MTG Magic The Gathering Ask A Judge - Pre-Friday Edition

I should really get on my region's Slack. I've been SLACKING off.

How do you feel about "create" as a game action/keyword?

Love it for the same reason I love "dies". It doesn't actually change any functionality, it saves space on the card, it has flavor to it, it helps clarify things a bit (I really feel that if Kalitas said "CREATE a 2/2 Zombie" there'd be way less confusion over people thinking the opponent gets the token) and it possibly opens up design space in the future.

>there'd be way less confusion over people thinking the opponent gets the token

That was a thing?

Surprisingly, yes. Because the "put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield" didn't specify whose control (because it doesn't need to) and was in the same line as your opponent's creatures wanting to die, people interpreted it as THEY get the zombie.

If I had a blade of selves equipped on Narset what exactly would happen?

Not much. You'd attack with her, which would trigger her "win the game by daisy-chaning Time Walks" effect, and the Myriad on Blade of Selves. The copies would be put into play already attacking and thus not trigger "Whenever Narset attacks" on themselves, and then all but one Narset of your choice would summarily be placed in the graveyard as a State-Based Action.

Stupid question, but is there a rules word for things creatures do as opposed to things players do?

I know a creature can atrack, block, die, enter, leave. I know I can Level Up one of my creatures with Level Up, I can Investigate, I can Cycle a card.

You get what I mean?

I grok what you're asking, but I don't know that there's a specific word for it. It's mostly just a common sense thing.

Fair enough. I'm just looking at the design of rules and the game and what not.

Not your domain, I know. But it sort of fits in with the whole, why does Rain of Gore not trigger off of Lifelink, kind of.

Technically Rain of Gore doesn't trigger off of anything.

What happens if i exile a morphed/manifested creature with Duplicant? I assume he gets the stats of the face of the card.

*front face

At the request of my group, my Narset deck has been powered down so now I only cheat out planeswalkers. No more extra turns/extra combats unless Ral gets ulted.

Good thing I started with proxies, it would suck to not be able to use lots of $$ worth of Time Walks.

You are correct. Duplicant looks at "the exiled card", which means it's constantly checking the card as it exists in exile. That also means if you hit something with a CDA, like Lord of Extinction, the Duplicant's P/T constantly updates because the exiled creature's P/T constantly updates even in exile.

>Emrakul adjusted this rule to say that even when controlling another player, you can't look at that player's sideboard, nor can you have that player access the sideboard.
But what if you make them cast a Wish?

Then it finds nothing because you're the one calling the shots for their turn, and you're not permitted to look at their sideboard.

Evening bump

If I cast a "take an extra turn" spell during my opponents turn by whatever means such as quicken, is my next turn the extra turn or the regular turn

Pretty much all of the "extra turn" cards except 2mrakul are "Take an extra turn after this one", which means it inserts the additional turn immediately after the one we're in. Normally that doesn't matter, but it does for the purposes of "Can I attack with my Medomai right away, or have to wait until the turn AFTER" or say, Final Fortune.

Probably answered a million times by now but

Act of treason, does it hit only the creature or the enchantments, artifacts too?

Equipment will stay attached, and so will most auras (any "Enchant creature/permanent you control" will fall off, though), but control of them doesn't change. If I steal a creature that has a Sword of Light and Shadow on it and it connects, the owner will gain 3 life and return a target creature card to their hand.

Auras and equipments stay under the opponent control. They remain attached to the creature and still provide their passive effects, but you can't use their activated abilities.

The way rain of gore is worded, coupled with the way lifelink is worded, means they don't interact as you'd think

Lifelink used to be a triggered ability and rain of gore used to work against lifelink, but they changed the way lifelink works, it's now an ability that changes the way damage is dealt by the source with lifelink, so instead of the lifelink ability being the one gaining life, it is the damage itself causing the life gain, and rain of gore doesn't say if damage would cause a player to gain life, it only says, if a spell or ability would cause a player to gain life

It's strange but it is what it is

favorite lgs?

