Rules Tip of the Day: Triggered abilities with the "intervening if" clause will only trigger at the appropriate time if the secondary condition denoted by the "if" is true. For example, the ability of Nether Spirit will not trigger at the beginning of your upkeep if there is another creature card in it at that time. It does not matter if this other creature card leaves play during this upkeep, it is too late for the ability of Nether Sprit to trigger.

Q: My opponent has three copies of Ichorid in play, and they are attacking. I have Compost. I Darkblast the first Ichorid. My question is, can I replace the draw of the Compost trigger with the Dredge ability of the Darkblast I just played, or is it not yet in the graveyard when I draw the card?

A: What you want to do works. When your Darkblast resolves, the targeted Ichorid will go to the graveyard, and Compost's ability will trigger. However, this triggered ability will not go on the stack until your the Darkblast has completely resolved and gone to your graveyard. So when you draw from Compost's triggered ability, the Darkblast will be in your graveyard and you can Dredge for it if you like.

Q: Does it matter how Auratouched Mage comes into play, in determining if its ability triggers?

A: No. The Auratouched Mage's ability will trigger regardless of how it comes into play. If this ability only triggered under certain conditions, then it would specifically say so.

Q: If I have Ghostly Prison, and I play Master Warcraft during my opponent's Declare Attackers step, what happens? Can I force them to attack me and tap out their mana?

A: No, you cannot force them to choose to pay two mana in order for their creatures to attack. You can choose which creatures attack, but you cannot choose whether your opponent will pay the costs necessary to allow them to attack.

Q: If Player A attacks with Szadek, Lord of Secrets and Player B uses Reroute, does the ability of Szadek go to a target of Player B's choice?

A: That cannot occur as described. Szadek's ability does not target at all and it is not an activated ability. You cannot play Reroute and target's Szadek's triggered ability.

Q: If I have a Gleancrawler in play, and my opponent has Control Magic on my Serra Angel, what happens if I Rend Flesh the Serra Angel during my turn? Does the Serra Angel return to my hand at the end of my turn because it went to "my" graveyard? Does the outcome change if my opponent used Bribery to steal my Serra Angel?

A: Yes, you will get this Serra Angel card back to your hand. It doesn't matter that you did not control this creature when it went to your graveyard, Gleancrawler's ability only cares that it is a creature card that went to your graveyard that turn. Also, the result will be the same if your opponent used Bribery. The Serra Angel will still go to your graveyard in that instance, as you are the owner of that card.

Q: With Shifting Borders, if I target a land that I stole from an opponent using Annex and another of their lands, do I end up with both lands? They gain control of my Annex-enchanted land, I gain control of theirs, then SBE's are checked and I regain control of the Annexed land?

A: No, it does not work like that. After Shifting Borders resolves, your opponent will keep control of the land that is enchanted by Annex. When determining who controls a permanent, apply all control effects in the order that they were generated. In this instances we start with this land being under your opponent's control, factor in the effect from Annex, and then finally the effect from Shifting Borders. As Shifting Borders is the last control effect to be applied to this permanent, it will determine who controls it. Ie does not matter that Annex is an enchantment and Shifting Borders is not, they both create control effects that are applied in timestamp order.

Q: I have Calming Licid and my opponent has a simple 2/2 creature. He is attacking with it and I block with my Licid. As I've understood, I can do the following: The combat damage is assigned, so each creature has two damage assigned. Before the combat damage resolves, I use the Licid's ability and make it become a creature enchantment, moving it onto my opponent's creature. The damage will take effect now. Due to the fact that my Licid is not a creature, it left combat and can't take damage. The 2/2 creature of my opponent will go to the graveyard. But before it does, I pay W to end the Licid effect. So I have a surviving Licid, and the 2/2 creature of my opponent is dead, right?

A: No, that does not work. When combat damage is dealt in this example, you are correct that your Licid, which is currently an Aura, will not receive any damage; however, the attacking 2/2 creature will. Immediately after this combat damage is dealt state-based effects are checked. When they are, this attacking creature will go to the graveyard, as it has lethal damage assigned to it. Then, because state-based effects did something, they will be checked again. At this point your Licid will be an unattached Aura in play and go to the graveyard. Once combat damage is dealt you will not get the opportunity to turn this Licid back into a creature before it would go to the graveyard.