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Pojo's MTG |
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Judge Bill's Magic The Gathering Rulings
Title: Playing Dead
Creatures
Questions: 10 3.11.05
---
I'm going to start my
column by first reminding people to use the search
box on
my column page. It's a lot handier than having
to wait for a response by me.
Second, a couple of
pairs of questions, answered together:
---
Q: If someone has March
of the Machines in play, can I use any artifact land
in my hand and use the mana when it comes into play
before it dies?
-Omar S.
A: No. It will come into
play as a 0/0 creature, and will immediately die
before you can tap it for mana.
---
Q: Night of Souls'
Betrayal means that a creature of (printed)
toughness of 1 will die as a state based effect when
it comes into play. However in the case of Eternal
Witness will the player be able to get a card back
as it did (briefly) enter play, or does the ability
only go on the stack when a player has priority
which is after the State base effect has killed the
Witness?
-Gruff
A: Witness comes into
play. We have a state based effect, and a triggered
ability to deal with. The game tells us to deal with
state based effects first, so we put the Witness
into the graveyard. Then we put the Witness's
triggered ability on the stack. Then we give the
active player priority.
A little bit later, the
Witness's ability resolves, and you return the
chosen card.
(Since State Based
Effects take effect before we put triggers on the
stack, this means you could actually return that
same Eternal Witness to your hand with its own
triggered ability.)
---
Q: I have a creature
with double strike and it is a 2/2. I attack with it
and my opponent does not block it or prevent damage.
Does it deal 4 damage to the player?
-Roger M.
A: Yes. Double Strikers
deal damage in both the first strike and regular
combat damage steps. So the creature would deal 2
damage twice, for a total of 4 damage.
---
Q: If a Rockshard
Elemental (4/3 Double Strike) attacks and is blocked
by a 4/3 first striker, what exactly would happen?
-krispf
A: In the first strike
damage step, each creature would deal 4 damage to
the other, and both would die.
---
Q: Last FNM I
participated in, I was facing my B/G control deck
against a U/G control player. While I had Horobi in
play, he threw down Kira, Great-Glass Spinner. In
response to this, I chuckled to myself, and cast an
Echoing Decay at it, saying that Kira would be
instantly destroyed due to Horobi's ability.
He attested that Kira's
counter ability prevented Horobi's ability from
actually killing it.
As we were running out
of time in the round, and the judge was busy with
another pair of players, we opted to simply go with
Kira dying, as the point would be moot. (Either she
counters Echoing Decay, in which case, she still
became a target and Horobi kills her, or vice
versa).
However, I'd like some
clarity on the situation, in case it should ever
arise again, and I'm using something that won't
directly kill Kira (or the other Glass cards),
without Horobi's ability. (The legendary Champions
lands, for example.)
Reading Horobi's and
Kira's abilities, they both sound to me as if
they're static abilities that don't go on the stack.
If this is the case, I assume that I was originally
correct - the targeting of Kira instantly destroys
her, as she must become a target for the spell to be
countered.
Can you shed a little
light on this situation?
-Sean M.
A: You're almost right -
both creatures abilities are triggered abilities,
though (see the use of the word "Whenever" on both
cards). Horobi's ability only cares that a spell or
ability is played and targets - it doesn't actually
care that the spell or ability actually resolves.
(And the spell or ability will never resolve, as it
will be countered by a lack of legal targets. This
is because Horobi's triggered ability will go on the
stack on top of the original spell, and will resolve
before the original spell.)
Let's go through 2
examples, to make it clearer.
1) The example in
question: attempting to Echoing Decay Kira.
a) You play Echoing
Decay, targeting Kira.
This results in 2
trigger's - Horobi's "destroy that creature"
trigger, and Kira's "counter that spell" ability.
Since your opponent is the active player,
b) We put Kira's ability
on the stack first,
c) then Horobi's ability.
Assuming nothing else is
played, we resolve the stack in reverse order:
c) Horobi destroys Kira.
b) Then Kira counters the Echoing Decay.
(If it was your turn,
you can just reverse b and c above, but you will get
the same result - a countered Echoing Decay, and a
dead Kira.)
2) Example 2, where I
slip you a Shizo, Death’s Storehouse.
a) You play Shizo,
Death’s Storehouse's ability, targeting Kira.
b) We put Kira's ability on the stack first (to counter that ability), c) then Horobi's ability (destroying Kira).
Assuming nothing else is
played, we resolve the stack in reverse order:
c) Horobi destroys Kira.
b) Then Kira counters the ability of the land.
(Again, if it was your
turn, you reverse b and c, but still have a dead
Kira and a countered ability.)
---
Q: Angelic Page, Copper
Myr and other cards have an ability that makes them
tap. My question is: can I attack and trigger this
abilities at the same time or should I choose to use
one or the other (attack or use the ability)?
A: Attacking requires
the creature to be untapped. See
Mantra 1 as to playing abilities while declaring
attackers. (Declaring Attackers isn't strictly an
ability per se, but it still follows the rules of
Mantra 1.)
As a part of declaring
attackers, you tap the attacking creatures.
---
Q: When a land says: "it comes into play tapped", do I lose 1 life point in my next upkeep, or it just means I can't use it this turn to produce mana? -Fabiano S.
A: Mana burn only occurs
when you actively play the ability generating mana.
So since you didn't play the ability, you won't get
mana, and thus won't suffer mana burn.
---
Q: On the new banned and
restricted list it does not mention that Skullclamp
is banned, is it still banned though?
-I444
A: The banned and
restricted list announcements are always a list of
changes. Since you saw nothing regarding Skullclamp
(save for Singleton online), there was no change as
to Skullclamp's status.
Therefore, Skullclamp is
still banned in Standard, Extended, and Mirrodin
Block Constructed tournaments (both paper and
online), as well as Prismatic, Tribal, and now
Singleton online.
---
Q: To preface this
question, I am playing with a reanimator deck. I
put a Plated Slagwurm into my graveyard and I wish
to bring it into play with either Reanimate, Exhume,
or Animate Dead. My question is, because Plated
Slagwurm has the wording "can't be the target of
spells or abilities," can any of those three cards
successfully bring him back into play and keep him
there? I'm not sure if the Slagwurm can be targeted
while it's in the graveyard, or whether it's ability
only kicks in when it resolves. Thank you for your
time.
-Adam S.
A: Generally, abilities
function only while the permanent with the ability
is in play. (402.8. That section lists the
exceptions, but this situation does not fit any of
those exceptions.)
So you can target the
Slagwurm in your graveyard.
---
Q: Can you counter a
card that is indestructible like Darksteel Colossus?
-Vanguard
A: Yes. Countering a
card does not destroy it. (You can tell if something
would destroy a card if is uses the word "destroy"
(or it gives the card lethal damage, in the card of
a creature).)
See you next time.
Bill Guerin
DCI Level 2 Judge |
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