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Title: Preventing Blocking
Questions: 12 12.28.04
---
Q: My opponent has an
abundance of mana and declares 8.5 tails as an
attacker and then gives me priority to declare my
blockers. Can he/she turn my creatures white and
then give his/her creatures pro. white in response
to me declaring them as blockers at this stage and
therefore it will be illegal for them to block, or
are my creatures still blocking and all damage they
would deal is prevented.
-Robert H.
A: The latter answer is
correct. Once a creature is declared as a blocker,
making the block illegal won't cause the block to
become "undone." (306.2a) (You point out correctly,
however, that the protection will prevent the damage
the blocking creatures will deal.)
---
Q: First, I don't
understand what "the stack" is. Everything I read
just refers to it like I should already know. Is it
any stack of cards?
A: The stack is a place
where all spells and abilities go when they're
played before they resolve. Spells and abilities
resolve last in, first out.
(On Magic Online, the
area on the lower left hand corner of a duel window
is where the game represents the stack.)
---
Q: In Online Play I
encountered this problem with Seasoned Marshall.
While attacking, it said place it's ability on the
stack, and I just put it on the guy I wanted it to
affect. This worked, but I still have no formal
explanation of what the stack is.
A: The game is just
asking you there which creature do you want the
Seasoned Marshall's ability to affect. You told it,
and then it put the ability on the stack so your
opponent could respond before it resolved.
---
Q: Second, Are activated
abilities only pay abilities?
A: Activated abilities
are abilities on cards that have the form "[Cost]:
[Effect]."
Generally, if you don't
see a colon in the ability, it isn't an activated
ability.
---
Q: Such that, if I put
Arrest on an enemy creature will it stop only
abilities that have tap, pay mana, or both? Or will
it also stop stated abilities, like on Leonin
Abunas.
A: It will stop any
ability that has a colon in it. That means it won't
stop Leonin Abunas's ability from working, as it
doesn't have a colon.
---
Q: Third, Can blocking
creatures use their abilities to help themselves
block? An example would be Angelic Page. If it
blocks a 1/1, am I able to declare it a blocker,
then tap to make itself 2/2, then deal/receive
damage and survive?
-Paul Z.
A: Yes, that works fine.
Blocking doesn't cause creatures to tap.
(Also, if a creature has
vigilance, you can use its ability when it attacks,
too. For example, put Dragon Scales on that Angelic
Page, and attack. You can then use the Page's
ability on itself to make it a 3/4 [and have it do 3
damage].)
---
Q: With Grip of Amnesia,
if the target of the spell has no cards in his
graveyard can he remove nothing to negate the spell
or will he have his spell countered since he is
unable to meet the cards condition?
-William M.
A: The player who
controls the spell Grip of Amnesia targets still has
a graveyard. Therefore, he or she can remove all
(zero) cards in that graveyard to stop Grip of
Amnesia from countering that spell.
---
Q: With Doubling Cube:
to double the amount of mana "in your pool" you have
to pay 3 to do it. My question is "Is the mana you
paid to use the ability to double mana in your pool
also doubled."
A: No. I'll go through
your example to show how this works.
---
Q: (example) (6W) before tapping 3 mana. Then tap 3 mana and you have (3W) left so will it only double the (3W) into (6W)? Or, does the 3 mana you tapped get included in the doubling, meaning (6W), then tap (3W), and get (12W) but (3W) is tapped so only (9W) is available.
-Tim H.
A: Neither is exactly
correct, although the first is very close.
6W-3=3W. Then double
that to give you 6WW. (The white mana is also
doubled.)
Another example might
help.
You tap 6 Islands and 4
Plains to put UUUUUUWWWW into your pool. What you
choose to use for the Doubling Cube will determine
what color of mana you have left to work with:
Used for Cube:
Left after Cube: Doubled to give you:
UUU UUUWWWW UUUUUUWWWWWWWW UUW UUUUWWW UUUUUUUUWWWWWW UWW UUUUUWW UUUUUUUUUUWWWW WWW UUUUUUW UUUUUUUUUUUUWW
So you get 14 mana any
way you pay for it, but the way you pay for it
determines what colors you get back.
---
Q: If you have a card
that asks you pay half of your life, and you are at
1 life, what happens? Are you at half life?
-Jeff
A: Unless you are
playing with Unhinged cards, no. The card that asks
you to pay half your life will tell you what to do
with the fractional life.
(For example, Infernal
Contract reads, "You lose half your life, rounded
up." So you would round up the ½ to 1, and lose 1
life for Infernal Contract, putting you to 0 [and
probably killing you].)
---
Q: I have a Phantom
Nishoba and my friend took control of it. He has a
creature with Extra Arms and he attacked with the
Phantom Nishoba and did 2 damage to it with Extra
Arms. Does the Extra Arms damage remove 1 counter
from it before it attacks or after?
-Viabhav S.
A: The Extra Arms damage
will resolve before combat damage is assigned. So if
Phantom Nishoba had 5 counters on it when it
attacked, it will lose a counter to 4 counters, and
deal only 4 damage in combat.
---
Q: I have a Fireshrieker
on Raven Guild Master and it hits the opponent, does
it mill 20 cards?
-Curtis C.
A: Yes. (Well,
technically 10 cards twice, but that will usually
make no difference in the end result.)
See you Friday.
Bill Guerin
DCI Level 2 Judge |
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