Good morning boys and girls! Welcome back to Ask A Judge.
>>47801212
why do you always post italian card
I asked this yesterday but never checked on an answer
If an opponent taps a land for mana and I destroy that land at instant speed in response does the spell he cast fizzle or does it just never cast?
>>47801541
So, back when I started doing this shortly after I made L1, I would search on Gatherer for cards with "Judge" or "Magic" in the name, and use those. I quickly ran out of them, and decided to just use the most recent one as a standard thread image- the way the Quest and General threads did, so that people would see THAT specific card and know "Oh hey, an AAJ thread is up". It just so happens that Scherzo Magico (the Italian name for Spell Snip) was the card that got that honor.
>>47801557
1) There is no such thing as speed in Magic.
2) "Fizzle" means "is countered on resolution by the rules of the game because it has no legal targets"
3) None of the above. Mana abilities don't use the stack and can't be responded to. If they're floating mana before they cast the spell, you can't respond. If they're tapping lands for mana as one of the steps of casting it, you don't have priority to respond until their spell is on the stack.
Set the scenario: I have Geier reach bandit flipped and then cast village messenger. It enters the battlefield and I have the voice to flip it. But, the village messenger side has haste when it enters the battlefield, does that mean it's flip side will be able to attack since it HAD haste when it etb?
>>47801568
good to know.
>>47801570
Nope. It doesn't matter that a version of it HAD haste earlier. When you go to Declare Attackers, the game will see that you haven't controlled it continuously since your most recent turn began, and it doesn't have haste right this second, so it can't attack.
>>47801598
Dang it. Well thanks for clearing that up.
>>47801632
I think there was a card in old Innistrad that let you flip a werewolf at instant speed.
>>47801647
Moonmist. It actually just transforms all Humans.
>>47801212
What's your favorite flavour of waffle?
Which plane would you live on if you had to pick one?
>>47801702
Just about any, I guess. I was just having regular waffles this morning.
>>47801710
If it weren't for the nazi elves that would hunt me down, I'd say Lorwyn just for how idyllic it is. Maybe I could hang out with the Giants and convince them I'm just a tall Kithkin, or convince the Goblins I'm a small Giant.
Failing that, I suppose Ravnica? It seems like an interesting place.
If creatures in a band can be blocked if any of the creatures can be blocked, does that mean that if I band with a creature with pro creatures, they can block, but I can assign all the damage to my pro creatures guy?
Eye of the Storms wording means that any spell with Storm in it gets more and more powerful as spells get added, correct? I know the storm copies don't go in, but every other spells from the storm seems like it is cast.
>>47801763
Yep! Your band gets blocked as a band, so if you had 10 fliers and one regular ground guy, they can block your whole band just by blocking the ground guy.
The advantage to cramming your dudes into an easier-to-block band, however, is that you choose the damage assignment, so you can throw all of that damage onto your pro-creatures attacker to spare everything else.
>>47801771
Yes, because Eye has you create a copy in exile, then CAST the copy. That'll count towards Storm, and it'll also TRIGGER Storm if you put, say, a Grapeshot under the Eye.
So say you had Grapeshot and 3 random doesn't-really-matter spells under the Eye, and then cast Divination. That's one spell cast this turn, and Eye triggers and eats it. Then you copy the three random spells, Divination, and Grapeshot, and cast them in the order of your choosing.
Do it right and you'll have Grapeshot cast last, with a current Storm count of 5, and Storm will trigger, so you get 6 Grapeshots total.
Of course, your opponent might just respond with a Fog or something just so he can crack you back for even more.
How would you advise keeping a werewolf tribal deck in good condition under regular play (and flipping).
This is a sort of etiquette question and I'm sure tournament rules don't have a clause for this. But in EDH, it is fairly common for people to go "Oh, I tutor at your end of turn" in the middle of your main phase to save time.
Now, I understand that sort of thing for fetches and whatnot. But one guy did that with mystical tutor. I had a Learn from the Past and a Overwhelming Denial in hand.
Now, I was in the middle of deciding whether I wanted to cast a creature or just pass turn and hold up mana for instants. But now that he's announced that, I don't know what to do. I ended up just playing the creature, because I was "pretending I didn't know about the mystical tutor".
What do you do? He ended up grabbing the Miracle Time Walk, so fuck me, right?
