Rules Tip of the Day: You only lose a game when instructed to draw a card from your library and are not able to do so. You do not immediately lose when your library becomes empty.

Q: I was wondering if when my Sundering Titan comes into play if I must destroy 1 of each basic land, or if I can choose not to?

A: No, making that choice it is not optional, you must choose to destroy one of each of the basic land types that are in play. Keep in mind that if a land in play has more than one basic land type, you can choose it twice to represent both of those two land types.

Q: I have a Mycosynth Lattice out in play and I play Grindstone. Could I effectively deck out my opponent with one activation of the Grindstone?

A: No. Colorless is not a color. Grindstone's effect only repeats if both of the milled cards share a color, and with Mycosynth Lattice in play, none of these cards will share a color. So instead of milling their entire deck, you'll only ever be able to mill them for two in this situation.

Q: I have a Bomb Squad that just gave my opponent's Exalted Angel a fourth fuse counter. When Bomb Squad's triggered ability resolves, the Exalted Angel is destroyed, and the Angel deals 4 damage to my opponent. But will Exalted Angel's ability trigger while this is happening and give my opponent 4 life?

A: No the Exalted Angel's ability will not trigger. Because of the way Bomb Squad's ability is worded, the Exalted Angel will be destroyed first, and then four points of damage will be dealt to the controller of this creature. When this damage is dealt, the Angel is not in play, so its ability can not trigger.

Q: If an opponent casts Siren's Call on the turn you play a creature with haste (a Raging Goblin, for example), the creature with Haste does not have to attack nor does it become destroyed if it doesn't because Siren's Call does not affect creatures that have just been summoned, correct?

A: Not quite. The official text of Siren's Call is a bit different from when original printed. It now has two different effects; one that forces creatures to attack and another that destroyed them if they did not. All creatures that the active player controls when Siren's Call resolves will be given a requirement that they attack that turn if able. This means that if the haste creature spell resolves before and then the Siren's Call does, then this creature will have to attack. If for some reason it is not able to attack it will not be destroyed, as that portion of Siren's Call's effect will not be applied to this creature.

Q: In combat I attack with a 5/3 Trample critter, the other player blocks with a Mortivore which is currently a 6/6. If there's a Furnace of Rath in play what happens? Does the defending player take trample damage?

A: No. Contrary to the way many people are taught, damage from creatures with Trample does not automatically "trample" over. When combat damage goes on the stack you'll have able to assign 5 damage to this blocking creature, as its toughness is greater than the power of the attacking creature it is blocking. When combat damage resolves, Furnace of Wrath will double this damage, so the blocking Mortivore will receive 10 points of damage. However, as no damage was assigned to the defending player, none will be dealt to him. It does not matter that the blocking Mortivore receives more than what would be lethal damage.

Q: If I play a Viashino Heretic's ability, targeting a Darksteel Colossus, I know the Colossus will stick around, but does my opponent still take damage?

A: Yes. Even though the targeted Colossus is not destroyed, the Heretic's ability will do as much as possible and deal 11 points of damage to Colossus' controller.

Q: Can you use a Vision Charm to change lands into basic Snow-Covered lands since Snow-Covered lands are considered a basic land type?

A: Snow-Covered is a supertype and not a sub-type. So no, you can not use Vision Charm to make a land Snow-Covered, as Vision Charm only affects the sub-type of lands.

Q: My friend has a Chance Encounter and Krark's Thumb in play. He plays Chaotic Strike and flips two coins. He wins both flips, and says that means Chance Encounter gets two counters. I say he should only get one counter because one of the flips is ignored. Who is right?

A: You are. Even though he is flipping two coins, the game completely ignores one flip of his choice. Because of this the Chance Encounter will only get one counter.

Q: I have Silent Arbiter, Juggernaut and Darksteel Colossus in play. Can I declare the Colossus as an attacker, so the Juggernaut cannot attack or do I have to declare the "must-attackers" first?

A: First of all, attackers are declared simultaneously, so you do not declare one attacker first and then another. Anyway, you will have to attack with your Juggernaut. When dealing with multiple requirements and restrictions regarding the declaration of attacker or blockers you must maximize the number of requirements you are abiding by and not violate any restrictions. To do this you will have to attack with the Juggernaut and no other creature.