Rules Tip of the Day: When resolving a spell or ability, you need to follow the instructions in the order written.

Q: While playing with a friend of mine, he played a Sprouting Phytohydra and a Flame Fusillade, and infinitely copied the Sprouting Phytohydras by having them each tap and do damage to themselves, then the tapping the copies, and so on. Does this work?

A: No, that does not work. Flame Fusillade only give the ability 'tap to deal a point of damage' to those permanents that are in play when it resolves. The token copies of Sprouting Phytohydra that come into play after Flame Fusillade will not be able to tap and do damage to anything.

Q: I have a Dovescape in play. I play a Tidings, which going to be countered. With that on the stack, I play Overrule, with X equal to 6. What I think would happen is that I would get eight tokens from the Overrule, and then five tokens from the Tidings. Is this correct?

A: Yes it is. The Value of X in a spell on the stack is whatever was chosen when the spell was played. In this example Dovescape's triggered ability will counter the Overrule first and give you eight Bird tokens and then the Tidings will be countered, giving you five more.

Q: I am confused by Omnibian and I thought I'd ask you to jump to my aid. Does it change the creature to a colorless, textless, basically-vanilla 3/3 Frog? Or does it just change its creature type and power/toughness, leaving rules text and color unchanged?

A: Omnibian only changes the creature type and the power and toughness of the targeted creature. It does not change that creature's color or remove any abilities that the creature may have.

Q: With Transguild Courier in play, does Empty Shrine Kannushi gain protection from all colors? Or is the Courier only considered to be a colorless artifact creature?

A: Transguild Courier does count as being all five color regardless of what of what you paid for it. So your Empty-Shrine Kannushi will have protection from all colors if you control a Courier as well.

Q: With Isochron Scepter on the stack, my opponent plays Counterspell. If I respond to the Counterspell by playing the Determined half of Bound / Determined, will the Counterspell be countered because the target is no longer legal?

A: Sort of. The Counterspell in this example will not become countered. The Counterspell will resolve. However, when it does, nothing will happen. This is because Determined does not make your spell an illegal target, it just prevents effects from countering your spells or abilities.

Q: I just wanted to ask a question on Transmuting for split cards. I know that with Dark Confidant's reveal ability, all the mana symbols on Fire / Ice are added up. So assuming I want to Transmute for Fire or Ice, should I use a Dimir Infiltrator (casting cost of 2) or a Dimir House Guard (casting cost of four)? My guess is if I want to find either Fire or Ice, I can Transmute the Infiltrator, but if I want to find Fire / Ice, I would Transmute the House Guard.

A: That is incorrect. First of all, you do not search for a spell when you Transmute; you search for a card. And second, this interaction is different than Dark Confidant's interaction with split cards. When an effect asks what the converted mana cost of a split card is, it will get two answers and these two numbers are combined. When an effect checks to see if a quality matches one of the given qualities of a split card, it can match any of them. The converted mana cost of Fire // Ice is two and two, so to search for one you would need to Transmute the Dimir Infiltrator.

Q: If I use the Goblin Cannon ability, do I have to send it to my graveyard even if I have a Darksteel Forge in play?

A: Yes. Permanents that are indestructible can still be sacrificed. When they are, they will go to the graveyard.

Q: If I have Dark Supplicant in play, and sacrifice a False Prophet along with other Clerics to bring Scion of Darkness into play, does the Scion come into play after False Prophet wipes the board, or does it get removed with everything else?

A: You sacrifice this False Prophet during the announcement of the Dark Supplicant's ability. This means that False Prophet's triggered ability will go on the stack on top of the Supplicant's ability and it will resolve before it. So yes, the False Prophet's ability will remove all other creatures from play first and leave a lot of room for the Scion of Darkness to enter play when the Supplicant's ability resolves.