>>47801816
The easiest would be to sleeve up checklists for your Werewolves, and then put the actual Werewolves in perfect-fit sleeves that you keep in your deckbox. That way you're not constantly pulling them in and out of sleeves to transform them, but they're also not just 'loose'.
The 'prettier' way would be to sleeve up your Werewolves as normal, and then have a second set of all your Werewolves perfect-sleeved in your deckbox and use those to represent the night side. Same benefit of "not taking them out to flip them", but you also get to actually look at your Werewolves when they're in your hand. Of course, that does require you to acquire twice as many Werewolves.
>>47801838
For EDH, it's going to come down to a playgroup decision, basically. I know a lot of people will do the "I'm gonna X at the end of your turn" in the middle of it to save time, which I appreciate because EDH games run long. That does give you information that you wouldn't have had if they'd done it "right" and not tried to save time.
Whether you want to punish them for giving you that premature information, or act like they did it "correctly" and play the way you would had they not just saved time, is up to you. I wouldn't fault you for either, and I think anyone who would is silly.
>>47801876
Well, since (nearly) every creature in this deck is a werewolf I am confident I do not have the tokens nor would they look in any way pretty. I was thinking about double sleeving and just leaving the inner card out once it flips, but double sleeved decks are a pain to shuffle.
>>47801934
If you have a local store, go ask if they have spare checklists (you might have to look online for the OG Innistrad ones), they should have fistfuls they'll beg you to take out of their way.
Double sleeved decks aren't that tough to shuffle, but you still have the problem of constantly taking the card out of the outer sleeve to flip it, which frequently leads to nail-marks on the card, and/or fucking up the top of the outer sleeve. I really recommend that you either get checklists and leave your werewolves in the box until you play them, or just double up on werewolves.
>>47801964
Meh. I guess I'll try the checklists, but how many weeks does it take for sleeves to break and cards be so used they're considered "marked"?
>>47802006
Could take months, could take 5 minutes. If there's markings on your sleeves that in any way render them "unique" and identifiable compared to your others, they're Marked. How severe and noticable that is, depends. I've seen people carefully play with flip cards and go months before needing to resleeve, or just resleeve at the same rate as the rest of the deck. I've seen people split open a sleeve the third time they flipped a card, or had the mouth of the sleeve visibly stretched by the end of an FNM.
>>47801964
A couple dumb questions. If Enduring Idea is cast and there's a dovescape in play, is the Ideal player still locked out for the rest of the game?
Second, does that change if Boseiju was used to cast Ideal?
>>47802030
Only dumb question is the one you never ask, friend.
>Enduring Ideal
They are not. Dovescape eats it, and Epic is part of the spell's actual effect. Since it was countered, none of it happens, including Epic.
>Boseiju
That does change. Dovescape will try to counter the spell and fail, because it's uncounterable, but you'll still get 7 birbs. Then Ideal will resolve, tutor up an Enchantment, and then Epic fires off and locks you out of casting spells for the rest of the game. Every upkeep, you'll copy Ideal and tutor for a thing.
>>47801876
>>47801796
Thanks.
How does Cascading into Spoils of War work? The X isn't really variable the same way most X spells are.
>>47802028
Thanks. I've gone two weeks and none of my sleeves are marked and only one card shows any signs of damage. You said you play EDH correct? What's your opinion on whether high budget=Competetive for EDH decks.
>>47802061
Since there's something else that defines X, you use that instead of going "X is zero". However when it's exiled, its CMC is one so you will cascade into it (unless you were cascading a 1-drop in which case have fun shuffling your deck)
>>47802077
Oh neat. That's some pretty favorable interaction.
So, the first strike damage "step?" doesn't exist unless a creature with first strike or double strike is in combat, right?
>>47802134
It always exists, but if nothing has first strike or double strike the game skips it.
>>47802061
>>47802077
Actually, it's weird. Normally X is set to 0 when using an alternate cost, but Spoils of War is different because the card's text sets the value for X. So you can cascade into it because X is 0 in your library, but when you cast it the X is set by the card itself.
As for >>47802134
Right. Normally there's just one combat damage step. However, if at least one creature has First or Double Strike as the combat damage step begins, only creatures with First or Double Strike assign and deal damage in that step. Then, we move on to a second Combat Damage Step, where only creatures that had neither First nor Double Strike as that first step began (as well as any creatures that currently DO have Double Strike) deal damage.
