MTG Magic The Gathering Ask A Judge - Long Live The Thread Edition

Nah. Each Meld pair is two parts: one that does the melding, and then 'the rest'. Let's look at Graf Rats. It says "At the beginning of combat on your turn, if you both own and control Graf Rats and a creature named Midnight Scavengers, exile them, then meld them into Chittering Host."

So, if you have one Graf Rats and two Midnight Scavengers, Graf Rats will trigger and you will choose a creature named Midnight Scavengers that you both own and control (a creature- one, singular) and exile them, then meld them.

If you have two Graf Rats and one Scavengers, both Rats will trigger, the first trigger to resolve will exile Graf Rats and the Scavengers and bring them back melded, then the second trigger to resolve will do nothing because you no longer both own and control Graf Rats and a card named Midnight Scavengers.

Thanks man!

I'm a little confused on the "how many cards you've drafted this round" cards. Think Custodi Peacekeeper. Am I supposed to be counting how many cards I've taken from the current pack?

Well, the majority of the time it'll just be "What pick are you on". I'd say it might be prudent to have "Picks from previous packs" as one pile, and "picks from THIS pack" as another, for shit like that, so you can easily count it when needed. I'm sure there'll be more info in the FAQ.

What is the most common mistake someone will make before they lose.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. The most common play mistake people make, which leads to a loss? The most common mistake people make that leads to a Game Loss penalty?

loss or penalty if that is more common?

Strategically? Probably not correctly analyzing who's the beatdown.

Penalty-wise? Maybe tardiness? Since DEC/HCE isn't a GL anymore, that reduced the number of GLs given out by quite a bit.

If I ult the new Ob Nix, my opponent controls the emblem's trigger, so it's on them to remember it, correct?

I would bet the single most common Game Loss penalty given is Tardiness.

Behind that would be Deck/Decklist Problem.

It's on them, because they are the owner and controller of the emblem.

That said, you are more than free to remind them of their trigger if they happen to miss it.

Thanks for the confirmation

Opponent Harmless Offerings me his Demonic Pact. Can I Disperse it on my untap step as soon as my mana is good to go, or are we immediately put into the upkeep?

's what I do

The first time in your turn that you have priority is during your Upkeep step, with the "you gon' die" trigger already on the stack.

Could you Summary Dismissal the death trigger away?

Sure. Then you'd have until your next upkeep to get rid of the Pact.

i had this interaction last night and wanted to make sure i understand all of it.
relevant battlefield:
my turn
opponent controls an avacyn whose flip trigger is about to resolve and two spell quellers exiling two of my bygone bishops
i control one spell queller exiling coco
avacyn wraths, killing all spell quellers
how does ordering the triggers happen?

Active Player will put their triggers on the stack first, then NAP does the same. So in this scenario, you'd put your Spell Queller trigger on the stack, then your opponent would put their triggers above it. Theirs would resolve, each letting you cast the Bishop associated with it. Then yours would resolve, letting him CoCo.

cool, so my triggers go on the stack first, i don't choose?

Right. If multiple triggers are trying to go onto the stack simultaneously, AP puts all their triggers (in the order of their choosing) first, then NAP, period. The only "choice" anyone has in this matter is what order THEIR triggers will be placed on the stack if they have more than one.

The top card of my deck is phased out.
What are all the consequence of this?

"Sure, why not?"

I cast the new Ulamog but my opponent only has one permanent, can I just target it twice? Otherwise I'd have to target one of mine too right?

On another note if I cast Ulamog and I control Sanctum of Ugin in the same scenario. Since both cards use "when you cast" can you stack the triggers in a way that will make the exile ability fizzle on the Sanctum because you will sacrifice it first?

>114.3. The same target can't be chosen multiple times for any one instance of the word "target" on a spell or ability. If the spell or ability uses the word "target" in multiple places, the same object, player, or zone can be chosen once for each instance of the word "target" (as long as it fits the targeting criteria). This rule applies both when choosing targets for a spell or ability and when changing targets or choosing new targets for a spell or ability (see rule 114.6).

It only says target once, and it's not a may.
>Otherwise I'd have to target one of mine too right?
Yup.

What's the best way to handle a player that cheats multiple times throughout the game yet I've caught him on it every time?
I've tried calling a judge on him, but FNM is 'supposed to be a friendly format so no DQs."

And after I've called him on it, he continues to try to cheat

Presuming to know more than the opponent.
Second would be not accounting for opponents' actions.

You can't target the same thing twice because the ability only uses one instance of the word "Target". If your opponent only has one permanent, Nulamog will have to eat one of yorus too.

