Rules Tip of the Day: Regeneration only replaces destruction from an effect or destruction due to lethal damage. It cannot keep a creature that has had its toughness lowered to zero or below in play.

Q: I play Midnight Banshee and Crumbling Ashes at the same time. On my next upkeep, the Midnight Banshee will distribute -1/-1 counters to all nonblack creatures. Will the effect of the Crumbling Ashes also take effect, allowing me to destroy a creature with a -1/-1 counter, or will I have to wait until my next upkeep to do that?

A: You will have to wait until your next upkeep. Both Crumbling Ashes' ability and Midnight Banshee's ability will go on the stack at the same time. However, Crumbling Ashes ability targets, and you must choose a creature with a -1/-1 counter on it at this point. Midnight Banshee's ability will not have distributed any counters yet, so this ability will not have a legal target, and will leave the stack without doing anything. At the beginning of your next upkeep, the game state will most likely be different, and you will be able to choose a target for Crumbling Ashes' ability.

Q: Will Balefire Liege's ability trigger twice if I play a red spell like Burn Trail that has conspire and I trigger the conspire aspect?

A: No. Balefire Liege's ability triggers when you play a red spell. Conspire copies are put on the stack without being played, so the copy will not trigger the Liege's ability. Also, conspire is not a triggered ability. It is an additional cost you can pay as you play a conspire spell.

Q: If I use Rite of Consumption and sacrifice a 500/500 Quillspike (pumped with the Devoted Druid combo), and my opponent plays Snakeform on the Quillspike in response, which power will Rite of Consumption use?�

A: This cannot happen. The creature is sacrificed when Rite of Consumption is played. By the time anyone receives priority again, the Quillspike is no longer in play and cannot be targeted. As this creature left play as a 500/500 creature, Rite of Consumption will deal 500 points of damage.

Q: Does Spectral Procession give creatures flying on their imaginary text box? Or does it just give it to them through a continuous effect? If you have three Spectral Procession tokens and a Knight of Meadowgrain, and you Mirrorweave the Knight, will the tokens still have flying?

A: Effects that put tokens into play define their initial characteristics. 'Flying' in this case is treated as being in the text box of these tokens and is not an ability granted by a separate continuous effect. In this example, these token creatures that become a copy of something else will not have flying.

Q: If Sower of Temptation takes control of a creature that has been under the opponent's control for a full turn already, can that creature attack on the turn it was stolen?

A: No, as it was not controlled by its current controller since the beginning of his most recent turn. How long a creature has been in play does not matter; how long it it has been controlled by its controller does.

Q: Can Glittering Wish target mono-colored split cards like Fire / Ice or Life / Death?

A: Yes, those cards are multicolored. It does not matter that each individual side is one color. The only split cards that are monocolored are the red-only split cards form Planar Chaos.

Q: There is a ruling that states that Equinox's ability cannot counter a spell that has a random outcome, but what about one with a choice? Catastrophe has no "random" chance to destroy lands, but a sure possibility. My friend thinks that Catastrophe works the same as random spells, and can't be countered. The Equinox ability will try and fail, and afterwards, Catastrophe's controller is free to choose lands or creatures. Is he correct?

A: Your friend is right. There is no way of knowing if Catastrophe will destoy a land until it resolves and its controller chooses. Because of this, it is treated just like those spells with random outcomes. When Equinox's ability resolves, it is not known if this spell will destory a land, so Equinox's ability will not counter it.

Q: I attempted to use the activated ability of Honor Guard twice in one turn against my friend. He claimed I could not, because there is not X before the white mana cost. Is he right?

A: No. Activated abilities can be played as many times as their activation cost can be paid. Abilities like Honor Guard's can be played over and over again, not just once. It does not need to have an X in the cost in order for you to use it multiple times.