcat enchanted with my Elephant Guide, and my opponent activates his Pernicious Deed for 3, destroying both of them? Do I get the Elephant token or does it fall off the creature before?
A: You'll get the Elephant token.
410.10d Abilities that trigger on one or more permanents leaving play, or on a player losing control of a permanent, must be treated specially because the permanent with the ability may no longer be in play after the event. The game has to "look back in time" to determine what triggered. Each time an event removes from play or changes who controls one or more permanents, all the permanents in play just before the event (with continuous effects that existed at that time) are checked for trigger events that match what just left play or changed control.
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Q: What happens if a Compost is Vindicated? Is the card drawn?
A: No. The Compost will be in the graveyard by the time the Vindicate hits the graveyard.
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Q: My friend says that lands destroyed by a Steam Vines he controls are not returned by my Sacred Ground. What's the verdict?
-DRS
A: Sacred Ground
{1}{W}
Enchantment
Whenever a spell or ability an opponent controls causes a land to be put into your graveyard from play, return that land to play.
Your land will come back. Since your opponent controls the Steam Vines, he controls the triggered ability that the Steam Vines makes. Thus, Sacred Ground will trigger.
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Q: I have a red deck in which I use Patchwork Gnomes to take advantage of the madness cost of Fiery Temper and Violent Eruption. Since it won't necessarily take damage a regeneration shield is created and regeneration is a replacement effect that won't activate until it is dealt lethal damage. My question is: Can I create multiple regeneration shields?
-Brian Smith
A: Yes. They will wear off when used or when the current turn ends, whichever comes first.
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Q: Do snow-covered lands count as regular lands? For example, if I have a snow covered plains, and some one lays down a "destroy all plains" card, would the snow-covered ones go?
-Bob (from Accounting)
A: Yes.
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Q: With Coalition Victory do I need to have a creature of each color in play or can I have a 1 creature that is all 5 colors (i.e. Cromat or Atogatog)?
A: One creature that is all 5 colors will satisfy the requirement of Coalition Victory. When Coalition Victory resolves, it asks, "Do you control a <color> creature?" 5 times, putting in one of the 5 colors each time.
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Q: Say I have a Sacred Ground in play and my opponent has a Price of Glory out, if I tap 2 islands to
counterspell something on my opponents turn, the lands get destroyed. But do I get them back with Sacred Ground or not?
-Brian Kelly
A: Yes. That works especially well with something like Treasure Trove :).
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Q: My opponent has a Nantuko Monastery out (it's been out since the beginning of his turn), and he says Nantuko Monastery can attack right after he activates it, but others have said I have to give it haste? Who's right?
-Jim V.
A: It can attack right away. It would only need haste if it hasn't been out since the beginning of his turn.
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Q: I was curious about cards like Arcane Teachings and Psionic Gift.
A: Arcane Teachings
{2}{R}
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has "{T}: This creature deals 1 damage to target creature or player."
Psionic Gift
{1}{U}
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature has "{T}: This creature deals 1 damage to target creature or player."
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Q: It occurred to me that a clever player might draft such a card to somewhat gain control of an opposing players best creature and force him to tap it down and take a point every time he announces his attack phase.
-Craig Buchanan
A: Nope, sorry. Both Psionic Gift and Arcane Teachings give the creature the ability to do the damage, and since your opponent controls the creature, he's the only one who can play any abilities on it.
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Q: I have a question about Shower of Coals. If I have threshold with Shower of Coals can I target all 12 of the damage to one person or creature?
A: No.
409.1c If the spell or ability requires any targets, the player first announces how many targets he or she will choose (if the spell or ability has a variable number of targets), then announces the targets themselves. A spell or ability can't be played unless the required number of legal targets are chosen. The same target can't be chosen multiple times.
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Q: If my friend attacks with one creature and I block with two does he distribute the damage between them like deciding which of the two dies if he can only kill one? Or is there an order on the defender blocking?
-Gregone519
A: Each player will decide how the creatures they control will deal their damage. This means your opponent will decide how the attacking creature does its damage, and you will decide how the blocking creatures deal their damage (a moot point unless one blocker is blocking more than one attacker).
