Rules Tip of the Day: When you make an illegal choice when playing a spell, you back up the game to just prior to playing this spell, return the card to the zone it was in when you played it and refund all payments.

Q: Would playing Faith's Fetters on Sword of Fire and Ice prevent my opponent from ever paying the mana cost to equip it?

A: Yes. However if the Sword was already on a creature, it will remain attached to that creature.

Q: Is Nullmage Shepherd's ability affected by summoning sickness?

A: No. The Shepherd's ability does not have the tap symbol in the activation cost so you can play this ability even if you just gained control of the Shepherd. In fact, you can tap the Shepherd to pay part of this ability's activation cost.

Q: Say there are two Eye of the Storms in play, would each enchantment gain a copy of each spell? For example, say I have a black and blue deck and have two Eye of the Storms in play and play Neverending Torment, would I be able to play two copies of this spell?

A: No. An individual card can only be removed from the game by one Eye of the Storm or the other, but not both. The ability of each Eye will trigger when you play this Neverending Torment, but only the first ability to resolve will be able to remove it from the stack. Keep in mind that the other ability will resolve and allow you to make and play copies of the cards it has removed from the game even if this ability does not remove the spell that triggered it.

Q: If I have multiple Bottled Cloisters in play, do I draw one card for each Cloister when my hand comes back into play? I guess I'm asking whether multiple Cloisters trigger simultaneously to remove my hand and therefore trigger simultaneously to bring it back into play?

A: Yes, you will draw a card for each Cloister you control. The abilities of each Cloister may trigger at the same time, but they trigger separately and independently.

Q: I control Confustion in the Ranks and a random creature. My opponent controls no creatures and plays and resolves a Hunted Horror. What exactly happens next? We were very confused.

A: You have every right to be confused; there are a lot of Magic rules principles at work in this situation. Get ready, this'll be a long one.

When the Horror enters play two abilities will trigger: the Horror's coming into play ability and Confusion in the Ranks' ability. These triggered abilities will go on the stack in APNAP (Active Player, Non-Active Player) order. This means that the triggered abilities controlled by the active player will go on the stack first, followed by those controlled by the non-active player. As your opponent just played the Hunted Horror, it must be his turn, so he is the active player. So the triggered ability from the Hunted Horror will go on the stack first followed by your Confusion in the Ranks trigger.

When Confusion in the Ranks' ability goes on the stack, your opponent will have to choose a creature you control to target. You only control one creature at this point, so he will have to target it. When this triggered ability resolves, you will exchange control of this creature and the Hunted Horror.

Then the Horror's triggered ability will resolve. When it does, you will get two 3/3 pro-Black Centaurs under your control. It does not matter that you control the Hunted Horror at this point, your opponent controlled it when it came into play, so he will control its triggered ability.

When these two Centaurs, come into play Confusion in the Ranks' ability will trigger twice. You will then have to target a creature your opponent controls with each of these abilities. Since your opponent only controls one creature (the one he just got from you a second ago), you'll have to target it. When the first one of these two triggered abilities resolves, you'll exchange control of one of these Centaurs for the creature that started under your control. When the other resolves, nothing will happen; you already control the targeted creature and the exchange cannot take place.

In the end, you will control the Hunter Horror, one of the 3/3 Centaur tokens, and the creature you originally controlled, and your opponent will just control one of the 3/3 Centaurs. Easy, huh?

Q: If I play Kiku's Shadow on my opponent's Wild Mongrel, is there a way that he would be able to save his Mongrel with its pump ability?

A: No. When Kiku's Shadow resolves, the targeted creature will deal damage to itself equal to its power. No play will be able to play anything while this spell resolves, so the Mongrel's Pump ability will not save itself, as using that ability will raise its power as well as its toughness.

Q: If I equip a creature with Slagwurm Armor and then sacrifice it to Miren, The Moaning Well, will I gain life equal to it's original toughness, or will the toughness boost from the armor be factored into the life gain?

A: You will gain life equal to the toughness of the sacrificed creature when it left play. Because the Slagwurm Armor was on this creature when you sacrificed, you will factor in the increased toughness due to the Armor.