MTG Magic The Gathering Ask A Judge - Orange Chicken Monday Edition

Good afternoon and welcome back to AAJ! Sorry the thread's up a little late today, my morning was busy and I didn't get a chance to start one until just now!

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mtgtopseries.eu/main.php?tag=4_1&idt=10
magic.wizards.com/en/content/judge-regional-coordinators)
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Hey man welcome back, it's always a pleasure to see your posts. Did you have any eternal masters fun?

Also, Endrek Sal +assault suit, what happens?

if i blink hazezon tamar 5 times do i get 5x the token next upkeep?

As always, thank you for your support! I have not had the pleasure of enjoying any EMA, unfortunately. The set looks super dope, but there's not enough in the set that I need to justify me spending money on anything more than a draft or two, and none have fired in my area! I'm gonna see if I can't get to a draft later this week though.

As for your question: once the current controller of Sahr goes over 7 Thrulls, the game will end in a draw unless they have a way to break the loop AND choose to do so. Sahr has what we call a state trigger, which means it will keep going off so long as that state is true, even if the trigger already resolved this turn. So he'll trigger, the trigger says to sac him, but Suit says you can't sac him so you don't. But then he's on the field and you have 7 or more Thrulls, so he triggers again, and again, and again, until someone chooses to break the loop. If nobody chooses to (since there's no choices WITHIN the loop that can break it, someone with four Seal of Cleansings can say "Nah, game's a draw" if they want)

So yeah. tl;dr, game ends in a draw unless someone fucks up the loop, but nobody is obligated to.

You sure will! Each time Hazezon enters the battlefield, he triggers. The resolution of that trigger sets up a delayed trigger that'll fire during your next upkeep. Come your next upkeep, all five of those triggers go onto the stack, and each one will give you Sand Warriors equal to the number of lands you control. So if you have 10 lands, you'll get a total of 50 Sand Warriors, in blocks of 10.

Got a policy question that came up from FNM. Can players agree to intentionally draw games, or does it have to be a full match?
I got into a GW Tokens mirror and usually that will end 0-0-1 because neither player can ever safely attack for fear of a lethal crackback. So I offered to draw game 1 and let us get to our sideboards, which enables us to actually play the game and not Mexican Standoff: The Gathering. My opponent agreed and he won the match 2-1-1. Judge asked us where the draw was from, and when we said we drew game 1 to get to sideboarded games he says that's illegal and gives us both match losses for stalling the tournament.

Is he talking out of his ass?

Players may absolutely agree to intentionally draw a game rather than a match, but all of those draws do need to be reported.

The judge absolutely is talking out of his ass for the following reasons

1) Intentional draws are explicitly allowed in any sanctioned tournament (CR 104.4i, MTR 2.4)

2) "Match Loss" is not a penalty he can give at an FNM. FNM is held at Regular Rules Enforcement Level, which has the penalties of 'correct, educate, finger-wag' for most problems, "Game Loss" for repeated infractions at the Judge's discretion, and "Disqualification" for only a handful of Very Serious Problems.

3) Even if this were a Competitive event, Match Loss is only the penalty for Tardiness, Outside Assistance, or Unsporting Conduct Major, which this is not any of them.

I would recommend you to take one of two courses of action, depending on how approachable and reasonable the judge is. The first would be to approach him at a neutral time (IE when he isn't busy with an event) and ask why he assessed the penalty he had, given that it is not supported by any of our documentation. It is entirely possible that he was simply mistaken, but that needs to be corrected, because we have tournament guidelines for a reason. This isn't the Wild West, he doesn't just get to make up infractions and assign penalties arbitrarily. Ideally this will educate him and it won't be an issue in the future.

If he is NOT approachable and is generally an asshat, or you approach him professionally and civilly and he proceeds to act in a manner befitting an assclown, douchecanoe, or shitbaron, you should report his behavior to the Judge Code of Conduct feedback people so that they are aware of him tossing around Match Losses at FNM in violation of our policies, and of aforementioned dipshittery.

The judge said that as soon as we agreed to any draw the match was over and us making everyone else wait for us to finish was disrespectful and should have thrown us out, "but that's not on the list" which I asusme means the things you can DQ for?

As appealing as calling him out sounds, it's not worth getting banned from the store. (and the rest of the stores in the town for that matter) suppose I'll just have to download the alphabet soup to try and plead my case next time something happens.

