MTG Magic The Gathering Ask A Judge -「 W E D N E S D A Y W E E K 」

It would! You make that decision as the Mimic enters- meaning by the time it actually hits the board, it'll have that creature type. It doesn't come in as a Shapeshifter and then become a Human, it comes in as a Human Shapeshifter, so it'll trigger the Lieutenant.

Branding with other Ask A Judge

What cards from Aether Revolt do you think are going to give you the most problems as a judge?

Exquisite Archangel and Bounce Elephant are the first that come to mind.

Talking about the bounce elephant:
Can you decide to bounce it back into your hand even if you have 2+ energy counters? Some judge said yes so he's probably right but it still feels weird

The release notes were pretty clear. If you don't have 2 energy, you must bounce it even if you don't want to. If you DO have 2 energy, you must pay it even if you don't want to.

If I cast Indomitable creativity and reveal a greenwarden of murasa, can I put it back into my hand? Also if I sacrifice greenwarden to creativity can I put it back in my hand?

If I'm Mindslaving an opponent in EDH and get his commander removed, who gets to choose if the commander goes back to the command zone?

This question is brought to you by spectating a very salty game at my LGS last week.

If you don't have energy, it bounces.

If you -do- have energy, you pay, whether or not you want to.

That'd be the part that's gonna confuse people.

Greenwarden's trigger doesn't need a target until it goes on the stack. It can't go onto the stack until after we're done resolving this spell. So by the time Greenwarden's trigger needs a target, Creativity is in the graveyard, and is a legal target for the trigger.

If you feed an existing Greenwarden to it, that WON'T work; that trigger will go on the stack above the spell, and it can't target the Creativity because the spell is still... well, a spell on the stack, not a card in the graveyard.

You do. It's your opponent's choice... but you're making all their decisions this turn. Why would that be any different?

By the time greenwarden's ability goes on the stack, Indomitable creativity will be a legal target to return to your hand.

If you have creativity destroy greenwarden, same thing - by the time greenwarden's ability goes on the stack, IC will have finished resolving and be in the graveyard for you to recur.

You do, because the commander's owner gets to pick, and you're taking his turn so you get to make all choices for him.

This user is correct; for some reason I had it in my head that creativity was 'as an additional cost'. it won't destroy the Warden until it begins resolving, so it'll work just fine on that end as well- mea culpa.

Not to argue, but why would hitting greenwarden with indomitable creativity cause it to not be a legal target? Destroying greenwarden is part of the spell, resolving, sure, but I thought nothing can go on the stack in the middle of a spell resolving.

Because I was wrong! RTFC, kids.

Thank you both for the answer!

This is also the reason that a two mimics on the same type will +1/+1 the second one.

you always culpa

if i have 1 card in hand at the beginning of my upkeep and have an asylum visitor on board, but i want to discard it to stromkirk condemned's ability to have my team pumped for this turn and still draw from visitor? if i discard it in response to 'at the beginning of upkeep' abilities does visitor's ability not trigger? i think i have to drop them at EOT of last turn but not 100%
is there any way of getting visitor's draw AND condemned's PT boost on my turn or is it only one?

How smelly are they

who

Just to be clear, if you have an ability that says "Target creature blocks this combat":
1: can you force a creature that cannot block to block?
2: can you force a tapped creature to block?
3: Can you override a "Target creature cannot block this combat"?

>If a creature affected by the ability of [CARDNAME that forces creatures to block] is tapped or is affected by a spell or ability that says it can’t block, then it doesn’t block. If there’s a cost associated with having that creature block, its controller isn’t forced to pay that cost, so it doesn’t have to block in that case either.

Asylum Visitor's trigger has what we call an intervening 'if' clause. That bit between the 'when' and the effect- the "if that player has no cards in hand"- is checked twice. It's first checked at the time the trigger WOULD go onto the stack, and again as it goes to resolve. It has to be true at both those times. If it's not true as the trigger fires (which it won't be, because you have a card in your hand), the trigger never even goes on the stack. By the time you even have priority, the trigger's tried, shrugged, and left.

"if able" is the key phrase there.

1) No, because it can't block. It must block if able, but it isn't able.

