MTG Magic The Gathering Ask A Judge - 「 R U B Y T U E S D A Y 」

Personally I'm hoping that the fat pack comes with full art lands instead of the bleh ones.

Dude, we're already getting Space Egypt, I'm pretty hype about that in and of itself. Though I fear Space Egypt won't be the block to give me the Commander I've spent the past 7 years wanting.

Which is?

Legendary Jellyfish, natch.

Can i react to the last counter on thing in the ice beeing removed, before it transforms?

You cannot respond between the counter being removed and Titty transforming, since it's all one trigger.
You absolutely can, however, respond to the trigger that would remove the last counter.

Jein. You can respond to the trigger that will remove the last Ice counter, but you can't respond inbetween the counter being removed and the transformation- those are both part of the resolution of the ability.

I have an Experiment Kraj, a Zurgo Bellstriker, and a Skullbriar the Walking Grave on the battlefield. Each creature has a +1/+1 counter on it. Kraj is returned to the hand, and Skullbriar is killed.

Can I play Kraj from my hand for 1R (Zurgo's Dash cost), and does it enter play with a +1/+1 counter on it (because of Skullbriar)?

I think we'll be waiting for a long time for that.

But they've already printed two versions of Emmy.

Probably. A man can dream, though. In the meantime I'll just keep brewing stupid gimmick decks like "Orkz Tribal" and "Sea Monsters".

Kraj's ability, like most abilities, only functions on the battlefield. It doesn't function in any other zones.

Even if it did, neither Dash nor Skullbriar's replacement effect are activated abilities.

>Kraj's ability, like most abilities, only functions on the battlefield
gay

You seem to be missing the other part of "Even if it worked elsewhere, it doesn't pick up either of those totally-not-activated abilities".

I saw that, but that's not much. I had other jank that I wanted to try (like using the abilities of the various Soul of X creatures from the graveyard), and that kills all of them.

Might I interest you in Havengul Lich?

Ah shit, that's right, you have to actually cast the dead thing to get the ability.

Necrotic Ooze then.

If I activate Havengul Lich's ability to get back Soul of Ravnica, then kill the Havengul Lich, can I activate his copied Soul of Ravnica ability from the graveyard?

Nope. As soon as it changed zones, it's a new object.

Dimir doppleganger is a copy of medomai. I phyrexian metamorph the medomai. What does it look like?

So, we start with a normal Doppelganger. Add in the copy ability, so it's a Medomai with the Doppelganger ability. That's what we're copying with Phyrexian Metamorph. So take that, and add on "also I'm an artifact". End result:

Medomai the Ageless 4UW

Legendary Artifact Creature - Sphinx

Flying

Whenever ~ deals combat damage to a player, take an extra turn after this one.

~ can't attack during extra turns.

1UB: Exile target creature card from a graveyard. ~ becomes a copy of that card and gains this ability.

If all players were to lose simultaneously because of a damaging effect (say, a double damage Hidetsugu), if one of them has a Lich's Tomb or Phyrexian Unlife (or anything of that sort) in play, am I right that he will win the game? Currently I assume that both permanents use the stack to determine the "tax" of losing life and game loss due to zero or less life outspeeds any action on the stack.

The triggers on both use the stack so yes, the other guy(s) will be SBA'd to death before you get triggered.

Or pardon, Tomb has a trigger, Unlife won't start dicking with damage until you're already terminal.

Lich's Tomb will keep you alive, because SBAs kill everyone but you before the trigger even goes on the stack.

Unlife, it'll depend- if you're above 0 and one big-ass hit would kill everyone, you'll live. If you were already at or below 0, the damage is gonna hit you as Poison damage, and you'll probably die along with them.

In the stated case of a damage doubled Hidetsugu, he would only be taking damage if Unlife was not in poison mode.
Negative damage is treated as zero, aff?

Right, I skimmed over the Hidetsugu. My mistake.

Say I am attacking with Skysovereign, Consul Flagship. Can I get the three damage from it attacking, but before passing combat priority for blocking, sacrifice it to summon an Elder Deep-fiend to tap my opponents targets? Or is this one of those stack messes that fizzles?

