Rules Tip of the Day: In the draw step, after the normal draw has occurred, each player will receive priority. You can use a spell or ability to cause your opponent to discard at this time.

Q: I have Rule of Law in play, and my opponent Suspends a card. On the turn that the Suspended card comes into play, can he still play another card? What if he has two Suspended cards that will come into play during the same turn?

A: No, your opponent cannot play another spell if he has already played a Suspended card this turn. When the card un-Suspends, that player must play it if possible. This is playing a spell, so Rule of Law will prevent him from playing any additional spells that turn. If there are two cards that would un-Suspend in the same turn, then their controller will be able to determine the order that their Suspend triggers go on the stack. The Suspend ability that goes on the stack last will resolve first and be the one that is played. The other spell will un-Suspend, but it cannot be played, so it will remain in the removed from game zone.

Q: Does Anvil of Bogardan negate the drawback of Pyromancer's Swath?

A: No, it does not. Pyromancer's Swath has a triggered ability that triggers at the beginning of your end of turn step. When this ability resolves, you discard your hand. It does not change your hand size in any way. Anvil of Bogarden does not prevent any effect from causing you to discard, it only prevents the rules from doing so. With both of these permanents in play, you will still discard your hand in the end of turn step of your turn.

Q: When I cast Sculpting Steel with an Epochrasite in play, and choose to copy it, will the new copy of Epochrasite have 3 +1/+1 counters on it? If the copy is destroyed, will it be Suspended like a real Epochrasite?

A: You did play this Sculpting Steel / Epochrasite spell from your hand, so it will not get the +1/+1 counters. However, when Sculpting Steel / Epochrasite is destroyed, it will be be removed from the game, gain Suspend, and get three time counters. In the removed from game zone and when it goes back on the stack, it will be a Sculpting Steel. This means that you can choose to copy some other artifact when the Sculpting Steel resolves again. If you choose to copy the Epochrasite again, then it will get the +1/+1 counters this time, since you did not play it from your hand.

Q: What's the ruling on Body Double and Phage the Untouchable? I heard that you won't lose the game if you reanimate Phage this way. Is this true?

A: Yes, that is correct, so long as you played the Body Double spell from your hand. Body Double will enter play as a Phage, but its ability will not trigger. This is because you played this spell form your hand, it does not matter that it was not a Phage spell. With Body Double you are not reanimating Phage; you are playing a spell that comes into play as a copy of Phage.

Q: I attack with Spectral Force and my opponent blocks it with a Darkheart Sliver. After putting damage on the stack, assigning two damage to the Sliver and six to my opponent, my opponent sacrifices his Sliver to gain three life. Does my opponent take six or eight damage?

A: Combat damage is dealt as it is assigned, if able. It does not matter that the Sliver that was in play and assigned two points of damage is not in play when combat damage resolves, this does not change the assignment. This means that the defending player will receive six points of damage and that the two assigned to the Darkheart Sliver will not be dealt at all, as there is nothing to deal this damage to.

Q: My opponent declares his Tombstalker as an attacker. I have a Sacred Mesa in play. When he declares the attacker, I don't do anything. Then I declare blockers, and put a Pegasus in play blocking the Tombstalker, but he says that he will Sudden Death my Pegasus as soon as it comes into play, so I make another token again blocking the Demon. My opponent says I can't block anymore, because I already declared blockers. Is he correct?

A: Neither of you is playing in a technically correct manner. In order for a creature to block, it must be in play when the declaration of blockers step begins. This means that you need to activate the ability of your Sacred Mesa in the declaration of attackers step (you will have a chance to take actions in this step after he declares who is attacking) in order to have a Pegasus token to block with. You only advance to the next step or phase until both players pass priority on an empty stack without doing anything. So after the Sacred Mesa ability resolves, your opponent can play Sudden Death and kill the Pegasus token that just came into play. Keep in mind that this is still before blockers have been declared. Because this is the case, you can then activate Sacred Mesa's ability again to make a new token creature to block with. Then, when both of you do pass into the declaration of blockers step, this newly created token can block.

Q: I was playing an Emperor Format game using the deploy creatures option, with general having range one and emperors range two. I was an emperor and cast Ray of Command during my turn to take control of an opposing general's creature. Then I used the deploy creatures rule to give control of this creature to the general on my left. What happens at the end of the turn? Does my general keep the creature? Or does it go back to my opponent?

A: Your general will keep control of this creature. Control Effect are often compared to layers of paint. In this example, the effect from the Deploy ability will be the topmost layer and the Ray of Command layer will be just underneath it. This means that while both effect are being applied, your teammate will control this creature. At the end of the current turn, the control effect created by Ray of Command will end, but the change in control effect from the Deploy ability will not. The fact that a control effect 'underneath' the Deploy effect goes away does not mean that the deploy creature effect will end. Your teammate will maintain control of this creature until the creature leaves play or some other control effect is applied to the creature.