Rules Tip of the Day: In Magic, you always apply each individual effect separately. Sometime this leads to redundancy—e.g., if a creature has flying twice—sometimes not—as when a creature has the same triggered ability twice.).

Q: If Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is in play under my control, and my opponent plays Dragonstorm, the Storm ability goes on the stack but can't resolve, right?

A: No. The Storm ability will go on the stack and it will resolve. Teferi's ability prevents players from playing spells anytime other than when they could play a sorcery. That ability does not prevent triggered abilities from resolving or from copies of spells from being put on the stack. These copies are not played.

Q: When Force of Savagery comes into play, it is an 8/0 creature. Will it trigger Pandemonium and deal damage, or will state-based effects be checked, causing it to die immediately and trigger nothing?

A: It will enter play as an 8/0 creature and trigger Pandemonium's ability. Before this triggered ability can be put on the stack, state-based effects will be checked and the Force of Savagery will go to the graveyard. This triggered ability will then go on the stack and resolve. When it does, eight points of damage will be dealt to the targeted creature or player, as that was Force of Savagery's power when it was last in play.

Q: I have Barren Glory in play and a Suspended Mindstab with one counter on it. I've tossed all my other permanents in play to a Claws of Gix at the end of my opponent's turn, and I have one card in my hand. How do I resolve my upkeep? Do I choose the order? Can I remove the counter, discard my one card, and then have Barren Glory resolve and win me the game?

A: Because there are cards in your hand when your upkeep step begins, the ability of Barren Glory will not trigger. Its ability has an additional "intervening if" condition noted by the "if you control no permanents ..." As this additional condition is not met at the beginning of your upkeep, the ability will not trigger. The only triggered ability you have to deal with is Mindstab's. In other words, you cannot win the game in this situation.

Q: I have Wild Pair in play, and I play a Llanowar Elf, allowing me to search for a creature with total power and toughness of two. Can I search my library for Epochrasite?

A: Yes, that works. Wild Pair has you search your library for a creature card with the same combined power and toughness. What matters is what is printed on the card, not what the eventual power and toughness of this creature will be in play. So you can play a Llanowar Elves and search for an Epochrasite with Wild Pair's ability. Then, because you did not play this Epochrasite from your hand, it will come into play with three +1/+1 counters on it.

Q: I was just wondering if Ice Cave's triggered ability can be used to counter a spell with Split Second?

A: Yes it can. When a Split Second spell is played, Ice Cave's ability will go on the stack on top of it. When this triggered ability resolves, any player in the game can pay mana equal to that spell's mana cost to counter it.

Q: I have a Dovescape in play and my opponent plays two spells that get countered by Dovescape's triggered abilitie. Then he plays Dragonstorm. What happens?

A: When this Dragonstorm is played, both the Storm ability and Dovescape trigger. Assuming that the player that played Dragonstorm is the active player, the Storm trigger will go on the stack first, followed by the Dovescape trigger. When the Dovescape trigger resolves, the Dragonstorm spell will be countered and its controller will get nine Bird tokens. Then the Storm trigger will resolve and two copies of Dragonstorm will be put on the stack. These copies are not played, so Dovescape's ability will not trigger. These copies will resolve and your opponent will be able to search his library for two Dragon cards and put them into play.

Q: I have Teferi's Veil in play and Anger in my graveyard. My opponent has a creature she just cast. On my turn, I take control of the untapped creature with a Chamber of Manipulation-enchanted land and attack with it. Then this attacking creature phases out (per Teferi's Veil). What happens to it when it phases back in? Is it mine or hers?

A: As it phased out under your control, it will phase back into play at the beginning of your next upkeep step. However, when it does, it will phase into play under your opponent's control. As this happens at the start of your untap step, this creature will not untap until your opponent's next untap step.

Q: I play a Phyrexian Tyranny while my opponent has a Standstill in play. Will he draw three cards before Tyranny comes into play, or does Tyranny come into play, followed by my opponent drawing his cards, triggering Tyranny?

A: Standstill's ability will trigger and go on the stack on top of the Phyrexian Tyranny. This triggered ability will resolve first, before the Phyrexian Tyranny enters play. So no, this ability cannot trigger, and your opponent will draw three cards without losing any life.

Q: If player A gets infinite life, and then player B deals infinite damage to player A, what happens?

A: Infinity is not used in Magic. Players cannot gain infinite life, but they can gain a very high, concrete amount of life, represented by a number. If later in the game another player deals enough damage to the player that has gained an incredibly high amount of life, then this player's life total will go to zero and he will lose the game.