MTG Magic The Gathering Ask A Judge -「 F R I D A Y I ' M I N L O V E 」

Mostly! If they're worded as "When you cast ~,", then that's a triggered ability that triggers upon the spell being cast. Trigger will go on the stack above the spell that triggered it.

Can a counterspell target itself?

Nope! Spells can never target themselves.

Any tips for someone that's gonna play a draft with randoms at their FLGS for the first time? I only ever played with friends and I last collected cards back when the 2013 core came out. Literally never played at a game shop before

yo gangstas i'm goin to ma first draft event 2nite, usually i roll wit da constructed formatz - does a gangsta bring empty sleeves to a draft for da cards he be draftin or do peeps go bareback??

I always recommend sleeves.

I assume you're asking because somebody redirected a counterspell to get rid of it, which does work. You use the redirect to change the target of the counterspell to the redirection spell.

good lookin out homie cash me @ da lgs yaherd

Voltaic Brawler gets 2 energy when ETB. Card says whenever it attacks, I may pay 1 energy for +1/+1 and trample until end of turn. My friend says he can pay 6 energy for +6/+6 in one go but I'm pretty sure he's wrong because that would be activating the ability 6 times which seems OP as fuck to me.

Who's right?

You're not ACTIVATING anything- Voltaic Brawler does not have an activated ability. It has two triggered abilities.

When the second ability resolves, you may pay E. Period. You don't get the option to "overpay"- it's a binary system. You either pay a single energy for +1/+1 and trample, or you pay zero energy. You can't pay 2 or 3 or 4 or 5- it's 1 or 0.

Understood, thanks for clearing that up.

Followup: he CAN, however, use the activated ability of a Longtusk Cub (pay 2 energy for a +1/+1 counter on LC) in "response" to declaring attackers if he has priority, right?

What happens if a creature attacking with Mirror Mockery was buffed with an instant or sorcery before it attacked like say Taigam's Strike?
Does the copy retain those effects?

You don't really respond to declaring attacks, since that doesn't use the stack, but yeah. He can attack with Cub, and then activate it well before damage.

Nope! Copy effects only look at the base, un-fucked-with card. The only exception to that is other copy effects. SO if you had a Phyrexian Metamorph copying a Bear Cub, and that Meta-Cub had 3 +1/+1 counters, a Sword of Feast and Famine, and was targeted by Taigam's Strike, your Mirror Mockery copy would be...

A 2/2 Artifact Creature - Bear named "Bear Cub" with no abilities.

Probably a really stupid question but the wording is a bit fuzzy to me so here goes:

Does Verdirous Gearhulk actually give me the counters or do I only move existing counters around? "Distribute" seems a bit vague in this context. Though, I suppose if it meant moving existing counters they would use "redistribute," but hey, they've had to fix ambiguous wording before so I'm confused.

It gives them to you. It says "here are 6 counters. Distribute them."

I'm pretty certain the answer is no, but can copies of Flusterstorm made through Storm target other copies of the same Flusterstorm made by the same Storm trigger?

>gut shot
why though

is there any way to draw a card after this guy's ability has resolved but still at the end of that turn? i want to move to end step, discard hand and then activate an ability such as evolutionary leap to put a card in my hand...

Well Evolutionary Leap is a shitty card and requires a discard to activate so no.

But yes there are ways to draw a card after that trigger resolves.

Nevermind Leap was the sac outlet, it's even worse.

>he doesn't know how to play green-black

Sac outlets that require mana are awful 99% of the time. It helps my argument that Evolutionary Leap hasn't seen play in any format ever.

I had a general question that I was curious about. I stopped playing MTG but I followed a few people who talked about MTG now and again. I follow that guy who owns MTGHeadquarters, and I saw him make a ranting video bitching about how some retailer canceled pre-orders for the new modern masters set, because they set the price tag at 180~ and instead wanted to sell it for the price tag of 240.

My question is, how did a set gain 60 dollars of value in pre-order. It seems like the wizards MSRP is 240 for a box, did retailers not know it was going to be 240 for the boxes before putting a price to pre-order?

It was used in elves for a while for combo shenanigans. Saw some results. Plus it's good for decks in edh that want to refill their hand if a boardewipes occurs.

post ascendancy rankings
1 sultai
2 temur
3 jeskai
4 mardu
5 abzan

saw a decent amount of play in sideboards of green creature decks. it wrecked stuff like b/w control. basically against mono removal decks you sac the creature they terror in response to get a new creature.

never would be run as more than a 1 or maybe 2 of bc drawing multiples is terrible but it still saw some play

1 jeskai
2 abzan
3 end of list

Hilariously, they can. You put the copies on the stack, aimed at the same thing the original was, and THEN you can pick new targets. By then, all of them are on the stack, so you can aim them at each other if you want.

Sure. After his ability resolves in the End Step, you'll get priority again, so you can just activate an ability normally.

