MTG Magic The Gathering Ask A Judge - 「 F R I D A Y I '

>>53441251
Say I play Rishkar's Expertise and I have a card in hand with X cost and I play it for free, is X zero?

>>53444383
It is. When you're casting an X spell for an alternate cost, and that cost doesn't define X (for example, the Flashback for Increasing Confusion DOES define X), then X must be 0.

>>53444383
Not him, but yes.
Also you can abuse nocost cards with suspend with any of the expertise cards.

>>53444440
>>53444461
Thanks!

How does Ramos, Dragon Engine's second ability interact with varying types of color identity? How many counters would he receive if I cast:

>Pact of Negation
>Civilized Scholar
>Transguild Courier
>Boros Reckoner
>Alesha, Who Smiles at Death

>>53444561
In order:

One, One, Five, Two, One.

Ramos gets counters based on how many -colors- the spell -is-, not the color identity. Alesha has a WRB Color IDENTITY, but she is only a red spell/permanent. Same with Scholar- the back side is red, which matters for color IDENTITY, but its COLOR is just blue.

Transguild and Pact have color indicators that say they are those colors in all zones, so they'll "count" those colors for Ramos. Boros Reckoner is just 2 colors.

You can lightning bolt a plainswalker right?

But a plainswalker isnt a player or creature

So how does that damage get there?

Do you target the player and then get the option to redirect it to the plainswalker?

>>53444705
Planeswalker, not Plainswalker. Two totally different things.

Any time a source you control would deal noncombat damage to an opponent, you can have all that damage hit one Planeswalker they control instead. So the technical way is "Lightning Bolt, targeting you.". Opponent has no response, so it resolves. "On resolution, redirect the damage to your Jace, the Mind Sculptor." Practically speaking, people will just say "Bolt your Jace", which is an understood shortcut for "Bolt you, redirect to Jace on resolution".

Basically, they wanted you to be able to burn Planeswalkers, but the options were limited. If they rules that Planeswalkers 'counted' as players, suddenly you had a bunch of legal, but pointless plays like "Duress targeting Chandra" or "Kiss of the Amesha, targeting Venser"- how is Venser going to gain 7 life and draw 2 cards? That was out. They could errata every 'target player' or 'each player' burn spell to also say "or planeswalker", but that would mean hundreds of cards would be able to target a Planeswalker, but no copies of them would SAY that. That's also fucky. So they went with the redirection thing.

>>53444705
Yes. That "planeswalker redirection" rule is specifically made to avoid weirdness. Though you can only redirect damage from sources you control aimed at opponents.

>>53444790
>So the technical way is "Lightning Bolt, targeting you.". Opponent has no response, so it resolves. "On resolution, redirect the damage to your Jace, the Mind Sculptor."

So if I say "bolt you, responses?" Have I given up the chance to burn their jace?

File: stock-vector-cheerful-dragon-showing-thumbs-up-the-body-and-wings-are-partially-visible-black-background-253194775.jpg (64KB, 450x470px) Image search: [Google]

64KB, 450x470px

>>53444599
Thanks a bunch!

>>53444835
You have not! The choice is made on resolution. You don't decide whether or not to redirect until it's actually resolving. Matter of fact, if they ask "Me or Jace?", technically THEY give up THEIR chance to respond- because if you ask about a choice not made until resolution (like "Copying what?" when your opponent casts Clone, or "Naming what color?" for Voice of All), that's a default shortcut for you having no response.

If you wanna be nice, though, you can respond to that question with "I don't have to tell you that until it resolves. Does it resolve?"
>>53444899
Happy to help!

Is there any abusable interaction between Delaying Shield and damage doubling effects like Dictate of the Twin Gods? Both are replacement effects, right? Can I apply Delaying Shield before Dictate, effectively only receiving the normal amount of damage (converted into lifeloss) on my next upkeep?

