Rules Tip of the Day: Cards from the latest expansin—Ravnica, City of Guilds—are legal in constructed play as of today. This is just in time for use in this weekend's State/Province/Territory/Island Championships. Additionally, cards from the three Portal sets are now legal in both Eternal formats, Vintage and Legacy.
Q: Is it possible to use instant speed removal to prevent a Plague Boiler from blowing up the world? I assume that the "3 or more counters" part is a triggered ability that goes on the stack, and I believe I can Shatter the artifact with the trigger on the stack, making it impossible to sacifice it, and therefore stopping the ability. If so, can my opponent respond to my Shatter by paying to add another counter and trigger the Boiler's ability again?
A: You are correct. If the Plague Boiler cannot be sacrificed when its triggered ability resolves, then no permanents will be destroyed. Your opponent can play the ability and put an additional counter on Plague Boiler, but doing so will not cause the Boiler's ability to trigger again. This is because Plague Boiler has a state trigger that triggers when the game reaches a certain state. In this case, the trigger is whenever the Plague Boiler gets three or more counters on it. State triggers are a bit different from other triggered abilities, in that they will not retrigger until the first triggered ability leaves the stack. In this example, the first Plague Boiler triggered ability is on the stack, so the ability will not trigger again, even thought Plague Boiler now has four counters on it.
Q: I have a question about the new ability Radiance (the one where it does something to target creature or enchantment then it does it to all others of the same color): does this new ability count as a targeting or global ability?
A: The Radiance effect does not target anything. All spells with Radiance do target at least one permanent, but the Radiance effect is then applied to appropriate permanents that share a color with the targeted permanent. When this effect is carried over to other permanents it does not target them. So you can play a Radiance spell, target a green creature and have this spell affect other green creatures that cannot be targeted.
Q: I have Bloodbond March in play, one Kokusho, The Evening Star in my hand and one in the graveyard. As I cast the one in my hand, the Bloodbond March ability goes on the stack. My opponent then counters the Kokusho I had cast. Does this mean that when the ability of Bloodbond March resolves, I can return both Kokushos to play, draining ten life and gaining ten life?
A: Yes, it does. Your opponent pretty much wasted a counterspell, because the Bloodbond March was in play and the countered creature will be put into play when Bloodbond March's ability resolves. The spell that triggered Bloodbond March's ability does not have to be on the stack when Bloodbond March's ability resolves. If it is not on the stack, as it was in this example, Bloodbond March's ability will use last known information about the spell that triggered it.
Q: Does Privileged Position protect my permanents from a Pithing Needle? Does the phrase 'abilities of the named card' mean that Pithing Needle targets the named permanents?
A: No. Pithing Needle does not target anything. As it comes into play your opponent will name a card without targeting it. Once in play it will prevent the activated abilities of the named card from being used. This also does not target these cards. Because of this, Privileged Position will not prevent an opponent from naming any of the cards you control.
Q: If I got an infinite mana combo out, and then i use Prosperity to let each player draw more then 60 cards. if i only have 50 cards in my library, will i lose the game first because i fail to draw cards?
A: After Prosperity resolves each player who was unable to draw at least one card will lose the game. So assuming that both you and your opponent were forced to draw more cards than were in their libraries, both of you will lose and the game will be a draw.
Q: With the update of the Comprehensive Rule in the Interaction of Continuous Effect, it said that layer 6 right now has 5 sub-layers. My question concerns Riptide Mangler. I have two Riptide Manglers (A&B) in play. Mangler A has Bonesplitter equipped on it, making it a 2/3. Mangler B copies A's power and becomes 2/3 also. The question is: when Mangler A copies Mangler B's power, does it become 2/3 or 4/3?
A: It will be a 4/3. This is because the +2/+0 is from the static ability of the Bonesplitter and is therefore applied second (in layer 6d), after the Mangler's ability is applied (in layer 6b). So you start with a 0/3 creature, make it a 2/3, and then give it +2/+0 for a grand total of 4/3.
Q: Now that Portal cards are legal in Vintage and Legacy, I have a question about Piracy. If I play Piracy and then tap my opponent's pain land, like a Brushland, who gets the one point of damage?
A: You will. Even though this is your opponent's land, you still control the mana ability and where it says 'you', it means the controller of the ability and not the controller of the land.
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