Ask the Judge, 10/05/2005
Rules Tip of the Day: Unless specified, token creatures are put under the control of the player who controlled the effect that created the tokens. The Hunted creatures from Ravnica, City of Guilds are examples of abilities that put tokens under the control of a player that is different from the controller of the ability.
Q: Does the card Suppression Field affect Morph, Flashback, Madness and Cycling effects?
A: Of those keywords, only the Cycling cost will be increased, as only Cycling is an activated ability. Morph, Madness and Flashback are not activated abilities, they are all static abilities.
Q: In our testing Friday we came across an interesting question. We knew that a Pithing Needle would stop the regular ability of Grave-Shell Scarab, but will it also stop its Dredge ability from being used? We are confused because it's a replacement effect, yet it does have an activation cost of dredging the cards.
A: Dredge is not an activated ability, it is a static ability that creates a replacement effect. When the player with a Dredge card in their graveyard goes to draw he or she can choose to apply this replacement effect. It may seem like an activated ability, but it is not. You are correct that there is a cost associated with the Dredge ability, but that does not make it an activated ability.
Q: I control Crown of Convergence and I have a creature in play that shares two colors with a creature on top of my library, will the creature in play get +1/+1 twice? I.E., I have Watchwolf in play and Tolsimir Wolfblood on top of my library.
A: No. A single Crown of Convergence will only give an individual creature +1/+l. It does not matter that the creature in play shares more than one color with the revealed creature cards on top of your library.
Q: Does Vulturous Zombie's ability trigger for permanents that go to the graveyard, or just cards that came from anywhere but the "In Play" zone?
A: That ability will trigger when most permanents go to your opponent's graveyard, as most are represented by cards. However, tokens are not cards, so when a token permanent goes to your opponent's graveyard the ability of Vulturous Zombie will not trigger.
Q: If Circu, Dimir Lobotomist leaves play, what happens to the removed cards ?
A: Nothing, they will remain removed from the game.
Q: When Dimir Cutpurse deals combat damage, do I draw one card (and does my my opponent discard one card), or would it be two cards each for the 2 damage he does when he is unblocked?
A: You will draw one and he will discard one. The Cutpurse's ability triggers when it deals combat damage, not once per each point of damage dealt.
Q: I had just recently started to play with Illusions of Grandeur again when I recalled that Cumulative Upkeep has been errated to include Age counters. Can I stack these age counters while paying the upkeep? Is it possible to pay the cumulative upkeep and then put the age counter on? I'm wondering if it works like Tangle Wire, in the sense that you can tap, then remove a counter, or remove a counter, then tap.
A: The Cumulative Upkeep ability is a single triggered ability, not two. When this ability resolves, you add a counter and then pay the cumulative upkeep cost. You can not choose the order that these two actions are performed.
Q: I'm playing a game of Two-Headed Giant. My teammate, the primary player, controls a 2/1 creature, and I control a creature that can give +1/+1 to his creature as an activated ability. My teammate plays a sorcery that deals 1 damage to each creature and player. Can I wait to see if our opponents will respond before pumping his creature to save it, or is too late after they pass priority? In other words, we play a sorcery and is now on the stack, who gets priority?
A: No. Priority in Two-Headed Giant is passed as a team (CR 606.6e). Your teammate is only able to pass priority when the team is ready. Once your team passes, if your opponents pass, then it will be too late to play anything to save this creature. You'll have to use this activated ability when you have priority before your opponent's receive priority in order to ensure that this creature does not receive lethal damage.






The inspiration for this article came long before Ravnica's spoiling, back when happy visions of Erayo, Soratami Ascendant and Dark Confidant were dancing like... 










