Rules Tip of the Day: Trample changes how combat damage is assigned, not how it is dealt.

Q: I have a Knollspine Invocation in play. Can I pay three and discard Fiery Temper to deal three damage, then pay its madness cost to deal three more damage?

A: Yes, that does work. You can play the discarded card via its madness cost, though you will play and resolve the Fiery Temper while the activated ability of Knollspine Invocation is on the stack..

Q: Does Midnight Banshee's -1/-1 upkeep ability affect Oversoul Of Dusk, which has protection from black?

A: Yes. Midnight Banshee's ability does not target, deal damage, has nothing to do with blocking, and does not attach an Aura or Equipment to the Oversoul, so Midnight Banshee's ability will put -1/-1 counters on Oversoul of Dusk.

Q: Let's say I'm about to draw during my draw phase, but I activate Words of War, replacing my draw with dealing two damage. I target my Swans of Bryn Argoll, which will result in triggering the Swans, making me draw two cards. Is there any way for me to get the timing right so I can replace one or both of my Swans-triggered draws with Words of War's ability?

A: Yes. Before you draw for your turn, you can activate Words of War's ability more than once. If you do, then one of these activations will replace this draw by attempting to deal two points of damage to the Swans. This damage will be prevented and instead you'll draw cards. If you activated Words of War's ability more than once earlier, then these draws can also be replaced. You have to activate the Words of War ability before your initial draw, because Swans of Bryn Argoll does not have a triggered ability; its ability prevents damage and has the controller of the damage source draw cards as the damage is prevented. This does not use the stack at all.

Q: I control six Forests and Mana Reflection. When I play Howl of the Night Pack, do I put six or twelve Wolves into play?

A: Just six. You still only control six Forests; the amount of mana that these lands produce does not matter.

Q: What happens if I give Blind Hunter persist just before it dies?

A: When it leaves play, both its persist ability and its haunt ability will trigger. As the controller of these two abilities, you can choose the order that they go on the stack, and therefore the order that they resolve. The first ability that resolves will prevent the other ability from doing anything. So it is up to you whether this Blind Hunter is returned to play with a -1/-1 counter or if it haunts another creature in play.

Q: I have a Sunflare Shaman and a Seething Pathblazer in play. If I activate the Shaman's ability, then the Pathblazer's (sacrificing the Shaman), will the Shaman's ability be countered because the Shaman can no longer be dealt damage by his own ability?

A: No, the ability will still resolve; removing the source of an ability does not cause the ability to become countered. This is true even if the ability attempts to do something to the source. When the Sunflare Shaman's ability resolves, damage will be dealt to the targeted creature or player, but not to the Sunflare Shaman, as it is not in play. Also, because the Sunflare Shaman card is in your graveyard when this ability resolves, it will be counted when calculating the amount of damage dealt.

Q: If I have two Cloudposts out with an animated Mutavault, will the Cloudposts produce two or three mana?

A: Just two. An animated Mutavault has all creature types; it does not have all other permanent subtypes, so it is not a Locus.

Q: I'm making a Pandemonium / Momentary Blink deck and was wondering if I can play Nova Chaser without there being another elemental in play, and Blink him for the second he's in play before he has to be sacrificed, thus dealing 20 damage to my opponent. This works, right?

A: Yes it does, as two different Nova Chasers entered play: the first when the Nova Chaser spell resolved, and the second when Momentary Blink resolved. Each time Nova Chaser comes into play, Pandemonium's ability will trigger. Whether or not Nova Chaser is in play, each of these abilities will deal 10 points of damage.

Q: When mulliganing and using Serum Powder, can my opponent view the cards that are removed from the game this way?

A: Yes, these cards are removed from the game face-up. Unless specified, all cards that are removed from the game are face-up and anyone can view them.

Q: If my opponent plays a spell with Eye Of The Storm in play, can I let Eye Of The Storm remove his spell, and then Stifle the copy generating ability, or do these abilities trigger together?

A: Eye of the Storm only has one triggered ability. When this triggered ability resolves, the spell that triggered it will be removed from the game and the controller of that spell will be able to play copies of all of the removed cards. If you do Stifle this triggered ability then your opponent will not be able to play copies of the removed cards, but the spell your opponent played will not be removed from the game; it will resolve as normal.