310.1. First the active player announces how each attacking creature will assign its combat damage. Then the defending player announces how each blocking creature will assign its combat damage. (See also rule 502.2, "First Strike.") A player may divide a creature's combat damage as he or she chooses among the legal recipients. Dividing combat damage is subject to the following restrictions:
310.1a Each attacking creature and each blocking creature will assign combat damage equal to its power.
310.1b An unblocked creature will assign all its combat damage to the defending player.
310.1c A blocked creature will assign combat damage, divided as its controller chooses, to the creatures blocking it. If no creatures are currently blocking it (if, for example, they were destroyed or removed from combat), it will assign no combat damage.
310.1d A blocking creature will assign combat damage, divided as its controller chooses (no fractions), to the attacking creatures it's blocking. If it isn't currently blocking any creatures (if, for example, they were destroyed or removed from combat), it will assign no combat damage.
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Q: Can I cast an Absorb without any legal targets to counter just to gain 3 life?
A: No. You must have a spell to target to cast Absorb.
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Q: Can I cast a Disenchant without any legal artifacts or enchantments in play, and then Absorb it to gain 3 life?
A: Again, no.
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Q: My friend and I were playing Magic the other day. He had 7 islands untapped and I had two. He had a Wind Drake in play. I didn't like it in play so I cast Boomerang on it to send it back to his hand. In response he played Power Sink and tapped all his mana to pay for it.
A: Power Sink
{X}{U}
Instant
Counter target spell unless its controller pays {X}. If he or she doesn't, that player taps all lands he or she controls and empties his or her mana pool.
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Q: What would this require me to do?
-Java86, Alex
A: This means you counter the Boomerang, tap all of your lands, and take all mana you have out of your mana pool unless you pay 6 mana.
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Q: I have a question about Faceless Butcher's coming into play ability.
A: Faceless Butcher
{2}{B}{B}
Creature -- Nightmare Horror
2/3
When Faceless Butcher comes into play, remove target creature other than Faceless Butcher from the game.
When Faceless Butcher leaves play, return the removed card to play under its owner's control.
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Q: What if there are no other creatures on the board? Since there is no legal target, would I be able to play Faceless Butcher, or would I have to wait until there is another creature in play before I could cast it?
-Joel
A: You can cast the Butcher just fine. When the Butcher comes into play, the comes into play ability will have no legal targets, and it will never go on the stack.
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Q: For casual play, is there any limit for deck size? I would rather play a 40 card deck but my friends say that the limit is 60. Is there any rule?
-korne 89
A: There are very few rules for casual play. Casual play is basically whatever the two people playing the game can agree on.
As a side note, this means I will only be able to comment on the rules I know about. If you have a house rule, play it however you can agree upon, or if you can't agree, flip a coin.
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Q: What would happen if I played Soulgorger Orgg, then Transcendence?
-Jordan Seigel
A: In that order, nothing special.
In the opposite order, however (Transcendance, then Soulgorger Orgg), you'll end up at double your previous life total, minus 1. This is because you will lose X life, where X is your current life total minus 1, and then Transcendance will trigger, gaining you 2X life.
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Q: Is it possible to play the alternate casting costs of Invigorate and Skyshroud Cutter with Forsaken Wastes in play?
-Valentine
A: Skyshroud Cutter
{3}{G}
Creature - Beast
2/2
If you control a forest, you may have each other player gain 5 life instead of paying Skyshroud Cutter's mana cost.
Invigorate
{2}{G}
Instant
If you control a forest, you may have an opponent gain 3 life rather than pay Invigorate's mana cost.
Target creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn.
Forsaken Wastes
{2}{B}
Enchant World
If a player would gain life, that player gains no life instead.
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player loses 1 life.
When Forsaken Wastes becomes the target of a spell, that spell's controller loses 5 life.
Note the slightly different wording of Forsaken Wastes. This means that yes, you can cast Skyshroud Cutter or Invigorate via their alternate casting cost, and have the opponent(s) end up gaining no life.
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Q: Say I play a Thieving Magpie and my opponent counters it with a counterspell. In response to that, could I play another instant such as Life Burst and have the counterspell target that? By my thinking, since the last instant cast resolves first, my Life Burst would be cast, then the counterspell would target the Life Burst, leaving my Thieving Magpie alone.
-jkl jkl
A: No. Once a target has been chosen, you can't just change it at whim. You'll need a spell or ability that lets you change the target of a spell (Divert, Deflection, Misdirection, Psychic Battle) to change the target of a spell.