>>47802165
Incorrect. The only time the game 'skips' steps is when no attackers are declared in Declare Attacks, and the very first Draw Step of the very first player's turn.
Favorite card of ALL TIME?
>>47802198
>>47802077 here, I remembered that Bond of Agony had a different method of setting X (the additional cost) and cascading into it means you insta-win if you have more life than your opponent. Figured the same applied here.
>>47802252
Force of Will and Elesh Norn.
Specifically, the judge foil ones I got from getting an Exemplar recognition from the (former L5, now L3) judge who pulled strings to get me on my first GP and cemented my love of Judging. Those two cards mean the world to me.
>>47802256
Faaaairly sure that doesn't work with Bond of Agony. Bond doesn't set X by the additional cost, you declare the value of X when you're casting it and then sub in that number for X all over the card.
For Bond, it isn't "I'm paying 5 life, so X is 5", it's "X is 5, so I'm paying 5B and 5 life". The X is set by you, not by the text of the card, so X must be 0 if you cascade into it. The reason X isn't auto-0 with Spoils is because the value of X is set by Spoils' text, not by you.
>>47802313
Weird. I remember when cascade first came out a lot of people wondered if it worked or not and (at least at the time) It got ruled that since you must pay the additional cost of X life (otherwise undefined), you can choose the value of X.
It's possible they've since reversed that ruling.
Mind's Desiring into Cascade cards. I know most people don't shuffle between each Mind's Desire, but I should if that happens, right?
>>47802381
As far as I was aware, you are required to shuffle after each mind's desire at all RELs and not doing it was a Very Bad Thing.
>>47802313
>Favorite card is a $500 foil written in a made-up language
K
>>47802408
When I shuffle do I have to let my opponent shuffle and cut between each one? Seems like it would take too long to resolve the 4-5 storm copies.
>>47802428
It's not the pricetag. It's the memories associated with them. I remember when I got my L1 cert, the L2 that tested me gave me a set of the judge full-art basics to celebrate - turns out he'd been sent two sets and was told to keep them.
I don't think I'll ever appreciate a card more than those.
>>47802338
To be fair, "when cascade first came out" was 7 years ago. I also found an [O]fficial post 'clarifying' that X must be 0 for Cascading into Bond of Agony, so I dunno if that was a reversal, or people were just unsure until then.
Point is, whatever it might have been 7 years ago, right now X is 0 in that instance. Spoils of War is the only exception.
>>47802381
You should, because the position of some cards is known (they're on the bottom-ish)
>>47802408
You are mistaken. The shuffle clause is there so you can't just tutor something to the top and free-cast it. If the contents of your library remain random (as in, nobody knows the position of any cards) between copies, I would PREFER you not shuffle because it's not needed.
But for Cascade, yeah, shuffle.
>>47802428
It'd be my favorite if it was a Xiahou Dun the One-Eyed or a Karador. It isn't the card or the price tag, it's that a high level judge pointed at me with his one Exemplar recommendation in that Alpha wave and said "you are a cool guy".
>>47801964
>(you might have to look online for the OG Innistrad ones)
Note that these are worth somewhere in the region of $3-4. Not all stores know this, though.
Is discarding Circling Vultures a special action? Can it be responded to?
Sphinx of Jwar Isle's reminder text is a bit weird, right? The card essentially makes that card a zone like a hand or graveyard, but the reminder text makes it seem like a thing you have to decide to do and announce.
And Aven Windreader, do you flip the card back down? You should, right, but it usually doesn't matter. It is like a reveal from a tutor, correct?
>>47802807
Y'know, I'm not sure. I'll have to check- it doesn't seem to be covered as one of the 7 kinds of special actions, but it's very obviously not an activated or triggered ability, so it shouldn't use the stack and can't be responded to. I'll look into it.
>>47802853
The reminder text is basically to let you know it's not a "one time" thing, or an activated ability- it's just a thing that's true (so you could look at it while you're resolving spells, for example). You don't need to announce that you're doing it, but it's gonna be fairly obvious that you are, and it couldn't hurt to just say "Checking top card via Sphinx" so your opponent understands.
The card isn't ever "face up". They just show you what it is for a reasonable amount of time, and then can put it right back, since there's no duration specified. Your opponent might elect to just flip the top card over and leave it there, the same way some people will leave "revealed form hand" cards face-up on the table for ease of memory.
>>47802807
Circling vultures is actually a static ability, not an activated one! It can't be responded to.
