MTG Magic The Gathering Ask A Judge - The Work of an Enemy 「 E D I T I O N 」

So, we have a line in the IPG where a player who gets a GL at the same time their opponent gets a ML has the penalty carry over to the next round, since the GL in THAT round doesn't actually penalize them in any real way.

So I'd say report that match as a 2-1 win for A, and then apply the Game Loss to A's next round.

Can i put off color hybrid mana in my commander deck? Like a Kitchen Finks in a mono green commander deck.

Technically no, because Kitchen Finks is a green and white card.

That said, ask your group! If they don't mind letting you run hybrids as if they were mono, do it to it.

So a friend is playing five color allies edh. We wipe the board but next turn he mass reanimates 10 allies with one being hagra Diabolist. I ended up ruling that each etb trigger would deal 10 damage because they all see each other entering. Was that right?

Correct, sorta. Diabolist will trigger for himself, and all his friends, because he "sees" them coming in. That part is correct, but that's not what's figuring the life lost, just how many triggers. The amount of life lost is determined per trigger, AS that trigger resolves.

Yea in mass cases everything enters or leaves at once and "sees" everything else leaving. If your board was two blood artists that got wrathed there would be 4 triggers (itself and the other blood artist) x2

So what would the damage look like? Would each trigger deal a different amount or are they all the same and what is that number? That was the part I was fuzzy on.

The mass transfer happens, Diabolist and 9 other allies enter the board off the same trigger. Since the same event caused them to enter, they all "see" each other enter the battlefield. Diabolist triggers ten times (once for itself, nine times for the other allies).

Since all these triggers went off at once, you get to stack them however you damn well please. This might matter if you need to kill one guy first in multiplayer or have other ETB triggers going off.

Assuming nothing else is on the stack and nobody does anything, the first trigger would resolve, check your number of allies as it does so, and cause that much life loss. Then priority goes around and assuming nobody does anything the next trigger resolves the same way.

For example, if you resurrected 10 allies one of which was a diabolist and already had two allies on the field, you'd have 10 triggers. Assuming nothing happened before they resolved, each one would cause 12 life loss. If an opponent bolted the diabolist before any triggers resolved, then you'd only have 11 allies on board as the triggers resolved so they'd each cause 11 life loss.

tl;dr: Check number of triggers when things move, check effect of each trigger as it resolves.

If I enchant a crewed vehicle with Captured by the Consulate (), what happens when the vehicle stops being a creature? Does the enchantment fall off?

It does indeed. Go To Jail cannot legally enchant anything other than a creature you don't control, so if the thing it's attached to stops being... well, one of those, the Aura falls off.

If I have a chain veil out in play, activate it, and cast a new Planeswalker, would I be able to activate an ability twice due to having priority before my opponent could hero's downfall it?

Bump.

are control decks even viable in this meta

no, because walker's abilities are sorcery speed.

However true this is, you have priority and if you cast a Planeswalker, you get to use an ability before someone can spot remove it.

So, the real question is... Does priority take place for both usages or would it be considered using the stack? In which case I believe the Teferi Planeswalker's emblem would take care of that.

Again, walker's abilities are sorcery speed. Whether you retain priority or not, doesn't change that your opponent can Downfall the walker after it's 1st ability enters the stack.

What happens if i somehow flash in Blood Moon when an animated manland or awakened land is in play?

The land become an animated/awakened mountain. Blood Moon doesn't cancel the animation of lands that already happened.

Again. You CAN activate a planeswalker's ability when it enters the battlefield BEFORE anyone has a chance to respond to it hitting the field.

Did you read the question?

They aren't actually sorcery speed. If they were, you couldn't activate it before someone responds to it wntering the battlefield. The rules are that they can only be activated on your turn while the stack is empty. Priority is what makes this different from it being sorcery speed.

I think the point is that it's not 100% sorcery speed.

>you couldn't activate it before someone responds to it wntering the battlefield.
You can't respond to a walker etbing unless there's something that triggers from it entering the battlefield.

No. You can activate a loyalty ability during your main phase while the stack is empty. So if you activate a loyalty ability the first time, you would not be able to activate a loyalty ability a second time until the stack is empty. Your opponent would be able to cast Hero's Downfall in response to the first activation because it is an instant.

