Rules Tip of the Day: Creatures do not tap when a regeneration ability is played and a shield is created. They tap when a regeneration shield is used and the appropriate creature regenerates.

Q: There was a disagreement at my local FNM about Honor-Worn Shaku and Day of Destiny. Player one has 3 untapped swamps, 3 untapped plains, and Day of Destiny. He casts a Honor-worn Shaku with the 3 plains, then proceeds to tap the Day of Destiny an infinite amount of times towards the Shaku, then casts a Maga, Traitor to mortals for the game. He claimed that the enchantment couldn't be tapped, but was still abe to meet the untapping requirements of the Shaku. Could you clear this up?

A: Day of Destiny, and all other enchantments, can indeed become tapped. If Day of Destiny is tapped, it will not be able to be tapped again to untap the Honor-Worn Shaku. In other words, what this player did was not possible.

Q: If my opponent has Jinxed Choker with 2 counters on it, and I play Ivory Mask (or something else that makes me untargetable like True Believer), I will no longer get control of the Choker because it targets. But how do the counters work? Does my opponent still have to increase the number of counters each turn? Does the Choker try and do as much of the ability as possible?

A: At the end of your opponent's turn the Choker's ability will trigger. However as there are no legal targets for this ability, the ability will not be placed on the stack. Because the ability does not resolve at all, it will not get any additional counters in this manner.

Q: If I play Celestial Convergence, and then play Aether Snap (or something else to remove the counters), will the player with the highest life total win the game right away, or will that player have to wait until my next upkeep?

A: You will have to wait until your next upkeep to determine a winner. It does not matter if there are no counters on the Celestial Convergence at other points in the game, the effect of Celestial Convergence does not end the game until its upkeep triggered ability resolves.

Q: I have Mycosynth Lattice in play, then I play Energy Flux. In a tragic turn of events, my opponent loses most of his permanents the next turn. When it comes to my turn, I'm going to lose mine as well. Is there any way to avoid this fate using clever stack timing? Such as choosing to not pay the upkeep on either the Lattice or Energy Flux, as the disappearance of either of those elements would cause many of my other permanents to cease being artifacts, or cease requiring an upkeep cost?

A: No, you'll still have to pay 2 for each permanent you control or sacrifice it. Each of your permanents in play will have the "At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice [this permanent] unless you pay 2". These abilities will all trigger at one time at the beginning of your upkeep. It does not matter if the source of these abilities or the effect that makes your permanent into artifacts leaves play before these triggered abilities resolve, you'll still have to pay 2 mana when each of these triggered abilities resolves or sacrifice the associated permanent.

Q: I was wondering if the card Living Death counts as a destroy effect or not. The card wording says it's put into the graveyard, not "bury" or "destroy". I was wondering if Indestructibility allows it to live through Living Death or not.

A: Living Death does not destroy anything. As the current official text of Living Death states, you will sacrifice the creatures in play that you control. Indestructible creatures that are sacrificed will go to the graveyard.

Q: Can I use Arena with a tapped creature? Is tapping a creature a cost or a consequence of using Arena?

A: Yes, you can choose a tapped creature. If this creature were not tapped, it would become tapped when Arena's ability resolves. However when choosing a creature there is no restriction on which creature you choose, other than it must be one you control.

Q: I was wondering if Dense Foliage would prevent using Fling or Reckless Abandon or other cards that requires sacrificing a creature?

A: No, neither of those spells target the creature that is sacrificed. This is because you are sacrificing this creature to pay a cost and targeting is not involved in the payment of costs.

Q: Say I have a token copy of an Elvish Spirit Guide in play (made with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker) and a Chimney Imp (a non-token one) that's also in play. My opponent plays Withdraw targeting my Elvish Spirit Guide token as the first target and my Imp as the second. Since the token wouldn't be removed from the game until a player would get priority, would I be able to use the Elvish Spirit Guide token's ability to pay 1, thus preventing my Imp to be returned to my hand?

A: Yes. Because state based effects are not checked until after the a spell or ability has completely resolved, the token Elvish Spirit Guide is in your hand when you deal with the second portion of Withdraw. And due to the fact that this token Elvish Spirit Guide is a copy in every way, you can remove it from the game to generate the one mana when Withdraw asks for and allows you to pay mana.