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Q: If I have two Mogg Flunkies in play can they attack or block? I said yes since they basically satisfy each other's requirements but I've been getting some arguments.
-Caleb Wattley
A: Mogg Flunkies
{1}{R}
Creature -- Goblin
3/3
Mogg Flunkies can't attack or block alone.
Yes, 2 Mogg Flunkies can attack together. You declare them as attackers, and then they both see they're not attacking alone, so it's a legal attack.
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Q: I have an Icy Manipulator on the board. My opponent wants to attack with a creature. When he starts to tap the creature (to attack with it), or even a land (to cast a spell), can I tap it first, after knowing he's going to use said creature or land?
A: No. In the case of the creature, you'll need to tap the creature before it attacks (in the beginning of combat step). Once it is declared as an attacker, it's too late to stop it from attacking.
In the case of the land, your opponent can get the mana to cast his spell either way. If he taps it for mana and then you try to tap the land, it will do nothing, since the land has already been tapped. If you try to tap the land first, your opponent can tap the land for mana in response, and the Icy's ability will do nothing.
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Q: Aven Trooper
{3}{W}
Creature -- Bird Soldier
1/1
Flying
{2}{W}, Discard a card from your hand: Aven Trooper gets +1/+2 until end of turn.
Can I activate its ability twice (paying 4WW and discarding 2 cards) for +2/+4?
-Txdisc
A: Yes. The cost does not include tapping the creature, so you can activate it as many times as you have either mana or cards in hand.
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Q: I am at 47 life and control Test of Endurance, Dega Sanctuary, Flametongue Kavu and Putrid Imp.
A: Test of Endurance
{2}{W}{W}
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have 50 or more life, you win the game.
Dega Sanctuary
{2}{W}
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control a black or red permanent, you gain 2 life. If you control a black permanent and a red permanent, you gain 4 life instead.
Flametongue Kavu
{3}{R}
Creature -- Kavu
4/2
When Flametongue Kavu comes into play, it deals 4 damage to target creature.
Putrid Imp
{B}
Creature -- Zombie Imp
1/1
Discard a card from your hand: Putrid Imp gains flying until end of turn.
Threshold -- Putrid Imp gets +1/+1 and can't block. #(You have threshold as long as seven or more cards are in your graveyard.)#
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Q: Do I gain 4 life and win the game for having 50 or more life? Can I put the check for the Test of Endurance on the stack followed by the check for the Dega Sanctuary and thus have 51 life once the stack checks the Test?
A: No. Since you do not have 50 life at the beginning of your upkeep, Test of Endurance's win the game ability won't even go on the stack. You'll have to wait until next turn.
404.3. A triggered ability may read "When/Whenever/At . . . , if [condition], [effect]." The ability checks for the stated condition to be true when the trigger event occurs. If it is, the ability triggers and goes on the stack. On resolution, the ability rechecks the condition. If the condition isn't true at either of those times, the ability does nothing. This rule is referred to as the "intervening 'if' clause" rule. Note that the word "if" has only its normal English meaning anywhere else in the text of a card; this rule only applies to an "if" that immediately follows a trigger condition.
410.8. Triggered abilities with a condition directly following the trigger event (for example, "When/Whenever/At [trigger], if [condition], [effect]"), check for the condition to be true as part of the trigger event; if it isn't, the ability doesn't trigger. The ability checks the condition again on resolution. If it's not satisfied, the ability does nothing. Note that this mirrors the check for legal targets. Note that this rule doesn't apply to any triggered ability with a condition elsewhere within its text.
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Q: I control an Ana Sanctuary and an Urborg Drake. At the beginning of my upkeep, does the Urborg Drake get +5/+5 from the Sanctuary for being a black and a blue permanent?
A: Yes.
* If you control a single permanent that's both of the enchantment's enemy colors, you'll get the bigger effect. (Apocalypse FAQ, under "Sanctuaries")
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Q: When a Voracious Cobra blocks a phantom creature (e.g. Phantom Centaur), does the Phantom creature get destroyed by the Cobra's effect or does the phantom creature ignore the damage and removes just on of its +1/+1 counters and the deals damage to the cobra?
-Andreas Henker & Friends
A: Voracious Cobra
{2}{R}{G}
Creature -- Snake
2/2
First strike
Whenever Voracious Cobra deals combat damage to a creature, destroy that creature.
