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Rules Tip of the Day: Creatures with protection from a quality cannot receive damage from sources of the protected quality.
Q: Is it possible to Dredge a card like Stinkweed Imp after activating Merfolk Looter to draw a card? Can I then discard Stinkweed Imp to the same ability?
A: Yes. Dredge does not use the stack and replaces what happens when you would draw a card. Because of this, you can choose to replace the draw of Merfolk Looter's ability by Dredging for a card, and then discard this very card you Dredged for.
Q: I attack with my Boros Swiftblade equiped with Sunforger. After damage goes on the stack, I use the ability of the Sunforger, to search for and play Overblaze. Will the Swiftblade deal twenty damage, or four damage?
A: Actually, you'll be able to deal a maximum of twelve points of damage—ten in the First Strike combat damage step, and two in the normal combat damage step. You can put combat damage on the First Strike combat damage step, remove the Sunforger to get and play Overblaze. This will cause the Swiftblade to deal ten points in the First Strike combat damage step. However, as it does not have Sunforger on it when normal combat damage goes on the stack, it will only deal two points of damage.
Q: I have Hunting Grounds in play, with four cards in the graveyard. On my opponent's turn, he plays a spell. I play Gifts Ungiven for four creatures in response. I get Threshold. Can I put one the creatures into play in response to my opponent's spell?
A: What you want to do does not work. The ability of Hunting Grounds will trigger when your opponent completes the announcement of a spell, if you have Threshold at that time. It does not matter that you gain Threshold soon after the annoncement; you did not have seven cards in your graveyard when your opponent played his spell.
Q: My friend shut me down on turn 3 with his Nether Spirit and Contamination combo. I am seeking ways around his stranglehold. I am considering Gemstone Mine and Icatian Store. My thought is that because I remove counters for the mana, it won't be replaced by Contamination's effect of ugly Black mana. Does this work?
A: It does not matter that you remove counters from these two lands when you use their mana abilities; you are still tapping them. Because of this, Contamination's effect will be applied and you will end up getting Black mana.
Q: If I cast two Glimpse of Natures in the same turn, do I get to draw two cards for each creature I play?
A: Yes. Each Glimpse of Nature will create a delayed triggered ability whenever you play a creature spell. These delayed triggered abilities will each trigger and resolve separately.
Q: If I were to play Artifact Ward and Pariah on the same creature, would my opponent's Rack or Vise damage be prevented?
A: Yes. When damage is redirected, the source of the damage remains the same. This means that the damage from these two artifacts (that is redirected to this creature) will be prevented, due to the fact that it has Protection from artifacts.
Q: If I cast Drain Power, can I use the mana added to my mana pool to cast another sorcery, or can it only be used for instants and abilities?
A: Assuming that you are playing this Drain Power as normal during one of your main phases, then you can use this "stolen" mana to play other sorceries. There is no restriction on how the mana from Drain Power is spent.
Q: If I play Unstable Mutation on a creature I control, and then equip it with Whispersilk Cloak, will my creature be spared from the -1/-1 counters?
A: Unstable Mutation's counter-adding ability does not target the enchanted creature, so the fact that this creature is untargetable will not prevent it from receiving them.
Q: In single-elimination play, like a Top 8, you always must have a winner from a match. What happens if two people split the first two games and have a forced draw in the third game (such as Char or Biorhythm killing both players at the same time)? They can't draw the match, because there must be a winner.
A: Matches are not always just three games. While they are often referred to as "best of three" they are better described as "first to two." In other words, the first player to win two games will win the match. In a match where each player has won a game and a third game has been drawn, a fourth game is played. If this game is drawn, then a fifth is played and so on. This is true in the Top 8 portion of an event as well as the Swiss rounds.