If the store bans you because you were upset about a wholly undeserved penalty you were given by a misinformed judge, they would lose their WPN sanctioning so fast their head would spin.

And if your store is likely to ban you because you expect the events to be held by the actual WPN rules instead of "Whatever Terry feels like today", fuck them up the street and you need to find a new store.

Also, I wouldn't recommend the 'plead my case' thing. You are allowed to appeal to the Head Judge, but if there's only one judge you pretty much don't have that opportunity. You MIGHT get a chance, but if he doesn't understand that you can draw a game without drawing the match and was ready to "throw you out" over it, but decided to "downgrade" a nonexistent infraction to a penalty he isn't allowed to give, I don't think he'd give you that chance.

It's up to you how you handle this, but I recommend you at least attempt to ask him why he ruled that way, and report his lack of decorum and knowledge to the JCC.

It's less being worried about that one store and more every other store in the area going "wait he banned you from that store and there must be a good reason, so I'm barring you entry."

But I'll see if I can't talk to the TO/Owner, judgefag shouldn't be in today I don't think.

Yeah, if the TO/owner is more reasonable than the Judge, go over their head. Explain what happened, show them where in the appropriate documents your actions are condoned as "not even a thing, jesus what", and stress that you aren't trying to throw the judge under the bridge, you're just upset about being penalized (and insulted, honestly) for an infraction that is literally a supported action in two of the three documents that govern the event you were at.

Ideally the TO will apologize and talk to his Judge about actually reading the documents (for fuck's sake, the JAR is two goddamned pages long) before swinging his dick around.

>Orange chicken monday
I mean, it's not general tso's chicken monday, but it's decent!

Anyway, got a question. I have 6 lands, 1 of which is a shambling vent and a pulse of murasa in hand. Can I animate the vent, chump block with it, and tap it for mana to get it back with pulse after it dies?

The receptionist owed me a meal and she was going to Panda Express, so I decided "Fuck it, Orange Chicken".

Unfortunately, no. While it is legal for you to animate, chump, and tap, that mana will only last through the step in which it was created, which would be the Declare Blockers step. Your Vent won't die until it takes lethal damage in the Combat Damage Step, which is after your mana pool empties of any mana made in Declare Blockers, but immediately before you get a chance to do anything during the Combat Damage Step.

tl;dr no.

So it would have worked if I had any other legal target in my yard, but since I needed the vent in my graveyard in order to even cast it it doesn't work. Oh well!

Right. If you had another land or creature you wanted to regrow, you 100% could go "Animate this, block, tap it for mana along with these 2 other lands, cast Pulse of Murasa to get back FOO". You can tap a blocker after blocking with it and not much with combat (technically you can tap an attacker after it attacks too, if it had Vigilance).

...weird thing, if my OPPONENT had a creature in his yard could I have returned it to his hand since it says "a graveyard"? If so do I still gain 6 life?

Yep! It doesn't have to be your graveyard, or it would say so. You could use Pulse to regrow a land or creature from HIS graveyard to his hand and still gain the 6, if you so choose.

I want to go to a big event in a few weeks but I broke my hand and can't properly shuffle on my own. Is it true that a judge will shuffle for me? I'd feel kind of bad to ask a stranger to be my shuffle lackey for an entire day

Depends on the event. If you let the judges know before the event they'll usually work to accommodate you if it's feasible.

From experience I can tell you that if you're planning to go to a SCG Open, forget about it - the judges will NOT make concessions for anything that doesn't risk an ADA lawsuit. TCGP events are very favorable to these kinds of things, and GPs are a tossup but usually they won't give your opponent a win for "Marked Cards - Pattern" by presenting an unshuffled deck like SCGO would.

This is the event in question

mtgtopseries.eu/main.php?tag=4_1&idt=10

I can probably email them to ask about their policy. I would be really disappointed if I can't partake though

wow thanks a fucking lot judge gj getting me suspended for 6 months.

sage for tinfoil shilling

Judges will try to accommodate you in any reasonable way we can, but I can't guarantee that they can spare the manpower to have someone come shuffle for you every time you need to shuffle.

What I would do is, if possible, contact the TO and explain your issue. Ask if you can be allowed to have a friend shuffle for you- I know I've seen people with motor skill disabilities have a friend or loved one do the physical manipulating of the cards for them, which is fine as long as they aren't assisting your TECHNICAL play. Still, run it by the TO and ask them to ask the HJ what you can do.

