Rules Tip of the Day: After blocking creatures have been declared, even if no creatures are blocking, both players will receive priority before combat damage goes on the stack. An unblocked attacking creature can have its power raised at this point in order for it to deal an increased amount of combat damage. Or an attacking creature can be removed from play in order to prevent it from dealing any damage.

Q: I'm messing around with the idea of Pact of Negation and cards that make you skip a turn (Chronatog, Meditate, etc). Do I have to pay the upkeep cost in the next available turn or do I get off scot-free?

A: The delayed triggered abilities from the Pact cycle trigger at the beginning of your next upkeep step, regardless of when this next upkeep is. The only way to avoid paying the cost by skipping turns is to skip all of your turns.

Q: Extirpate can target anything but a basic land. Underground Sea is both an Island and a Swamp; can it be Extirpated?

A: Yes, you can target an Underground Sea with Extirpate. Underground Sea has more than one basic land subtype, but that does not make it a basic land. Only lands with the Basic supertype are basic lands, so this applies to any land that has one or more basic land types but is still not a basic land.

Q: I have Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir in play. During my opponent's turn, I decide to play two Ixidrons as instants. Does one die? what happens?

A: Assuming that nothing else is played, neither will leave play, but one will be face-down. In order to play both Ixidrons during your opponent's turn you'd have to play one, and then before this first Ixidron spell resolves, play another. When the first Ixidon spell resolves, all non-token creatures in play will be turned face-down and Ixidron will come into play with power and toughness equal to the number of face down creatures. Then the second Ixidron will enter play and will also turn all non-token creatures in play face down, including the Ixidron that is currently in play.

Q: Can Gemstone Mine be tapped for colorless mana without using the ability and removing a counter?

A: No. It does not have any mana abilities other than the one where you remove a mining counter to add one mana of any color.

Q: Does the mana generated by Benthic Explorers' ability avoid restrictions from the lands it untaps, like Pillar of the Paruns' "Spend this mana only to play a multicolored spell." restriction?

A: Yes. When an effect refers to a type of mana it only means it color or lack of color; it does not refer to any restrictions that are placed on that mana. You can use Benthic Explorers' ability to untap an opponent's tapped Pillar of the Paruns to generate one mana of any color, and use this mana to play a mono-colored or colorless spell.

Q: Debtor's Knell says: "At the beginning of you upkeep, put target creature card in a graveyard into play under your control." So does this mean I have to do it every upkeep, or can I choose not to if I don't want to?

A: Yes, Debtor's Knell's ability is not optional. If there is a creature card in a graveyard that you can target, you will have to target it and return it to play under your control when the ability resolves.

Q: Is it possible to Madness a card when you discard it with Stormbind?

A: Yes, you an play a Madness card via its Madness ability anytime you discard it. You do not have to have specifically chosen that card, you can play Madness cards that you have randomly discarded.

Q: If I have Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, and played it with Flash, can I use his ability before putting it in the graveyard?

A: No. When Flash resolves, you put a creature card from your hand into play. If you do not pay this creature card's mana cost minus two generic mana, then you will sacrifice it now, while Flash is still resolving. You will not gain priority to play other spells or abilities until after Flash has completely resolved. At that point, Kiki-Jiki will be in your graveyard.

Q: I have both an Urza's Armor and Manabarbs in play. When I tap multiple lands to play a spell or ability, will I take any damage from Manabarbs' ability?

A: No. For each land you tap, Manabarbs' ability will trigger once. These triggered abilities will go on the stack separately and resolve independently. Because this damage is dealt to you one point at a time as each of the individual Manabarbs' triggered abilities resolves, the effect from Urza's Armor's ability will end up preventing all of the damage that would be dealt to you.

Q: In one of your rulings, you state that Silent Arbiter does not prevent Gemini Engine from creating its attacking Twin token. How does this work in multiplayer? Suppose Silent Arbiter is in play and I attack with my Engine, choosing a different opponent for the Twin to attack. Can only one of my opponents block his attacker? How do we choose which one?

A: Only one player will be able to block this turn. In a multi-player game where you can attacking more than one player in a single combat phase, blockers are chosen in APNAP (Active Player, Non-Active Player) order. In other words, each of the defending players will choose their blockers according to the turn order. So the first person to declare a blocking creature will effectively prevent the next players from blocking at all. (Also, this situation is even more interesting/fun/evil when you use Nacatl War-Pride instead of Gemini Engine.)