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

There's a ruling that mentioned if an ability modify a keyword (cost), that means it only modify the variable cost part.

"Rulings" mean nothing. There's a -rule- that says that, in the CR, but as far as I'm aware that's the only thing that talks about it in the CR. Largely because it explains everything you need to know- when something talks about a "Cycling cost" or a "Scavenge Cost", what it means is the variable part- the part that changes from card to card. As in, the part that isn't "discard this card" for Cycling, or "Exile this card" for Scavenge.

But it explains exactly that. It mentions cycling cost becomes zero, and because of that rule it means the only thing that becomes zero is the mana cost, you still have to discard.

>It mentions cycling cost becomes zero
i mean New Perspective mentions cycling cost becomes zero

Okay, I see what you're saying now- my mistake. I was actually not aware of 702.1a until you pointed it out, and it does cover this situation, clarifying that New Perspectives makes it "0, discard a card", rather than requiring clarification in the Cycling Rules.

I misunderstood what you were asking/saying.

Will As Foretold let me cast instant speed spells on the opponent's turn?

Also, bit more of an edge case here, but let's say that I attack someone, and they block one of my creatures with (let's call it) X. I then play Conspiracy, naming Zombie. Could I then cast Time to Think and exile X, because the thing it blocked is now a Zombie?

First, there's no such thing as 'Speed' in Magic.

Second, yes. As Foretold 'works' once per turn, and that includes during your opponent's turn for Instants or spells with Flash.

Third, no. The creature in question did not "block a Zombie", it blocked a creature that later BECAME a Zombie.

1.yes

2. Is it now a legal target?

I assume that the only things that trigger the snake making are effects that say "put a -1/-1 counter". How does this interact with wither, infest, persist, and creatures that come into play with -1/-1s counters?

It interacts with all of them. All of those (assuming 'infest' was meant to be 'infect') have you placing -1/-1 counters on things, which will trigger Lady Jafar.

JUDGE

Endless Whispers and Tainted Aether are out and a creature gets sacced. Is any player forced to sac anything else other than the creature bouncing back and forth with Whispers, effectively making the game a draw? Or is any player "forced" to break the tie?

RTFC.

Neither. Endless Whispers doesn't bring it back immediately, it sets up a delayed trigger that'll bring it back at the beginning of the next end step. Then, at that time, it'll come back and trigger Tainted Aether, at which point the new controller will sac a creature or a land. If they sac a creature, that'll set up a new delayed trigger to bring that creature back at the beginning of the NEXT TURN'S end step, and on and on.

If it did bring the card back immediately, at some point the active player would be forced to make a different choice (when it loops back around to them) in order to advance the game, if another choice is possible to make.

Back in a while, headed home!

Does Metallic Mimic trigger ETB effects like Wayward Servant if you choose the right creature type?

If you choose zombo, then yes it will.

Yep! The replacement effect kicks in before it ever enters, so it enters -as- that type.

Cycling is instant speed right? Even if it's on a sorcery or a creature card?

There's no such thing as 'speed' in Magic.

Cycling is an activated ability. As with all activated abilities (excepting those that have timing restrictions baked in like Equip, which Cycling does not), it can be activated any time you have priority, which is the same time you can cast an Instant.

ok, thanks user.

Is there any particular reason you don't like the term "instant speed"?

Because there's no such thing as 'speed' in Magic. I've seen the use of "sorcery speed" and "instant speed" lead people to think it's like Yugioh, which has "Spell Speeds".

Was hoping the release notes would tell us but I don't see anything. Does "whenever you discard a card" trigger once total or once per card if you discard multiple cards at the same time?

I figure its once per card because it doesn't say "one or more cards".

I found a Quest for the Nihil Stone ruling that agrees with this. Looks like its a trigger per card.

what's the verdict on madness x pic relate? works or no?

>If you discard a card with madness but don't cast it, Shadow of the Grave can find it in your graveyard. If you do cast that card, Shadow of the Grave can't find it in your graveyard.

It'll trigger once per card you discarded.

Release Notes say that it'll find the card if you didn't cast it, but not if you did.

I bought the duel deck with Jhoira and miss barbarian.

Why is snap not modern legal? Why? They reprinted it.
It was everything gifts/storm needed.

Supplemental sets don't grant modern legality, they must pass through standard first. It's the same concept as the C16 lists not being modern legal

Standard/Modern legality is based on expansions (and core sets). Supplemental sets (Commander, Duel Decks, Modern Masters, etc) are not regular expansions, and are not factored in for format legality, with the exception that any NEW cards in supplementals (like the Commander sets) are immediately legal in Legacy and Vintage.

Bed now!

>It was everything gifts/storm needed
Assuming you want the deck banned, of course.

Does an equipment get "unattached" if I target the already equipped creature with the equip ability? What I'm basically asking is whether a creature equipped with Grafted Wargear can sac itself if there is no other valid equip target.

nope, you can't unequip if there's no other target.