>>47802853
It's there to remind you that you can peek at that card whenever, not just when you have priority or when it's your turn. You can look at the top card whenever you could look at, say, your hand.
for Aven Windreader, I believe it's not required to flip it back face down (unless something changes the order of their deck, at which point it needs to be the same as all the other cards)
I have a sludge strider pauper edh deck.
If sludge strider is out during combat and I block a creature with a mana-producing myr, can I float the myr's mana during the combat damage step and use it towards sludge strider's triggered ability when the myr leaves play?
Quick question. Does a creature without trample deal its entire combat damage to a creature, or just equal to its toughness? I know creatures with trample have a spill over effect but I wanted to be sure. Making an extort deck with this sucker as a hard wall against big creatures (with enchantments to give reach and more toughness/protection from colored spells).
>>47802956
Nope. You can block with your mana myr and tap it for mana in the declare blockers step, but that mana will disappear by the time you get to the combat damage step (when the myr actually dies). And since damage doesn't use the stack anymore, you can't float the mana in the combat damage step, because the myr will be dead before you can tap it for mana.
>>47802923
>>47802900
Thanks guys. It is just weird that they used the "any time" text that morph has, when Morph can't be used in the middle of spell resolution for example.
I might've asked this before, but Yixlid Jailer removes all abilities from cards in graveyard, including CDA ones, right? So, what happens if I Dread Defiler away my Lhurgoyf if the Jailer is in play? Cragganwick Cremator it? Dead Reckoning it?
>>47802956
No, because the first thing that happens in the combat damage step is combat damage, followed by an SBA check. The myr is dead before you can activate its ability. The last time you'd get to do that is in the declare blockers step, and the mana would empty before you can use it.
>>47802981
If a creature without trample is blocked, it assigns combat damage to the blocking creature equal to its power.
>>47802981
>protection from colored spells).
Protection from non-creature spells ala hexproof*
>>47802997
>It is just weird that they used the "any time"
Reminder text isn't actually rules text. It just exists to give some approximation of how the ability works. Sometimes it's pretty good, sometimes it's "your creatures can help you cast this spell".
>>47802987
Is there any further exception to this? Say if there is a triggered ability during first strike combat damage, similar to Drana, Liberator of Malakir, I would be able to tap the myr in response to her trigger, but not freely during the combat damage step, correct?
>>47802807
After conferring with a mentor, Circling Vultures' discard ability is indeed a special action. You can use it whenever you have priority, it doesn't use the stack, and it cannot be responded to.
>>47802956
You can float the mana, but not use it. The mana will leave your pool when you go to the combat damage step, and the trigger won't fire until you're in that step.
>>47802981
Whole damage. It doesn't get to the toughness and stop. If you block a 20/20 vanilla with your Souls, it takes 20 damage, and Souls will bleed the attacking player for 20 and gain you 20.
>>47802997
Well, remember that reminder text has no rules meaning.
>Jailer
CDAs are Characteristic Defining Abilities. They are abilities, and are shut down by Jailer.
>>47803031
Damage happens, then SBAs (which is what kills your creature), then triggers go on the stack, then priority. There is no way for you to tap your Myr for mana during the step in which combat damage kills it.
>>47803031
You could tap the myr for mana after combat damage in the first strike combat damage step, assuming it's still alive. The mana still won't float to the regular combat damage step. There wouldn't need to be a trigger during that step for you to get priority, though.
>>47803042
>CDAs are Characteristic Defining Abilities. They are abilities, and are shut down by Jailer.
Not the person who originally asked, but Goyf's CDA gets turned off because it's in layer seven, and Yix is in layer six, right? Does this make Goyf a 0/1 or a 0/0?
>>47803042
So, a Lhurgoyf card with no abilities is a card with 0 power and 1 toughness in all those cases?
Or is Dread Defiler and Dead Reckoning checking power after it has left the yard already? Cragganwick checks power in yard, not when discarded, right?
>>47802997
Whoops, missed the second half of the question.
Jailer would have Reckoning deal 0 damage, and Dread Defiler drain 0 life, because they look at the card they messed with as it existed in the graveyard, where it had 0 power. Cremator looks at the card it discarded, as it existed in the hand- so Lhurgoyf would still have a nonzero power there. It'd deal damage equal to the number of creature cards in all graveyards BEFORE you discarded Lhurgoyf, so not counting itself.
>>47803060
0/1.