That's also why the wording on Tainted Remedy is what it is.

I'm a pretty big fan of a shop up in Albuquerque.

So if I have Invocation of Saint Traft on a creature that was stolen he gets the effect of invocation of saint traft?

Yes, because that puts the effect on the creature itself. The Aura is still controlled and owned by you, but that doesn't matter because Invocation puts an ability on the creature, and that's controlled by your opponent.

I have a weird one for you gA:

Does Armadillo Cloak stack with lifelink? I'm pretty sure it does because I'm using an eternal masters reprint and it specifies that you gain life equal to the damage dealt without using the lifelink keyword.

It does for that exact reason. For a while it was errata'd to Lifelink, but when they changed Lifelink from a trigger to a static effect with M10, they decided to keep everything equal to its last printing; cards like Loxodon Warhammer kept Lifelink because they'd been printed with the actual keyword, and old cards like Armadillo Cloak kept the original trigger wording, because that was the only version that physically existed, and having some that said "Lifelink" but WEREN'T lifelink was non-ideal.

So the short answer to your question, sans history lesson, is "Yes". You'll gain life as the damage is dealt from Lifelink, then gain that much again as the Armadillo Cloak's trigger resolves.

I appreciate the history lesson my man, now I know more than I did coming in. You're consistently the hero we never asked for, and probably don't deserve, but desperately needed.

Hey, all this pointless knowledge and free time had to be useful somewhere right?

Now if only I were any good at building decks.

So if I have a mutavault that is a creature, and it blocks and kills an Orzhov Pontiff, the Pontiff can haunt the mutavult because the mutavault is a creature, but then what happens when the turn ends?

Nothin'. The trigger only checks that the target is a creature exactly twice: When the trigger goes on the stack and needs a target, and again as it goes to resolve. If the creature stops being a creature later on, it's still got the lingering delayed trigger set up by Haunt.

Are there any reasonable ways to cast a cmc 3 B/W creature as if it had flash (the creature obviously does not have flash) without splitting into 3 or more colors?

Entomb -> Shallow Grave

Thanks.

Vedalken Orrery.

Wow I'm stupid. Thanks for the $2 answer to create my "Haha fuck you for attacking" deck.

If I have a foil Graf Rats and a regular Midnight Scavengers is the melded Chittering Host considered foil or non-foil?

That deck better have Holy Day, Darkness, and Batwing Brume.

Yes.

No, no, and yes. Also includes deathtouch stuff, pic, and Retaliate.

Do you still have to pay the attach cost on the second effect?

Nope! The activated ability "Equip" is the most common way to attach an equipment to something, but not the only way. When you're just flat out told "Attach an equipment to something" like Sigarda's Aid says to, it just does that. You attach it, no strings... attached.

And with that, bedtime. More thread tomorrow kids.

Can I activate the activated ability of a permanent whose ability has no legal target? Specifically, I want to know if I can activate Tortured Existence's activated ability with no cards in my graveyard.

You must have legal targets before paying an ability's costs.

Hey judge, two questions.

1. If i dredge something at, say, my draw step, and my opponent responds with surgical, what happens?
If I respond to the surgical with an instant speed draw spell to dredge the same target again, what happens now?

2. Wasteland timing vs DD/thespian's. Can I waste the copied DD in response to "create Marit" trigger, or do I have to use it like stifle, and waste something in response to thespian's copy ability?

Thanks in advance

How much do you hate it when people play Sylvan Library?

Why would he? Haven't you read the oracle text? It's perfectly clear

Because he says things like "Sylvan Library is not a real card".

I was at a RPTQ where the format was EMA sealed and before we started the head judge told us that anyone who casts brainstorm on their upkeep with a sylvan library out would get a DQ. He then explained that was a joke to break the ice and after laughing for a few seconds put on a serious face and told us: "but seriously, don't do that shit unless you want to piss me off."

See, this guy gets it.
You need to learn how to have fun.

How could he hate it? That card doesn't exist.

