Rules Tip of the Day: When combat damage resolves, if a creature that would receive damage is not in play any more, then the damage assigned to it will not be dealt. Abilities that trigger on this combat damage being dealt will not trigger.

Q: I have Tolarian Winds and Golgari Grave-Troll in my hand. Can I play the Winds, discard my hand and choose to dredge this Grave-Troll?

A: Yes. When Tolarian Winds resolves you discard your hand before you draw. This means that the Grave-Troll is in your graveyard when you would draw, so you can choose to replace one of those draws by dredging the Grave-Troll you just discarded.

Q: I recently had an argument with a friend concerning Dimir Doppelganger's ability. My Dimir Doppelganger blocks a creature. In response, my opponent plays Devouring Light targeting the Doppelganger, and in response to that, I use the Doppelganger's ability to change him to another creature in a graveyard. Does the Doppelganger still get destroyed, or does he live since he is no longer the creature Light was targeting?

A: It will be destroyed. Using the Doppelganger's ability does not make it another creature, it just changes the characteristics of the Doppelganger. The Devouring Light is still targeting the same creature, even if the name of this creature changed.

Q: My Birds of Paradise has been enchanted by Cowed by Wisdom. Can I block with the Birds and tap it to pay part of the Wisdom's toll?

A: Yes, you can do that. When declaring blocking creatures, you first declare the creatures that are blocking, you determine if these blocks are legal, and then you pay any costs associated with blocking. So you can block with this untapped Birds, and then tap it to generate the mana to pay the cost created by the Cowed by Wisdom.

Q: How do Wall of Glare and Fog Bank allow me to block, if I have Fortified Area in play? Can I block all attacking creatures with Wall of Glare and band it with Fog Bank, and then direct all damage to the Fog Bank?

A: No, that does not work. Banding only allows you to form bands when attacking. You can chose to block all of the attacking creatures with the Wall of Glare, but the Fog Bank will only be allowed to block one creature

Q: I have an Aurification in play and my oponent attacks with a double striking creature. During the first combat damage step, this creature gets a gold counter on it. Does this creature assign damage in the second step?

A: Yes. It does not matter that this creature has Defender when the normal combat damage step begins. Defender only prevents a creature from being declared as an attacker.

Q: One of my opponents had a bunch of land and a Joiner Adept in play. I played an Infernal Darkness. We both understood that a replacement effect of generating only Black mana replaces the "normal" mana producing ability of the land, but we were unsure about the interaction with the ability granted by Joiner Adept? Or, to restate, what color mana can my opponent tap his land for while the Infernal Darkness is in play?

A: Infernal Darkness replacement effect will be applied to all abilities of lands in play, including the ability granted by Joiner Adept. The word "normal" in Infernal Darkness' text refers to the mana that you would normally expect from a land's mana ability. It does not refer to the mana abilities printed on cards versus those that are granted by other effects.

Q: If I flip a Falling Star into the air and it lands on an untapped Pristine Angel, will the damage be prevented or not?

A: The Angel will not receive any damage. Falling Star is the source of this damage. It is a Red source, so the Angel's protection ability will prevent this damage.

Q: I have a question regarding Circu, Dimir Lobotomist. As the word "target" doesn't appear on him next to the word opponent, his ability to forbid the playing of cards removed from the game does not focus on one opponent, correct? In Emperor, who does Circu's lockout affect?

A: You are correct that Circu's ability does not target and it can affect more than one player. This ability that prevents the removed cards from being played will affect all of your opponents. In a multiplayer game this ability will be applied to all of your opponents that are in your range of influence.