>>47803075
The Lhurgoyf is a 0/1 with no abilities in the graveyard, which is what the Defiler and Reckoning are looking at- they need to know about the card they fucked with, and that card was in the graveyard, so they use Last Known Information because the card isn't there anymore.
Cremator is the same, but backwards- it needs to know information about a card CURRENTLY in the graveyard, but that WAS in the hand, so it uses the information about it as it existed in the hand, where Jailer wasn't fucking with it yet.
>>47803129
Thanks. That all makes sense to me.
Hey, does Power Sink tap a Exotic Orchard if your opponents control no lands?
>>47803150
Yeah, Orchard still has a mana ability. Power Sink doesn't care that the ability won't add mana, just that it's there.
>>47803150
A mana ability is an activated ability which
1) Could add mana to a mana pool as it resolves
2) Does not target
3) Is not a loyalty ability
Exotic Orchard's ability meets those criteria, and is thus a mana ability.
>>47803187
>2) Does not target
The good ol' "DRS can't pay for Elephant Grass, sorry".
>>47803182
>>47803187
Makes sense. Now, in the case of Drain Power, there is no way to make the target activate Exotic Orchard, Meteor Crater, Rhystic Cave, Paliano in the case that Paliano wasn't drafted, his opponents have no lands and he controls only colorless permanents, right?
And Rhystic Cave because it would be in the middle of a spell resolving.
>>47803260
Well, they can't activate Rhystic Cave because of the timing restriction. But they are forced to activate a mana ability of the other lands - those mana abilities still exist, even if they won't produce mana when they resolve.
>>47803260
All of those cards have mana abilities.
Whether or not the ability WILL add mana to your mana pool at this moment is not a criteria. The criteria is "could add mana to a mana pool", and all of those COULD.
605.2. A mana ability remains a mana ability even if the game state doesn't allow it to produce mana.
So, for Drain Power, they would be forced to activated Orchard/Crater/Paliano, you just wouldn't get mana out of it.
>>47803305
>>47803288
Oh, so you can activate them despite not having any valid colors to choose?
I guess I don't know why I thought otherwise.
So, if I have a Paliano in my EDH deck and we didn't draft it, I could still tap it for black if I have Contamination on the field? Or get green if I have a Wild Growth on it?
>>47803454
The only cost for those lands is "tap". The fact that the ability won't do diddly-shit doesn't matter, you can still activate them.
>>47803466
But if I tap a Paliano for fuck all, am I still considered to have been tapping it for mana because I am activating a mana ability? Or am I activating a mana ability, but still not technically tapping it for mana?
There is this pile of cards that cares:
http://magiccards.info/query?q=o%3A%22tapped+for+mana%22&v=card&s=cname
>>47803495
106.11. To “tap a permanent for mana” is to activate a mana ability of that permanent that includes the {T} symbol in its activation cost. See rule 605, “Mana Abilities.
Does Paliano have a mana ability even if you didn't draft it? Yes. Can you activate that mana ability even if it will do nothing? Yes. Does activating that mana ability involve the tap symbol as a cost? Yes.
Thus, tapping Paliano to activate its worthless mana ability is "tapping it for mana", and will interact with all those things.
>>47803959
Cool. Thanks!
Why is Isochron Scepter's ability worded the way it is? It mentions both copying something and someone casting a copy.
Is it because it doesn't copy a spell on the stack , like fork does, but rather create something like a token of the imprinted card in exile, which you then put on the stack by casting it without paying mana? It's pretty complicated and abstract, let me tell you that much.
By the way, have you gotten to draft EMA yet? It's so good.
Do two replacement effects like Aegis of Honor and Pyromancer's Swath counteract each other like Abundance and Tomorrow?
What's the funniest and/or most interesting themed decks you've seen, gA?
>>47804204
No. And in this case, the order that they apply doesn't matter - the spell will deal damage + 2 to its controller.
>>47804180
You create a copy of the exiled card, in exile, and then you cast the copy. You're right that it's different from fork: the copy is cast, and the only way for that to happen is to create the copy somewhere that isn't the stack, and then cast it.
In most cases, that's not any different from just copying the card (like Epic has you do), but there ARE times when it is (it'll trigger Counterbalance and other similar things, it gives you the option to pay additional costs like Kicker, etc)
I have not, unfortunately, and I doubt I'll get to anytime soon.