Nope. If a spell or ability has targets, you need to actually have legal targets in order to activate/cast it. You can't throw a Shatter at nothing to up your storm count, and you can't activate Existence without a creature card in your graveyard to target.

>first thing
Your opponent can't "respond" with Surgical Extraction. Dredge is a replacement effect that doesn't use the stack; it replaces your draw with "put the top N cards of your library into your graveyard, then return whichever Dredge card whose replacement effect you were using to your hand". For other stuff they can respond to the spell or ability that's going to draw you cards (before they know for sure you'll Dredge), but they can't respond to the turn-based action of drawing a card. They'd have to use Extraction in your Upkeep.

>second thing
They get a Marit Lage if they sacrifice the counter-less Depths as a result of the triggered ability. If you Wasteland it with that trigger on the stack, it'll be gone when the trigger resolves, so they CAN'T sacrifice it. Popping the original in response to Stage's activated ability works too, since that'll counter the ability.

>third thing
I don't like lists with two things

Sylvan Library? That's not a real card.

To explain: It's a running joke with a lot of Judges to pretend Library doesn't exist, because it's a card that basically forces us to change how you play the game while you have it out. With digital shit the game itself can keep track of what cards you drew so it 'knows' what your options as far as putting the cards back are, but in paper there's no way to distinguish "cards I drew this turn" from the rest of your hand unless you keep them physically separate. That means that people playing Library have to be careful to keep their draws away from the rest of their hand until they finish resolving the Sylvan trigger, or things get ugly.

As for the joke about Brainstorm, the problem is that people who use it in Constructed formats at least tend to know how to use it (the keeping cards separate thing), but in EMA it was... problematic, especially with any draw effects you could use during your upkeep, and double especially with Brainstorm.

ga
why don't they retcon 'flip' cards to be called rotate cards?
rotate card is the best name for them because they rotate you see, plus this leaves DFCs able to be called flip cards because they actually flip, unlike rotate cards.

Because they already named them "flip" cards and DFCs don't flip, they Transform.

How does Syl-
>wait, hear me out!
-van Library interact with Dredge? (Or other replacement effects, for that matter?)

I choose to use Sylvan Library to draw two more cards. I replace all my three draws with dredges. There are now no cards in my hand drawn this turn. Does Sylvan Library extract 8 life anyway on the grounds that I put nothing back, or does it just stare weirdly as the ability fizzles for lack of valid choices?

But DFCs rotate too, just around another axis.

*doesn't hear you out*
blogs.magicjudges.org/rulestips/2016/05/sylvan-library-dredge-and-abundance/

You choose 2 cards you drew this turn, but you can't because they aren't there. Because of the way it's worded, nothing happens. Now, say you only replaced 2 draws with Dredge. You'd pick the one card you did draw this turn, and put it back unless you pay 4 life.

If Olivia is on the field and I have 2 cards in hand
Then cast Bloodhall Priest and discard the final card to give it a counter & haste
Can I order my triggers so that Bloodhall deals 2 damage on entry? I think so

You cannot, because the Priest's trigger has an intervening-if clause. Those are always worded as "Whenever TRIGGER, if CONDITION, EFFECT". When the trigger event fires, it checks to see if that middle condition (in this case, "you have no cards in hand") is true. If that condition is true, the trigger is placed on the stack, and the condition is checked again as it goes to resolve. If the condition is NOT true, the trigger is never put on the stack. The condition has to be true both times, and when Bloodhall Priest entered the battlefield you had a card in your hand, so no trigger for you.

Oh no this is bad news for me
I use both of these cards
What is the next best thing? I feel half my deck doesn't work now

I mean, it's still a 5/5 for 4 with Haste that domes for 2 when it swings that very same turn.

Can abilities trigger or be activated during cleanup? For example, say I have 8 cards in my hand and discard a land while Gitrog or Liliana's caress is on the field?