2) Only if they control Masako the Humorless. Otherwise, a tapped creature can't block, which means it isn't able, which means it isn't forced to block.

3) Nope. Can't beats can.

What about the other way around? Can a creature forced to block be overridden by an effect that forces it to not block or adds the defender ability?

so i need to decide between
a) discarding the card at EOT and getting the draw but not the boost
b) holding the card and getting the boost but not the draw
i'm starting to see the value of that funky card that gives you two upkeeps

should i run metallic mimic over olivia? the haste is rarely relevant but the counter and flying often are...

Dude I don't know how to win games, I just know the rules

>forces it to not block
Usually that's put as "Can't block this combat/turn", and can't beats can.

As for defender, that'd only apply on 'forced to attack'. It wouldn't have any interaction with "must block this turn if able".

Im new to magic. My friends are already pretty into it and I finally decided to join them. Was gifted a green/black deck.

What are some good resources for learning about the game and its decks/combos etc?

I'm afraid I don't have any specific resources to point out to you- being good at the game has never been my angle, so I don't do a lot of reading into things like that. I just follow current metas enough to know what stuff to expect at events.

So, pic related equipped to heartless hidestugu. Who wins when he nukes if the life totals are 20+ for all players.

Nobody. Everyone will take 10 or more damage, which is done in the form of poison counters. SBAs get checked and see everyone has 10 or more poison counters, so every player loses. Game is a draw.

If I cast Diabolic Edict with Toshiro Umezawa out, can I target Diabolic Edict with Toshiro's ability? It resolves and they sac, is it in my graveyard 'in time' to be targeted by Toshiro?

I think not, since it doesn't hit the graveyard until it's actually done it's effect, and thus I don't think Toshi could grab it for the one-two punch, but it's never come up before since it's a weird ability!

Umezawa's trigger can't go on the stack (and thus, won't need a target) until the Edict has fully resolved. By then, it's in the graveyard, and is a legal target.

I've heard that if you tap a Merieke Ri Berit, and then bounce her in response to the activated ability, you never gain control of the creature. Why is that?

Also, if you give a creature you stole with het indestructible and then untap Merieke, the creature doesn't die, but I've heard that if you later untap Merieke again the untap trigger will still try to destroy the creature again. Why is that?

I mostly just want to know the ins and outs of this weird card, before I start building an EDH deck around her.

>First thing
Because if a duration ends before it would begin, it never begins in the first place.

>Second thing
You've heard wrong. When her activated ability resolves, it does two things: it creates a continuous effect in layer 2 saying you control it for as long as you control her, and it sets up a delayed triggered ability of "When ~ becomes untapped, destroy the creature this ability targeted". It only sets up one instance of that trigger; once it fires (whether it resolves, fizzles, or gets Stifled), it's done. It won't ever trigger again, because the event that triggers it happened. If she's tapped again, it'll set up a NEW triggered ability, but that trigger will be associated with the new target, not 'everything Merieke has ever stolen'.

>Because if a duration ends before it would begin, it never begins in the first place.
what about the bullshit o-ring crap
fuck that makes me mad
>"hurr durr i get to exile your stuff with no downside and abuse rules loopholes like an asshole"

O-ring doesn't create a duration. If it did (which the new wording, like on Banishing Light does), the trick wouldn't work for that exact reason.

Also, they're not 'abusing rules loopholes'. They are utilizing the rules to win. By that logic, Splinter Twin is bullshit because it's a "stupid rules loophole" that you can activate an ability more than once per turn if you can pay for it more than once.

Ah, thank you. I'm already looking forward to equiping stolen creatures with darksteel plate to control them permanently. Also some other judge is an idiot I guess.

nah nah
you misunderstand, it's more like the "intended usage" of the card is for o-ring to come down but if it gets hit by naturalize you get your shit back and they're circumventing that.
they are having their cake and eating it too. wotc wised up and introduced the newer wording. Banishing Light is the fixed version of o-ring.

To be fair, that's not exactly a new trick. Sure, it's not the "intended use" to Disenchant it in response to exile it, but it's also not the "intended use" of Bazaar to be bonkers in dredge.

Not an idiot, just mistaken. Everyone makes mistakes- that doesn't make you a moron, it makes you human.

