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August 5, 2004
Title: Cards of the Week
Questions: 8 + COTD explanations
---
First, the
Cards of the
Day for the rest of the week. Consider this a sneak
preview, but since these cards have some rules
issues, I've been asked to go through them.
---
Tuesday - Suq'Ata Lancer
Flanking is the second
most asked about ability (banding being the first),
and it is actually rather simple. Flanking only has
to do with combat.
If you attack with a
creature that has flanking, and it is blocked, you
look at the blocking creature. If the blocking
creature does not have flanking, it gets -1/-1 for
each instance of flanking on the attacker. One
instance of flanking on the defender will prevent
all instances of flanking from triggering.
Yes, triggering.
Flanking is a triggered ability (since it uses the
word "whenever"), so it uses the stack. That means
you can respond to flanking triggering by playing
other spells or abilities.
Remember: If flanking
kills the blocking creature, the attacking creature
is still blocked.
If there are multiple
blocking creatures to a flanker, you check each
individually, and each creature will get the penalty
if it doesn't have flanking.
The flanking penalty is
applied before damage is put on the stack.
The flanking ability
does NOT use the word "target," so protection will
not prevent it from getting the -1/-1.
Example: Suq'Ata Lancer
attacks. It is blocked by Grizzly Bears. Since
Grizzly Bears does not have flanking, flanking
triggers. Upon resolution of the trigger, the
Grizzly Bears will get -1/-1, making them 1/1.
Example: Suq'Ata Lancer
attacks. It is blocked by Llanowar Elves. Llanowar
Elves does not have flanking, so it will get -1/-1
from the trigger. This will make the Elves 0/0, and
they will die before damage is put on the stack.
(The Suq'Ata Lancer is still blocked and will not
deal damage).
Example: Suq'Ata Lancer
attacks. It is blocked by Shadow Rider. Since Shadow
Rider has flanking, the flanking on Suq'Ata Lancer
will not trigger.
Example: Suq'Ata Lancer
attacks, and Jabari's Banner is used on it before
blockers are declared. It is blocked by Grizzly
Bears. Since Grizzly Bears does not have flanking,
flanking will trigger twice, giving the Grizzly
Bears 2 separate instances of -1,-1. The Grizzly
Bears end up at 0/0 (and dead).
Example: Suq'Ata Lancer
attacks, and Jabari's Banner is used on it before
blockers are declared. It is blocked by Shadow
Rider. Since Shadow Rider has flanking, there is no
flanking trigger at all, even though Suq'Ata Lancer
has 2 instances of flanking and Shadow Rider only
one.
Example: Suq'Ata Lancer
attacks. It is blocked by Hill Giant and Grizzly
Bears. Since neither of the blockers has flanking,
they each get affected by a separate flanking
trigger. When both resolve, the Hill Giant will be
2/2, and the Grizzly Bears 1/1.
---
Wednesday - Dance of
Many
First, the Oracle text
...
Dance of Many
{U}{U} Enchantment When Dance of Many comes into play, put a token into play as a copy of target nontoken creature. When Dance of Many leaves play, remove the creature token from the game. When the creature token leaves play, sacrifice Dance of Many. At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Dance of Many unless you pay {U}{U}.
All 4 abilities of Dance
of Many are triggered abilities (signified by the
words "when" and "at"). Therefore, each ability uses
the stack.
Yes, that means you can
Stifle any one of these abilities. (If you Stifle
the mana payment requirement [4th ability], it will
only not occur for that turn. It will happen again
next turn.)
One of the tricks used
with the nightmares from the Torment set also works
here. You can bounce/sacrifice the Dance of Many
card before it creates the token creature. The token
creature will never leave as a result of that Dance
of Many, since the leaves play ability will have
already resolved.
The token is an EXACT
copy of the chosen creature. That means that token's
converted mana cost will be the converted mana cost
of whatever it copied. The token's converted mana
cost will NOT be 0 (unless it copied a creature with
a converted mana cost of 0).
---
Thursday -
Frankenstein's Monster
Again, let's start with
the Oracle text ...
Frankenstein's Monster
{X}{B}{B} Creature -- Monster 0/1 As Frankenstein's Monster comes into play, remove X creature cards in your graveyard from the game. If you can't, put Frankenstein's Monster into its owner's graveyard instead of into play. For each creature card removed this way, Frankenstein's Monster comes into play with a +2/+0, +1/+1, or +0/+2 counter.