I'm at one life and have a Midnight Oil and Faith of the Devoted. I discard a card for an arbitrary reason. Can I spend mana on the Faith ability to gain life before midnight oil kills me?

What if I discard 2 cards and am at 2 life?

Does exerted have any formal mechanical meaning? I want to know if I can place a exerted reminder 'token' on a permanent tapped down by a Frost Titan or something.

...

>I actually really like "cards that refer to stuff that's not out yet"
Will it ever be out?

You control both cards and they trigger at the same time. You decide in which order you place them on the stack, so if you put the Faith triggers last they will resolve first, letting you gain life before Midnight oil hurts you.

I have a few questions on phasing (sorry).

Is Phasing an ability that goes on the stack? If so, can I Cloudshift and/or flicker one of my creatures with Phasing to prevent it from phasing out?

Also, how does Teferi's Island interact with Phasing and the legend rule?
Like, I play Teferi's Island turn one. Turn two, Teferi's Island phases out, then I play a seccond Teferi's Island. Turn 3, the first Teferi's Island phases in and the second Teferi's Island phases out.
Are the two Teferi's Islands ever in existence at the same time, and does the legend rule trigger?

I think they said something about it being a joke right from the beginning. But, I still have hope.

Nope. You can't "unequip" things, you can only cause them to BECOME unequipped (protection, an effect like Carry Away that explicitly says to 'unattach'), or equip it to something else.

Both enchantments are yours, so you can put their triggers on the stack as you like. Meaning you can have Faith's trigger resolve and let you gain life before Oil's kills you.

If you discard 2 cards, you'd have 2 Faith triggers and 2 Oil triggers, same deal.

Yes, it specifically means that you CHOSE to 'exert' it as it was declared attacking. Technically you shouldn't use the Exerted reminders for anything else.

Prolly not.

Phasing does not use the stack, and cannot be responded to. It happens in your Untap Step, where nobody has priority (unless it's something like Reality Ripple, where it phases something out as an effect- you can respond to that SPELL, but not the resolution of it).

Assuming you meant Teferi's Isle, they'd never both be 'out' at the same time. As your third turn's untap step begins, the phased-in Isle would phase out simultaneously with the phased-out one phasing back in. There's never a point in this scenario where both are phased in OR out at the same time.

Also, the legend rule never 'triggers'. It's a State-Based Action that does not use the stack and cannot be responded to.

Does this work with vehicles to give it the +x/+x, but would I get to resolve the vehicle turning off, then puffer, allowing it to survive?

>Prolly not
Don't break my heart gA

No it will still get destroyed.

If I target a Phantasmal Image with a Dinrova Horror, does the opponent controlling the image still need to discard a card?

Nope.
The horror targets the image, the image puts a trigger on the stack to sack itself above the dimrova horror's ability, the image dies and the horror's ability gets countered for a lack of legal targets.

You do not "resolve" the vehicle turning off. It doesn't use the stack. The "until end of turn" clause will apply until the CLEANUP step, which is one step later than the END step, where the Extract triggers.

Even if it became a noncreature in the meantime (maybe someone flashed in a copy of Moonjail), the delayed trigger would still destroy it. It's not "destroy that thing if it's still a creature", but "destroy this object".

Nope. Trigger goes to resolve, has no legal targets, none of its effects happen.

I attack with a menace creature, opponent blocks with 2 creatures, i fatal push one after blockers are declared, does my creature get through?

Nope, the creature is still blocked

Nope. Menace, like all evasion abilities, only matters for whether or not a set of blockers is legal to -declare-. Retroactively making it an illegal block (like by killing one of two creatures blocking your Menace guy, or giving your creature Flying AFTER blocks, or removing your opponent's creature's flying AFTER it blocks) won't do anything. The block has been declared, so it's locked in- your creature is blocked for this combat, period.

thank you
thank you, didnt knew about the flying blocks. I thought you can give flying as a combat trick. Is the ruling for protection the same ?

Yep. Once a block is legally declared, the creature *stays* blocked for the rest of combat, even if the block becomes illegal afterwards (Flying, Protection, flat out 'cannot be blocked' effects, doesn't matter) or the blocker is removed.

If you want to use Jump as a combat trick, you need to cast it before blockers.

Ok thats a big revelation thank you for that.

Does Vizer of Remedies work with Persist, as in a creature will come in but not get a -1/-1 counter? i.e. With a sac outlet you can go infinite with Red Cap and the Vizer?

Yep!

>Yes, it specifically means that you CHOSE to 'exert' it as it was declared attacking. Technically you shouldn't use the Exerted reminders for anything else.

But are there any cards or interactions where that would cause confusion? I searched the spoilers (using this mtgsalvation.com/spoilers/179-amonkhet ) and I didn't see anything along the lines of 'untap all exerted creatures you control'.

If you have a creature that causes things when exerted, and tap-without-next-untap it with some external effect (IE, not exert), you don't want to confuse yourself and think you exerted it when you didn't.

