Rules Tip of the Day: Try and learn your DCI number, or at least keep it with you in a deck box or binder or cell phone. It truly helps the operations staff if you can provide your DCI number when you register for a tournament.

Q: Can Ashling the Pilgrim have more than three counters on it?

A: Yes. It can have more than three +1/+1 counters on it. It can get them from other effects that put counters on creatures, or from its own ability. It can gain more than three counters from its own ability, provided that its ability does not resolve more than three times in a single turn.

Q: When a Championed creature returns to play, do its comes-into-play abilities trigger?

A: Yes. The creature card that returns to play does reenter play. From a flavor standpoint, the Champion card is supposed to be the same creature, gaining experience and becoming something else. I suppose the corollary is the creature loses a part of itself when the Champion leaves play. However, from a gameplay perspective, the creature that was removed from the game when the Champion ability resolves does enter play when the Champion leaves play.

Q: I would like to know how the interaction between Guile and Dovescape works. I think that it is a way to get an arbitrary number of tokens, but need to know for sure.

A: Infinity does not exist in Magic, but these two cards do create a loop that you can repeat as many times as you like anytime that you play a non-creature spell. Provided that this spell has a converted mana cost greater than one, you will be able to generate a whole lot of 1/1 Bird token creatures.

Q: Personally, I don't think this works, but my friend argues otherwise. Can Smokebraider's mana ability be used to pay for the Echo costs of Elemental permanents?

A: You are correct. Echo is a triggered ability, not an activated one. So you cannot use the mana from Smokebraider's ability to pay the Echo cost of an Elemental.

Q: I have a Leviathan and a face-down Vesuvan Shapeshifter in play. I attack an opponent with both of them, and he declares no blockers for the Shapeshifter. Can I pay the Morph cost, turn the Vesuvan Shapeshifter face up, and have it copy Leviathan without having to sacrifice any Islands?

A: Yes, as when it was declared as an attacking creature, it was not a Leviathan. The requirement that you sacrifice two Islands only affects what happens when you declare a Leviathan as an attacker. If a creature that is already attacking becomes a Leviathan, you will not have to sacrifice anything.

Q: I have Spined Wurm in play and I play Steely Resolve choosing Wurms. I attack with Spined Wurm and my opponent blocks with his Moonglove Winnower. Does Spined Wurm get destroyed because of Deathtouch?

A: Yes, the Deathtouch ability does not target. It can destroy any non-indestructible creature that is dealt damage by the creature with Deathtouch.

Q: My friend and I were playing a game and he played his Ivy Elemental with 24 +/+1 counters on it. I Ovinized the Elemental. Do the +1/+1 counters stay?

A: The counters will stay on this creature. In fact, because you factor in the counters after you apply the effect from Ovinize, this creature will end up being a 24/25 creature. In other words, Ovinize ends up giving the Ivy Elemental +0/+1.

Q: If a player plays Leyline of Singularity, and then on the next turn another player plays Konda's Banner and attaches it to a Leonin Den-Guard, and then the next turn another player destroys the Leyline of Singularity, does Konda's Banner stay attached to the Leonin Den-Guard, or does it come off, because the creature is no longer legendary?

A: The Konda's Banner will 'fall off' in this example. Konda's Banner can only be attached to a Legendary creature. It was legally attached to the Den Guard when Leyline of Singularity was in play. But once the Den Guard was no longer Legendary, it will not, so it will 'fall off.'

Q: If I have a Gravedigger in my hand and a Nantuko Husk in play, can I play the Gravedigger, and in response to the Gravedigger's ability, sacrifice it to the Husk, then use the Gravedigger's own ability to return him to my hand?

A: No. When Gravedigger comes into play, its ability will trigger. Before you can play any spells or abilities, you need to put this trigger on the stack and choose a creature card in your graveyard to target. The Gravedigger is not in your graveyard at this point, so you cannot target it with this ability.