>>53446205
Both of them want to apply to the same event- Delaying Shield wants to put counters on itself instead of you taking damage, and Dictate wants to double the damage. You're the affected player (since you're getting hit), so you choose the order in which they apply. If you apply Dictate first, it doubles the damage, and Delaying shield applies to THAT damage event. If you apply Shield first, though, it'll replace the damage with "put counters on Delaying Shield", and now there's no damage event for Dictate to apply to.

So yes, you can use Delaying Shield to 'duck' effects like Dictate.

>>53444997
Doesn't it seem scummy to go "bolt you", wait for them to adjust their lifetotal, then go "redirecting to jace"?

>>53448685
Not really. I wouldn't consider it scummy to not give up information before you need to.

Hi gA!
Building a pauper RG aggro deck. Say I have Impact Tremors in play, and my first spell this turn is Scab-Clan Mauler, and I didn't deal any damage to the opponent before. Can I, upon Mauler's arrival on the battlefield, stack his Bloodthirst trigger with Impact Tremors' so that I deal 1 damage from the enchantment and only then give him the 2 +1/+1 counters?

>>53451329
You could... if Bloodthirst was a trigger. Unfortunately, Bloodthirst is a replacement effect that modifies the way the permanent enters the battlefield. It'll check to see if your opponent has been dealt damage this turn immediately BEFORE your creature enters- and they haven't. So it'll enter as a 1/1, then Tremors pokes for 1.

>>53448709
Doesn't that follow the same rules as cabal therapy naming? Since you choose at resolution you can wait until that to name something, but if you do pick something and there's no response you're stuck with that?

>>53441251
If I have multiple Soulscar Mages on the battlefield, does my noncombat damage inflict double the -1/-1 counters?

File: tree-of-perdition.png (119KB, 223x311px) Image search: [Google]

119KB, 223x311px

>>53441251
>my upkeep with triskaidecaphobia on board and opponent on 13, me on 1
do i have to declare which mode i'm choosing?
>same scenario but they control tainted remedy
does it matter that i would die immediately after they do? what if i chose the second mode in the first situation?

File: Image.png (144KB, 223x311px) Image search: [Google]

144KB, 223x311px

>>53453708
no sir
>first SSM changes a 2 damage from a shock to 2 -1/-1 counters
>second SSM doesn't see the 2 damage as it has been changed to -1/-1 counters and does nothing.
in other words you're better off sandbagging the second copy for insurance unless you need the second body on the battlefield

If I have a Hardened Scales and a Metallic Mimic out naming 'Construct' on the battlefield and I play an Arcbound Worker how many counters should it enter the battlefield with? Previously on MTGO it would enter with 4, but since a recent patch it now enters with 3.

File: Image.png (127KB, 223x311px) Image search: [Google]

127KB, 223x311px

>>53454177
3 is right
>arcbound worker: this enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it. (1 counter)
>metallic mimic: each other creature you control of the chosen type enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter on it. (1 plus 1 is 2 counters)
>hardened scales: that many plus one +1/+1 counters are put on it instead. (2 plus 1 is 3 counters)

>>53454273
Thanks

>>53441251
A thing came up in my LGS and the local judge's answer striked me as odd.

So, let's say a player has an Aetherworks Marvel, which gains an energy whenever a permanent is put into the graveyard.

A Token that player controles dies.

Does the token actually hit the graveyard before disappearing? I've always understood that Tokens immediately disappear as soon as they leave the table.

Second question: all "Until End of Turn" effects end simmultaneously? My oponent used a card to give my Eletrostactic Pummeler -1/-1 until the end of the turn; I used the Pummeler's ability to pump it to 2/2 until the end of the turn. My creature would survive, right?

File: 155.jpg (65KB, 312x445px) Image search: [Google]

65KB, 312x445px

>>53455175
Tokens go to whatever zone they are sent to by effects (graveyard, exile, hand, library, whatever) and disappear as soon as SBA are checked, so they trigger Marvel/Zulaport Cutthroat/Catacomb sifter/etc. just like normal creatures, unless the effect specifies nontoken (like with Kalitas).
Note that even in different zones tokens are NOT cards, so for example you can't discard the token that got bounced by a Dinrova Horror during resolution.