No really, did you read the question?

And to answer you, yes it's 100% sorcery speed. In fact, you can't even stack the two walker activation. You have to let the first one resolve before activating it again.

So, Panharmonicon. Does a creature entering trigger itself (example Eldrazi Skyspawner). Sorry if you've answered it already.

I think back then the answer is roughly, 'i think so, unless the card rules after it came out said otherwise.'

That's what I figured, thought I'd see if there was anything clearer.

In Conspiracy 2, if an opponent takes control of one of my cards like Caller of the Untamed or Animus of Predation they don't get to use the ability of those cards because they, the player in control, never chose cards from the draft for those cards, correct?

So, I have like, Caller of the Untamed and I exile Regal Behemoth for it, and when I cast it one of my opponents counters it with Desertion gaining control they can't make Regal Behemoths, correct?

This seems wonky as hell to me. P1 is getting extra penalized because p2 was trying to take advantage of it.

Why wouldnt it be p1 loses the game(and thus the match) and then p2 gets his match loss/ dq appliedto the next round?

If they are both simultaneous, who decides (and why) the dq is applied first then the game loss carries over instead of the other way around?

bump hoping ga isnt dead

let's say i play an infinite combo that can't normally be optionally stopped.
for example two creatures that say " when this enter the battlefield, exile another target creature and return it onto the battlefield" and there is no other creature onto the battlefield.

as far as i know it is normally a draw since they have no valid target to stop the loop.
but what happens if i have one creature with flash in my hand and enough mana to play it? it would stop the loop, but it's also hidden information since it's in my hand. Can i still call it a draw or do we need a judge to look at my hand and force me to play that creature?

Nothing forces you to stop a loop, once its demonstrated you can have it draw.

im gonna post a question incase someone casts animate dead on GA:
the new card
"Workshop Assistant 3
Artifact Creature - Construct
When Workshop Assistant dies, return another target artifact card from your graveyard to your hand."

how does "another target artifact card" work when it should totally forget being on the battlefield when it changes zones? shouldn't it in the grave be "another artifact card" from the one that died and triggered the ability?

im not 100% on this but i think the way it works is if you had something like vessel of ephermia on the battlefield you would have to use it to stop the loop but if its secret information that you can stop it you dont have to. not really sure because that seems odd that you would have to stop it even if you dont want to but thats what i was told. so dont trust me

Just gonna keep this thread alive a little longer.

I appreciate it, because I had a minor family emergency and was not able to check in on it!

Apologies- I ended up having to leave the office for a minor emergency and by the time I got home I was too tired and stressed out to even think about the thread. I just remembered it as I sat down this morning.

Anyway, for your question: basically, the trigger fires once it's dead, but it needs to know something about the card (in this case, the "another") so we use LKI and it 'remembers' what it was. It's a little fucky.

You're only obliged to break a loop like that if there's another choice WITHIN the loop itself that would break it. So for example, if you had those two creatures and also a Bear Cub, you would eventually have to break the loop by hitting the Bear Cub, because its a choice within the loop. Something outside the loop (like you being ABLE to flash in a creature, or Doom Blade one of your own) is irrelevant.

I also felt a bit wonky on it, so I double checked- a mentor of mine suggested recording the infraction, but giving no penalty, because the main purpose of them is not to 'punish' the player, but to destroy any advantage they could have gotten to disincentivize people TRYING to game it, and to go "Well this game's fucked and not fixable" when the game is too busted, etc.

You would not, because Planeswalker abilities can only be activated while the stack is empty. You can drop a Walker and activate them before your opponent has priority to Downfall them (assuming the Walker entering didn't trigger anything, and that you don't take some other action before trying to activate), but they can just Downfall it in response so you don't get the second activation in this scenario.

You absolutely do have priority, and can activate your planeswalker once.

Once.

After you do, there is an ability on the stack, which means you can't activate it again (even with Chain Veil) because to activate a loyalty ability of a permanent you control, it must be your main phase and the stack must be empty, which it is not. Your opponent can just Downfall it in response to that first activation, denying you a second.

