Repentant Vampire + Darkest Hour & More

Q: Over the past week, we on the message boards have been debating what colour a Repentant Vampire would be if it came into play after Threshold, with a Darkest Hour on the table. 8 regulars have been debating this, but have been unable to reach a conclusion.

Some say Repentant Vampire is white because that ability was triggered later. Others say that the Darkest Hour overrides the Vampire's ability, instantaneously turning it back to black.

We await your judging wisdom.

Cheers!

Nick
aka Doctor Mackerel

A: The Vampire will be black. You apply what's on the card first, and then apply any other outside abilities (418.5c). Note that the Vampire is never white, not even for a second… it will come into play black.

"418.5e The value of a permanent's characteristic is determined by starting with the printed or token value, then applying copy effects (see rule 503, "Copying spells and abilities"), then applying continuous effects generated by type-changing abilities, then applying any power or toughness changes due to counters, and then applying all other continuous effects."

Q: If there is an Opalescence in play and a Parallax Wave was played, and the Parallax Wave removed a token to remove itself, would it bounce immediately back into play? Or would it stay removed from the game?

A: Parallax Wave was given errata before the Nemesis pre-release to read as follows:

Parallax Wave
2WW
Enchantment
Fading 5 #(This enchantment comes into play with five fade counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a fade counter from it. If you can't, sacrifice it.)#
Remove a fade counter from Parallax Wave: Remove target creature from the game if Parallax Wave is in play.
When Parallax Wave leaves play, each player returns to play all cards other than Parallax Wave he or she owns removed from the game with Parallax Wave.

So if you remove Parallax Wave using its own ability, it will stay removed from game.

Q: If Faceless Butcher is the only other creature in play, and another is cast, and then another, would the three come in and out infinitely? Is the game a draw?

A: If the 3 Faceless Butchers are the only creatures in play, then the game will be a draw. If the first Butcher had a creature removed, then the game will not be a draw, as you can break the loop by removing that creature.

Q: If I were to use a Grindstone, and the only 2 cards in my opponent's library were both Serra Avatars, what happens? The effect doesn't end. Again, would the game be a draw?

-Mark Miller

A: Yes, the game would be a draw.

Q: If you have a Sacred Ground in play, and your opponent sacs all of his permanents and plays a Balancing Act, what happens to your lands? I'm not quite sure on this because Sacred Ground would get killed by Act also.

-Bohan Li

A: The Sacred Ground will return all of your lands to play, since the Balancing Act is putting the lands into your graveyard. (410.10d)

Q: Since you sacrifice a creature as part of Malevolent Awakening's ability, does that mean that you can return that same creature to your hand? Thanks a lot.

-Justin Wu

A: No. You have to choose the target for Malevolent Awakening at the same time you sacrifice the creature, and thus, it will not be there to choose for the Malevolent Awakening.

Q; This is not really a play question, but I thought you might be able to settle a dispute. The question is, within the category of "rare" cards, are some rares more scarce than others? I'm not talking about the willingness of people to sell or trade them, I'm talking about the probability to pull a particular rare from a pack. My assumption was that all rares are printed with equal frequency, but other people have told me different. Thanks

-Tom

A: As far as has been told, all rares are printed with the same frequency. For example, if there were 1 million Meddling Mages printed, then there were 1 million Planeswalker's Mirths printed, and so on.

Q: I have a Saproling Burst in play. I remove 3 counters, making 3 4/4 saprolings. I then cast Parallel Evolution. What happens with the token copies? Are they locked P/T or does it change with fading as well? (Describe why).

-Another Pojo.com staff member

A: The token copies will change with the Saproling Burst fading as well. The copies contain the rules text of the original tokens, specifically; "This creature's power and toughness are each equal to the number of fade counters on Saproling Burst." (503.2) However, the destruction effect of the original tokens on the Saproling Burst leaving play doesn't apply to the copies. This will usually be moot, unless there is something increasing the power and toughness of the copied tokens.

-Bill Guerin
PojoMagicJudge@hotmail.com
DCI Level 2 Judge