You're welcome!

yeah I sent them an email and am awaiting response. I can also still pileshuffle but im not sure whether that'd suffice in comp REL

how does life and limb affect changling cards in hand ? can i start slapping down changlings for free?

>how does life and limb affect changling cards in hand ?

It doesn't.

alrighty then thanks

maybe next time you should let people know that it's illegal for non-judges to have access to the MTR and IPG? Because that seems like something you should be telling people. And if I ever find your real name rest assured i'll find you and make sure you get banned for this shit.

>it's illegal for non-judges to have access to the MTR and IPG

lolwat.

In no fashion is that a thing.

What's the best place to steal cards from?

I'm too poor to buy them

Well then maybe you can go ahead and ask Jarrod Williams to explain why I'm suspended for 6 months and banned from every shop south of I-70 for having them.

...

I mean, I could, but this veil on anonymity is a double-edged sword.

Without knowing who you are, I have a hard time starting anything.

Maybe go to judgecast.com/feedback or email another RC (magic.wizards.com/en/content/judge-regional-coordinators) about what's going down.
Unless you wanted to ship me your name and we can hookup on FB bb ;)

Pile sorting is not shuffling.

It doesn't. Since it doesn't say "card" or "spell", the shorthand is that it only works on permanents. Compare to Conspiracy.

I... what? No, it's not. They're very publicly available.

Steal cards by exchanging your free time for monetary compensation, then exchanging that monetary compensation for cards.

If stealing is the exchanging of risk, time, and energy to take things from someone else, it's EFFECTIVELY the same to just add a middle step in there!

This is either a mighty troll or a mighty understanding.

Also, "banned from shops" is not the same thing as banned by the DCI. Technically a shop can ban you for being named Frank, that doesn't mean the DCI's gonna suspend you for it.

>wizards.com/ContentResources/Wizards/WPN/Main/Documents/Magic_The_Gathering_Infraction_Procedure_Guide_PDF1.pdf
>www.wizards.com/dci/downloads/MTG_MTR_1Jan10_EN.pdf
???

>Technically a shop can ban you for being named Frank,

Fucking Frank.

Why are judges always fat pieces of shit that don't know the rules?

Why do judges exist when the rules are available for everybody to read for themselves?

...

>Why are judges always fat pieces of shit that don't know the rules?
Because pizza is tasty!

>Why do judges exist when the rules are available for everybody to read for themselves?
Good question!

For real tho, it feels like the judges exist to give infrastructural support to the useless crowd of doofuses that keep these game stores insular and repel new players

When we have our own casual games we have no problem looking up the rules if a disagreement occurs

But everybody I know has a local store they refuse to go to because of a stupid fat piece of shit judge that doesn't know the rules

How big are the commons/uncommons boxes for the most recent set at stores? About to go to one expecting to get al the commons/uncommons I'll need for a casual deck (multiple 4x uncommons) and want to know if I have any chance of finding all the cards I'll need.

Is there a way to end turn 1 with zero cards in hand, zero cards in library, zero cards in graveyard and zero permanents on the field?

Sinkholes, Dark Rituals and One With Nothing probably get used, but I can't figure out a way to fully end with nothing.

Part of it is the store level, yes. Of the thousands of worldwide judges, more than half are L1, because the vast majority of sanctioned Magic in the world is at the local store level. At that level most of the questions wouldn't be tough, but it helps to have a neutral arbiter who has certified their knowledge to make players feel better. Could Player A just look up the rules and make his case? Absolutely. But in a non-zero number of stores, that'll just turn into a screaming match about how they're "interpreting" the rules, and in another nonzero number of stores the players don't even know WHERE to look up the rules. That's where L1s are supposed to shine, is helping keep things on the level at the store level.

For larger events like GPs, the L2s and L3s are expected to know more intricate rules that the average player might not know HOW to look up (or a way multiple rules interact in a situation) and to help smooth over a larger event where tempers are high, but also a huge portion of it is logistics. It's not just answering rules questions, we're also trying to kibosh potential cheating with floor coverage and deck checks (which would be a lot more rampant if it was just players operating on the honor system, if you ask me) as well as trying to make the entire experience as positive as we can for the players.

