Rules Tip of the Day: While you can choose to redirect damage that would be dealt to your opponent from a source you control to a planeswalker they control, you cannot choose to redirect damage that would be dealt to you from a source you control to a planeswalker that you control.
Q: I have a Silvergill Adept out. I cast Wings of Velis Vel and target it. Then I play a Clone and choose the Adept. Does Clone come into play as a Silvergill Adept, or a 4/4 flying Changeling? And if it does come in as a Silvergill Adept, do I still have to reveal a Merfolk or pay (3)?
A: This Clone is a copy of Silvergil Adept. When you make a copy of an object you do not copy any effects that have been applied to that object. And no, you will not have to pay any extra mana for this Clone copy of the Adept. You do that when you play the Adept spell, not when it comes into play.
Q: When Merrow Reejerey comes into play, does it trigger itself, therefore letting me untap a target permanant?
A: No, the Reejerey's ability triggers when you play a spell, not when a Merfolk comes into play.
Q: My opponent plays a Grizzly Bears. He then plays a Loxodon Warhammer and equips the Bears. He passes the turn to me. I play a Lignify on his Bears. I pass the turn. He attacks me with the Bears. He thinks it is a 3/4 because Lignify wont effect the equipment. I think it is a 0/4 because of the time stamp rule, because my Lignify happened most recently. Who is correct?
A: It's a little complicated: timestamp will determine the abilities of this creature, but the power and toughness will always be 3/4. Both the lifelink-granting effect and Lignify's ability-loss effect are applied in layer 5, so whichever came most recently will have priority (in this case, because Lignify was played after the Warhammer was equipped, the Bears will not have lifelink). The power and toughness will be set by Lignify in layer 6b and modified by Warhammer in 6d, regardless of timetstamp order. Keep in mind that he can reset the timestamp of the equipment by attaching it to some other creature and then back to the enchanted Bears. If he does, it would end up being a 3/4 creature with lifelink.
Q: I have a Spiketail Hatchling equipped with Deathrender and an Enduring Renewal. If I cast a spell, is there any way to sacrifice the Hatchling a million times without having to pay a million mana, and then cast Bitter Ordeal with a million copies on the stack?
A: Yes, as long as you don't mind your original spell being countered. You can choose to sacrifice the Hatchling and target the spell you played with the Hatchling's ability. When you do Deathrender's ability and Enduring Renewal's ability will trigger. As the controller of these two abilities you can choose the order that they go on the stack. You want to put Deathrender's ability on the stack first followed by Enduring Renewal's. This means that when Deathrender's ability resolves you will be able to put the Hatchling back into play. After Deathrender's ability resolves, you can activate the Hatchling's ability again to repeat the loop. Eventually you will have a whole bunch of Spiketail Hatchling abilities on the stack to deal with, but the easiest way to do that is to not pay any mana. Then, when you play Bitter Ordeal, its Gravestorm ability will count each time that the Hatchling went to the graveyard, and end up making a lot of copies.
Q: I have four life and my opponent attacks with two 4/4 creatures. I play Intervention Pact. Will I still lose? When do I gain life from Intervention Pact?
A: No, you will not lose. You gain life when the damage prevention ability created by Intervention Pact prevents the damage. In this example, when combat damage is dealt, you will gain four life and be dealt four points of damage, so your life total will remain the same.
Q: Can I use Gaze of the Gorgon on Stuffy Doll? Since the Stuffy Doll is indestructible, I don't know if I can use a spell that regenerates a creature.
A: You still can. The regeneration effect will not do anything, but any creatures blocking or blocked by Stuffy Doll will be destroyed.
Q: If I have an Azorius Guildmage, can I use it to counter Spectral Searchlight's ability?
A: No, Spectral Searchlight's ability is a mana ability; it does not use the stack and it cannot be countered.
Q: We were playing a casual game of Two-Headed Giant. Opponent A had a Swamp and other opponent B had a planeswalker. I announced I was attacking the planeswalker with a creature with swampwalk. My opponents said that B could block the creature. I said that swampwalk applied to both of them and they could not block. Who was correct?
A: You were. Creatures with an appropriate landwalk ability are unblockable as long as a defending player controls a land of the appropriate type. Both players on the defending team are defending players, so this creature cannot be blocked by any creatures controlled by either defending player. The fact that it is attacking a planeswalker does not matter.
Q: Is a player obligated to say how many, if any, cards they sideboarded in or out, even if their opponent doesn't ask? If my opponent asks how many cards I sideboarded, do I have to tell them?
A: The answer is no to both questions. The only obligation they have is to present a legal deck (in Constructed, the deck must be the same size after sideboarding as it was to begin with; this restriction does not apply to Limited matches). The number of cards they sideboard in or out does not matter.
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