New to this, so sorry if it's a particularly dumb question.
I have 3 guys on board, my opponent casts a wrath, and in response I play collected company and hit two guys.
What happens next?

your 2 guys hit the board and if none of their abilities matter all creatures die

>Say I am attacking with Skysovereign, Consul Flagship.
Okay, you're attacking with Skysovereign, Consul Flagship.

>The actual question
Airking, Government Motherboat triggers once you attack. You can retain priority to sac it to Elder Deep Friend to flash in in response, and that won't stop the damage trigger from hurting whatever it was aimed at.

Company resolves, your 2 guys hit the board, any relevant ETBs trigger, and then they die to the wrath.

Thank you! I am working on a Metalgear Colossus deck and I am working on all its angles for forcing its 20 damage in.

>Metalgear

magiccards.info/query?q=of Nature&v=card&s=cname

I'm at two life with mana barbs in play and my opponent is also at 2 life. I have exsanguinate in my hand.

Can I win?

You cannot, as described. Either you float the mana first, in which case you can't cast Exsanguinate until the triggers resolve (and kill you), or you tap your lands during the spellcasting process... in which case the triggers go ABOVE Exsanguinate, and kill you.

Can progenitor mimic copy progenitus? Assume I have pic on the field.

Forgot image

Does Progenitor Mimic contain the word "target"?

No.

Yes. Protection from Everything means Progenitus cannot be

D amaged by anything
E nchanted or Equipped by anything
B locked by anything
T argeted by anything

Progenitor Mimic is attempting to do none of these things, so Protection doesn't stop it.

Woo! Now to never be able to pull this combo off in an actual EDH game without someone wiping the field.
Speaking of that, would the copy and token copies deal normal monster damage or commander damage? Assuming progenitus is my commander.

"Commander-ness" is inherent to the physical card, and is not copiable.

Would pic related be able to kill someone by redirecting lethal damage from one player to the owner? Like let's say a Feral Hydra controlled by player A gets boosted by an infinite mana combo and smacks player B for ridiculous damage. Would pic be able to redirect that damage back at A's face or will some state-check mean that it fizzles because Player B dies before anything happens?

The damage is dealt to A -instead- of B. No damage ever hits B.

When would I need to cast the spell for it to work since it doesn't say "until end of turn" or some such.

>The next time a source of your choice would deal damage this turn, that damage is dealt to that source's controller instead.

Especially with older cards, you should always check the Oracle text. As long as you set up that prevention effect before the damage happens, you're fine- so your last chance would be after Declare Blockers, but before the Combat Damage Step.

Thanks for the clarification. I finally have an answer in boros colors to Blasphemous Act.

Cool, thanks so much

Have you heard of Deflecting Palm? Might want to add this too. Does the same thing.

Deflecting Palm doesn't do much against Blasphemous Act, friend.

If I Nissa's Pilgrimage after upkeep do I get to play the forest that went in my hand too?

It's a sorcery.
anyway, yes if you cast it on your turn, you get to play the forest.

Sure- the land you put onto the battlefield directly was... well, put onto the battlefield directly. That doesn't count as your 'land drop' for the turn, so you can just play one of the Forests you put into your hand, too.

I cast a spell, my opponent casts Mana Leak. I know that paying the mana is something that is a special action or something, or do I pay when Mana Leak resolves?

What about the white cat dude sitting in a chair that doesn't let me search?

If I pay the mana for cat chair guy, is it functionally like an ability with split second?

It's not a Special Action, those are a whole other thing.

You pay your 3 mana as part of the spell resolving.

Now, paying to ignore Leonin Arbiter's ability, that is ABSOLUTELY a Special Action (an effect from a static ability that allows you to take an action to ignore that ability for a duration; doing so is a special action). You can do that any time you have priority, and like all Special Actions, it doesn't use the stack, can't be responded to, and happens immediately.

If saskia player attacks with an infect creature is the damage saskia does infect damage also or just pure normal damage? What about commander damage

The trigger comes from Saskia, but the damage itself comes from whatever triggered her. So if you hit with a Lifelink source, the damage from the Saskia trigger will gain you life too. Meaning if you dome someone with Infect, Saskia's trigger will dome with Infect.