Phantom Centaur
{2}{G}{G}
Creature -- Centaur Spirit
2/0
Protection from black
Phantom Centaur comes into play with three +1/+1 counters on it.
If damage would be dealt to Phantom Centaur, prevent that damage. Remove a +1/+1 counter from Phantom Centaur.
Prevention
Effects that prevent something from happening replace it with "do nothing." (See rule 419, "Replacement and Prevention Effects.") ….
419.5. If an event is prevented or replaced, it never happens. A modified event occurs instead, which may in turn trigger abilities. Note that the modified event may contain instructions that can't be carried out, in which case the player simply ignores the impossible instruction. If a source would deal 0 damage, it does not deal damage at all. That means abilities that trigger on damage being dealt won't trigger.
So the Voracious Cobra's damage is prevented. Therefore, it didn't deal combat damage, and the Cobra's ability won't trigger.
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Q: I have a Spirit Flare card from the Judgment Spectral Slam deck. Next to the name it has a picture of what looks to be a headstone. I would like to know if it's a special card or what that picture means.
-Derek
A: The tombstone icon on the card indicates that it does something while it's in the graveyard. In the case of Spirit Flare, Spirit Flare has flashback, so you can cast it while it's in the graveyard.
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Q: What is trample?
-Patty O.
A: I'll let the rulebook explain it here…
Trample
Trample is a static ability modifying the combat damage step of the combat phase. It lets an attacking creature "trample over" blocking creatures and assign part of its combat damage to the defending player. See rule 502.9, "Trample."
502.9. Trample
502.9a Trample is a static ability that modifies the rules for assigning an attacking creature's combat damage. A creature with trample has no special abilities when blocking or dealing noncombat damage.
502.9b The controller of an attacking creature with trample first assigns damage to the creature(s) blocking it. If all those blocking creatures are assigned lethal damage, any remaining damage is assigned as its controller chooses among the blocking creatures and the defending player. When checking for assigned lethal damage, take into account damage already on the creature and damage from other creatures that is to be assigned at the same time (see rule 502.9f). The controller need not assign lethal damage to all blocking creatures but in that case can't assign any damage to the defending player.
502.9c If all the creatures blocking an attacking creature with trample are removed from combat before the combat damage step, all its damage is assigned to the defending player.
502.9d Ignore this rule.
502.9e Assigning damage from a creature with trample considers only the actual toughness of a blocking creature, not any abilities or effects that might change the final amount of damage dealt.
502.9f When there are several attacking creatures, it's legal to assign damage from those without trample so as to maximize the damage of those with trample.
Example: A 2/2 creature with an ability that enables it to block multiple attackers blocks two attackers: a 1/1 with no special abilities a 3/3 with trample. The active player could assign 1 damage from the first attacker and 1 damage from the second to the blocking creature and 2 damage to the defending player from the creature with trample.
502.9g Multiple instances of trample on the same creature are redundant.
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Q: Let's say it's my turn and I have out a Warped Devotion and a Megrim, and my opponent has out 10 permanents. I play an Upheaval and none of us have anything to add to the stack. When Upheaval resolves will my opponent take 20 damage?
-davidwestnedge
A: Warped Devotion will trigger 10 times for your opponent (and a number of times equal to the number of permanents you controlled for you).
Unfortunately, Megrim won't be in play when the cards are discarded, so it won't trigger, and your opponent won't take any damage.
A response from Rune Horvik, on how Upheaval and Warped Devotion interact (from the judges' list, 5 June):
Leaves-play triggers (cards returning to hand leaves the in-play zone) look back in time to see the game as it stands right before to see what happens (410.10c, d). Warped Devotion will trigger for all permanents returned, including itself and any tokens. When Upheaval finishes resolving, the triggers goes on the stack, active player's triggers go on the stack first, then non-active player's. Responses can me made between each resolution as usual.
And to clarify - all triggered abilities are controlled by whomever controls the permanent that generated it, so the controller of the Warped Devotion gets to order the triggers from _it_ in the order he or she chooses.
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Q: Can you get a dual land, such as Volcanic Island, using Thawing Glacers?
-Ben Clark
A: Thawing Glaciers
Land
Thawing Glaciers comes into play tapped.
