Rules Tip of the Day: Some cards allow you to play cards in zones like the graveyard or library as though they were in your hand. Examples of cards like this are Future Sight, Crucible of Worlds and Spelljack. These effects only allow you to play these cards. They are not in your hand, and you cannot discard them or do anything else that you could with an actual card in your hand other than play them.

Q: Can I use Boseiju, Who Shelters All to play through a Gaddock Teeg that is preventing me from playing my Enduring Ideal?

A: No, Gaddock Teeg's ability prevents you from playing certain spells; it does not counter them. Using the mana from Boseiju so this spell cannot be countered does not get around the fact that you cannot even play it.

Q: My friend thinks that I can pay Shriekmaw's evoke cost, destroying a creature and sending Shriekmaw to the graveyard, and then activate Horde of Notions to use the evoke cost of Shriekmaw again, which I could then repeat until I run out of mana. Is that right?

A: That is incorrect. When you play Shreikmaw via Horde of Notions' ability, you play it for free. Because the effect that allows you to play this Elemental card in your graveyard replaces what you pay, you cannot also pay another alternate play cost. This Shreikmaw will enter play and remain there, as you did not—and could not— pay its evoke cost.

Q: I attack a planeswalker with a 9/9 creature with trample. My opponent blocks with a 1/1 and no other combat tricks occur. So I deal eight damage to the planeswalker. If the planeswalker has fewer than eight loyalty counters, does the extra damage go to my opponent?

A: No. Damage from an attacking creature with trample can only 'spill over' to the defending player or the planeswalker that is being attacked. It cannot carry over from the planeswalker that is being attacked to the defending player.

Q: If I have just played a Battlewand Oak and equipped it with Obsidian Battle-Axe, does it have the +2/+2 bonus from playing a Treefolk spell—namely, the Battlewand Oak?

A: No, Battlewand Oak's ability only triggers when it is in play. It cannot trigger from being played, as it was not in play at that point.

Q: Can I target a card removed from the game with Oblivion Ring with Pull From Eternity?

A: Yes. It does not matter what removed a card from the game; you can target it with Pull from Eternity. Keep in mind that if this Oblivion Ring leaves play, nothing will be returned to play, as the card that it removed from play will no longer be in the removed from game zone.

Q: Does Locket of Yesterdays reduce the cost to suspend a card?

A: No, Locket of Yesterdays' ability only lowers the play cost of a card. Paying a suspend cost is not playing that card; it is performing a special action.

Q: Night of Souls' Betrayal and Sundering Titan are in play. My opponent uses the ability of Vhati Il-Dal and chooses to make Sundering Titan's toughness 1. Does Sundering Titan become a 6/1 or a 6/0 creature?

A: It will be a 6/0 and go to the graveyard. The effect from the static ability of of Night of Souls' Betrayal is applied after the toughness-setting effect of Vhati il-Dal. So the Titan starts as a 7/10 creature, its toughness is set to one, making it a 7/1 creature, and then it becomes a 6/0 creature.

Q: If Homura, Human Ascendant dies, can an opponent take it from my graveyard with instant or ability that reanimates before it flips?

A: Yes, Homura's ability that returns it to play flipped is a triggered ability that can be responded to.

Q: Suppose my opponent has an Akki Underling in play. I cast Cowed by Wisdom on it. Then I end my turn. At the start of my opponent's turn, I cast Into the Fray on his Akki Underling. I have five cards in my hand. My opponent has six basic lands in play. Must my opponent spend five mana and attack with his Akki Underling?

A: Your opponent is not forced to make a payment so this creature can attack. There are two effects at play here, one that keeps the enchanted creature from attacking unless a mana payment is made, and another that forces this creature to attack if able. If your opponent does not pay to satisfy the effect of Cowed by Wisdom, then this creature is not able to attack, so it will not.

Q: I have Manabond in play and no lands in hand. Can I reveal my hand, put no land cards into play, then discard my hand?

A: Yes. You can choose to take advantage of Manabond's ability, even if you cannot put any lands in play, in order to discard your hand.