Rules Tip of the Day: When two or more replacement effects could be applied to a single event, the affected player or controller of the affected permanent can choose which to apply first. Then if the other(s) are still applicable they will also be applied one at a time.

Q: Does Shadow of Doubt actually counter a declared spell or ability (like sacrificing and searching with a Wooded Foothills) or does it work like Orim's Chant (i.e. not countering an already declared spell, but when the stack empties, preventing further spells from being played)?

A: It does not counter any abilities, but it can make an ability resolve and do almost nothing. With respect to the search lands like Wooded Foothills: technically speaking, the ability will still resolve. When it does, this player won't search, but he will have to shuffle his library. Also, after Shadow of Doubt resolves, players will be able to play spells and abilities that would normally cause them to search their libraries, they just won't be able to search.

Q: Can you use Pithing Needle to stop Searing Meditation? And why or why not?

A: No. Searing Meditation has a triggered ability. It does not matter that you pay mana when this triggered ability resolves; a mana payment does not make it an activated ability.

Q: I would like to play the Autochthon Wurm using its Convoke ability. Can I play it by tapping, let's say, 7 creatures, then tapping one green mana to play Mobilize or Vitalize, untapping all the creatures I have just tapped, and then tap these creatures one more time, and reduce the Wurm's casting cost by 14?

A: No, you cannot do that. You tap creatures to reduce the cost of a Convoke spell when you play the Convoke spell. You cannot play any other spells or abilities at this time, so you wouldn't be able to play Mobilize or Vitalize at that time. You can play it after you play the Wurm and pay all costs, but not during the announcement.

Q: When the effect of recurring creatures from Gleancrawler goes on the stack, can you in response trigger a board sweeper like Plague Boiler and get back all your creatures including the Gleancrawler?

A: Yes. Gleancrawler's ability will return to your hand all creatures that have gone out of play that turn, when the ability resolves. It does not matter that some of these creatures went to your graveyard after the ability triggered, they all—including the Gleancrawler itself—will still go back to your hand.

Q: Could you please tell me what would happen if I had a Coalhauler Swine equipped with a Pariah Shield and I don't block my opponent's attack of 6 points of damage from two Greater Mossdogs? Would this cause a loop which would eventually kill my opponent without damaging me?

A: This will not create a loop, as the Coalhauler Swine will receive lethal damage and go to the graveyard. When combat damage would be dealt to you, it will be dealt to the Swine instead. When it is, the Swine's ability will trigger. However, before this ability can go on the stack, state-based effects will be checked and Soalhauler Swine will go to the graveyard; it has received 6 points of damage. Then when Coalhauler Swine's triggered ability resolves, all players will receive 6 points of damage. At this point the Pariah's Shield is not equipped to anything, so you will receive this damage.

Q: A friend and I are in a huge argument over Brothers Yamazaki's ability. It states that the legendary rule does not apply with this card, but only if there are two out at a time. But what if there are four Brothers Yamazaki in play, will two go to the graveyard?

A: The ability of Brothers Yamazuki is only applied if there are exactly two copies in play. If there are ever three of more Brothers Yamazuki in play then all copies will go to the graveyard.

Q: I had a disagreement last time with my friend. He had in play Fumiko, The Lowblood and I had Silent Arbiter. The one card counters the other. What is going to happen? I tried to think of something reasonable with the active player / non-active player rule, but I'm not sure if it's right.

A: The effect from Silent Arbiter creates a restriction on what can attack and the ability of Fumiko creates a requirement when declaring attackers. When attackers are declared the active player must abide by all restrictions and fulfill as many requirement as possible without violating any restrictions. This means that each player will have to choose one creature to attack during each of their turns, but only one will be able to attack.

Q: Can you use a fetch land such as Flooded Strand to get Island Fish Jasconius?

A: No. Island Fish Jasconius has the creature type of Island-Fish (notice the hyphen), and not Island and fish. You can not use effects that allow you to search for a basic land type of Island to search for Island Fish Jasconius.