Rules Tip of the Day: When the rules text of a permanent in play refers to itself by name, it means this object and not other cards with the same name.

Q: If I have a Lich's Mirror in play and I am at 20 life, and my opponent plays a Tendrils of Agony with enough storm to make me lose 40 life, will I be at 20 after Lich's Mirror, or will I lose again?

A: You will end up losing the game, twice. Each of these 20 copies of Tendrils of Agony will resolve one at a time. After ten of them have resolved, your life total will be at zero and you would normally lose the game. However, the ability of your Lich's Mirror will prevent you from losing the game, and you will shuffle your hand, graveyard, and all permanents you own into your library, draw seven cards, and have your life total set to 20. At this point, there are still ten more copies of Tendrils of Agony on the stack targeting you. After these resolve ,your life total will go down to zero again, and you will lose.

Q: I'm curious about the interaction of Sprouting Thrinax and devour creatures, particularly Caldera Hellion. Can the Saprolings be devoured along with the Thrinax, or does that not work?

A: No, that does not work. All creatures that are sacrificed to a devour ability are sacrificed at one time, when the creature with devour comes into play. Sprouting Thrinax's ability uses the stack. If you choose to Devour it, then its ability will trigger and wait to go on the stack. This triggered ability will not even go on the stack until after the Hellion has come into play.

Q: Does Sedris the Traitor King's ability overrule other unearth costs, or is it simply another unearth cost in addition to their original unearth costs?

A: Cards that already have an unearth cost will have two if Sedris is in play. You can choose to pay either one.

Q: If I have March of the Machines in play and I use Tezzeret the Seeker's ability, what will happen to my Chromatic Stars?

A: The effects from March of the Machines and Tezzeret the Seeker are applied in timestamp order. As Tezzeret's ability resolved last, it will be applied last. This means that your artifacts will end up as 5/5 artifact creatures, regardless of their converted mana cost.

Q: If I play Ad Nauseam and reveal three cards, and one of them is an instant, can I play that instant between the Ad Nauseam copies?

A: No. There are not copies of Ad Nauseam; it is just one spell. You may repeat the process as many times as you want, but that does not make it separate spells or give you priority between each repetition.

Q: I have Mighty Emergence in play. If I play Force of Savagery, which has enough power to trigger the effect but has no toughness, will the Elemental come into play with two counters and live, or will it die before Mighty Emergence triggers?

A: Creatures with a power of five or more do not come into play with these additional counters; they come into play and then they get the counters. Technically, the ability will trigger when the Force of Savagery comes into play, but state-based effects will be checked before this ability resolves, and the Force will go to the graveyard before it gets these counters.

Q: Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician is in play, and I use a standard 1/1 Goblin token to attack. It becomes blocked, and I sacrifice it. Does it deal one damage plus the four damage for sacrificing, or just the four damage for Ib Halfheart's ability?

A: Just four points of damage to the blocking creature. Ib Halfheart's ability triggers when an attacking Goblin you control becomes blocked. This triggered ability will resolve before combat damage is assigned or goes on the stack.

Q: Can Gaea's Touch allow me to play an extra Taiga or Stomping Ground?

A: No, those lands each have the subtype of Forest, but they are not basic lands.

Q: What is meant by the "full text" of a card? If Volrath's Shapeshifter is in play and Dryad Arbor is the top card of the Shapeshifter's controller's graveyard, is Volrath's Shapeshifter a land?

A: Yes. And if an artifact creature were there, it would be an artifact creature, and if the top card were Lucent Liminid, it would be an enchantment creature, etc. The phrase 'full text' only appears once on any card's Oracle text or in the rules or policy documents, and that is on Volrath's Shapeshifter. It is a way to make a card copy another without actually being a copy effect. It is like this because change of control effects are applied after copy effects. If Volrath's Shapeshifter's ability were a copy effect, then it would still copy the same card even if another player gained control of it.