{1}, {T}: Search your library for a basic land card and put that card into play tapped. Then shuffle your library. If it's the end phase, return Thawing Glaciers to its owner's hand. Otherwise, return Thawing Glaciers to its owner's hand at end of turn.
Dual lands are not basic lands, so you can't get them with a Thawing Glaciers. There are only 10 basic lands, and they are, by name, Plains, Swamp, Forest, Mountain, Island, and the 5 snow covered lands of the same name (Snow-Covered Plains, etc.)
Even though (taking your example) Volcanic Island "is an island and a mountain," it is not named Island or Mountain, so it is not a basic land.
Basic Land
There are five basic land types: plains, island, swamp, mountain, and forest. Any land whose name is one of these five types is a basic land. Every basic land has an intrinsic mana ability. (See rule 214.9, "Lands.") Snow-covered lands are still basic lands. For example, Snow-Covered Plains is considered a plains.
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Q: On Volrath's Curse, it says at the bottom pay {1}{U} to return Volrath's Curse to owner's hand. Is this only playable by the owner of Volrath's Curse or can anyone play it? Is the same true with other cards?
-Jesse
A: Only the controller of a card can play any abilities on the card (unless the card says otherwise). So only the owner of the Volrath's Curse can play that ability.
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Clarifications:
Q: You stated in an earlier post that:
"Regenerate [permanent]" means "The next time [permanent] would be destroyed this turn, instead remove all damage from it, tap it, and (if it's in combat) remove it from combat."
Does this mean that if Restless Dead blocked a Kris Mage and used regenerate, the Kris Mage still lives since the Restless Dead was removed from combat? Was Kris Mage still blocked since Restless Dead was removed from combat because of regenerate?
-Raymond Ma
A: The Kris Mage will die, since the Restless Dead doesn't regenerate until the damage is dealt.
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Q: I just read your Mist of Stagnation review and I can't believe that you would think that Mist of Stagnation would make you untap your opponent's permanents. It doesn't say on the card to do it. I'm sure that if that's the way Wizards meant it, they would've put a clause on it. Otherwise, who would think of it?
-Nick Halgren
A: From the Judgment FAQ:
Mist of Stagnation
{3}{U}{U}
Enchantment
Permanents don't untap during their controllers' untap steps.
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player untaps a permanent for each card in his or her graveyard.
* You can untap any permanents, not just ones that you control. And you must untap as many permanents as you can. So, if the cards in your graveyard outnumber the permanents you control, you must untap some of your opponent's permanents. You choose which ones to untap.
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>>>Q: I have Morphling in play, my opponent casts Swords to Plowshares and directs it towards the Morphling. I use Morphling's ability to make it "can't be the target of spells or abilities." Does the Swords of Plowshares fizzle and the Morphling survive?
-Travis
A: The Swords to Plowshares, seeing that its target is illegal, is countered on resolution. (Fizzle is the old word to describe this situation. I may use it from time to time, but on this point, I usually prefer to use the correct game term, as it does matter with at least one card - Multani's Presence.)<<<
Q: After reading that example, I wondered the following: If that is the correct wording how would that same scenario affect Urza's Rage. If it would be countered on resolution. Does the "Cannot be countered" only count for casting. Could you please cite the rule that talks specifically to this?
A: Urza's Rage
{2}{R}
Instant
Kicker {8}{R} #(You may pay an additional #{8}{R}# as you play this spell.)#
Urza's Rage can't be countered by spells or abilities.
Urza's Rage deals 3 damage to target creature or player. If you paid the kicker cost, instead Urza's Rage deals 10 damage to that creature or player and the damage can't be prevented.
Note that it doesn't say "Urza's Rage can't be countered." It says, "Urza's Rage can't be countered _by spells or abilities._" I've countered several Urza's Rages by making the target illegal (by giving the creature protection from red). This makes Urza's Rage be countered by a game rule.
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Q: For Skullscorch, if the targeted opponent has less than 2 cards in hand do they automatically take the 2 damage?
-Michael Hardy
A: No. From the Torment FAQ:
Skullscorch
RR
Sorcery
Target player discards two cards at random from his or her hand unless that player has Skullscorch deal 4 damage to him or her.
* If you have less than two cards in your hand, you can still choose not to take the damage. Skullscorch will try to make you discard two cards and you'll have to discard as many cards as you have.
-Bill Guerin
PojoMagicJudge@hotmail.com
DCI Level 2 Judge
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