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Dueling Unbounded Armies To start off with, it sounds like some of you are still confused about Equipment. First, go back and read last Monday's column, where I went through some of the basics. Second, if you are still needing help, I wrote an article for ShuffleAndCutGames.com's strategy site, that you can go and read as soon as they post it. Now, on to today's column ... Q: I control a Rotlung Reanimator, a Nantuko Husk, a random other creature, and Conspiracy, selecting cleric for the creature type Conspiracy affects, so that my Reanimator can make an unlimited pump for the Nantuko Husk. I put a Rancor or similar enchantment on the Husk to give it trample. My opponent has the Intruder Alarm/Voice of the Woods combo giving him a limitless number of 7/7 creature tokens. I attack him with the Husk. I am not sure who would emerge victorious from the combat, since while he can block me with the unlimited 7/7s he can only block with the tokens created before the assignment of blockers, while I can pump my Husk after blockers are declared, but before damage hits the stack. Does this mean that the Husk would win? A: Yes. In this situation, you and the Husk would win. --- Q: If I play a goblin which does not trigger any comes into play abilities, I gets priority after the goblin resolves, which allows me to play a Goblin Grenade (with the sacrifice of the freshly cast goblin as a cost). I could not find any rule allowing for responding to a creature when no "comes into play" triggered ability goes on the stack. Is there any time during which my opponent can play a spell or ability to kill the goblin (not Counterspell it) when the active player plays a goblin followed by a Goblin Grenade? -Eric L. A: No. When the goblin resolves, you have priority, and can sacrifice the goblin that just came into play to play Goblin Grenade. Unless you pass priority, there is no time your opponent can get rid of the goblin before you Grenade it at him. --- Q: Say I have multiple Squirrel Nests on one land, when I tap to produce my 1/1 squirrel, do all of the Nests trigger or only one? A: Only one. Each Nest sets up a separate ability, with separate costs. You can only pay the cost for one Nest, so you only get one Squirrel. --- Q: With Equipment, what happens if I Control Magic a beast and also equip it, then my opponent Disenchants my Control Magic? Does the equipment fall off? -Jacob R. A: No. See either last Monday's column or my new article on ShuffleAndCutGames.com's strategy site. --- Q: When you put Defense Grid into play, is the additional 3 colorless mana just for your opponent(s) or is it for you as well. -Guy A: It is for everybody, since it doesn't indicate otherwise. --- Q: Does Exalted Angel's ability cause myself to gain life when it delivers combat damage? A: If it is your Exalted Angel, yes. --- Q: How does Clone when it's copies a creature with Amplify? Does it copy whichever creature it's copying's power and toughness in addition to every else printed on the card? For example, Clone copies Kilnmouth Dragon which has 6 +1/+1 counters on it. Does Clone have only 6 +1/+1 counters on it or does it have the potential to become even larger in size compared to Kilnmouth Dragon? -Kevin M. A: From the Legions FAQ: * If you play Clone and choose for it to copy a creature with amplify, you get to reveal cards and get +1/+1 counters. So in your example, you will reveal a new set of dragons as the Clone Dragon comes into play, and the Clone Dragon will get 3 +1/+1 counters for each dragon you revealed for the Clone Dragon. It will not have any counters from copying the Kilnmouth. --- Q: A related question to this would be that since the card says he has to put tokens into play for all of his creatures, could he truly have an unlimited number? I am not sure if this interpretation of the card is too literal, but I think my opponent would be hard pressed to find an infinite number of objects to use, because, well, there aren't that many things in the universe. -Silvia D. A: You are being too literal :). How I would fix the problem of needing an arbitrarily large number of tokens would be to use just one or two tokens, along with a scrap of paper on each, telling how many tokens that one token represents. (You would use two tokens if one set attacked and was tapped, while another set stayed back to block.) --- Q: My friend and I are playing and he has out Ivy