This creature uses the
word "as" for its coming into play ability. That
means you remove the X creature cards as
Frankenstein's Monster is resolving (before it comes
into play).
You must remove EXACTLY
X creature cards in your graveyard from the game.
You can not remove more than X.
The creature cards are
chosen on resolution of the Frankenstein's Monster
spell (as the ability has its effect). You do not
choose the specific cards until that time. However,
then number of creature cards to be removed is
chosen as a part of playing Frankenstein's Monster,
since the variable X is a part of the cost of
Frankenstein's Monster.
If you can not remove X
creature cards from the graveyard, Frankenstein's
Monster is put directly into the graveyard. It never
comes into play (so things like Pandemonium will
never trigger).
Frankenstein's Monster
uses 3 different types of counters. Make sure you
have some way of keeping them straight.
---
Friday - Lifeline
Lifeline
{5} Artifact Whenever a creature is put into a graveyard from play and another creature is in play, return the first creature from that graveyard to play under its owner's control at end of turn.
If all creatures
(assuming there is more than one creature in play)
in play go to the graveyard at the same time (for
example, Wrath of God), all creatures will be
returned to play at end of turn. This is because
Lifeline has to "look back" to see what was in play
right before it triggered, and since there were
other creatures in play, Lifeline will trigger.
If Lifeline is animated
when you cast said Wrath of God (for example, March
of the Machines is out), it will come back.
If a creature goes into
a player's graveyard during the end step (for
example, Ball Lightning), and another creature is in
play, the creature will come back at the end of the
next turn. This is because "at end of turn" triggers
have already happened, and it has to wait for the
next time "at end of turn" comes up, which is the
next turn.
(Please, DO NOT CONFUSE
THIS with "UNTIL end of turn." An "UNTIL end of
turn" effect will always wear off on the turn it is
generated.)
---
Now, on to the questions
...
Q: After you attach a
equipment to a creature, can you equip it to a
different one by paying the equip cost?
-Ask
A: Yes, any time you can
play the equip ability.
---
Q: Does any, an or a
also mean target?
A: No. See Mantra 3.
---
Q: If I attack with a
creature, after I declare my attack, can they tap it
with an icy Manipulator?
A: Sure. But it will
still be attacking. Tapping or untapping an
attacking creature does not remove it from combat.
(And they're also
tapping a tapped creature usually, which really
doesn't do much.)
---
Q: And also when I
block, can they tap it?
-Omar S.
A: Sure, but the blocker
will still do combat damage. Tapping or untapping a
blocking creature does not remove it from combat.
---
Q: I have Mycosynth
Lattice in play. I put 7 colorless mana in my mana
pool, and play Solarion. Since the colorless mana
can be used for mana of any color, can I declare all
5 colors to be represented in my mana pool, and thus
put 5 +1/+1 counters on Solarion?
-BMoor
A: No. Even though
Mycosynth Lattice lets you use mana as mana of any
color, it is not actually mana of that color. It
still is mana of the color that it originally was.
So Solarion will get no counters in this instance,
since no colored mana was used to cast it.
---
Q: How does Mirari work?
-Rodolfo P.
A: If you have Mirari
out, and you play an instant or sorcery, Mirari will
trigger. When Mirari's trigger resolves, you may pay
3 mana. If you do, you get to copy that spell, and
choose new targets for that copy if you want. (You
do not have to choose new targets if you don't want
to.)
---
Q: I have a legend out.
If I change its creature type to, say, sliver, then
bring out the same creature and it’s the same legend
do I have to get rid of it?
-JGrayK
A: No. You do not have 2
legends of the same name. You have 2 creatures of
the same name, only one of which is a legend. They
both stay out.
(BUT, if the type change
is only temporary on the first creature [say like
with Imagecrafter], then when the type change wears
off, you will have 2 legends with the same name. You
will bury the one that had its creature type
changed, since it has been a legend for the shortest
amount of time.)
---
Q: If I play Illusions
of Grandeur, I gain 20 life, Then I donate it to the
Player B. Then I destroy it with Disenchant. Do they
lose 20 life because of the loss of Illusions?
-John M.
A: Yes. I hear that this
was a pretty good deck a few years ago.
See you Friday.
Bill Guerin
DCI Level 2 Judge |
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