Oh, one more question, and this might be total bullshit, but what happens if you have a Merieke and eg a vedalken shackles on the board, and you use them to gain control of the same indestructible creatures, and then you boomerang merieke? Basically, how do 2 "you control target creature for as long as..." Effects interact?

Basically, both of them exist simultaneously, with the most recently-created effect "overriding" the other. Effectively no change. If both those effects are active, and they break one of them (for example, you steal with Merieke AND with Vedalken, and then untap Shackles), that effect ends, but the other's still active, so you don't lose the creature.

miguel-and-tulio.webm

I know you're trying to be neutral but you have to admit some judges just doesn't have the knowledge of one. For instance, that Scrounging Bandar question yesterday, man i would be pissed if it was ruled like that against me.

Some, sure. But the number of judges that are out-and-out morons is massively smaller than the number who are perfectly competent and occasionally make a mistake.

People get rusty, plus there's a lot of fringe cases that people don't think about.
It's not easy to be a judge, and I've taken the test a few times just to be the de facto 'rules guy' for casual EDH nights.

>they are having their cake and eating it too. wotc wised up and introduced the newer wording. Banishing Light is the fixed version of o-ring.
It's not even that powerful. O-ring needs an enabler like Vedalken Mastermind to squeeze the "forever" value out of O-ring's wording. It's not even close to competitive; one permanent exiled per turn for 4 mana - with setup and a fragile enabler - is not strong in any format. You're better off using actual single card removal like Path/STP in most situations. It's not "having your cake and eating it too", it's just a neat Johnnyish interaction.

Speaking of judges

I tried to contact my regional co-ordinator a month or two ago through the official form asking them about becoming a judge. On your advice, after having no response, I submitted another form three weeks ago and have again gotten no response. Would you be able to get me in contact with them? I live in Australia.

If you feel comfortable giving me some kind of contact information, I can make sure it gets to them.

Have you ever judged a major event? What did you get from it? How much value in promos and that Jazz do you get from judging and being a judge? What's the highest value thing you've ever gotten?

Thanks very much, my email is [email protected]
I can send a message to forward to them if you want.

To be entirely honest, Mangara + Karakas is a 4 mana per turn setup to exile one permanent per turn and it does or has seen play in legacy. Not the best thing in the world, but will win a long game against some decks I guess.
Fiend Hunter+Saving Grasp was also fucking bonkers in limited, it's all context-dependent.

I remember playing against an L1 at a PPTQ a year ago who didn't realise that Anafenza the Foremost prevented an opponent's Liliana, Heretic Healer from flipping.

If i control Gonti's Aether Heart and a creature and cast Fabrication Module, does my creature receive a counter when the module ETBs?

yes

How do regenerate effects interact with exile effects like Kalitas/Anger of the gods?

They don't. Exiled creatures are exiled, not destroyed.

Instead of going to the yard, the creature is tapped and removed from battle. Since it doesn't die, it's not exiled.

Here's a question the people at the rules IRC didn't feel they could confidently answer.

I mulligan'd to having 1 card in hand. I'm on the draw and the card in my hand is a Gemstone Caverns. Can I start the game with the Gemstone Caverns on the battlefield with a luck counter?

I'll be passing this along today.

It can! You play your artifact, and it triggers Heart upon entering. As the trigger resolves, you get EE; by then, Module is fully on the battlefield, sees you get energy, and triggers. You can then target your creature to get a counter.

Quite well! The creature would be destroyed (by damage or an effect for Kalitas, by damage probably for Anger), but instead it is tapped, has all damage removed from it, and is removed from combat if it was IN combat. The destruction event is replaced, so the creature never attempted to go to the graveyard, so no exile.

I'd say yes. It'd be like "if you do, sacrifice a creature" while controlling no creatures. That's not a cost, nor is it a prerequisite to putting the card out (if it was, it'd say 'you may exile a card in your hand. If you do...'). From my reading of the card, you begin the game with Caverns on board, then exile a card from your hand- the game sees that you can't, shrugs, and moves on, but you still have Cavern out.

I have Felidar Guardian out. I target with Saheeli's -2. Opponent ca sts Fatal Push with Revolt, targeting the Guardian. In reaponse, I cast Essence Flux, targeting the Guardian. What happens if both players pass at that point?

