Rules Tip of the Day: Contrary to a fairly common belief, creatures can receive damage greater than their toughness.

Q: When Epochrasite is destroyed, does it stay long enough to be targeted in the graveyard before it is Suspended? Can it be Extirpated just after being destroyed?

A: Yes. Epochrasite is removed from the game by a triggered ability. When it is destroyed, it goes to the graveyard and this trigger goes on the stack. The Epochrasite is removed from the game, and gains Suspend and three time counters when this trigger resolves. Both players will have priority after it goes to the graveyard and before this trigger resolves. You can play Extirpate at this time and target is while it is in a graveyard.

Q: If I have a Hivestone and a Mesmeric Sliver in play and I play a Whitemane Lion at the end of my opponent's turn, can I Fateseal when the Whitemane comes into play?

A: Yes. Your Whitemane Lion will come into play as a Sliver. This means that it will enter play with the Fateseal ability and that ability will trigger.

Q: If I have a creature that is enchanted with a Verdant Embrace, and someone uses Ovinize on the creature, is that creature a 3/4 due to the enchantment, or does Ovinize nullify the enchantment's effect?

A: This enchanted creature will have a power and toughness of 3/4. Verdant Embrace has a static ability that is applied after the power and toughness setting ability of Ovinize.

Q: If I have a Thrumming Stone in play and I play a Beacon of Destruction, do I get to shuffle the Beacon into the deck before the Ripple effect, or does the Ripple resolve before the Beacon?

A: The Ripple effect will resolve first. When you play Beacon of Destruction, the Ripple ability that is given to it by Thrumming Stone will trigger and go on the stack on top of the Beacon. This triggered ability will resolve first, and you may reveal the top four cards of your library and play any of the revealed cards with the name "Beacon of Desruction." At this time, the Beacon you played is on the stack, so it cannot be revealed by its own Ripple ability.

Q: If some effect gives a creature snow-covered swampwalk, does it then by default have swampwalk? What about the other way around?

A: Creatures with a snow-covered landwalk ability are only unblockable if the defending player controls a snow-covered land of the appropriate type. They can be blocked if the defending player controls a land of the same type, but do not control any snow-covered lands. However, this is not true of regular landwalk ability. Creatures with a 'normal' landwalk ability are unblockable if the defending player controls a snow-covered or non-snow-covered land of the appropriate type.

Q: If I have a Dovescape in play along with a March of the Machines, can I play artifacts without them becoming counterd by Dovescape?

A: No. March of the Machines only affects artifacts in play; it does not affect artifact spells on the stack. Those spells that are just artifact spells will still be countered by Dovescape's ability.

Q: If I play Traveling Plague on one of my opponent's creatures, and it dies, can he play it on one of my pro-black creatures?

A: No. Creatures that have protection from black can not be enchanted by a black Aura at all, under any circumstances. Your opponent would have to choose another creature or—if there is not one available—the Plague will remain in your graveyard.

Q: May the ability of Quicksilver Amulet be used when Aether Storm is in play?

A: Yes, Quicksilver Amulet's ability does not play creature spells; it puts creature cards from your hand directly into play without playing them. Because of this, Aether Storm's ability will not prevent you from using that ability.

Q: Can Mind Bend change reminder text? For example, on most cards, Fear is just "Fear." But in core sets, Fear is "Fear (This creature can't be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or black creatures)." So could Mind Bend change the "black creatures" to "green creatures"?

A: Reminder text has no significance or impact on the game, other than to explain the keyword ability. Whether the text can be altered is irrelevant to the game.

Q: This is a theoretical question, but if there was a Scry ability of five or more, would Aven Mindcensor's ability keep my opponent from looking at all five of these cards?

A: No. The Scry ability has you look at a certain number of cards from the top of your library and rearrange them by putting them on the bottom and top of your library in any order. This is not the same as searching your library, so the Mindcensor's ability will not affect this at all.

Q: How will Rule of Law affect Two-Headed Giant, given that both players act simultaneously?

A: Teammates in 2HG share a turn, but they are still separate players. Rule of Law only prevents an individual player from playing more than one spell in a turn; it does not prevent entire teams from doing so. This means that each player on a Two-Headed Giant team can play one spell per turn while Rule of Law is in play.