Rules Tip of the Day: You can not counter a creature's coming into play ability or cause it to somehow not trigger by destroying the creature. The only way to prevent the coming into play ability is to counter that creature spell when on the stack or to cause to creature to come into play without any abilities, i.e. Humility.

Q: I read in an earlier ruling a statement that Sakashima, the Imposter could copy an unflipped creature, meet the flip requirement, then flip into the other card characteristics while retaining the name Sakashima, The Imposter.

What if the creature copied by Sakashima, The Imposter was Homura, Human Ascendant? If I sacrifice Sakashima what happens when it returns to play? Does it come into play as an enchantment named Sakashima? Does it forget that it had copied a flipped section because of the change in zones and return with the ability to copy target creature?

A: When you resolve the ability that triggered when this Sakashima copy of Homura left play, the Saksahima card will be returned to play flipped. You can choose a creature in play to copy when this flipped Sakashim comes into play; it will not automatically be be a copy of Homura's Essence. However if you do choose to have Sakashima copy a flip card in play, it will have the characteristics of the flipped version. Keep in mind that even if Sakashima becomes a legendary enchantment in this manner it will still retain the name Saksahima the Imposter and have the ability to return itself to your hand at the end of the current turn.

Q: If I have no cards left in my library and Sensei's Divining Top in play, can I activate the tap ability of the Top in my upkeep without dying immediately? If this can resolve, will I then be able to put the Top on top of my library and then draw it during my draw step?

A: No, that does not work. If you activate the Top's ability you'll have to draw a card off of an empty library. The Top will go on your library as this ability resolves, but after the ability resolves state-based effects are checked and you will lose the game as you could not draw a card when instructed to. It does not matter that there is now a card in your library.

Q: I have Uyo, the Silent Prophet and a Heartbeat of Spring in play. I play Neverending Torment and then tap 4 lands for 8 mana, and return 8 lands to my hand to activate Uyo's ability four times. Now if I had 3 cards in hand when I cast Neverending Torment, when all 5 Neverending Torments resolve would I look for 55 cards or 35 cards?

A: Assuming that you do not pass priority between each activation of Uyo's ability, then you will end up searching and removing 55 cards from your opponent's deck. This is because Neverending Torment checks the number of cards in your hand when it resolves, and you will have 11 cards in your hand at that point. It does not matter that the normally maximum hand size is seven, you won't discard until the cleanup step of your turn.

Q: If I have two Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro in play (with Mirror Gallery or Sakashima, the Impostor), will Shamans tap for four mana instead of two?

A: No, you'll still only be able to get 2 green mana per shaman. With two Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro in play each Shaman in play will have two abilities to tap for two green mana, but you'll only be able to play one of those abilities at a time.

Q: My opponent plays All Suns' Dawn and targets a red and blue card in his graveyard. If I play Twincast and target All Sun's Dawn, what targets can I choose with my copy?

A: You'll only be able to target a red and a blue card in your graveyard with the copy of All Suns' Dawn created by Twincast. When a copy of a spell is created it is an exact copy of the original spell with the same number of targets, and (until you change them) the actual same targets of the original spell. You are not playing this copy, so you do not have all the options that you would if you played All Suns' Dawn.

Q: If my opponent attacks with creature A and creature B, and I respond by using Blind With Anger on Creature A, can I then block Creature B with Creature A?

A: If you play Blind With Anger before the declaration of blockers step, you can block the other attacking creature with this newly stolen and untapped creature.

Q: I play a Quicksilver Dragon as a morph and my opponent casts Ertai's Meddling with X=1 (Ew. - Seamus, on behalf of all judges, everywhere). I understand that once the delay counters are removed, I get a "face-up" 2/2 colorless nameless creature that cannot morph into a Quicksilver Dragon during my next upkeep. Does the original card (Quicksilver Dragon) go the the graveyard upon resolution of the morph spell, upon death of the 2/2 colorless nameless face up creature, or is it removed from the game forever?

A: The card that represents this spell will continue to represent this spell and vanilla 2/2 creature. When this spell resolves it will enter play and it remain there until this 2/2 creature leaves play.

Q: I have a question about the Swiss tournament structure. Sometimes you can see the term "modified Swiss pairing" when Magic tournaments are announced. What I do not understand is the term modified. So, what does the modified Swiss mean? What is the difference between modified Swiss and Swiss.

A: Swiss pairing is when you players with the same or similar win / loss records play against each other. Then at the end of a certain number of rounds (usually when there is one undefeated player) a winner is declared. Sometimes this is referred to as Straight Swiss when in comparison to Modified Swiss.

Modified Swiss pairing is when at the end of a certain number of rounds there is a 'cut' and only a few players continue on in the event a play single elimination. In Magic events this cut is to the top 8 players, as determined after the Swiss rounds.