Yes, you could select your Sanctum as the other target, but have the Sanctum trigger go on the stack above Nulamog's, such that you still get value out of it.

That depends. If he's just repeatedly wrong because he's dumb, call a Judge on it every time.

If he's cheating, call a Judge on it every time, and point out this exact passage in the Judging At Regular document, which is a TWO PAGE DOCUMENT that governs Regular Rules Enforcement Level events, like FNM.

Certain actions will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Every effort should be made to educate players before and during events; however, ignorance is not an acceptable defence of these actions. Any player engaging in the following must be removed from your event and, at the Organizer’s discretion, removed from the venue entirely:

Aggressive, violent, harassing or abusive behavior (physical or verbal).
Intentionally and knowingly breaking or letting an opponent break game or tournament rules, or lying, in order to gain an advantage. “Bluffing” about cards opponents can’t normally see is permitted.
Determining match outcomes by incentives, coercion, or outside-the-game methods, or gambling on any part of a tournament.
Theft (including things like replacing a card in a draft with one from a player’s binder).
Removing players in this way is called a Disqualification, and we must always try to educate our players on why these actions are unacceptable. Also let the player know that while your decision is final, the Judge Program would still like to hear his or her side of the story. You can contact your local Regional Coordinator, high level Judge, or WPN Representative to guide you through the Disqualification Process.

tl;dr there is no such thing as "friendly format so no DQs". If your store is knowingly allowing players to violate the rules and refusing to penalize them in line with the governing documents for Sanctioned events, they are at risk of having their past events invalidated (which could fuck with the PWP and byes of their players), as well as losing their sanctioning.

To be fair, if you're casting newlamog and your opponent only has one permanent, you shouldn't worry too much

Could cause trouble if *you* only have one permanent to chose.

>A creature with 5 toughness
trick question detected it could be a 0/5

Dismissing the you lose once should remove that option from the pact for good. You choose a mode when it goes on the stack so any mode getting countered should still be used up.

>Then you'd have until your next upkeep to get rid of the Pact.
what? but the fourth mode is already chosen. i think that once the modes are chosen (with stifle/summary dismissal on the lose trigger) then it's a do-nothing enchantment...

>choose one that hasn't been chosen

If I'm interested in being a judge, what should i do?

I really like rules, is it worth it?

archangel avacyn question
>when she enters the battlefield, things you control have indestruct til end o turn
can I respond to that trigger by doom blading one of their creatures? can I respond to that trigger by doom blading avacyn herself? if angels are all female and all angels can't reproduce, how do we know they're all female? if a non-angel dies during the turn avacyn enters (ie nantuko husk) she still flips next upkeep, the indestructibility doesn't prevent sacrifice effects right?

Do conspiracy cards count towards your deck total?
Are conspiracy cards allowed in edh/commander?
>t. someone who never played conspiracy

what is your opinion on the wording of Kozilek's Return? How bs is it that the trigger is a "may", and once the five damage is chosen, it is too late to respond, and if one DOES respond by sac-ing selfless spirit, for example, then Koz Return can be not exiled and sit in the gv until next time?

Can you walk me through casting a spell?
When do I have to choose modes, declare targets, pay mana, etc? If I have something like Mana Confluence, is the life loss taken during the casting portion?

Also, how the fuck does Dominating Licid work?

c

>Do conspiracy cards count towards your deck total?
no
>Are conspiracy cards allowed in edh/commander?
no. the cardtype 'Conspiracy' is not allowed in constructed formats. other cardtypes from the conspiracy sets are legal in commander

r u sayin you can't respond to the second go round of kosi's return? sounds like some major bullshit goin on here

>if a paladin falls in the woods and no one is around, do you still gain life?

>Do conspiracy cards count towards your deck total?
They do not, but two do effect your deck size.
>Are conspiracy cards allowed in edh/commander?
No. They are only allowed "Conspiracy Draft".
Though they work as intended in any Limited formats.

...

I won a conspiracy draft with worldknit before.
It's just that you gotta either draft REALLY smart or get lucky

All conspiracys are actually listed on the legacy/vintage/commander banlist. I dont know why they dont just put something in the comp rules to keep banlists from getting cluttered

Not a judge, but the trigger is "when you cast X". So they cast emmy, the trigger goes on the stack, you have a chance to respond, then when the trigger starts to resolve kozy's return says "hey, you wanna cast me?" So if you popped a selfless spirit in response they can just say "nah" and leave it in the graveyard. If the trigger was optional you would HAVE to cast it with your fatties, even on a clear board.

If they say "cast emmy, cast return" thats a shortcut. If you have responses to the trigger they dont have to stay to their word.