All end of turn effects end simultaneously during the cleanup step, so yes the pummeler survives.

Between games, do players decide who will be on the play and draw before or after sideboarding?

File: infinite-loop-stop-example.png (13KB, 441x422px) Image search: [Google]

13KB, 441x422px

A friend of mine just told me about a top-tier strategy consisting in drawing the first match of a tournament with Burn, in order to get paired with super-slow Control decks later on in the tournament (and win obviously).
My question is: is it legal to offer the opponent to make it a draw after the game starts? Obviously, with no counterparts.

Then the same friend told me that starting an infinite loop and not doing anything to stop it is illegal and leads to a game loss for the player doing it. But I've always heard that this resulted in a draw, and I've never been in this situation... What is the rule here?

>>53453005
Right. If you pre-emptively give that information, what you're doing is offering a shortcut where you make that choice. if they say "Yeah sure", you're locked into that (so people can't 'bluff' a wrong name, and then change their minds), but if your opponent declines that shortcut (Say you cast Therapy naming Bolt, and they Bolt you in response), you're no longer beholden to it.

>>53453708
Nope! The first one replaces "damage" with "not damage", so the second no longer has a damage event to replace. Funny enough, I just did a Rules Blog post on that one yesterday and was worried it wouldn't ever actually come up.

>>53453819
You do have to declare what mode you're choosing, because that's one of the steps of a modal triggered ability being put onto the stack. It doesn't technically MATTER which mode you pick, Remedy or no, because the Triskaidekaphobia will kill them and then the game is over before it tries to make you gain or lose life.

>>53454177
Should be 3. Mimic is replacing "one" with "one plus one", and Hardened Scales is replacing "one plus one" with "one plus one plus one". Entering with 4 was 100% a bug.

>>53455175
Tokens do 'die', and go to the graveyard, and trigger things that care about that. THEN they stop existing. If tokens didn't hit the graveyard, cards like Harvester of Souls wouldn't need to specify "nontoken creature".

All 'until end of turn' effects wear off simultaneously during the Cleanup Step. Your Pummeler will live through that turn, because both effects end simultaneously.

>>53455669
Nitpick: Kalitas doesn't have a trigger.

Also, you DOUBLE can't discard the token, because once a token has left the battlefield, it's "stuck" in whatever zone it went to until SBAs kill it. This didn't used to be the case- you could use Momentary Blink on a token and it would live, in the past! Now, it goes to exile, stays there, and then stops existing.

>>53456661
For the first game, players should use a mutually agreeable random method (usually rolling a dice). For the second and beyond, the loser of the previous game has that choice, and it's made post-sideboard, but pre-actual-drawing. If you've got the choice of who plays and draws, but you draw your opening hand without saying whether you're on the play or on the draw, you're on the play by default.

>>53456951
Offering an intentional draw is always legal, as long as you're not offering it in exchange for something, or offering something for the draw. Just asking for the draw itself is okay- just don't say "I'll ID if you give me a pack", or "I'll give you 10 bucks to ID." Your opponent, obviously, can just decline the offer to draw, so it's not a great strategy.

If you begin a true infinite loop, where no player can make a choice WITHIN the loop to break it, the game ends in a draw. It is not illegal, and there's no penalty for it. If a player CAN make a choice that breaks the loop, they eventually have to.

Is it true that split cards now use their combined mana costs if I want to use by the means of Sunforger or Isochron scepter?

Yasova and Hazoret's Favor: do they work as I think they can? Go to beginning of combat, put Yasova trigger on top of Favor trigger, pay the mana cost, get an opponent's creature, then target it when Favor's trigger resolves, get +2 and swing with it, then sacrifice it?

File: IMG_8642.jpg (189KB, 1242x1758px) Image search: [Google]

189KB, 1242x1758px

Hey, it's the newbie anon from a couple days back.

Suggestions?

I have Parallel Lives, Anointed Procession, and Panharmonicon in play. I create a single token. How many tokens do I get?