Essence Flux resolves, blinking your cat. Cat triggers, and will probably blink Saheeli. Fatal Push goes to resolve, and fizzles for having no legal target. Saheeli's -2 goes to resolve, and fizzles for having no legal target. Once all of that's done, you can activate Saheeli to start the combo up again.

Thanks!

Cheers for passing that on gA. You're the best

No problem! I got ahold of -my- RC, gave him your contact info, and he's passed it on directly.

Did you miss this one?

I apparently did!

Several. I've done probably 6 or 7 Grands Prix, ranging from 800-ish players to 7000+. They're a neat experience, but I've kinda slowed down on GPs because it's getting harder and harder to justify the cost.

You don't get any promos for being a judge- well, not usually. They've done a couple mass-mailings like the basic lands, and the Dark Confidant. The old way to get promos was to work a GP, where you'd get a packet of Judge Foils as a 'thank you' from Wizards. That got stopped because people were pointing out that it was basically them paying us under the table by giving us an object that cost them 10 cents to print, but which we could sell for 50 dollars. Now, the way to get foils is the Exemplar Program, where Level 2 and 3 judges are able to nominate other judges for doing exemplary work in some way or another, and then the list of judges who were recognized is published online (along with WHY they were recognized), and also we get foils.

The highest value thing I've ever gotten was my very first exemplar packet, which had a Phyrexian Elesh Norn and a Force of Will judge promo. When I got it, they were something like 1400 dollars put together. But that wasn't typical by a long shot.

Okay back to the Gemstone Caverns thing again. Let's say I have another card in my hand. And that card is a leyline. Can I put the leyline onto the battlefield, and then after that put the Gemstone Cavern onto the battlefield with the luck counter?

103.5. Some cards allow a player to take actions with them from his or her opening hand. Once the mulligan process (see rule 103.4) is complete, the starting player may take any such actions in any order. Then each other player in turn order may do the same.

>May take any such actions in any order
You're good.

Cool. thanks!

>When Greenbelt Rampager enters the battlefield, pay EE. If you can't, return Greenbelt Rampager to its owner's hand and you get E.

If you can't pay EE, can you crew a vehicle with greenbelt rampager before it returns to your hand?

You won't bounce the Rampager until the trigger resolves. You can respond to that trigger by activating the Crew ability of a Vehicle you control, assuming you're able to meet the requirement (IE, it's Crew 3 or less, or you're also tapping other stuff with the elephant)

tl;dr yes

Let's say I play a Metallic Mimic, naming Construct.

If I play a second Metallic Mimic and naming Construct again, will the second Metallic Mimic enter with a +1/+1 counter on it?

Silly question,

"Play" is the same as "cast", right?

Yes, because the second Mimic is a Construct as it enters the battlefield.

Kinda sorta not really.

"Play" used to be sort of an all-purpose word. Permanents were 'in play'. You would play lands, play spells, and play activated abilities. In M10 they cleared that up- 'in play' became 'on the battlefield', 'play a spell' became 'cast a spell', and you no longer played activated abilities, you activated them. The "play" wording stayed for lands.

Old cards mention 'playing' things- you want to check the Oracle text to see if that's been updated to "Cast" or not. Some of them have not, and that's on purpose- if a card still says 'play' (for example, Spark of Creativity), what that means is that you can CAST the card if it's a spell, or PLAY it (as your normal land drop for the turn) if it's a land.

Gotcha

I have an etiquette rules question.

I have a friend that I play with who stacks his lands in piles intentionally so that it's impossible to get a general idea of his remaining untapped mana. He does play with seperate untapped and tapped piles and seperated by type. He says he always wants people to have to ask him what he has left. On numerous occasions it has caused myself and other players problems. I have asked him several times to splay his cards out a bit, but he always says since theres no rule saying he cant stack them that way that he wont.

I looked at rules a bit, and found in section 4.1 (Player Communication - blogs.magicjudges.org/rules/mtr4-1/ ) of the magic tournament rules that his lands are considered free information, but the amount of lands is considered derived information. The rules say this of derived information "Derived information is information to which all players are entitled access, but opponents are not obliged to assist in determining..."

