Ask the Judge, 2/4/2008
Rules Tip of the Day: When assigning damage from an attacking creature with trample, its controller must assign lethal damage to all blocking creatures; he can then assign the remainder to the defending player. If a blocking creature has protection from a quality of the attacking creature, you still need to assign what would normally be lethal damage to the defending creature. It does not matter that this damage will be prevented; you do not take that into account when assigning combat damage.
Q: I have a Garruk Wildspeaker in play, and I play a Treetop Village that comes into play tapped. May I use Garruk's ability to untap Treetop Village and attack the same turn it came into play?
A: No. You can only attack with a creature if you have controlled it as a permanent since the beginning of your most recent turn. Untapping alone is not enough to allow you to attack with this Treetop Village that just came into play.
Q: I cast Scapeshift, sacrificing five lands, and I search up three Flagstones of Trokair and two Vesuvas. Can I have the Vesuvas copy the Flagstones, so that all five of them go to the graveyard at the same time, or does the legend rule have priority, causing the Flagstones to go to the graveyard before Vesuva even gets a chance to copy them?
A: What you want to do does not work, but not for the reason you stated. All of these lands are put into play at the same time, as Scapeshift resolves. As part of putting a Vesuva into play, you choose a land in play for it to copy. In order for you to choose to have these Vesuvas copy a Flagstones of Trokair, one would need to be in play before Scapeshift started to resolve.
Q: I'm trying to clarify the effect of Graceful Reprieve: is it a one-time effect only, or can the creature it targets go into the graveyard several times before end of turn? For example, could I cast Graceful Reprieve on a creature, sacrifice it to Altar of Dementia, get it back into play, sacrifice it again, and repeat, all in the same turn?
A: No, that does not work. When this creature card is returned to play, it is a new creature, and not the same one that was targeted by Graceful Reprieve.
Q: I have a Game-Trail Changeling and three Greatbow Doyen in play. If the Changeling attacks and is blocked by an Indomitable Ancients, would my opponent take seven damage, three times?
A: Yes, multiple copies of Greatbow Doyen will generate a cumulative effect. The abilities of each individual Greatbow Doyen will trigger and resolve independently.
Q: Can Mistmeadow Skulk be sacrificed to Thoughtweft Trio's champion ability?
A: First of all, you do not sacrifice a creature to the champion ability; you choose an appropriate permanent that you control and remove it from the game. And the champion ability does not target, deal damage, attach itself, or have anything to do with blocking, so you can remove a Mistmeadow Skulk to the Thoughtweft Trio's ability.
Q: Worldly Tutor is looking for a 'creature card'. Am I able to search for Militia's Pride with the Tutor?
A: No. Militia's Pride is not a creature card. It is a Tribal Enchantment card. It does not matter that it has a creature subtype; it is not a creature card.
Q: I suspend Dichotomancy and then play Ixidron. When Dichotomancy comes into play, if I were to target my opponent, would I get copies of the cards that are face down? Would I just get a random assortment of 2/2 creatures? Or would I not get anything at all?
A: Face-down cards have no names. When this Dichotomancy resolves, these face-down cards will not have the same name as any card in this player's library. It does not matter that, when face up, these cards do have names.
Q: I have a Vedalken Shackles stealing an opponent's Putrid Imp. He has multiple copies of Bridge from Below in his graveyard, and I'm wondering: if I can get the Putrid Imp killed, will my opponent get token creatures, or will Bridge from Below cards be removed from the game?
A: Cards always go to the graveyard of their owner. You may have controlled this creature when it left play, but it went to your opponent's graveyard. So your opponent will end up with 2/2 Zombie token creatures, and the Bridges from Below will remain in his graveyard.
Q: Does Experiment Kraj's ability copy the modular ability? If I have Arcbound Worker in play, and he has his 1/1 counter from his modular ability, and I play Experiment Kraj, will Kraj come into play as a 5/7 or a 4/6?
A: It will enter play as a 4/6 with no counters on it. Modular is not an activated ability; it is a static and triggered ability. Experiment Kraj will not copy the modular ability of a creature with a +1/+1 counter on it.





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