Rules Tip of the Day: When on the stack, the converted mana cost of a Shoal from Betrayers of Kamigawa is always X + 2. It does not matter if the Shoal is played the normal way or if it is played via its alternate play cost.

Q: Could I use Swallowing Plague to do 20 damage to Konda, Lord of Eiganjo and gain 20 life?

A: Yes. As long as Swallowing Plague resolves you will gain X life. The life gain is not contingent on the amount damage actually being dealt. Also with regards to indestructible creatures, they can still be dealt damage, they just won't be destroyed by lethal damage.

Q: If I have Kira, Great Glass Spinner and Erayo's Essence in play and someone tries, as his first spell of his turn, to Shock my Kira, then the spell will be countered. My question is which 'protection' actually counters the spell, Erayo's Essence as the Shock is the first spell of the turn or Kira as it is being targeted for the first time in that particular turn?

A: It is your choice as you control both of these triggered abilities. Both trigger when your opponent plays this Shock, and you can put them on the stack in whatever order you want. The last one put on the stack will resolve first and counter this Shock. Keep in mind that it does not really matter which counters this Shock, if your opponent targets Kira with another Shock this turn, neither of those two abilities will trigger again and this second Shock will resolve.

Q: I have a question regarding Kuon, Ogre Ascendant and his flip legendary enchantment. If I manage to flip to the enchantment, does the legend rule apply if I play another Kuon and both of them are sent to the graveyard?

A: If one is flipped and the other is not flipped then the Legend rule is not applied as these two legendary permanents have different names.

Q: If I have Maga, Traitor of Mortals in play, and my opponent Otherworldly Journeys it, does is come back into play as a 1/1 or does it come back into play with an additional 1/1? Also, does the ability trigger again?

A: This Maga will come back into play with just a single counter on it due to the effect of the Otherworldly Journey. Because it comes into play, Maga's ability will trigger again and the targeted player will lose one life.

Q: I'm playing U/R Ire of the Kaminari, and my opponent is playing White Weenie. He has Leonin Shikari and Leonin Den-Guard in play, as well as Lightning Greaves, which is currently equipped to the Den-Guard. I play Eye of Nowhere targeting Lightning Greaves and Splice Glacial Ray targeting the Shikari. At the time it was ruled that the Shikari would die, whether or not my opponent moved the Greaves to the Shikari, so he did not move them. But now, after conferring with a couple other local judges, I'm not so sure.

A: The ruling given was correct. When this Eye to Nowhere with Spliced Glacial Ray goes to resolves it has one legal target and one illegal target. Because of this, it will resolve and do as much as possible. When it resolves it will first return the targeted Lightning Greaves to its owner's hand. Because of this the target of the Glacial Ray portion of the spell is now legal. This means that the Glacial Ray portion of the spell will resolve and deal two points of damage to the Shikari. I can understand the confusion as if the Greaves is moved, a target of this spell goes from being illegal to legal during the resolution of the spell, which is an unusual situation.

Q: I play Solemn Simulacrum. My opponent Shocks it before its come into play ability goes off. He says I don't search for a land yet, but rather I draw a card because the Solemn's dead FIRST, then search for the land. Is this right?

A: Yes, your opponent is correct. Because the Simulacrum is destroyed before its coming into play ability can resolve, its leaves play triggered ability will go on the stack on top of this coming into play ability and resolve first.

Q: If my opponent has Great Furnace in play, and I play Void, naming zero as the converted mana cost, then is the Great Furnace destroyed. Now if my opponent had a Great Furnace in his hand as well, then he would NOT have to discard it, correct? Because Void causes nonland cards to be discarded from his hand. Is this correct?

A: You are correct on both counts. Void's effect will destroy lands in play with the appropriate converted mana cost as long as they also have the permanent type of Artifact or creature. Void only affects non-lands cards in a players hand, so it can not cause a player to discard artifact lands.

Q: If I have Megrim and Chains of Mephistopheles in play and play Wheel of Fortune, will my opponent take damage from the cards drawn via the Wheel?

A: No. When Wheel of Fortune resolves first all players will discard their hands. Each of these cards discarded by your opponent will trigger Megrim. However when you go to fulfill the second part of Wheel of Fortune's effect, all player in the game will have empty hands. Because of this they will not draw any cards and each will end up milling seven cards.