Rules Tip of the Day: You cannot tap a permanent just because you want to. In order to tap something it must be to pay the cost of a spell or ability or due to the effect from a resolving spell or ability.
Q: My opponent attacks with a Kitsune Blademaster. I play Shining Shoal targeting the Blademaster to redirect damage dealt by it to himself before damage goes on the stack during the declare blockers step. In response, my opponent plays his own shining shoal targeting the Blademaster as the source of damage, and redirecting it to myself.
A: The damage will end up being dealt to you. In this example you have to apply the effect from your Shining Shoal first. This is because the damage from the Blademaster is about to be dealt to you. The effect from your Shoal has to be applied first as the replacement effect from your opponent's Shining Shoal is not applicable at this point. Then after we apply the effect from you Shoal, we apply the effect from his. This will then deal the combat damage from the Blademaster to you. In the end these two Shoals will effectively cancel each other out.
Q: Can I sacrifice Kami of Ancient Law targetting Promise of Brunei to get some tokens?
A: Yes. You sacrifice the Kami of Ancient Law when you activate its ability, so the triggered ability of Promise of Bunrei will trigger and go on the stack on top of the Ancient Law's activated ability. The Promise's triggered ability will resolve first. When it does, you will sacrifice the Promise and get four 1/1 spirit tokens. Then the Kami of Ancient Law's ability will be countered on resolution, as its target is no longer legal.
Q: Player A controls Vedalken Shackles and Player B controls Memnarch. It is Player A's turn. Player A activates Vedalken Shacles targeting Memnarch. Player B in response uses Memnarch's ability to gain control of the Shackles. What happens? If it is Player B's turn what happens? (Memnarch first then Shacles)
A: When both of these abilities resolve, and assuming that Memnarch's ability is not used again, each of these permanents will be under the control of the other player. However Player B, the new controller of the Vedalken Shackles, can later choose to untap the Shackles to end the Shackles' continuous effect and regain control of Memnarch. In the end he will have control of both of these permanents. The result is the same regardless of which ability is played first or whose turn it is.
Q: There is a Chalice of the Void in play with zero counters on it. I want to eventually destroy it with the Engineered Explosives I have in my hand. Can I play Engineered Explosives and pay 1 colorless mana so the Explosives is not countered by the Chalice's ability, and comes into play with zero counters?
A: Yes. Engineered Explosives has the Sunburst ability, but you do not have to take advantage of it. You can play a Sunburst spell entirely with colorless mana, if you want.
Q: I play Blistering Firecat face down. Then next turn my opponent plays Chill. Is the Firecat already considered "played" or do I still have to pay 2RR to turn it face up?
A: Chill only raises the cost to play red spells. Turning a face down card face up by paying its morph cost is not playing a spell, so Chill will not raise this cost. You will only have to pay RR to turn this Blistering Firecat face up.
Q: If I play Blackmail and I chose to discard my opponent's Shock, can he play Shock in response to the Blackmail?
A: No. You choose which card your opponent discards when Blackmail resolves, and he will discard it at that point. No player gets priority to play spells or abilities until after Blackmail has completely resolved; when your opponent gets priority to do anything, the Shock will be in your opponent's graveyard.
Q: Will Elvish Vanguard get +1/+1 for each land in play when I play Ambush Commander? And would he get the +1/+1 when I play a Forest after Ambush Commander?
A: Elvish Vanguard will get a single +1/+1 counter when Ambush Commander comes into play, but it will not get any counters for the Forests in play that are turned into Elves as these Forest / Elves did not come into play. However it will get +1/+1 counters for each Forest you play in the future, as this is an Elf coming into play while Ambush Commander is in play.
Q: In a game using the rules of the new official Two-Headed Giant format, my teammate controls Worship and a 1/5 creature. It is the other team's combat phase and my team's life total is 3. The other team attacks with two creatures of four power each. My teammate blocks one of them with his 1/5, but the other one remains unblocked, as I control no creatures. The opposing team decides to assign the damage of the unblocked creature to me. What happens when the four damage is dealt to me? Would the damage reduce our team's life total to -1 and then Worship would instead reduce the team's life total to 1? Or would we lose because the damage was dealt to me and my teammate's Worship only affects the way damage is dealt to himself? Also, if the opposing team had instead decided to assign the four damage of the unblocked creature to my teammate, what would be the result?
A: According to the new official rules for Two-Headed Giant, your team will lose the game. The Worship your teammate controls only applies to what happens to damage that is dealt to him. It will not apply to damage that is dealt to you, even though the two of you share a life total. If the damage from this unblocked creature was assigned to your teammate, then Worship's effect would apply and your team life total would not go below one.
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