The damage isn't Commander Damage, because Saskia isn't the source, and even if she WAS, Commander Damage is only Combat Damage.

is there ever a scenario where tapping before or during casting matters?

Sure- just change the card to an Instant. For example, I am at 1 life, you are at 3. My only land is a City of Brass, and I draw Lightning Bolt.

If I tap the land as part of the spellcasting process, I die. If I tap it to float red mana, and respond to the trigger with Bolt, I win.

hmm, for some reason I thought the mana was in "purgatory" or something while the trigger waited, but I guess that wouldn't make much sense. Thanks

Nah, one of the big things with mana abilities is they resolve instantly. They don't use the stack, they can't be responded to- you activate them, they happen.

>have a creature
>put Godsend on it
>use mother of runes
>give equipped creature prowhite

does sword fall off?

Sure does. Part of protection from white is "cannot be equipped by white equipment".

yup

Darksteel citadel and a mox opal in play. I put another mox opal into play, can you activate its mana ability before it (one of them) gets sac'ed?

First, you don't sacrifice anything. You just pick one and put the other into the graveyard.

Second, no. The "Legend Rule" is a state-based action; it gets checked and enacted immediately before a player would get priority, EVERY TIME a player would get priority. By the time you have priority to activate Opal, you're back down to 2 artifacts.

Just using the term sac for the general colloquial. And k, follow up question, explain the difference between priority and the stack please.

I figured, but words mean very specific things in Magic.

The Stack is a game zone where objects wait to resolve. Priority is the system for determining who is able to act at a given time.

I control havoc festival and mogis. My opponent controls phyrexian arena. Do I choose how to stack havoc festival and mogis because they are mine or does my opponent choose because it affects him

The former. Any time you have multiple triggers wanting to go onto the stack at the same time, the Active Player (the one whose turn it is) will place all of THEIR triggers onto the stack in the order of their choosing, followed by the Non-Active Player(s) (the person/people whose turn it is NOT) doing the same. So your opponent would put Arena's trigger on the stack, and you'd put Mogis' and Festival's on the stack above that, in the order of your choosing. You could have them lose half their life, then take 2 or sac a guy, then they lose 1 and draw 1; or you can deal 2 unless they sac a guy, then they lose half rounded up, then they lose 1 and draw 1.

K, so, maybe a better way to ask my question would be "Is it correct that mana abilities ignore 'the stack' but are still bound by priority?" And if that is true, can you give me an example where this is relevant, where ONLY mana production is happening (I know there are cases where mana production *does* use the stack because it's tied to a damage effect) Also, the only reason I ask for an example is because the earlier example about Brass city and responding to its damage trigger with a spell instead of using it to start, it's an interaction I had never thought of before, really good example for the question.

Also, gonna be nit-picky about your use of the phrase "game zone" here, it's not really a "zone" right? Spells have to go *somewhere* as they're resolving, true, but what about abilities? When a creature activates an ability it's not like they're changing zones, or are they then in two zones at once?

Jein. Mana abilities come in two flavors: activated and triggered. The activated abilities you need priority to activate, like ALL activated abilities. Unlike normal activated abilities, they resolve immediately and can't be responded to.

There is a small caveat there: If an effect tells you to pay a cost (like Mana Leak), you are given permission to generate mana during the resolution of that effect. There's also a step that allows you to activate mana abilities during the steps of casting a spell, but generally speaking you'll need priority to activate a mana ability.

Also, there are no situations where mana production uses the stack because it's tied to damage. The only two things that can make an activated ability NOT a mana ability are "is a loyalty ability" or "targets something".

And no, the stack is absolutely a zone. I don't mince words when it comes to Magic, because words mean very specific things. If you activate a creature's ability, the CREATURE isn't going anywhere- it's still on the battlefield. The creature's ABILITY is on the stack.

Okay, I think I understand. Just for clarification, "during the resolution of that effect." is in reference to the mana leak, in your example, not the spell targeted by the mana leak.

Also, I had it reversed, I was thinking of Overabundance in reference to mana and damage on the stack. It's the damage that then ignores the stack, NOT the mana going ON the stack with the damage.