All conspiracys are actually listed on the legacy/vintage/commander banlist. I dont know why they dont just put something in the comp rules to keep banlists from getting cluttered

Not a judge, but the trigger is "when you cast X". So they cast emmy, the trigger goes on the stack, you have a chance to respond, then when the trigger starts to resolve kozy's return says "hey, you wanna cast me?" So if you popped a selfless spirit in response they can just say "nah" and leave it in the graveyard. If the trigger was optional you would HAVE to cast it with your fatties, even on a clear board.

If they say "cast emmy, cast return" thats a shortcut. If you have responses to the trigger they dont have to stay to their word.

>opponent has things
>start to cast nahiri's wrath
>chuck the card on the table, start to tap my mana
>"negate"
>haven't declared my discardy things
>weeeeellll i discard zero cards. X is zero cmc is zero
on that note, what is the correct order for casting Nahiri's Wrath & madness cards? it worked in my favor this time, but I wan to do this right

>If you have responses to the trigger they dont have to stay to their word
>they can just say "nah"
sounds janky
r u sure about this

Good call, I goofed.

You should talk to a local judge and ask about shadowing them. I like being a judge, but it depends on your metric of 'worth it'. I enjoy Judging. If you're wanting to get into it for monetary compensation, you're better off finding a second part-time job.

Yes, yes, Crystal Gems, correct.

No and no, in that order.

Well, if it weren't a "may" it would auto-fire whether they want it to or not.

Like P1P1 Worldknit, P1P2 Cogwork Grinder!

I will get to you, but yours is a little lengthy, so lemme get the others real quick

>Nahiri's Wrath
Technically they couldn't cast that Negate. We'd back that up, possibly give them a Warning, and then I'd tell you to finish casting Nahiri's Wrath (you'll probably do X is 0, since you know they have the Negate now)

>Madness
You cast Wrath, declaring a value for X and selecting up to X targets, then discarding X cards as part of paying the costs. Any Madness cards you discard will go to exile due to Madness' replacement effect, and their triggers will go on the stack. You'll get your chance to cast the Madness spells via that trigger before Nahiri's Wrath resolves.

>Just say nah
Yep. The trigger goes on the stack whether they want to use it or not; the "may" comes about as it's resolving. So, if they say "Cast BLAH, triggering Kozi's return, exiling it to sweep for 5" what they're actually doing is proposing a shortcut. If you accept the shortcut, they're bound to it (this is to prevent people from 'fishing' for a response and then changing their minds). If you interrupt their shortcut by responding with something, they are no longer locked to their proposed shortcut, because you declined it.

>it would auto-fire whether they want it to or not.
wouldn't it be nice if the world were avacyn, the purifier where you hit yourself whether you want to or not

>Spells
So, first you announce that you're casting it and put it onto the stack from whatever zone it was in. Usually this is your hand, but sometimes it's another zone (from exile with Rebound, library with Future Sight, graveyard with Flashback, for example).

Next, you choose modes (if modal), announce intent to pay alternate/additional costs, announces the value of any variables in the spell (X stuff), how you'll pay hybrid mana symbols, and how you'll pay Phyrexian symbols.

Next, you select targets, if the spell targets.

Next, you choose how to divide stuff, if the spell divides stuff (usually counters or damage). Each thing you're dividing between has to get at least 1 of whatever you're dividing.

Next the game checks to make sure the spell can legally be cast. This is kind of a "cover our asses" step for the rules-writers, it fixed some weird stuff before.

Next, the total cost of the spell is tallied up; we take the base or alternate cost, add on any additional costs, discount any cost reductions, then apply 3Sphere if relevant.

Next, the player casting the spell gets a chance to activate mana abilities (so here's where you could use Mana Confluence in the middle of casting your spell).

Next, all costs are paid in whatever order you like.

The spell is now cast.

Dominating Licid works by becoming an Aura with enchant creature and attaching itself to target creature, and setting up the special action that you may pay U any time you have priority to end that effect and turn it back into a 1/1 Licid.

koz return guy. Would there be an alternate way for the card to be worded so that you choose whether you want to or not, and then the damage goes on the stack, giving your opponent a chance to respond before the damage happens?

If it just said "if you have cast X this turn, you may cast CARD from the graveyard without paying its mana cost". That might work. Or when you cast something, it gains flashback for 0.

>Like P1P1 Worldknit, P1P2 Cogwork Grinder!
That's pretty much the only time it's playable.
Worth it when it works though.

it's fun to do olivia chains

I only answer questions about cards and rules that exist, not hypothetical cards or rules.