You get two Parallel Lives triggers, and two Anointed Procession triggers from Panharmonicon. One PL trigger gives me Two tokens, two triggers makes it four tokens. Those four tokens become 8 tokens with the first AP Trigger, then 16 with the second AP trigger, right?

Super quick question, say I use Say my opponent casts Spell Queller onto a spell like Elvish Mystic. I then after it resolves with Simic Charm to return Spell Queller to its owner's hand. They recast Spell Queller targeting the original spell or Elvish Mystic again.

Would they be able to do that? Target the spell that recasts due to Spell Queller leaving?

>>53461423
Depends on what is making the token. If it is a creature with an ETB (Catacomb Sifter for example) then Panharmonicon will double the trigger, then for each instance the PL and AP would doubt the number again (they are not triggers, they are replacement effects so Panharmonicon does not effect them at all).

If it's a spell that says "Create a token" then it doubles from PL and doubles again from AP, no panharmonicon is involved at all as there is not a creature or artifact creating an ETB trigger.

>>53461525
Yep. By the time spell queller's "leaves play" trigger has resolved and put the spell it exiled on the stack, queller is in their hand and they absolutely can cast it to eat the spell again.

>>53461133
>Suggestions?
This is not really the place. Look in the catalog for the Standard thread (there's one most of the time) and post there. That's where people can help you.

This thread is mostly for rules questions, as our super-cool judge galvanicAutogenitor answers the most convoluted questions.

>>53461879
The way Panharmonicon is phrased, I'd say, indeed doubles the PL and AP triggers. Seems confirmed by the rulings on Gatherer:
>Panharmonicon affects an artifact or creature’s own enters-the-battlefield triggered abilities as well as other triggered abilities that would trigger when an artifact or creature enters the battlefield. Such triggered abilities start with “when” or “whenever.”

I'd say the logic that >>53461423 mentions is sound. You choose the order in which the triggers trigger, but in the end you'd end up with 2x2x2x2 tokens.

>>53463318
The issue as I stated is that AP and PL are NOT triggers, they are replacement effects. You can see this because they are worded "If X would happen, do X instead" rather than, "When X happens, do X".

Basically what happens is that rather than having their own separate effect, they are altering the rules of whatever is creating the tokens in the first place, hence there being a difference dependant on what creates the token.

File: mid-match death.png (14KB, 1247x185px) Image search: [Google]

14KB, 1247x185px

Context aside,

>>53463408
My bad, you're right. I didn't check the text of PL and AP, only Panharmonicon.

>>53463498
No worries, I'm a level 1 and have dealt a LOT with questions about Procession recently, been studying up!

>>53461423
None of those things are triggered abilities.

>>53461423
Parallel Lives replaces the effect with a effect that creates 2 tokens, the Anointed Procession replaces /that/ effect with an effect that creates 4 tokens.
>How many tokens do I get?
4.

How does stuff like Sphere of Safety work in a 2v2 game?

>>53463924
How many tokens do you get if you have 2 of each card out? 6 right?

>>53464288
>How does stuff like Sphere of Safety work in a 2v2 game?
10/1/2012 In a Two-Headed Giant game, if one player controls Sphere of Safety, creatures can’t attack that player’s team or a planeswalker that player controls unless their controller pays (X) for each of those creatures he or she controls. Creatures can attack planeswalkers controlled by that player’s teammate without having to pay this cost.


>How many tokens do you get if you have 2 of each card out? 6 right?
16.

The replacement effects hit one at a time and explicitly double.

Player A has an untapped Serra Ascendant and is at 29 life (Ascendant is a 1/1). Player B is attacking player A with a 1/1. If he blocks with Ascendant, will the Ascendant die as a 1/1 or survive as a 6/6?

>>53462516
Thanks!

>>53462516
Thanks!

>>53464526
Ascendant will live and be a 6/6 with 1 damage marked on it.

>>53465235
I'm not sure thats right.