>>47804204
When two or more prevention/replacement effects are trying to apply to the same event, the controller of the affected object (or the affected player, if there's not an OBJECT being affected) chooses the order to place them in.
So, let's say you've activated Aegis of Honor, and your opponent has a Swath, and Bolts you. If you apply Swath first, it'll do 3+2 damage... but then the Aegis still wants to apply, so it domes the controller instead. If you apply Aegis first, it'll redirect the Swath to your opponent, and then Swath will still apply, so they end up taking 5 anyway.
Sometimes the order in which you apply them changes things; that's why Abundance and Tomorrow "cancel". Once you've applied Abundance, there's no longer a "draw a card" event for Tomorrow to replace, so the replacement can't apply, and ditto in reverse. Other times applying one before the other STOPS the other, but not in reverse, like with a "prevent all damage a source would deal to you this turn" and Furnace of Rath. It's the same end result, but if you apply Furnace first you double the damage and then prevent it, whereas if you apply the prevention first you just prevent the 'normal' amount. Savvy?
>>47804208
Mono-green control in EDH.
>>47804249
>Mono-green control in EDH.
How the fuck?
>>47804286
Right?! He used Dosan the Falling Leaf as Commander, and then a bunch of weird-ass cards to fuck with everyone.
Beast Within, Chain of Acid, Bramblecrush, Rootgrapple, stuff like that for spot removal; Night Soul and Scooze to shut down reanimation, shit was crazy.
>>47804249
>>47804234
Thanks. Makes sense.
>>47804320
I'll have to try that sometime.
>>47804249
Wait, sorry, does this mean that if I wanted to have my Ancient Silverback in exile despite it having a regeneration shield from earlier and someone Hellfire's it, I could apply the exile replacement before the regen one?
an extension from yesterday:
If I cast Lightning Bolt at my opponent and he casts Redirect to throw it back at me, can I hide behind Jace?
>>47804419
Nope. Jace isn't the target ( through you), you are.
>>47804419
actually I bothered to check the rules:
>306.7. If noncombat damage would be dealt to a player by a source controlled by an opponent, that opponent may have that source deal that damage to a planeswalker the first player controls instead.
so that doesn't work since I'm not an opponent
shame
>>47804419
Nope. You can only ever redirect noncombat damage that a source you control would deal to an OPPONENT. And no matter how badly someone plays, they are never their own opponent.
>>47804510
You say that, but you've never seen me play Lords after the combat phase
twice i the same match
>>47804551
Still not your own opponent!
If my plays are never bad enough to make me my own opponent, nobody's will be.
>>47804412
Whoops, missed you, sorry.
No. Those aren't trying to replace the same event. Regeneration is wanting to replace the actual destruction event, whereas Demonfire (assuming that's what you meant) wants to apply to the actual "is leaving the field for the graveyard" bit that happens immediately after.
>>47804592
Thanks! Makes sense.
>>47804646
Sure.
It sparked a bit of a debate among some Judge friends of mine, so I'll let you know how it ends.
Would you mind posting the English version of that image for next thread?
>>47805474
It's just Spell Snip.
>>47801212
Oh hey, you're alive. I haven't seen you in a while.
Just out of curiosity, do copies of a spell with Storm trigger Young Pyromancer's ability or no?
If I cast act of treason on my own zada hedron grinder, it copies it for each creature I control, does that mean I can gain control of a number of target creatures equal to the number of copies of act of treason or will only target my creaturen being a useless spell?
>>47805561
Storm copies spells ON THE STACK, so they are not cast
>>47805561
>>47805622
if they were, they would also trigger Storm, so....
>>47805621
the second
>copy that spell for each other creature you control that the spell could target. Each copy targets a different one of those creatures.
>>47804727
Debate ended with "You do not have the option to exile", so answer was correct.
>>47805561
Yeah, I got pretty busy for a while, but I've been trying to do the threads more often again.
The copies are created on the stack and are not cast (if they were cast, a Storm spell with a storm count of 1 would just end the game in a draw), so they don't trigger Pyromancer.
>>47805621
It'll give them haste!
>>47805656
>>47805649
Thanks, guess I'll stick to expedite
>>47805656
Thanks for the follow up!
>>47805622
>>47805649
>>47805656
Domo arigato.
This doesn't really need a judge to answer, but this seems like the most active and serious MTG thread around.