Completely unrelated to my question, just spend the past 5 minutes trying to find an example of something. There are a few OLD cards that specifically call out the word "card" in their text, and the new oracle wording on them now says "nontoken" since they're not actually "cards", can you think of any?

>First bit
Right. Mana Leak is saying "Hey, you gonna pay 3?" and gives you permission to activate mana abilities while Mana Leak itself is resolving.

>Second bit
Also right- Overabundance has a triggered mana ability. All of it (including the damage) happens instantly, does not use the stack, and cannot be responded to

>Third bit
Not off-hand, honestly.

Found a couple, spectral bears, chaos orb, Teferi's realm etc. They use "nontoken permanent" wording now.

Thanks for the info on everything!

So if I cast nevermore and blank out on Bob's name I can describe Bob and as long as I know everything about him Dark Confidant will be uncastable given i call a judge for it?

When you need to 'name' a card, all you have to do is uniquely identify it. "Bob" might not stick as a nickname, but "That 2/1 for 1B from original Ravnica that has you reveal a card during your upkeep, lose life equal to CMC, and put it in your hand" would be plenty.

Basically, if you can give me enough information that I can narrow it down to exactly one card, you have 'named' it as far as the game cares. In a tournament, it might be best to call a Judge and say "I'm casting Nevermore, and I want to name [UNIQUELY IDENTIFY CARD HERE]; what is the Oracle text of that card?".

Does Magma Spray prevent a creature from regenerating? It seems like both are creating a replacement effect for the creature dying and I'm not sure what would happen.

The other way around. Regenerated creature never touch the graveyard so magma spray's ded to exile thing never happened.

What's the best way to win a match, and why is it "forcing your opponent to concede because you have them in an iron-tight prison lock but you have no win con in your deck"?

Regeneration prevents the destruction event, whereas Magma Spray replaces "go to graveyard" with "exile". No destruction event means no going to graveyard, so Regen trumps Magma Spray.

This is why Disintegrate, for example, has an additional no-regeneration clause on top of the exiling.

Pic related.

What would be the judge ruling in this situation ()?

That'd be more of a TO issue.

What would the fix for somebody shuffling their hand into their deck during a search be at regular rel.

I felt like raging because I believe I'm 100% correct.

>Be me
>be FNM
>Piloting esper
>Fighting some homebrew
>Opponent plays something I don't like (foggy on what but it was an instant)
>I counter with Countersquall
>He counters with remand
>I have two mana open still
>Recast countersquall on what I originally wanted countered.
>"Can't do that user, whats the stack starts resolving it has to completely resolve."
>"No it doesn't, that's not how it works, that's not how any of this works."
>Buddy of his interjects telling me I'm wrong.
>Shitty hometown FNM with no judge.

Ya I was pretty mad, but please, tell me I was wrong to make me feel better.

My opponent has 5 cards in hand, some number of which are terminus. I do not know the contents of their hand. They draw a terminus for the turn and reveal it to the miracle trigger. I respond with quicken into hymn to tourach. How does this situation get resolved?

Next time that comes up, use the judge hotline website. They're generally very fast for simple things like that.

You resolve the Hymn. If they still have that Terminus in their hand, they get to Miracle it.

Shit that's a good idea. Typically I don't get salty over things like this but losing to him meant I wouldn't place. We ended up 1-1-1 and I feel like it would have gone differently if I had that life back (it was a burn spell.)

But how do we know if its the right terminus?

I have to double check on this, give me a moment.

"The stack" does not resolve. The stack is a game zone. OBJECTS on the stack resolve, one at a time, and players get priority after each object resolves. You can absolutely let Remand resolve to bounce your Countersquall, and then re-cast it.

The Terminus they drew remains revealed until the Miracle trigger resolves, so you use a different method to randomly pick two cards than "shuffle hand face-down". I'd say lay the hand on the table face-down (with Terminus face-up off to the side) and roll a dice.

To be fair, the IRC is not a replacement for an actual Judge. TECHNICALLY speaking, the TO for the FNM is the Head Judge, and you shouldn't be getting rulings from what are effectively random bystanders. Now, suggesting that the totally-not-a-Judge TO keep that IRC open in case of disputes so THEY can get advice and give the ruling, that's a good option.