Normally nobody gets priority in the Cleanup Step, which means nobody can activate abilities or cast spells. It is possible for it to happen though, either from an SBA needing to be performed or a trigger needing to go on the stack. If either of those are true, we get a round of SBAs, then any triggers waiting are put on the stack, and then all players will get priority at least once. After that, the game creates another Cleanup Step to see if it goes normally. If an SBA needs to be performed or a trigger triggers during THAT Cleanup step, we get another round of priority and then the game makes another Cleanup Step after that one, and this repeats until a cleanup step happens normally.

Hmm I guess you're right
Also using an enabler to basically give my creatures flash can come in handy. Rakdos is my comfort zone

So if i draw off Gitrog after discarding to hand size, I have to discard to hand size again?

Olivia doesn't really give anything flash. Yes, she's a discard outlet for Madness creatures, but you need to be able to trigger her to use her for that, and considering her trigger condition is "another creature entering the battlefield under your control" You'd need Olivia, your Madness dude, and then some creature with flash.

Yep. First thing that happens in the Cleanup step is the AP discards down to their maximum hand size. Then after that, all damage marked on permanents is removed and all "until end of turn" and "this turn" effects end simultaneously.

After that we do the SBA/trigger check; this is where you'd draw a card from Gitrog if you discarded a land. Now the game creates another cleanup step, and the first part of that step is to discard down to your maximum hand size because you drew a card after doing so last time.

Basically Gitrog + 8 cards in hand + cleanup step means you can just keep digging one card at a time until you run out of lands to discard.

Shenanigans question: if I have 4 Bone Saws all equipped to some creature or another, and a Ghirapur Aether Grid on the battlefield, can I tap the Saws to activate the Aether Grid? If so, do they still give the creature +1/+0 each? Does the creature have to tap too? Trying to figure out if it's worth basing a deck around that, Pia and Kiran, and Eldrazi Displacer/that one 3-mana white "blink everything you want" card in SOI.

Sounds like fun, thanks GA.

The real fun thing is attacking with a Wild Mongrel that people just kinda squint their eyes at and then say "no blocks" and then you proceed to discard a land, draw another, repeat until it's dealing 15 or 20 damage instead of 2 or 3.

>Can I tap the saws
Yes.

>Do they still give the creature a buff
Yes.

>Does the creature have to tap too
No.

A lot of people will rotate their equipment 90 degrees and put it under the creature, so the text box is visible, but the Equipment isn't actually tapped. It's also possible to tap the equipment without 'turning it off' because an equipment being tapped doesn't stop anything.

>You'd need Olivia, your Madness dude, and then some creature with flash.
or another discard outlet, even if it's only once per turn.

>A lot of people will rotate their equipment 90 degrees and put it under the creature, so the text box is visible, but the Equipment isn't actually tapped.
I have NEVER seen anyone do this. Every time I've seen someone enchant or equip a card, they slide it underneath whatever it's enchanting/equipped to, and will tap the bloc of stuff when the thing attacks.

I'll admit I was guilty of the sideways Equipment/Aura for a long time, because that's what everyone in my playgroup did and it took me a while to break the habit once I thought about it. I understand the 'why', they're trying to leave the textbox of the attached permanent visible so you can see easily what's going on. I prefer to put mine underneath the creature, offset a little bit above and to the left, cascading like in this picture.

But gA, none of those cards have cascade ;^)

Don't they, though?

But how can a 0 cascade into a 3?

I never said that was the order they were cast, did I?

Not so much as other cards. Actually I want to try it out with Gitrog, cause the synergy looks very promising.

Opponet cast Force of Will. Can I activate Spellskite in response even though it is an invalid target?

You pay two life and nothing happens.

Yep! Each instance of Cascade is a separate trigger; multiple instances aren't redundant, and a spell already having Cascade can gain more instances just fine.

You CAN. It doesn't do anything, but you CAN.

>It doesn't do anything
No, it DOES nothing

Calm down, Hanna.

>triple cascade for 8
Wanderer pls

My thought with spellskite would be force would attempt to change targets, the target would be illegal, and Force would fizzle. so this is incorrect?

It attempts to change target, the new target is illegal, so it can't change.