Rules Tip of the Day: Mana abilities are abilities that generate mana, not ones that cost mana.

Q: If my opponent plays Akroma, Angel of Fury a morph creature, can I counter it?

A: Yes, you can. This spell does not have the uncounterable ability. It is only when Akroma, Angel of Fury is played face up that it cannot be countered by spells or abilities.

Q: If a player uses Miraculous Recovery to put Phantasmagorian into play from his or her graveyard, may another player discard three cards o counter Phantasmagorian?

A: No, you are not playing Phantasmagorian in this example, you are putting it into play. Phantasmagorian's ability only triggers when you play it, so its ability will not trigger in this example.

Q: Does Boom + Reiterate allow me to destroy one of my lands and three of my opponent's lands?

A: No, at most you'll be able to destroy two lands your opponent controls and two you control. When the copy of Boom created by Reiterate is put on the stack, if you choose to change the targets of this copy, you must still choose legal targets. So you will still have to choose a land you control and one that your opponent controls.

Q: I've been looking at the older mechanic Fading and comparing it to the newer Vanishing. Why would R&D make two mechanics so similar, yet different, and also very tricky?

A: From what I can tell, Vanishing is an updated version of Fading for two reasons. One is that it is easier to remember to sacrifice the permanent when you remove the last counter, as opposed to when you can't remove a counter. With regards to Vanishing you are performing an action of removing a counter, with Fading you can't perform the action of removing a counter. It is easier to maintain the game state when you link actions as opposed to performing an action when you are unable to do something.

The final reason for the change is by making Vanishing use Time counters, you have a few more interactions with other cards in Time Spiral block. So it is possible to force this creature to be sacrificed at times other than in the upkeep step.

Q: I have a Joira's Timebug and a Chronozoa with one counter on it in play. Sometime during my turn, before the upkeep effect triggers, can I remove Chronozoa's counter, get two new token Chronozoas, and remove a counter from each, going down to two counters per Chronozoa?

A: No, that does not work. The Vanishing ability only triggers for permanents that were in play when the upkeep step began. These tokens were not in play at the very start of your upkeep step, so their Vanishing abilities will not trigger. Also, keep in mind that the earliest you will be able to use a spell or ability to remove a time counter is in the upkeep step. Players will receive priority before upkeep triggered abilities resolve, but not before the step begins.

Q: I have Yawgmoth's Agenda and Braids, Conjurer Adept in play. Can I use Braid's ability to put cards in my graveyard into play, due to the Agenda?

A: No. Yawgmoth's Agenda allows you to play the cards in your graveyard as though they are in your hand, but nothing else. To play a card means to announce it, put it on the stack, make the necessary choices, and pay for it. Putting cards into play with Braids, Conjurer Adept's ability is not playing cards, it is simply putting them into play.

Q: Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir makes you play cards only when you can play sorceries, but the current rules also state that you cannot play Suspend or Madness cards during any phase. I don't quite understand why Suspend can be negated like that.

A: Whenever two or more effects disagree, the effect that "says no" or prevents something from happening will win out. The Suspend ability, on its own, bends the rules and allows you to play the Suspended card when the Suspend triggered ability resolves. This works, as effects are allowed to violate the rules. However, Teferi's ability is different. That ability generates another effect, expressly disallowing playing spells other than when you could normally play a sorcery. Since that is exactly what Suspend does, the Suspend ability loses to it.

Q: If I tapped Dreadship Reef for a colorless mana, can I use this colorless mana to remove counters from Dreadship Reef?

A: Yes that works, as the last ability on Dreadship Reef does not require that you tap it to play the ability. This works the same for all of the "storage" lands in Time Spiral.

Q: Back when Revised was printed, there is a German card that was misprinted, as I'm sure you've seen many. The one in question has the artwork for a Swamp, and the German text for a Drudge Skeletons. In a legal sense, which card does the misprint represent? The card has the full Swamp art, and at the same time has the full text and casting cost ability for the Skeletons.

Q: What this card is is determined by its name, not its artwork. It is true that a card must be recognizable by its artwork, but this does not mean that what a card is determined by the artwork. The text of a card is determined by it's name in English and the corresponding official Oracle text.