Q: First off, thanks so much for your well-written, cogent explanations of the rules and their interactions. As a more 'intuitive' player, it's important that the rules MAKE SENSE to me, and your explanations do that. Obviously, Tim, you're the sort of well-informed, insightful reader that we here at Star City appreciate. Thank you for the positive feedback. Next, my question: If Crosis (or any other Invasion Dragon Legend) successfully deals combat damage to more than one player in a multiplayer game, can its controller activate its ability more than once? What about a creature enchantment, like Sleeper's Robe? Can that ability be activated multiple times if the creature does combat damage to two players at once?

Thanks for any help on this one.

- Tim Rollins

A: First of all, remember that there are no "official" multiplayer rules, but since we here in Alaska have the best multiplayer games going, you've turned to the right place. I'm trying to imagine how Crosis would deal combat damage to more than one player (Ferrett?). (Ho, you got me there - anyone got any suggestions, email me at my usual place - The Ferrett) In normal play, all combat damage goes on the stack as a single, indivisible event (310.2), so I'd assume that applies to multiplayer as well. Since Crosis says "whenever..." the ability can only trigger once, since there's only one time it happens, regardless of how many players it's damaging.

Thanks for a unique question. Keep reading!
- Sheldon

Q: I have two questions concerning Yawgmoth's Agenda. 1. You know how with Yawgmoth's Agenda, you can play cards in your graveyard as though they were in your hand? Well what if you had, let's say, a Spiketail Hatchling in your graveyard and a Yawgmoth's Agenda in play. If your Nether Spirit was put into your graveyard this turn, would it be able to go back into play your next turn (assuming that the Yawgmoth's Agenda wasn't destroyed), or would it stay in your graveyard?

A: Yawgmoth's Agenda doesn't remove cards that are already in the graveyard. If your Nether Spirit is put into your graveyard while the Agenda is in
play, the Spirit would be removed from the game. If it's already in there when the Agenda is played and there's another creature (the Hatchling), it's not going to come back, Agenda notwithstanding.

Q: Pretend you had an Energy Field and a Yawgmoth's Agenda in play. If you played a sorcery and it resolved, would you have to sacrifice the Energy Field, or would Yawgmoth's Agenda remove the sorcery from the game saving the Energy Field?

A: Energy Field would never trigger, because the Agenda's replacement ability would remove the cards from the game instead. Have you just come up with an Extended combo?
- Sheldon

Q: Sheldon,

I have a question about a Planeshift card, the white enchantment, "Lashknife Barrier." It reads as follows: "When Lashknife Barrier comes into play, draw a card. If a source would deal damage to a creature you control, it deals that much damage minus 1 to that creature instead."

My question is, if you have n multiples in play does it reduce the damage by n? Thanks again for the forum!
- Peter

A: Peter

Multiple Lashknife Barriers will reduce damage to a creature by 1 each. You can look at it this way: A replacement effect can only modify the event once, so there's no looping involved, but each gets a chance to affect the event. Let's say four damage is about to get dealt to a creature (the event).

The first Barrier replaces that by saying "deal three damage instead." It's still the same event, and the second Barrier wants its turn. It never saw the event as dealing four, only dealing three, so it says "deal two instead."

Best regards,
Sheldon

Q: howdy,

Would I be correct in my assumption that you could bounce a permanent in response to your opponent tapping it? For example: My opponent taps a Brushland for green mana, and in response to this I Hoodwink the land. Would this action deny them the mana? Now that I think about it, would they take the damage as well? Also, would this hold true if I were to substitute a activation of a Wasteland for the Hoodwink in the above example?

you rock.
- werd

A: Werd,

"Live" rocks. I rule :) (Literally! - Punmaster Ferrett, clarifying for those who didn't get the joke.)

Mana abilities don't use the stack and can't be responded to; they simply resolve (406.1 and 408.2). When your opponent taps his land for mana, you can't get priority until after that mana is in his pool. The damage from tapping the Brushland for mana happens right away (411.3), since it's a mana ability trigger. A Wasteland's ability is not a mana ability, so it uses the stack like any other (non-mana) activated ability.

- Sheldon

Q: Is this legal?

I have one Reap in my hand, two forests, and two Lion's Eye Diamonds in play and one reap and a stroke of genius in my graveyard. My opponent has 2 Deathlaced islands and no cards in hand.

I cast Reap with the two forests (Lion's Eye Diamond cannot be used to cast spells in hand because it's an instant, not a mana ability), targeting a Reap and a Lion's Eye Diamond.

In response to that Reap I tap the Diamond, discarding nothing (the Reap is on the stack) for three green mana.

Diamond resolves, putting three green mana in my pool.

Reap resolves, putting Reap and Diamond in my hand.

I cast Lion's Eye Diamond (not activating it).

I cast Reap with two of the three mana in my pool, targeting my Reap and my Diamond.

I activate the Diamond with nothing in my hand.

Can this be used to generate unbounded colored mana? (Mana can gain color when the surplus of green allows you to use the Diamond to make something else, and then use the surplus for the Reap).

I ask this in response to an active thread on beyond dominia's type-one magic mill, where my "combo" is being hotly contested by players focused on the fact that the Diamond can't be used in the announcement of a spell.

Joshua Kramer - DCI LVL 1

A: Joshua,

It all looks okay to me. So long as you don't try to target something in your graveyard that's actually on the stack or try to pay the cost of a spell by activating the Diamond, you're fine. Well thought out. Tell the folks over at Beyond Dominia you're combo-riffic.

Sheldon