And in my experience, 99% of the time the shitty "judges" that don't know the rules are either L0s who never tested in the first place, L1s that will absolutely lapse now that we have annual maintenance exams, or L0s who lapsed long ago and have never bothered to get up to speed but still call themselves judges and swing that title around like a nightstick. All three need to be reported to the JCC.

All the ways I can immediately think of it end with a spell in your graveyard or a creature on your field, but give me a bit and I'll see what I can think of.

Okay, so here's one.

>turn 1
Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, Azorius Signet, Show and Tell putting Omniscience onto the board. Cast Enter the Infinite.

Cast Platinum Angel, then cast a bunch of mana rocks, a Leveler, and a Perilous Vaults. Cast a wheel spell. You'll discard all the cards in your hand, draw the one card left in your library, a Tormod's Crypt. Cast it. Sacrifice it, putting it into your graveyard, and then exiling your graveyard, leaving you with only the nonland permanents on board. Activate Perilous Vaults.

Sorry, trim Leveler. That was when I was thinking of using Leveler + Postmortem Lunge, he's not necessary for this. Turn one is the same except add a Lotus Petal because I can't do fucking math, and then cut the Leveler.

Let's say I have Soulfire Grand Master in play.
He gives my instants lifelink.
I have 10 life and cast Price of Progress wih 6 nonbasics under my control.
Do I die or not?

You do not. You will simultaneously take 12 damage and gain 12 life.

Extended art cards that preserve the titlebar, including mana cost. It's pretty safe to bring to an event, assuming I haven't pissed off judges, right?

If you bounce a creature that has been reanimated via Animate Dead, he goes to hand, right? A guy at my EMA draft asked me since Animate Dead does say if it falls off, the creature dies.

The criteria for an alter to be okay are as follows:

1) It cannot obscure the name or mana cost
2) It cannot render the card distinguishable from other cards without looking at the face (weight is the number one thing here- if I can tell the alter apart from your other cards consistently, no es bueno)
3) It cannot contain any meaningful strategic advice- IE, you can't put "How to beat Delver" notes on your spells
4) It can't be offensive (this is judged by the HJ, but basically don't put racist/sexist/stupid-ass shit on here, or naked anime tittygirls)
5) The art must remain recognizable

And the big one

6) All alters are allowed only at the discretion of the HJ. No matter if it passes every other point, if the HJ disallows it, it is disallowed. Bring spares just in case, and check with the HJ before your event begins to be sure.

He's right that when Animate Dead falls off, the creature is sacrificed. Here are the problems with that: You can't sacrifice a card in your hand, and even if you could the card becomes a new object as soon as it changes zones so Animate Dead loses track of it.

are any big judges known to be assholes about this kind of thing?

Not really? Some are more strict than others about "the art must be recognizable" means, some are more strict about weight, some just flat disallow alters, but I'm talking generally. Usually a "big judge" (IE, an L3 with the GP Head Judge certification) isn't going to be 'an asshole' about anything.

I always tell people, no matter how absolutely perfectly your alter matches with what the MTR says is okay, you need to remember that the HJ has final say, period. Bring spares and run it past the HJ before you even sit down for the player meeting.

How accessible is a HJ at larger GPs to review this kind of thing before an event?

How does one become a judge?

So if I have a blaze commando on the field
and my opponent has two 2/2 zombies and I use a homing lightning on one. Do I get two 1/1 soldiers or four 1/1 soldiers from blaze commando?

Step one is to contact a nearby L2+ judge, or your Regional Coordinator so they can put you in touch with an L2+ in your area.

Once you get to that point, it's basically a simple checklist: We ask that you judge two sanctioned events in the 6 months prior to you testing (so you know what judging actually entails before you sign on), that you pass an exam covering what you're expected to know rules-and-policy-wise as an L1, and to "pass" an interview which is mostly designed to make sure you aren't a complete assclown.

Blaze Commando basically only creates tokens for each instance of the word "Deals". Since Homing LIghtning only says "deals" once, you only get one set of dudes, because it's only doing damage "once", despite that hitting multiple things.

For it to trigger Blaze Commando multiple times, it has to say "deals" multiple times, like Punish the Enemy or Searing Blaze.

This is a dumb question but something i'd like to know for in regards to Comp REL.

If playing with Kher Keep can I use the card "Kobolds of Kher Keep" from Legends as tokens generated by Kher Keep kept in my deckbox without infractions? I mean technically it isn't a token card but at the same time it can suffice as one in this case. Presume also that the card is also either in a different sleeve colour or unsleeved in regards to comparing to the main deck and SB.

