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Rules Tip of the Day: At the start of the draw step, the active player draws a card. This is a special action that does not use the stack, and cannot be responded to.
Q: My life is five and my opponent's life total is also five. I have Hissing Miasma, and my opponent attacks me with five 1/1 Saprolings. Do I lose before him, or is it a draw? In other words, who takes the damage first?
A: He will loss five life first and lose the game. This is because the Miasma's ability will trigger when these creatures are declared as attackers. The triggered abilities will go on the stack at that point and resolve well before combat damage is even put on the stack.
Q: Can my opponent put Fists of Ironwood on one of my creatures in order to receive two 1/1 Saprolings on his side?
A: Yes. Your enchanted creature will have Trample, but he will get the two Saproling tokens, as he controls the Fist of Ironwood.
Q: My opponent attacks with his Bioplasm; will I get to see how much it gets pumped up before I declare blocking creatures?
A: Yes. Bioplasm's ability triggers when it is declared as an attacking creature. The ability will go on the stack and resolve in the declaration of attackers step, before blocking creatures are declared.
Q: I use Spectral Searchlight to give my opponent mana in my first main phase, and he takes mana burn from it. Will Bloodthirst creatures I play in my second main phase get the additional +1/+1 counters?
A: No. Mana burn causes loss of life, which is different from damage. Bloodthirst creatures only get the +1/+1 counters if an opponent has been dealt damage that turn.
Q: Will Suppression Field make Burning-Tree Shaman's ability cost two more mana to play?
A: Burning-Tree Shaman has a triggered ability, not an activated ability. That ability does not cost anything, it goes on the stack automatically when an activated ability is used.
Q: If Sunforger fetches Shining Shoal out of the deck, can I still remove a card from my hand to pay for X?
A: No, for two reasons. When an effects allows you to play a spell without paying its mana cost, you cannot choose to a value of X—it is zero. Also, Sunforger's effect is creating an alternate play cost for the searched for card. You can only use one alternate cost when playing a single spell.
Q: A player sacrifices Kokusho, the Evening Star to Greater Good. He has four cards left in his library and his opponent has five life left. Who wins?
A: The opponent will lose the game. When the first player announces the use of the Greater Good ability, it will go on the stack. As the Kokusho is sacrificed when this ability is announced, Kokusho's leaves-play triggered ability will go on the stack on top of the Greater Good ability. This triggered ability will resolve first, and cause player two's life total to go below zero. Then, before the Greater Good ability can resolve, state-based effects are checked and the opponent will lose the game.
Q: If I have two Lava Axes in my graveyard, can I imprint both of them onto a single Spellweaver Helix? If so, does casting another one trigger both?
A: Yes, you can imprint both of them. But when you play another Lava Axe, you'll only get to make and play a single copy of Lava Axe, as Spellweaver Helix's ability only triggers once each time a card is played.
Q: If I play Minotaur Explorer and have no cards in hand, do I sacrifice it or do I get to keep it?
A: That triggered ability requires you to actually discard a card from your hand. So you'll have to sacrifice the Minotaur, as you cannot discard a card.
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