Rules Tip of the Day: When combat damage is dealt, a player that has used an ability to prevent damage to himself can choose which points of damage to prevent. This way he can prevent the damage from a creature with an ability that triggers when combat damage is dealt.

Q: If I attack with Loxodon Hierarch and Teneb, The Harvester can I stack the damage, then sacrifice the Hierarch, so it's in the graveyard and a target for Teneb's ability, or will the ability trigger before the Hierarch reaches the graveyard?

A: That works fine. Teneb's ability will not trigger until combat damage is dealt. If you sacrifice your Hierarch after combat damage is put on the stack, but before it resolves, it will be in the graveyard when Teneb's ability goes on the stack.

Q: I have a Caves of Koilos or Underground River in play and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is also in play. Does tapping either of my painlands for black still cause me to take one damage?

A: Not unless you want it to. With Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in play, a Caves of Koilos will have three mana abilities: one that allows you to generate colorless mana, one that allows you to generate either black or white mana and deals a point of damage to you, and a third that allows you to generate black mana. This last ability is the one that is granted by Urborg. If you choose to use this last ability to get black mana you will not receive any damage.

Q: I Suspend two of Curse of the Cabal, and after two turns, they both resolve at the same time. Does that mean my opponent will sacrifice all of his or her permanents?

A: No. Each of these Curse of the Cabals will resolve one at a time. When the first resolves, your opponent will sacrifice one half of their permanents. Then the other will resolve, and this player will sacrifice one half of their remaining permanents. In the end, this player will end up sacrificing three quarters of their permanents.

Q: I'm going to build a Thrull deck, just for the fun of it, and I have a question about Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder. If I play him, having already seven or more Thrulls in play, and put another creature spell on the stack directly after Endrek Sahr comes into play, will he be in play long enough to trigger for the upcoming spell, and will I get the Thrull tokens?

A: Only if you have a way to play a creature with an ability on the stack. Endrek Sahr's token-generating ability triggers when you play a creature spell. The sacrifice ability will trigger, in this situation, as soon as Endrek comes into play. You could play another creature spell while Endrek Sahr's ability is on the stack is if this second creature spell has Flash. This would cause Endrek's first ability to trigger, eventually netting you additional Thrull tokens.

Q: If my opponent plays Trickbind, targeting an activated ability, can I unmorph Willbender and change the target of Trickbind to Willbender's triggered ability?

A: Yes, that works. There's a whole bunch of rules issues related to this situation; here they are, in no particular order: Trickbind can target either an activated ability or a triggered ability. And while Willbender's ability is resolving it is still on the stack, so you can choose to have Trickbind target it. And finally, Split Second prevents spells and abilities from being played, but it does not prevent players from paying Morph costs or prevent triggered abilities from going on the stack.

Q: I have Confusion in the Ranks and Pandemonium in play. My opponent plays a creature. I think that I can stack the Confusion in the Ranks and the Pandemonium triggers so that I take control of the creature, giving my opponent mine, then choose a target for Pandemonium. Is this correct?

A: No. The target for Pandemonium is chosen when the triggered ability is put on the stack. It does not matter that control of the creature that triggered Pandemonium's ability changes, the creature or player that was targeted by Pandemonium's ability will still receive damage.

Q: I've got Platinum Angel and I'm at -7 life. I play Death Wish. How many life points do I have now?

A: You'll still be at -7 life. When Death Wish resolves your life total will be treated as zero. Half of zero is zero, so you'll end up losing zero life.

Q: I attack with Thalakos Deceiver and it is not blocked. If I use its sacrifice ability and my opponent responds by hitting it with a Dead / Gone (or some other form of damage), will the control ability still resolve without the Thalakos Deceiver still in play?

A: It's a little difficult to tell exactly what happened from your description. Here is how Thalakos Deceiver's ability works. When Thalakos Deceiver attacks and is not blocked, its ability will trigger. You chose a target creature when this ability goes on the stack, but you do not sacrifice Thalakos Deceiver until its triggered ability resolves. If your opponent removes the Deceiver from play before this triggered ability resolves, then you obviously cannot sacrifice it, so the ability will resolve but end up doing do nothing. If your opponent does allow this ability to resolve and you do sacrifice it, then he cannot do anything to remove the Deceiver from play. This is because by the time he receives priority, the Deceiver will not be in play and the ability will have completely resolved.