Elemental. When he had summoned it he payed an additional 6 mana so it is now a 6/6. Later, he plays Rush of Knowledge. He claims that because he payed a total of 7 mana for the Elemental, its converted mana cost is 7 and he can draw 7 cards. I express my doubt but let it slide because its just a friendly game, but for future reference, how do you determine the converted mana cost of a creature when there is an X in the casting cost? -Chris D. A: The converted mana cost of the Ivy Elemental, once it is on the table, is 1. If a card has X in its mana cost, X is 0 anywhere but on the stack. So assuming the Ivy Elemental was your friend's only non-land permanent, he would draw 1 card for Rush of Knowledge. --- Q: I am being attacked by two Raging Goblin and three Reckless Ones (with no other goblins on the table), making the Reckless Ones 5/5s. In response to being attacked, I Starstorm for 3. The two Raging Goblin die, and the Reckless Ones become 3/3s. I argue that the Reckless Ones are now destroyed because they have received lethal damage this turn. My opponent argues that the Reckless Ones were 5/5s when the Starstorm hit, and are thus 3/3s but not destroyed. Which one of us is right? -Goods A: You are. The game constantly checks for state-based effects. So when the Raging Goblins die, the Reckless Ones become 3/3. Then, the game notices that the Reckless Ones have damage equal to their toughness, so they are then destroyed. --- Q: If you have a Bomb Squad out and say your opponents has 4 creatures with fuse counters on it and Bomb Squad dies, do the fuse counters continue to add at the beginning of your upkeep or do the creatures just stay with fuse counters? Does the player still take 4 damage, or none? -Emily A: Since the Bomb Squad is gone, its abilities no longer affect the game. So the creatures no longer continue to gain fuse counters, and nobody takes damage for a creature having too many fuse counters. --- Q: Does Isochron Scepter's ability count for storm? A: Yes, the copy is played, so it counts toward storm. If you Imprint a spell with Storm (for example, Brain Freeze), the Storm will trigger on the copy, since you are playing the copy. --- Q: How about Forgotten Ancient? A: Yes, the copy is played, so Forgotten Ancient will get a counter. --- Q: Do I get to choose either spell to play if I imprint Fire/Ice? -Dr. Dippy A: Yes. --- Q: I have a Lightning Greaves in play, and I cast an Atog. My opponent doesn't respond, so I equip the Atog with the Lightning Greaves, making it untargetable and giving it haste. I attack with the hastened Atog, and sacrifice the Lightning Greaves to make it bigger. What happens? I know that it now becomes targetable. Does it also lose haste? If so, how should my opponent and I deal with the situation, since it's already attacking, but technically is no longer a legal attacker? -Robbie O. A: The Atog will still be attacking and deal damage. Once a creature has been declared as an attacker, the only things that will remove it from combat are regenerating it (not just putting a regeneration shield on it, but actually using the regeneration shield), or removing it from play. --- Q: I'm confused about the card Faerie Dragon. It has the ability, "1GG: Play a random effect." How exactly do I play a random effect? A: You don't. That was a card especially designed for the Microprose game. It is unplayable outside of that game. --- Q: As long as we're on the subject, Grip of Chaos says to choose a random target. Is there any official way to randomly select a target, or is it just whatever I come up with? -BMoor A: From the Scourge FAQ: * Reselecting a target at random can be tricky. The simplest fair way to do it is to find a die with at least as many sides as the number of legal targets. Give each potential target a different number, and roll the die to choose the new target. Reroll any number that's higher than the number of legal targets. (Don't start counting again at the beginning or the selection will be biased toward the lower-numbered targets.) --- Tournament Report - FNM - Diamond Bar, CA "The Red Army" by: Zvi Mowshowitz, played at GP Atlanta 2 City of Brass 2 Swamp 11 Mountain 4 Bloodstained Mire 4 Shadowblood Ridge 1 Goblin Grappler 4 Goblin Sledder 4 Skirk Prospector 2 Sparksmith 4 Goblin Piledriver 4 Goblin Warchief 4 Goblin Sharpshooter 4 Siege-Gang Commander 4 Gempalm Incinerator 2 Cabal Therapy 4 Burning Wish Sideboard: 3 Patriarch's Bidding 1 Chainer's