Rules Tip of the Day: Unless the text of an ability states otherwise, only the controller of a permanent can play that permanent's activated abilities.

Q: If I cast a Magma Jet with Thrumming Stone in play, do I Scry before or after Rippling?

A: Ripple is a triggered ability that goes on the stack on top of the spell with Ripple. Scry is something you do when resolving the Scry spell. So you will resolve the Ripple ability first, and then when this spell eventually resolves, you will Scry.

Q: What happens if I have Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper in play with four 1/1s and I cast Savage Twister for four? Does Sek'Kuar's ability still trigger if he dies to the Twister? Will I get five 3/1s after Twister resolves?

A: Yes. Sek'Kuar's ability will trigger even though it is destroyed and goes to the graveyard at the same time as these other creatures. However, you'll only get four 3/1 creatures. You won't get a 3/1 token creature for Sek'Kuar itself, as its ability says "Whenever another nontoken creature...," which means that that this ability will not trigger when Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper goes to the graveyard.

Q: If Blizzard Specter has Double Strike, will the damaged player have to discard twice, or bounce two things?

A: Yes. Another possibility is that you can cause the damaged player to bounce a permanent and discard a card. Each time the ability triggers and goes on the stack, you choose which mode you want. If this ability triggers twice during one combat step due to the fact that the Specter has double strike, you will make the modal choice twice. If your opponent has no cards in hand, you can effectively remove a permanent from play by bouncing something first and then causing him to discard it.

Q: If I attack with Zur the Enchanter and then search my library for Pillory of the Sleepless, will I be able to put it on Paladin En-Vec?

A: No. While you are not playing this enchantment, and you are not choosing a target, a permanent with protection from a quality cannot have permanents of that quality attached to it. At no time can this Pillory of the Sleepless become attached to a creature with protection from black. If you were to try to attach it, the Pillory would remain in your library.

Q: Suppose I have Megrim, Pain Magnification, and Furnace of Rath in play. If I force an opponent to discard a card with a Cry of Contrition, would the Megrim not deal that opponent four damage due to the Furnace, then make him discard again due to the Magnification, then re-trigger the Megrim, et cetera making him discard his whole hand while taking 4 damage for each card discarded?

A: Yes, that works as you describe. Furnace of Rath doubles the amount of damage dealt, but it does not change the source of the damage. In this example, Megrim will deal four points of damage each time its ability resolves. This will cause Pain Magnification to trigger and repeat the process.

Q: Can I use Pillar of the Paruns to make mana to play Thornscape Battlemage or Orim's Thunder?

A: No, both of those cards are mono-colored; it does not matter that they have Kicker costs with a different color than what is in their mana cost.

Q: Say an opponent has a creature which can block multiple times (eg. Wall of Glare) with protection from green. I cast Overrun, giving all of my creatures trample, and attack. The opponent assigns the Wall to block all green creatures. I know from previous questions that trample damage still applies after the Wall is assigned five damage, bu the question is: do I have to assign the Wall five damage from each attacker, or just five damage total?

A: When assigning damage from creatures with trample, you only need to assign what would be lethal damage to the blocking creatures, and you can assign the rest to the defending player. This means that you only need to assign a total of five points of damage to the blocking Wall of Glare, not five points of damage from each attacking creature.

Q: My question has to do with the Unhinged card, Yet Another Aether Vortex. Someone plays a mass removal affect that hits some objects on top of our libraries and the Yet Anther Aether Vortex, like Akroma's Vengeance. Is there a window in which we get a "peek" at the top of our opponent's libraries when the card has moved to the graveyard, but the SBEs haven't checked the game to see that YAAV is in the graveyard?

A: No. Yet Another Aether Vortex has a static ability that only applies when it is in play. This effect has nothing to do with state-based abilities, and it is applied as long as Yet Another Aether Vortex is in play. When this mass removal spell resolves, Yet Another Aether Vortex and the current top card of your library will go to the graveyard at the exact same time. There is not a moment when you have a new top card, and the effect from Yet Another Aether Vortex is being applied.