> If they were, you couldn't activate it before someone responds to it entering the battlefield.
Yes you could. You always receive priority (as Active Player) after an object on the stack resolves. Nobody can respond to something "entering the battlefield" because that doesn't cause a change of priority. They can respond to a TRIGGER that fires from the card entering, but that's because you have to pass priority to them for the trigger to resolve.

Yes, they are, actually. "Speed" means nothing in Magic, but "Sorcery Speed" is usually used to convey "Any time you could cast a sorcery", which is defined as "During your main phase, while the stack is empty and you have priority". That is the exact definition of when you can activate a Loyalty ability, as well as when you can normally cast Sorceries, and spells without Flash. They are 100% exactly the same thing, timing-and-requirement-wise.

Never posted in these before but noticed through catalog. Why do you always use an Italian Spell Snip for the OP?

Branding.

So, if i cast torrent of souls using both red and black mana and bring back a ponyback brigade, do the tokens get the +2+0 and haste or not?

You do not. You'll begin resolving Torrent and bring back the Brigade, which triggers, but that trigger can't go on the stack in the middle of a spell resolving. Next, since you spent red mana, Torrent gives all the creatures of target player (you) +2/+0 and Haste until end of turn. Then Torrent is put into the graveyard as the last step of resolving, and the tokens get made after the trigger goes on the stack and resolves.

tl;dr no

yeah, thats how we played it. just wanted to make sure. would have been sweet if it worked though.

Any clue on this? I am curious as well.

New player here, do you have any advice for a complete beginner? Like, what would you do differently if you knew what you did now when you started playing the game?

I'm 24 years old and getting my ass whooped by kids, kek.

Sorry, missed that one.

I am actually not entirely sure! My guess is "You're right, YOU didn't exile anything for them so it doesn't count" but I'm going to double check.

Life is a resource, and only the last one matters.

Learn to shuffle well. Buy sleeves. Buying packs for drafting is great, but buying packs for value is just gambling- and the house always wins.

Have fun. It's a game, and that's what it's for.

What's the difference between packs for drafting and packs for value? Good advice.

Drafting is fun, it involves actually PLAYING Magic afterwards, and it adds to your collection while helping you practice card evaluation, deckbuilding, and actual technical play skills during the game. It's also social, which is great.

Buying 3 packs to crack at the counter or at your desk at home is less good. Either you get cards worth more than what you paid for the pack (which is good), or much more often you get things worth as much as or less, which is not good. If you want a specific 30 dollar rare, it's a better idea to just go buy that rare than to crack packs 4 dollars at a time and hope you either get enough tradebait for one (AND that someone in your group has a spare AND wants the cards you opened) or get that card within 8 packs.

To simplify into game terms: you can respond after Diabolist's trigger's go on the stack to change the number of allies in play so that when the triggers resolve you take less damage.

For instance, if you had an instant speed wrath effect, you can have ten Diabolist trigger's on the stack, kill all of the allies in play, and each trigger would resolve to do zero damage, which is hilarious.

Technically Diabolist's trigger never does damage.

touche

If i have 2 or more sublime archangels out and i have creatures that on their own don't have exalted they get 2 or more instances of exalted right?

I am asking because i got into a discussion with a friend where he claimed that it didn't count for that ability.

Multiple instances of Exalted are not redundant. The text on Angel is just to let you know that if your creatures already had Exalted, they now have two instances of it which trigger separately, because a lot of keywords are redundant in multiples (Flying, Trample, etc)

Can I pay escalate cost (say collective brutality) when using goblins effect?

Sure. Dwellers only gets around the 'base' cost of the spell by letting you cast it for the alternate cost. Any additional costs will still be paid, whether you ELECT to pay them (like Escalate or Kicker) or you MUST pay them (Thalia's tax)

Ah sorry i explained it wrong, what i meant was if i have 2 sublime archanges out and they give say a birds of paradise 2 instances of exalted right? So if i attack with one creature it the birds of paradise gives it 2 exalted triggers right?

Either that, or i just misread your awnser completely.

Yes that's what he means.

Neat. My questions were both fucky and wonky. I think i win

Correct.