Asking as someone who has never touched a physical magic card yet played some hours of Magic Duels on pc and wanting to get into the real deal, how important are sleeves? I've ordered the Blessed vs Cursed duel deck to try out with a friend before eventually trying out booster drafts at FNM after I move during the summer, but didn't think about ordering sleeves.
>>47806829
>Most serious thread
Pic related
As for your actual question: Very, in my opinion. Your cards are gonna get fucked up without sleeves. Even if you use a playmat, a mixture of dust and oil from your skin and dead skin flakes is going to accumulate on the cards and make them gungy as shit over time. I've pulled out boxes of cards from back when I started in ~2002 and they have a gritty feel to them, and you can visibly see the difference between them and cards from just around 2007ish when I started to play "seriously".
For now, just a cheap pack of Ultra Pros (something like 10 cents each?) will do you fine. I recommend nicer brands like KMC and the Dragon Shield Mattes once you're upgrading past just Duel Decks.
At the very least, buy some penny sleeves.
>>47806895
>buy some penny sleeves
In my early dumb days, I used penny sleeves to sleeve up my Knight deck. Lots of moisture got in them bad boys. Some $5-$7 packs of sleeves should be fine doe.
>>47808074
Can't say it's ever been a problem for me, but I'm in the desert.
Early on we used no sleeves, then we moved to penny sleeves for a little while, then Ultra Pros, and then some of us switched to Dragon Shields/KMCs, but a lot of the group never moved past Ultra Pro.
>>47808093
>but a lot of the group never moved past Ultra Pro.
Smart people :D
Do Evolving Winds count as a basic land?
>>47808473
Not if you play lots of flip cards without enough tokens.
>>47810007
Does it have the rules text "basic land- (land type)"? Then no. Here's a real basic land and a half.
>>47810007
Does it say "basic" on the type line in the Oracle text?
(no, it doesn't, so no, it's not)
Could I pop this during combat like an instant to trigger landfall effects?
>>47810145
Yes. Just do it after you confirm he declared all of his blockers because activating abilities at instant speed during combat is kinda weird according to the actual rulings.
>>47810161
>activating abilities at instant speed during combat is kinda weird according to the actual rulings
No, it's not. The active player declares all of their attackers. Relevant triggers go on the stack, then players can do things. Then the defending player(s) declares blockers. Relevant triggers go on the stack, then players can do things. First strike and regular combat damage are similar - the relevant special game action happens, then players get priority to do things. It's not that hard.
>>47810497
Unless first strike is an ability one of the attacking or blocking creatures has then there isn't a first strike combat step. And the normal
Combat damage step happens before anyone receives priority.
>>47810622
>And the normal combat damage step happens before anyone receives priority.
Both players will receive priority before either combat damage step (and I know first strike doesn't happen every time, but both players get priority in it). You don't go directly from blockers being declared to combat damage. Nor directly from first strike damage (if applicable) to regular combat damage.
>>47810703
So when do you play instants?
>>47810703
So when do you play instants? Can't be during the declare attackers step because they can block accordingly, can't be during he declare defenders step because they can shuffle their blocks after the instant, and can't be during the Norma combat damage step due to the ruling in the myr tapping for mana question showing that combat damage happens before anything else.
>>47810908
>they can shuffle their blocks after the instant
Where are you getting this information? This is incorrect. After blockers are declared, the defending player cannot just arbitrarily change them.
>>47810908
>can't be during he declare defenders step because they can shuffle their blocks after the instant
wat?
At the beginning of the declare blockers step, the defending player declares which creatures are going to block, and how they're blocking. Then the attacking player orders blockers if multiple blocking creatures are assigned to a single attacking creature. Then any triggers that result from blockers being declared are put on the stack in APNAP order (attacking player's triggers go on first, then blocking player's). Then the stack resolves as normal. Players will get priority here. After the stack is empty, there is another round of priority before the step ends.
Blockers are only declared once, and can't be changed without some kind of effect after being declared.
>>47811094
>>47811334
Okay.
There's no change in priority when you're playing lands, right?
>>47811816
Correct. But you must have priority on your turn, during a main phase, and while the stack is empty to take the special game action of playing a land.
>>47811905
Does playing a land go on the stack (and thus an opponent can cast in reaction)? Never understood if it did or not.
>>47811961
05.1. A player who has priority may play a land card from his or her hand during a main phase of his or her turn when the stack is empty. Playing a land is a special action; it doesn’t use the stack (see rule 115). Rather, the player simply puts the land onto the battlefield. Since the land doesn’t go on the stack, it is never a spell, and players can’t respond to it with instants or activated abilities.