Simple question, does Mizzix's generic-mana cost-reduction effect work on a spell's optional Buyback cost?

If I cast a creature that has +1/+1 counters on it to evolve Renegade Krasis, does the creature that entered the battlefield get affected by his second ability or does it resolve before the second creature enters the battlefield?

>does it resolve before the second creature enters the battlefield?
How could it resolve before the other creature enters, if the other creature has to enter for Krasis to evolve.

Evolve is an ETB effect.
So your creature has to be on the battlefield before RK can Evolve.
Which means the effect which is triggered by its own evolution will also apply to the creature which entered the battlefield.

I used do that with Master Biomancer in my accountancy deck.
I took it apart because putting down and removig counters as creatures evolved, and RK triggered further counter-gain, and then removing counters with Ooze Flux, only to add more counters took far too long, and was no fun for anyone.

I played black white warriors last year. Most of the good stuff is now out of rotation. Is there a current deck that follows similar play style that I could look at getting?

i cast tidehallow sculler and my opponent respond to his trigger with pte will my sculler abilty resolve letting me see his hand?

Yes, the ability exists independant of the source once triggered. And since he is exiling it before the first ability resolves, the second will trigger and resolve first (returning nothing) and then when the first one resolves you get to exile a card permanently (as well as look at the hand)

I didn't think it worked that way, but I considered it a possibility. There could have been a difference between entering the battlefield and being on the battlefield I didn't understand, but fortunately I appear to be right and there is no difference like with casting spells and already cast spells.

>proceeds to act in a manner befitting an assclown, douchecanoe, or shitbaron

related question that i'm pretty sure i already know the answer to

in my casual playgroup when lifelink is in question they'll say "gain two, then lose four" and move the lifedie up then down, because the other way round sometimes results in going below 1 life when they won't die due to lifelink. but really, the damage/lifegain happens simultaneously, right? as a sum it goes x +2 -4 = x -2 and ya'll just skip to the x -2 part.

another case is if someone dies despite lifegain and has something that triggers when lifegain happens that trigger never occurs because they have died

right?

>proxies question
Let's say i have a one-of Nissa Vastwood Seer in my deck. No other flippies and flipping Nissa all the time is a pain, so I put the actual card in with tokens. For the card in my deck I'm using an unmarked checklist card, identical to the one in the picture. Can I get picked up by a judge for not marking which specific walker it is? Reasonably speaking, when I have the Nissa in my tokens pile and I'm obviously not casting any other walker, is it still an offense to not mark my checklist card or do I absolutely have to sharpy that cardboard?

...

If I recall correctly, the answer was a hard "no" for a very long time because they didn't want people to think they were nontokens, didn't want them to get mixed in the deck, etc.

I believe it's now up to the HJ, but the card in question needs to be in visibly different sleeves and ideally not legal in that format. Run it past the HJ for your event before you use them.

Sure! Buyback is an additional cost, and you tack that onto the total cost BEFORE you factor in reductions like Mizzix.

Your creature spell resolves, which triggers Evolve. It has to enter the battlefield for Evolve to trigger, so unless they fuck with it it'll be on the field as that trigger resolves.

Wouldn't know, I'm afraid! I don't keep up with the meta much.

Yes. Abilities on the stack exist independent of their sources.

Damage involving lifelink happens concurrently with other damage. If I have 10 life and a 4/4 lifelinker and you attack me with two 10/10s, and I block one, there isn't a point where I'm at 0 life. I simultaneously lose 10 life and gain 4 life, putting me at 6.

If someone dies despite lifegain and has a trigger of some kind, that trigger never fires. It TRIGGERS, but before it can go on the stack State Based Actions see a player at 0 or less and remove that player from the game, taking everything they own with them, and none of their triggers go on the stack because they're no longer in the game.

You absolutely can. Even if it's "obvious" you're not casting any other planeswalker, you could have one in your deckbox, and using an unmarked one theoretically allows you to be playing that checklist as 5 different cards and selecting which one you want at the moment you play it. I can see them not PENALIZING you if you literally could not cast anything but Nissa, but they'd still give you a direct instruction to mark Nissa on the checklist. And that's best case scenario.

Also, not a proxy.

