Rules Tip of the Day: Storm and replicate both trigger when spells with those abilities are played. This trigger goes on the stack as a separate object. Removing the spell from the stack will not do anything to this triggered ability or the copies made by this ability.

Q: Can I cast Flame Javelin with six red mana and use it as colorless mana?

A: Technically speaking, it is not colorless mana, but you can do what you want. When you play a spell with a hybrid cost, you choose what you will spend for each hybrid symbol. So you can choose to have Flame Javelin cost six generic mana, and then pay this cost with six red mana.

Q: I have a Vedalken Shackles in play and four Islands. My opponent plays Mistbind Clique. While its champion ability is on the stack, I decide to use Vedalken Shackles to gain control of the Clique. What happens?

A: Your opponent can choose to champion a creature with the Clique's champion ability, as he controlled the Clique when it came into play, and he controls the triggered ability. If he does, then the Clique's other ability will trigger. However, as you are the controller of the Clique at this point, you control this triggered ability, so you will pick a target player. If your opponent does not choose to champion a creature with the Clique's champion ability, then nothing will happen. This is because when a champion ability resolves and no creature is removed from the game, the controller of the ability is instructed to sacrifice the Champion. But only the controller of a permanent can choose to sacrifice it. So your opponent can either remove a Faerie he controls from the game—allowing you to tap his lands—or do nothing.

Q: If Taurean Mauler has shroud, will it still get counters?

A: Yes; its ability does not target anything. It will trigger anytime an opponent plays a spell, and it will get a +1/+1 counter when this ability resolves, even if it has shroud.

Q: If you use Apprentice Necromancer's ability to bring back Benthicore, and then used Benthicore's ability to give it shroud, will he stay in play?

A: No. When Apprentice Necromancer's ability resolves, it puts the targeted creature card from your graveyard into play and creates a delayed triggered ability. When this trigger resolves, the creature that was put into play is sacrificed. This does not target that creature, so you will have to sacrifice it, even if it has shroud.

Q: If I play Volcano Hellion and choose to deal infinite damage, can I play Intervention Pact to be at infinite life?

A: No. The damage from Volcano Hellion can't be prevented, so Intervention Pact will not stop you from losing life. Lifegain from the Pact is equal to the amount of damage actually prevented, so you won't gain any life, either.

Finally, infinite is not a number in Magic; you must choose an actual number, and note that you choose this number when Volcano Hellion's ability resolves, and the damage is dealt at that time. So if Volcano Hellion didn't have the "can't be prevented" clause, you would have to play Intervention Pact before Volcano Hellion's comes-into-play triggered ability resolves.

Q: With Trinisphere in play, do I have to pay mana to play Dread Return? And if so, do I pay any three mana, or do I have to pay 2B?

A: Yes, you will have to pay three mana, as Trinisphere's ability forces you to pay at least three mana anytime you play a spell. And any three mana will do; you do not have to pay black mana. Dread Return is a black spell, but the additional payment required by Trinisphere does not force you to pay any colored mana.

Q: Chronozoa and Pendrell Mists are in play. If Chronozoa were to leave play during upkeep with no time counters on it, are the tokens created subject to the upkeep cost given to them by the Mists?

A: No, as they were not in play when your upkeep step began. These creatures will have that upkeep triggered ability, but that ability only triggers at the very beginning of the upkeep step.

Q: Will Bottled Cloister protect me from the effects of my own Dreamborn Muse?

A: It can, depending on how you order these two triggered abilities. Both Bottle Cloister and Dreamborn Muse have abilities that trigger at the beginning of your upkeep step and will go on the stack at the same time. If you put Bottled Cloister's ability on the stack first, it will resolve last. This means that when Dreamborn Muse's ability resolves, you will not have any cards in your hand.

Q: In a multiplayer game with four players, I have a Pestilence and a Night Dealings on the Table. If I activate the Pestilence once and deal a point of damage to my three opponents and myself, will Night Dealings get three theft counters or just one?

A: Night Dealing's ability will trigger once each time another player is dealt damage by a source you control. If, in the resolution of a single ability, multiple other players are dealt damage, then Night Dealing's ability will trigger once for each of these players that is dealt damage. In this example, when all of these triggered abilities have resolved, your Night Dealing's will gain three theft counters.