>>47811982
*305.1, copy pasted too fast.
>>47811982
Thanks! So when is an opponent allowed to cast spells on the player's main phase 1 if nothing but special actions are made?
>>47812111
A step or phase ends when both players pass priority over an empty stack. So the inactive player will always get priority before the main phase ends.
I just want confirmation on something, should be simple.
My opponent attacks me with Atarka, World Render, and I block with a Seraph of the Sword. Assuming nothing beyond the two creatures is in play or in effect, do I take any damage?
>>47812418
You take six. When a creature with trample goes to assign combat damage, it must assign lethal damage to all blockers before assigning damage to the defending player or planeswalker. This means damage equal to the blocking creatures' toughness, or one point of damage if the attacker has deathtouch. Damage assignment doesn't care about prevention or replacement effects that might affect what happens after damage is assigned - if Seraph had pro creatures, Atarka would still need to assign three to her in each combat damage step.
If I make a token copy a card with Persist, using something like Kiki Jiki or RIku of Two Reflections, will the token get to trigger Persist?
>>47812471
Persist will trigger, but the token will cease to exist when state-based actions are checked. The trigger will do nothing on resolution.
>>47812539
and I'm guessing this applies to all "When this creature dies" style effects as well?
>>47812465
Thank you.
>>47812597
If a token changes zones, it ceases to exist when state-based actions are next checked. Any abilities that trigger from the zone change will still resolve (assuming nothing else happens). If they're trying to do something like Persist and change the zone the token is in, they can't because it's no longer there. But triggers that are trying to do something else (deal damage, draw you a card, or what have you) will still do whatever they were supposed to since they don't actually care about their source. And if they do need information about the source (like power or toughness or color) then they'll use last known information - so they'll use whatever was true about the token when it was on the battlefield, before it died.
Make sense?
>>47812723
I think I get it? Because a mechanic like persist says "return to the battlefield", which requires the card to be in the graveyard to begin with, the ability won't revive the creature because it isn't there?
>>47812812
Right. And that's true of any creature with persist (or undying) - if it's no longer in the graveyard for any reason when the ability resolves, the ability will do nothing because it no longer "sees" the object that it's supposed to return to the battlefield.
>>47805515
bad card. bad card?
why does fucking evercolor get a counterspell with that U-cost phyrexian mana 'counter that one-drop' shit yes i'm agitated
>>47811982
we can't respond to land drops, but can we respond to the triggers that result?
ie Landfall pumping a Makindi Sliderunner/Snapping Gnarlid we can respond by pinging the dude for his pre-landfall toughness
buuuuut this doesn't count for Sylvan Advocate as it's a constant thing, not a trigger? ie in my opponent's mainphase with a 3-damage instant there is no possible way to kill that Advocate (except by doing it before the mainphase or if they miss the sixth land drop)
>>47814671
yup, yup, yup.
What's the most common mistakes people make when going from kitchen table to drafting/fnm playing?
I've been playing for decades and never played in store
Hey, gA, what all uses last known characteristics?
>>47814494
Well, Misstep is banned in every format that's not Vintage.
>>47815677
Mostly? Not knowing the actual rules of the game because they've gotten used to playing however they play at the kitchen table. That and not being ready for the level of competition. You can't expect to bring your casual deck and do well.
>>47814671
You can't respond to a land being played, no. You can respond to a resulting trigger. Sylvan Advocate has only static abilities - if you want to kill it when you think your opponent will hit six lands, do it sorcery-speed or on their upkeep.
>>47818048
Not gA, but anything that cares about the characteristics of a card after it changes zones will use last known information to determine what those were.
>>47815677
The most common mistakes I've seen are getting free mulligans, free shuffles, or allowing extra land drops for no reason. Also make sure you're playing enough lands and not too many cards - 17-18 in a 40 card draft deck, 22-26 in a 60-card constructed deck.
>>47818048
Anything that checks a quality of a card after it's changed zones (sacrificing or exiling a creature, exiling cards from graveyards, discarding cards from hand) will use the Last Known Information of the card as it was before changing zones. Fling is a good example of this - since the creature you sac is now a new thing in the graveyard, without LKI the game would use its base power for fling, regardless of what was modifying it while it was in play.