If your opponent has Leyline of Sanctity and a Planeswaker out can you bolt the Planeswalker?

You can't.
Bolt your walker is usually used as a shortcut of 'bolt you, redirect the damage to your walker'. Since you can't bolt your opponent, you can't redirect it to the walker.

all theros gods are not creatures if devotion isn't enough.
does playing one trigger creature ETB effects?

For example, if i have a purphoros in play and drop another one, let's say thassa, does the ability of purphoros triggers?
does thassa enter the battlefield as a enchantment - creature and only after it becomes only an enchantment cause static effects are active only when the card is in play, thus triggering purporos' ability?

No, if the devotion is not met, there's never any time that Theros gods is a creature on the battlefield.

Hello, What happens if i forget to pay my pact of negation, i have 6 island. and i already draw a card.
Can i tap the 5 mana or i lose?

You pretty much lose the game at that point.

Hi, what happen to the triggered ability of a creature with monstrosity if I have Corpsejack Menace on the battlefield? For exemple, if I tap 7 forests to get Hydra Broodmaster monstrous? It gets 6 +1/+1 counters, but do I put 3 hydra tokens 3/3 on the battlefield or 6? Same with Polukranos, if I tap 7 forests, does it inflict 3 or 6 damage?

You get 3 hydras because you determined X equals 3 then payed all associated costs for the ability. Corpse jack would only work if Broodmaster read "create a number of tokens with power and toughness equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on CARDNAME"

Thanks!

Could you explain spin down dice (life counters, etc.)? Asking for a friend.

What don't you get about them?

Bit late at this point, but:

A spin down dice means that for every number on the dice, it's next to the number one greater than it and the number one less than it. (Obvious exceptions for 1 and 20)
Basically, to get from N on top to N+1 or N-1 on top, you have to turn the dice just one side. It makes using the dice as a life counter easy.

In the context of your image, though, I'd imagine "spin down each die" means "decrement the shown value".

this ->It's slang for the d20s that come with fat packs and prerelease boxes. People call them spindowns because the numbers are arranged in order as opposed to the orientations for a regular d20 so you can quickly "spin" them up or down for life totals.

Be aware they are also terrible for tracking life totals

>Be aware they are also terrible for tracking life totals
Depends on if you can trust everybody at the table to not knock the table around and not hit the dice.
If there's a spaz at the table (or cheating scum), they're godawful and you need to break out the pencil and paper.
If everybody's got basic motor control, then you're in luck and they'll work fine.

>Rigger.

Theres no way.

pen and paper also has the added benefit of damage history tracking which helps when lifelink math or other random stuff gets messed up.

It adds just as many chances to screw up as it does chances to fix screw ups.
I mean, if you're more responsible than your opponent then by all means yes. But my experience is that anybody who frequently fucks up life tracking will fuck it up no matter how they do it.

Just saying, as a judge we are told to trust paper and pencil life totals over dice of any kind, period.

And heaven forbid if you just say you'll "remember" it.

How does Witch-Maw Nephilim's second ability work with respect to layers? If power/toughness modifying effects are applied in Layer 7, how does the game see it in Layer 6?

Am I right in thinking that exerting Champion of Rhonas doesn't allow you to attack with the creature you dropped that turn, assuming it can get haste?

Yes, the declare attack phase have passed when the creature etb.

I prefer using basics as counters.
Pick basic for 5, pick a basic for 1, if you're packing retarded lifegain pick a basic for 20.
(Pick from cards *not* used in your deck, obviously)

Spread them down (overlaped to save space, but spiraling out for clear counting/viewing).
Keep "unused" counters face-down in a pile.

what's the correct way to template this?
>creatures with power 4 or greater have flying

is tarmogoyf's power and toughness granted by an ability? if i cast turn to frog on my opponent's 4/5 tarmogoyf, what size will it be?

can i choose Legendary for Karona's ability?

Nope, legendary is not a creature type.

naw, legendary is a supertype. you'd need to choose a subtype like human or warrior

Pretty sure there isn't one, unless you meaningfully change what the ability does.

>is tarmogoyf's power and toughness granted by an ability?
No, by a continuous effect.
>if i cast turn to frog on my opponent's 4/5 tarmogoyf, what size will it be?
1/1, just like the card says. Turn to Frog uses the same layer, and has the newer timestamp.

Come back 13 years ago.

>No, by a continuous effect.
characteristic-defining abilities, a type of statc ability
it gets scrubbed of with any other abilities goyf gained
>uses the same layerboth use layer 7, but
characteristic-defining abilities use layer 7a
and Turn To Frog uses layer 7b
even if it kept the ability (it doesn't) timestamps would not matter

Are you happy that Bird Brain is dead?

so if i activate the ability of a creature and in response the creature eats removal the ability still happens?

Unless it gets countered for missing targets.

i am

generally yes the ability will still fire even if the source dies, but there are some exceptions like fight. for example if you activate ulvenwald tracker targetting himself and another, if the tracker dies the ability whiffs