Rules Tip of the Day: Know your state-based effects—Players lose the game when they have a life total of zero or below. It used to be, under Fifth Edition rules, that a player only lost the game due to having a life total of zero or below if this was true at the end of a phase. Now this is checked with all of the rest of the state-based effects, and can cause a player to lose any time a player receives priority.
Q: I have Pariah's Shield on Stuffy Doll, and I play Volcano Hellion. When the Hellion comes into play, does the damage from its ability go straight to me, since it can't be prevented, or to the Stuffy Doll?
A: The damage in this instance will be dealt to the Stuffy Doll. Effects that redirect where damage is dealt do not prevent damage. The replacement effect of Pariah's Shield will be applied, even though the damage from your Volcano Hellion to you cannot be prevented.
Q: My opponent played a Predatory Focus during his first main phase. During combat, he declared a 5/5 creature as an attacker. I declared a 5/5 creature as a blocker, then played Kor Dirge, choosing to have the damage that would have been dealt to my creature be dealt to his creature instead. He chose to have that creatue deal its combat damage to me instead of my creature, per Predatory Focus. How do these two effects resolve?
A: When combat damage is assigned, your opponent can choose to assign the damage from this attacking 5/5 to you. If he does, then no damage will be dealt to the blocking creature. Because of this, the effect from Kor Dirge will not do anything, as there is no damage to redirect. So you will still be dealt five points of damage.
Q: I just put a Protean Hulk into my graveyard. I then begin searching my library for creature cards to play, in this order: four Essence Wardens, followed by two Birds of Paradise. Would I gain any life for this play (as an effect of Essence Warden)?
A: Yes, you will gain a lot of life. These creatures will not enter play one at a time in any order, they will all come into play at the same time. When Protean Hulk's ability resolves, you search your library for creatures with a combined converted mana cost of six or less. Once you have chosen these creatures they will all enter play at once. When they do, the abilities of each Essence Warden you put into play will trigger for for each other creature that entered play at the same time as it. In this situation, the ability of each Essence Warden will trigger five times. So you will have 20 triggered abilities to put on the stack. When all of these abilities have resolved, you will have gained 20 life.
Q: I cast Damnation. In response, my opponent plays Counterspell. Is it possible for me to cast Imp's Mischief in response to his Counterspell, retargeting the Counterspell to Imp's Mischief, countering my Imp's Mischief, and allowing my Damnation to go through?
A: Yes, that works, just not quite as you describe. Your Imp's Mischief will resolve, changing the target of the Counterspell to the Imp's Mischief. When it does, you will lose two life. This works because the the Imp's Mischief is still on the stack when it resolves, and you can have the Counterspell target any item on the stack, including those that are on the stack above it. Then, when the Counterspell resolves, it will be countered on resolution as its target—the Imp's Mischief—has already resolved, and it no longer a legal target. Then your Damnation will resolve. This is an important distinction; as Imp's Mischief resolves, you will lose life.
Q: This question is about morph and comes-into-play abilities. Player A has Vesuvan Shapeshifter in play, face down. Player B plays Nekrataal, targeting the morphed Shapeshifter. Player A's response is to turn the Shapeshifter face up and copy the Nekrataal, negating the effect of the CIP ability of Nekrataal. Is this possible?
A: Yes. When the Shapeshifter copies a permanent in play, it becomes an exact copy. This means that the Shapeshifter will now be black. As it is a black creature when Nekrataal's triggered ability resolves, it is an illegal target for this ability. This means that the ability will become countered on resolution.
Q: If I have an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in play. Can I still produce tokens with Urza's Factory?
A: Yes. Urborg, Tomb of Ywagmoth gives lands in play an additional basic land subtype, but does not take any other subtypes or abilities away from these lands.
Q: If I have a Gemstone Mine and a Terraformer out, can I use the Terraformer's ability to turn the Gemstone Mine into a basic land, generating mana from it without removing a counter? Can I still generate mana of any color from the Mine after I turn it into a basic land by tapping and removing a counter?
A: For your first question: yes, that works. The Mine will be able to generate the appropriate mana depending on the type chosen when the Terraformer ability resolved. As to your second question: no, it will lose its original mana ability. When an effect gives a land subtype to a land and does not specify that the land keeps all existing subtypes, then the land will lose all of its previous abilities and only have the appropriate mana ability associated with the basic land subtype it now has.
Q: I have a Humility in play and my opponent plays Crimson Kobolds. Are those Kobolds still red? Both Humility and the Kobold ability are applied in layer 5, so it should be determined by timestamp, correct?
A: While it is true that the effect from the Kobold and the portion of Humility's ability that removes abilities are applied in the same layer, the effect from the Kobold ability is always applied first. The timestamp of these two permanents will not matter. The reason for this is that the Kobold's ability is a characteristic-setting ability. When applying effects in a single layer, you always apply characteristic-setting ones first. The Kobold ability is a characteristic-setting ability as it sets the color (a characteristic) of its source. Keep in mind that the many effects that set the characteristics of other permanents are not characteristic-setting abilities, as these effects are applied to other objects. Only those abilities that state that just the object with the ability "is" or "has" a certain characteristic is characteristic-setting abilities.
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