MSRP is SUGGESTED retail price. For example, the MSRP on a full box of Aether Revolt would be over 144 dollars, but good luck finding someone willing to pay more than maybe 90 dollars for a full box. Sorta the same deal with Masters sets; the stores get them for notably under MSRP because they buy from vendors, and then some of them will sell full boxes for below MSRP because they'd rather sell 40 boxes at 180 than sell 20 boxes at 240. Also, MM2 was a bit disappointing value-wise compared to MM3, so they may have been expecting that trend to continue.

I cast glint nest crane, see zero artifacts, and put the cards on the bottom of my library. I then almost shuffled my library but caught myself and stopped. If I had (accidentally) shuffled, what penalties or fixes should there be?

My other question was what happens if an archetype (imagination for example) leaves the battlefield after an ability gives flying until end of turn but that was answered on gatherer.

Assuming it was a legit accident, we'd hit you with the catch-all of Game Play Error - Game Rule Violation, since you performed an action when nothing permitted you to do so. You'd get a Warning.

Can Gaea's Revenge be targeted as a reanimator target if it's a non-green spell?

Yep! Protection, like most abilities, only functions on the battlefield.

thanks. I heard that protection could stop reanimator, such as the first Akroma. good to know.

Sure can't! Abilities tend to only work on the battlefield. The exception are abilities which explicitly MENTION other zones (for example, Bloodsoaked Champion), or if it wouldn't make sense to work except in that zone.

A few old reanimation spells became auras attached to the creature. Protection would cause those to fall off and would kill the creature again.

This elemental does not have protection, it is just untargetable by non green so they would stay attached.

Ahh that makes more sense. Wasn't thinking in context. Thanks

Thanks, that makes it crystal clear.

Thanks gA.

If I tezzeret, agent of bolas -1 an ink mother nexus, it still keeps infect and flying correct? I have a friend fighting me on this

Meant inkmoth nexus, thanks autocorrect

If you use Tezz on an already-activated Nexus, it'll be a 5/5 with Infect and Flying for the turn. At the end of the turn, it'll lose Flying and Infect. If you activate the Nexus again, it'll regain Flying and Infect for the turn, but it'll become a 1/1 for that turn.

That's comedy gold right there, thank you

Let's say I have two creatures. A and B. Creature A has first strike whereas Creature B does not.

I declare them both as attackers. Creature A then does first strike damage. Let's say that hypothetically In that step where first strike damage has been dealt but regular damage has not yet happened that a card effect comes into play that grants Creature B first strike.

Will Creature B do no damage since he has lost his chance and the first strike damage step has passed or will Creature B do regular damage?

...

Nope! For the normal damage step, the only things that assign and deal damage there are those that had neither First nor Double Strike as first combat damage step began, and those that currently have Double Strike.

Thanks boss.

Regarding Cipher:

Can I cipher the copy I'm casting from exile? I'm assuming not 'cause that seems broken as hell but I want to know for a deck I'm making.

No, a copy is not a spell card.

Gotcha, thanks for the help.

Future reference, this is really clear in the comprehensive rules
>“Cipher” means “If this spell is represented by a card, you may exile this card encoded on a creature you control”
>If this spell is represented by a card

represent me

Elder deep fiend + kozilek's return is the most broken interaction in any format I've played. Nothing is more debilitating than untapping your mana on turn 5 only to have everything on your board blown up and then four of your (hopefully) five lands tapped down - all before you draw your card for turn!

What the fuck can you do to stop it?
>Counter spell?
They still get all the cast triggers, shit doesn't even need to resolve for every part of it to go off other than the body
>Disallow the cast trigger?
Too bad they still get kozilek's (separate trigger), too bad they can still sanctum for another fiend and lock you out of the next two turns at least.

Why is this allowed? Is deep fiend + kozilek's return just secretly the most bonkers combo in all of MTG? It's not even hard to set up:
>Cathartic reunion turn two, throw away kozilek's and an advanced stitchwing
>Turn three Tormenting Voice and pitch amalgam
>At their upkeep on turn 5 bring back stitchwing and an amalgam
>Emerge deep fiend, trigger kozilek's, sack sanctum of ugin and get another deep fiend
>They draw, do nothing (1 or 2 untapped mana and zero creatures) and pass
>Swing in for 8 with EDF and amalgam, pass
>At their upkeep, emerge deep fiend off of amalgam, tap down 4 lands again
>Game?

Like holy shit. What can you even do?
>Inb4 play it

Stop overextending, scrub.

>seven card to combo
>not hard
also, summary dismissal.

I think you mean "literally any instant removal".

any removal at instant speed in response to the tap trigger. you still won't have mana for the turn but he'll have wiped whatever was left on his board as well as yours, so you both start from 0

Juuuuudge!

Ok so I get how trample works, you assign lethal to all blockers and excess goes to the defending player...