Okay that's pretty clear. Guess I will texta that card.
>not a proxy
Help me google-man, what's the difference between a proxy and a checklist card? I thought they were functionally the same thing.

>Wouldn't know, I'm afraid! I don't keep up with the meta much.
There's nothing around in standard that is like KTK warriors user is shit outta luck. possibly monowhite humanoids but eh

Last week my shop is selling dragons of tahkir packs at normal price. Should I do a impromptu booster draft with my three friends at the store or no?

A proxy, officially, is defined as a "counts as X" card created by a Head Judge to replace a card damaged beyond playability during their event. For example, if a card got soda spilled on it, or it fell under the table and got torn when you went to scoot your chair. It's ONLY to replace a damaged/destroyed card, and ONLY good for that one event.

Checklists are checklists. They stand in for your DFCs, but are not proxies because they aren't issued by a HJ to replace a damaged card, and are good for multiple events.

Counterfeits aren't proxies either, they're counterfeits.

You do you, cupcake. If it sounds fun, do it.

If I counter an activated or triggered ability with something like Voidslime, does the card that activated that ability go to the graveyard or does it just cancel the ability?

Just stops the ability.

I wanna know more about Jarrod Williams and the 6-month suspension for possessing judge documents without judge certification (when those documents are freely available online FROM WOTC)
I use an app to look up the rules!
In short this fantastic tale has me in suspense come back user I WANT MORE OF IT

Sooo
"Sickest play of the weekend: Ritual, Infernal Tutor, hold priority crack LED. Response Opp:Dismember his own Thought-Knot Seer. No Hellbent."
Thoughts?

Thoughts as in what's my opinion on the savagery of that counter, or whether it's legal? Because it's legal.

LED will crack and empty his hand but Infernal Tutor doesn't resolve until TKS player passes priority with it on the stack. That's when he kills TKS and forces his opponent off Hellbent so Infernal doesn't DT.

Both, I guess.

It's pretty savage. It's also legal.

Cast Tutor and crack LED in response to go hellbent, but Tutor's still on the stack. Opponent has to pass priority for Tutor to resolve, and uses that priority to kill their Seer. Seer dies, triggers, he has target opponent draw a card.

Tutor begins to resolve, and the player is no longer hellbent, so he resolves it 'normally', revealing whatever he drew and tutoring for a card with the same name instead of tutoring for whatever he wants. It's pretty savage. Probably more savage than "In response to Brainstorm, flash in Notion Thief."

If I play someone and sac Time Machine along with a one-drop does that mean even if the next time I play against him is in a sanctioned tournament I still get to put that one-drop out T1?

>Silver-bordered question
"Sure, why not?"

(actual tournament answer: lolno)

I control sheltering ancient in a 3-player game, and the guy to my left (whose turn is right before mine) cast duneblast, choosing sheltering ancient as the creature to survive. He then says that sheltering ancient suicides on my upkeep. Is that true?

He is correct. During your upkeep, Cumulative Upkeep will trigger, and you'll place an age counter on Sheltering Ancient. Then, for each age counter on it, you will have to put a +1/+1 counter on a creature an opponent controls. Since you cannot pay that cost (because your opponents have no creatures), you'll take the default action of "sacrifice it"

Is this a mana ability? Can it be responded to in any way?

Yes and no, in that order.

Selvala, Creator of Corner Cases, Hopefully Last of Her Name, Hated Among The Black Legion, has a mana ability. This is because it meets the following criteria:

1) Is an activated ability
2) Is not a loyalty ability
3) Could add mana to a mana pool as it resolves
4) Does not target anything

So, it's a mana ability. It resolves immediately, does not use the stack, and cannot be responded to.

Work's done, so I've got to run a couple errands before I head home, but I will be answering questions again within an hour or so!

So "could" is enough for it to be considered a mana ability? There's always a chance she'll tap for no mana... Interesting. Thanks for the answer.

Yep. If it has an ability that reasonably could add mana to a mana pool as it resolves, it's a mana ability (well, for that criteria, anyway).

Galvanic:

Say my oponent is playing Ghostly flicker targetting 2 mulldrifters, and me, the poor stompy player, have a Vines of Vastwood in my hand.

If I target one of the mulldrifters, does the Ghostly Flicker fizzle completely or just for that elemental?

Ghostly flicker has two targets. If you make one of them illegal, the game does as much as it can and flickers the other one. The spell is only countered if ALL of its targets are illegal.