Rules Tip of the Day: At the beginning of the combat damage step, all creatures in combat will assign damage equal to their power to creatures blocked by or blocking them, or to the defending player. Barring First Strike damage, all of this damage goes on the stack as one item and will resolve at once. Once this combat damage goes on the stack, it will be dealt as originally assigned even if the creature that assigns it is not in play. This means that your opponent can block with a creature and return it to their hand after combat damage has gone on the stack. The damage from this creature will be dealt, even though it is not in play any longer.

Q: If I play an Avatar of Dischord and I have Lyzolda, is there any time between playing its comes-into-play ability and resolving that ability that I can sacrifice the Avatar in order to avoid discarding?

A: Yes, you can do what you have described. When the Avatar comes into play, its ability will trigger and go on the stack. Before this ability resolves, you can sacrifice the Avatar to activate the ability of Lyzolda. Then, when the Avatar's comes-into-play ability resolves, you can choose not to discard two cards.

Q: Can Voidslime counter the return-to-play ability of Ghostway? If so, would all of the creatures stay out of the game? For how long?

A: Yes. When Ghostway resolves, it will remove all creatures controlled by Ghostway's controller from the game, and create a delayed triggered ability. This delayed triggered ability will go on the stack at the beginning of the next end-of-turn step, and it can be countered by Voidslime. If it is countered, the creatures that were removed from the game by Ghostway will stay in the removed-from-game zone. These creatures will remain removed from the game for the remainder of the game, or until some effect brings them back into the game.

Q: I have Promise of Bunrei and Nantuko Husk in play. If I play Orzhov Pontiff and sac him to Husk, could I Haunt one of the Bunrei tokens?

A: No, that does not work. The Haunt triggered ability and the Promise of Bunrei triggered ability will go on the stack at the same time. It does not matter what order these abilities are put on the stack, as the Haunt ability must target a creature when it is put on the stack. As the Promise of Bunrei ability has not been put on the stack yet, the token creatures will not be in play and can not be targeted by the Pontiff's Haunt ability.

Q: An opponent makes me discard a card of my choice while I control Izzet Guildmage with 2U open. I choose to discard Guerrilla Tactics. Can I target the Guerrilla Tactics ability on the stack with Izzet Guildmage's "copy an instant with converted mana cost 2 or less" ability? And if this works, would the copy do two or four damage?

A: No, the ability you are referring to is a triggered ability of Guerilla Tactics. It does not matter that Guerilla Tactics is an instant; this triggered ability cannot be copied by either of Izzet Guldmage's abilities.

Q: Does Uba Mask allow you to get around Chalice of the Void?

A: Uba Mask does not get around Chalice of the Void's ability. The Chalice's ability will trigger whenever a spell with the appropriate converted mana cost is played, regardless of what zone the card came from.

Q: What would happen if a Zur's Werding is targeted by Repeal and the Repeal resolves? The thing that bothered me is the order of the two effect of the Repeal. I think the bounce and the draw effect comes simultaneously. As for that draw effect, is it still subject to Zur's Weirding since it was in play just before?

A: You are incorrect; when resolving a spell you do not perform all actions simeltaneously. When Repeal resolves, you complete two separate steps; you first return the targeted permanent to its owner's hand, and then you draw a card. This means that when you draw a card, the Zur's Wierding is not in play, so you won't be able to apply the replacement effect from Zur's Weirding's static ability.

Q: A friend of mine told me that if I had a Lifeline in my graveyard and an artifact creature in play, I could use Goblin Welder's ability to switch the creature and the Lifeline and get the creature back at end of turn. Is this the case?

A: No, that does not work. Goblin Welder's text is different from when it was originally printed. When its ability resolves, you first sacrifice the targeted artifact in play and then put the targeted artifact card in a graveyard into play. Because of this, the Lifeline will not be put in play when the artifact that was in play leaves play, so Lifeline's ability will not trigger.

Q: If I have Library of Leng in play, may I choose to discard down to seven cards during my cleanup step (for instance, if I were playing a Howling Mine deck, or if my opponent had a Black Vise)?

A: No. With the Library in play, you have no maximum hand size; this is not a choice. You cannot discard down to seven cards at the end of the turn, even though it would be beneficial to you to do so.