Say I have a 4/4 Grim Flayer and an opponent blocks with a 2/2 Runeclar Bear and a 2/2 Voice of Resurgence, I can assign block order right? But can I also deal excess damage to the bear (4) so that the Voice of Resurgence doesn't die?

Because my opponent said otherwise and that trample forces me to assign lethal at all times

Thanks spell snip-san

***I meant the order in which the blockers take damage

You can't, because Cipher only works with actual CARDS, and copies aren't cards.

Even if you could do it, as soon as you exiled the copy it would stop existing and do nothing.

You pick the order you're going to damage them, and you are never forced to stop at 'lethal', even with trample. If you want to throw the full 4 damage at the Runeclaw to keep the Voice alive, that is 100% a legal option available to you.

Can you declare a combat phase and not declare any attacker? It's for at beginning of combat step triggers.

Absolutely! The only steps that you can elect to 'skip over' on your own are the Declare Blockers and Combat Damage steps. Whether or not you're going to attack (hell, whether or not you have CREATURES) there will be a Beginning of Combat Step, a Declare Attackers Step, and an End of Combat Step. If no attackers were declared (and nothing was put onto the battlefield attacking), then you skip from Declare Attackers to End of Combat, but the Beginning of Combat step happens every turn. It's just that when you go "Untap, upkeep, draw, land, go", what you're really doing is offering a shortcut wherein you and your opponent pass priority back and forth, adding nothing to the stack, in every step until you reach your opponent having priority in your End Step. If you have a BOC trigger you want, just end your main phase by saying "Going to combat, X triggers?".

remind me:

>Opponent taps his Mother of Runes to give herself Pro:Black
>Opponent casts Nausea

she still dies right? Since Nausea doesn't target?

Would the same happen if she was Pro: Red and Pyroclasm?

>Nausea
Correct.

>Pyroclasm
She lives!

Protection from FOO means that all damage from FOO sources is prevented re: that object; that no FOO Auras/Equipment/Fortifications can be attached to it; that it cannot be blocked by FOO creatures; and that it cannot be the target of a FOO spell, or an ability from a FOO sources.

D amage
E nchant/equip
B lock
T arget.

DEBT. That's all that Protection stops. Pro-black won't stop Nausea, because it's not trying to Damage, Enchant/Equip, Block, or Target the Mom. Pro-red WILL stop Pyroclasm, because it'll prevent the damage from a RED Source. Grok?

If I'm blocking an attacking red creature with a band of three creatures one of which has protection from red can the red ttacker damage any of the defending band or are they all protected?

You can ASSIGN damage to a protection creature, the damage will just be prevented. If you gang-block a red creature with 2+ creatures, one of which has Banding and one of which has Protection from Red, you can heap all the damage onto your pro-red creature and lose nothing.

Thank You.

If I have dovescape in play then cast supreme verdict, do I get doves before or after the boardwipe?

You will. Dovescape will trigger when the spell is cast, so the trigger will resolve first. Trigger tries to counter the Verdict, and fails because it can't. Trigger shrugs, makes 4 birbs, and is then done.

Then Verdict resolves and unexpand birb.

Deflecting palm prevents damage from the first time the source deals damage only? (E.g. if the creature has double strike or i activate a damaging ability or i cast fling)

Right. It only stops the NEXT time that source would do damage. So if you aimed it at a 4/4 with double strike, it'd stop the first hit but not the second. If you aimed it at a 4/4 that was attacking, and was then Flung, it'd stop the combat damage but not the Fling, etc.

My enemy attacks with a Gideon that's a creature. Let's say I have a 'damage can't be prevented' effect in play.

If I block the Gideon with a 2/2, does he lose 2 loyalty counters on top of having 2 damage marked on him?

If my 2/2 has wither or infect, does that change anything?

Yes. He'll take 2 damage, which has two results: Since he's a creature, 2 damage is marked on him, and since he's a Planeswalker 2 loyalty counters will be removed. If the 2/2 had Wither or Infect, change "2 damage is marked on Gideon" to "Two -1/-1 counters are placed on Gideon", and he still loses loyalty.

Thats really obvious now that you say it, thanks!

Partner in EDH:

Does each partner track its own commander damage dealt and increased cost to cast?

Also, is there a word used to refer to the increased casting cost?

>dovescape shrugs
>makes doves anyway

Yup, both commander track commander damage and commander tax seperately. The Magic rules don't specify a specific term, but 'commander tax' seems to be the most widely-used one.

Each partner is its own Commander, so you'll track the tax for them separately, and ditto for Commander Damage.

There's not a specific term for it in the rules, but most people call it "Commander tax".

I cast arcbond targeting my opponent's creature. the creature is dealt 5 damage. both I and my opponent control a planeswalker. Can damage be redirected to the planeswalkers, and who decides if the damage is redirected? does my opponent since he's the one in control of the creature, which is dealing the damage? or do I since I cast the spell?

woops, read the first ruling on arcbond's gatherer page. never mind!