Rules Tip of the Day: Triggered abilities with the "intervening if" clause will only trigger at the appropriate time if the secondary condition denoted by the "if" is true. For example, the comes-into-play ability of Pit Keeper will not trigger when it enters play if there are not four or more creature cards in your graveyard at that time.

Q: In a recent game, I Suspended Curse of the Cabal. On my opponent's next turn, he played a True Believer. What happens when Curse of the Cabal resolves? I thought the spell would fizzle, since I couldn't targt my opponent. He, however, thought that since he could not be a target of spells or abilities, I had to choose myself as the target of the spell, since I was the only targetable player. Who was right?

A: Your friend was correct. When a card unsuspends, you must play it if you are able. You are a legal target for Curse of the Cabal. This means that you will have to play it targeting yourself.

Q: I have Wild Pair in play, and I have Threshold. If I play Llanowar Elves, can I search my library for a Werebear and put it into play, or is it a 4/4?

A: The power and toughness of the Werebear card in your library is 1/1, because the Threshold ability is not a characteristic-defining ability and only functions while Werebear is in play, so you can search for one here with Wild Pair's ability. It does not matter that it will enter play as a 4/4 creature.

Q: I have Null Profusion, Pyrohemia, and a 2/2 creature in play. I have three cards in my hand. During my main phase, I activate Pyrohemia one time. I go to my cleanup step and I have to discard down to two cards. I choose to discard Fiery Temper, playing it with Madness. I understand that I will enter a second cleanup step. If I activate the Pyrohemia during my cleanup step, will it kill the 2/2? If I can manage to keep discarding Madness spells during each successive cleanup step, can I keep using Pyrohema without killing the 2/2?

A: Your intuition here is correct. Your 2/2 will not receive lethal damage, as all damage previously dealt in the turn will have gone away by the time you activate Pyrohemia in your cleanup step. Under most circumstances, players do not receive priority during the cleanup step, but discarding a card with Madness to get down to your maximum hand size will give you this rather odd opportunity.

Q: I control a Herd Gnarr and my opponent controls an active Serendib Sorcerer. I play a creature which comes into play. The Herd Gnarr's ability triggers and resolves, making it a 4/4. If I attack with the Herd Gnarr and my opponent activates the Sorcerer, targeting the Herd Gnarr, what is its power and toughness?

A: it will be a 0/2 creature. The effects from Herd Gnarr's ability and Sernedib Sorcerer's ability are applied in the same sublayer according to timestamp order. As the Sorcerer's ability resolved last, this creature will be a 0/2.

Q: My opponent is at six life. I cast a Hellbent Demonfire for six; my opponent responds by casting Clutch of the Undercity on one of my lands, returning it to my hand. Can she now counter the Demonfire?

A: Yes, she can counter your Demonfire. The Hellbent ability of Demonfire only applies when a spell or ability would counter the Demonfire. As you have a card in your hand now, it can be countered. It does not matter that you did not have any cards in your hand when this Demonfire was initially played.

Q: If I have Void Maw in play and a 1/1 token would be put into a graveyard, does it go to graveyard and cease to exist? Is it removed from the game with Void Maw before it ceases to exist? Can I put the token into graveyard (before it ceases to exist) to give my Void Maw +2/+2?

A: Technically speaking, this token will be removed from the game and then cease to exist. However, this doesn't really benefit you, as you will not get the opportunity to activate Void Maw's ability before this token ceases to exist. Even if you could, Void Maw's ability specifically states that you put a card that has been removed from the game by Void Maw into its owner's graveyard in order to activate this ability. Tokens are not cards, even when they are represented by cards.

Q: My opponent plays Corrupt and I Fork. Is the Fork useless if I have no Swamps?

A: Your Fork will make a copy of Corrupt, but this copy will not do anything as you do not control any swamps. Corrupt checks the number of swamps that its controller controls when it resolves. You are the controller of the copied Corrupt, so it will not deal any damage.