File: image.jpg (65KB, 312x445px) Image search: [Google]

65KB, 312x445px

If my opponent casts Chalice of the void for [2], can I counter it with Smelt before the chalice starts countering my cmc 1 spells?

I guess a more technical way to ask would be: can I target cards on the stack before they've entered the battlefield?

>>53465245
I am 100% sure it is right. Lifelink is not a trigger, it just happens on damage and Serra Ascendant has a static ability that changes it's power and toughness when your life is 30 or above. So damage happens, you go to 30, it becomes a 6/6 (none of this uses the stack) and then when SBAs are next checked (whenever a player would receive priority), Serra Ascendant is a 6/6 with one damage marked on it and therefore is not put into the graveyard.

>>53465281
>I guess a more technical way to ask would be: can I target cards on the stack before they've entered the battlefield?
Yes, but not with smelt.

>>53465396
How come?
Is targeting stuff before they resolve exclusive to counterspells?

>>53465281
No. When the Chalice is on the stack, it's not an artifact, it's an artifact spell. You can, however, counter the Chalice with Ceremonious rejection, which explicitly targets a /spell/.

>>53465416
The difference is whether something targets a Spell (which everything is while on the stack) or a Permanent, which things are once they have resolved. Counter is a term used to describe 'destroying' something while on the stack, so what you would want in this case would be something along the lines of "Counter target artifact spell".

File: image.jpg (74KB, 312x445px) Image search: [Google]

74KB, 312x445px

On the topic of Chalice.
Let's say there's a chalice on the field that was payed for with [2], would I need to cast Detonate with [R][2] to destroy it? Would it even be possible to cast Detonate on such an occasion? Does anything change if the chalice was payed for with [4] instead?

>>53465511
For determining CMC, X is what was named for X when on the stack, and 0 elsewhere. Chalice's CMC on the battlefield is always 0, so you could Detonate it for 0.

>>53465578
But if X is 0, Detonate becomes CMC 1 which means it gets countered.

>>53465578
>so you could Detonate it for 0.
Except with X=0, Detonate has cmc 1 and gets countered by the Chalice with one counter.
If the Chalice had two counters it would work.

>>53441251
How would casting one of the new Amonkhet cards, such as Harvest Season, work with Wort, The Raidmother? If I have X creatures tapped and I then tap two more to conspire Harvest Season, how many lands do I tutor for?

>>53465650
You count the tapped creatures during resolution, so X+2 for each of the 2 copies.

>>53465635
>>53465647
Sorry, I miseread. I thought he meant Chalice on X=2, not chalice paying 2 mana.

File: artifact blast.jpg (28KB, 223x310px) Image search: [Google]

28KB, 223x310px

>>53465281
No but if you're playing legacy, there's this

>>53460744
yes, and cascade, and goblin dark dwellers, and the expertises, and so forth.

>>53465416
The spell Chalice of the Void and the permanent Chalice of the Void (and for that matter, the card Chalice of the Void) are all separate game objects.
If something flickers Chalice of the Void, the Chalice of the Void is a separate game object too.

You can't target the Chalice of the Void spell with Smelt, because that object (the Chalice of the Void spell) isn't an artifact.

>Is targeting stuff before they resolve exclusive to counterspells?
No but,
>To destroy a permanent, move it from the battlefield to its owner's graveyard. Kind of hard to do that if it's not a permanent and not on the battlefield.
>To counter a spell or ability means to cancel it, removing it from the stack. It doesn't resolve and none of its effects occur. A countered spell is put into its owner's graveyard.

You can't tell the Chalice of the Void spell to "remember" to be destroyed when it becomes the Chalice of the Void permanent, because it /doesn't/ become the Chalice of the Void permanent.
The Chalice of the Void spell stops existing, then the the Chalice of the Void permanent starts existing. Separate game objects.

>>53468106
>If something flickers Chalice of the Void, the Chalice of the Void is a separate game object too.
If something flickers Chalice of the Void, the *returning Chalice of the Void is a separate game object too.

Bump from near oblivion