Edict 1 Decompose 1 Firebolt 2 Hammer of Bogardan 1 Tendrils of Agony 2 Cabal Therapy 1 Sparksmith 3 Flaring Pain We get 27 people, so it is 5 rounds. Round 1 - Greg H. - Mono-Black Game 1 - He plays a face up Skinthinner turn 2, but one hit from that is the extent of the damage he causes me. Sharpshooter clears his side of the board. I draw Piledriver turn 5, and with a Warchief on the board and Siege-Gang in hand, I do 24 damage. Meanwhile, he is still stuck on 2 land. Sideboard: Nothing. Game 2 - He mana floods this time, and I get down a pair of Sharpshooters. I eventually attack for 23. Games: 2-0, Matches: 1-0. Round 2 - Sugrim R. - LD Game 1 - I manage to keep it close at the start, as he has mana problems. I miss with a Cabal Therapy, but see Earth Rift, 2 Bane of the Living, and a Braids. He chooses to Earth Rift me the next turn, and I flashback the Therapy. For some reason though, I name Bane. Braids then proceeds to wreck me. Sideboard: Nothing. Game 2 - He Wishes for Pyroclasm turn 2, but I Wish for Therapy and strip it out of his hand. He has no removal, so he dies in short order. Game 3 - I take a mulligan, and keep the 6 card hand. I don't have enough early pressure, and he plays a face down Bane and wrecks my team the next turn. I can't recover. Games: 3-2, Matches: 1-1 Round 3 - Raul - U/B Wizards Game 1 - I manage to keep his side of the board clear, and that's enough, as I attack in one point increments until I fetch a Hammer out of my sideboard and kill him. Sideboard: Out: Goblin Grappler. In: 1 Patriarch's Bidding. Game 2 - I get my second turn Warchief (through a Prospector) countered, and he gets down a Puppeteer and puts a Pemmin's Aura on it. I scoop. Game 3 - I get a Sharpshooter down, and he taps out to play something. That gives me the opportunity to play a Siege-Gang, and I ride those tokens to victory. Games: 5-3, Matches: 2-1 Round 4 - Matt S. - White Weenie Game 1 - I get out 2 Warchiefs, followed by 3 Sharpshooters. I also have a Sparksmith to deal with his Aven Brigadiers. Sideboard: Nothing. Game 2 - He gets out Mobilization, then Aurification (??). I have to hold back due to a Catapult Squad until I can off it, so I drop to 12, and then Sparksmith takes me down to 7. I launch a lethal attack (including a huge Piledriver), he makes a couple of tokens and then rushes to block. I back him up to after the tokens are made and after the Piledriver has his bonus, then I sac Skirk Prospector to untap my Sharpshooter and off the soldiers before they can block. Games: 7-3, Matches: 3-1 Before this round started, we have 1 4-0, and 8 3-1's (including myself). If the 3-1's that are playing up and down both lose, that will leave us with a top 4, otherwise, it's a top 8. (As a reminder of what I'm talking about, we have a flexible cut system after the Swiss. Basically the cut is the smallest power of 2 that will allow all X-1's to make it.) Round 5 - Vincent L. - Slide Game 1 - I win the roll, and get a quick start with turn 2 Warchief, and I cross my fingers with turn 4 Siege-Gang. He doesn't have the Wrath, playing a face down Angel instead. I cycle a Gempalm, and attack for the win. Sideboard: Nothing. Game 2 - I have an early Wish, but not the double black for a Bidding, so I sit on it. He gets out the early Rift, but runs out of cycling cards. I play a Siege-Gang, he Wraths and I throw 3 tokens at him. I then Wish for a Hammer, and draw another Wish. I Hammer him to 3, and go get the other Hammer from my board. I'm at 4, but he doesn't draw a cycling card for his 2 Rifts, and I win the match. Games: 9-3, Matches: 4-1 The 4-0 beats the 3-1 he's playing, but the 3-1 playing down wins, so we have to cut to a top 8. We call the top 8 to the front, but one player (Sugrim, the 6th seed) has gone home. So we call for the 9th place player, and he's not here either. The 10th place person (Aaron P.) is here, so he becomes the 8th seed. Unfortunately, I'm the 4th seed, and the 5th seed, also on 12 points, is ... Top 8 - Sam L. - Sligh Game 1 - He takes control, and then I make the decision that (a) I'm way too tired to even bother playing any more (I had like 12 hours total sleep over the past 3 days, and ended up sleeping 15 hours that night), and (b) I don't really care to play our probable 2nd round opponent (the undefeated guy), I just scoop the match. Games: 9-5, Matches: 4-2 See you Friday. Bill Guerin DCI Level 2 Judge
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