So my question is, Should my friend have to play with his lands out in a manner that makes it visible exactly how much mana he has remaining, or can he continue to play his way?

Also keep in mind that we only play casual EDH, so there is no judge we can call upon. I am asking because I just know that he wont ever accept it unless I can prove to him that its against the rules or would at least be judged bad sportsmanship.

i have Nyktos, shrine of nyx in play
i have three creatures (first creature mana cost is G, second is GG, third is GGG) and my total devotion is 6.
i use the Nyktos second ability and i add 6 green mana to my mana pool.
i have decimator of the provinces in my hand.
my question is:
can i cast the decimator of the provinces for his emerge cost (6GGG) sacrifing the creature with GGG mana cost (so cmc 9 - cmc 3= 6 mana) or at the same moment i sacrifice the creature with GGG mana cost my devotion automatically decrease to 3?

He's not required to assist you in determining it, but he also isn't allowed to hinder you from determining it yourself. If your opponent is setting up the board in such a way to intentionally hamstring you from being able to gather derived information, or worse, actually CONCEAL it from you, that would lead to an unpleasant conversation were it at an event.

As for casual EDH, there's three ways to approach this: You can show him the 'can't stop you from figuring it out yourself' thing, and tell him that attempting to hinder you is against the rules; you could be a giant asshole back, and just point to every single land he controls and asks "What is the name and status of that object in a public zone", making the process of 'figuring out what he has tapped and untapped' is such a long process that he quits this bullshit to save time...

Or you can go the route I'd suggest, which is 'Dude, seriously? Can you maybe not be a dick?', and if he continues to be a dick, decline to play with him. If he asks why, say "because you're a dick".

Battle of Wits pilots aside, why do some people put more than the minimum amount of cards in their decks?

Sure! Most people float mana before beginning to cast a spell anyway, but even if you did it by the letter, generating mana as part of the spellcasting process, you generate mana before you start to pay costs, so you'd tap Nykthos for your GGGGGG before you pay the costs (such as saccing a creature).

"Does not understand math".

Wheres a good place to learn about the deeper tactics in magic like mana curve and stuff like that? I understand how to play the game but im wondering if there are like guides or "masterclasses" for more advanced play.

What is your favorite card and why?

There's a ton of articles on sites like Starcity and TCGPlayer, but I unfortunately don't have anything specific to tell you to look for.

Garbage Fire, because Garbage Fire.

Fogs, in this case selfless squire are not replacement effects. An attacking creature equipped with inquisitor's flail will have its damage doubled before it is prevented.

They key to look for would be the word instead.

Oh yeah. Hypothetically, the hypothetical (pre-4 card limit) Shahrazad deck.

Actually, damage prevention effects 'work' exactly like replacement effects, and interact with replacement effects in the same way. For example, let's replace Selfless Squire with Deflecting Palm, and say the Flail is on a 3/3.

The 3/3 wants to do 3 damage to you, but two things want to modify that damage: Flail wants to replace "3 damage" with "6 damage", and Deflecting Palm wants to prevent all that damage and smack the original target of Palm. Since the damage is hitting you, you're the affected player, and choose which to apply. If you apply Palm first, then Flail can no longer apply, because the equipped creature is no longer attempting to do damage; the target of Palm will take 3.

If you apply Flail first, though, it'll double the damage to 6... and Palm's prevention effect can still apply, because the chosen source is still trying to damage you. So you can have the opponent take 6, rather than 3.

Also, did I miss a question? I didn't see anyone asking about Selfless Squire.

No, the question was whether that was correct or not, I just didn't ask it as a question.

I also thought that if I was wrong that the controller of the [damage/attacking creature] would choose the order of replacement effects rather than the defending player. Guess I'll have to dig into replacement effects some more.

When you've got multiple replacement effects wanting to apply to the same event, the one who chooses is the controller of the affected object (or owner, if it doesn't HAVE a controller), or the affected player.

The event being modified here is "I am taking 3 damage"- I am the affected player, so it's my choice. If it were "this creature is being dealt 3 damage", then that creature is the affected object; basically, we look at what something is happening -to- as the affected thing, rather than "what is doing the thing".