Oh I know. Second time I did Conspiracy I windmill slammed a P1P1 Worldknit and was ready for Trash.dec and got passed a Grinder.

Well, it is now time for bed. More thread tomorrow!

>I [...] answer questions about cards and rules that exist,
Yet you passed up on answering !

Thanks, gA. You're a national treasure.

>declaration of independence

>silver border
may as well play with yu gi o

But he did answer:

Hey, I answered that!

And I am now at the office.

Doomsday is on the stack when it exiles your deck/graveyard, so when it resolves it's in the graveyard right?

Correct. Placing a resolved spell into the graveyard is the literal actual final step of resolving it, after you have completed every instruction on the spell itself. You'll search for 5 cards, exile the rest, put those 5 on top of your library in any order, lose half your life rounded up, and THEN put Doomsday in the graveyard.

what are the most tricky interactions currently relevant in the standard meta?

It's mostly Spell Queller stuff; people trying to use Blinky or Essence Flux to perma-exile a spell and failing, or "who casts their stuff first when two Spell Quellers die at the same time"

In the latter case it'd be Non-Active Player resolving first, cause AP's Queller would trigger first?

Correct. Simultaneous triggers go on the stack in AP/NAP order, so NAP's triggers get their shot to resolve before AP's triggers.

Yus! Glad I know that one.

Well, you know what they say.

Can a spell that does damage to a player be redirected to a planeswalker?

Boy howdy, can it!

Any time a source you control would deal non-combat damage to an opponent, you can instead have all of that damage dealt to one planeswalker they control. This could be damage from a spell (like Earthquake), or damage from an ability (like a Prodigal Sorceror). The only criteria are "noncombat damage", from "source you control", that would be dealt to an opponent.

Cool.

Also, is a walkers ability considered an activated ability?

My graveyard contains a land, sorcery, and creature. I attack with my Grim Flayer. Before damage I Bolt my own Grim Flayer. Does it die, or does my opponent take 4?

This does not count for life loss right? As in redirecting the 3 'damage' from a Siege Rhino.

fairly certain your Flayer will be a 4/4 with 3 damage on him, same way you can bolt a 2/3 Tarmo and it will survive as a 3/4 since SBAs aren't checked till the spell finishes resolves and is at that point in the graveyard to update static abilities that care about cards in the yard

but why wouldn't you just bolt your opponent's face?

They are. They're a special kind of activated ability, but they are activated abilities.

Siege Rhino does not do damage, or 'damage'. It causes loss of life. Loss of life is not damage.

Your opponent takes 4. Your Flayer takes 3 damage, but SBAs aren't checked in the middle of a spell resolving. By the time SBAs are checked, your Grim Flayer is online because Delirium is online, so it's a 4/4 with 3 damage on it.

damage causes life loss, but life lost or paid is not damage

Damage USUALLY causes loss of life, but not always!

Continuing along the lines of SBAs, I have a Spirit of the Labyrinth down and have drawn for turn. In my end step, my opponent hits it with Electrolyze. He doesn't draw the card, correct? And likewise, I've drawn for turn and in my end step I use Ojutai's Command to reanimate Spirit of the Labyrinth and choose to draw a card. I wouldn't draw this card, correct?

>Electrolyze
Incorrect. He draws because Spirit is "EACH player can only draw 1 card a turn", not "only one player can draw a total of 1 card each turn". Now, if he used an Electrolyze during his own turn after he's drawn, it wouldn't draw him a card because the Spirit doesn't die until after Electrolyze has resolved.

>Ojutai's Command
Correct, because you perform the actions in the order they're printed. You'd bring back Spirit, and then fail to draw because Spirit says you can't.

Oh shit sorry, I meant my opponent uses Electrolyze in HIS turn yeah.

I assume because the opponent has given himself hexproof with Orbs of Warding and has no creatures in play.

Same reason you do anything:

Grinzos and Jinzos.

I equip Roon with Spy Kit, and then exile a Vizzerdrix. Then I cast Arcane Savant. Can I cast a copy of the Vizzerdrix because I've exiled it with a card named Arcane Savant?

You can, but the copy object ceases to exist when it leaves the stack 704.10a and it won't even trigger cast triggers 704.10, so it's nearly pointless.

>704.10,
The rules only go up to 704.7 and then jump to 705, at least in the version of the rules I found, mate

"Copying Objects", 706's. Whoops.

How does Jeleva work? If I flicker it, assuming I cast it for 4cmc, would its effect proc for 4 more, or would nothing happen since I didn't cast it?

Also, assuming I'm casting sorceries after an attack with her, when can I play them?