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Rules Tip of the Day: The legality of the targets of a spell or ability is checked when the spell is played and when it resolves. Legal targets must be chosen when the spell or ability is played. Then, when the spell or ability resolves, if a target is not legal, then that object is not affected. If none of the targets of a spell are legal when it attempts to resolve, the spell or ability is countered on resolution.
Q: If I have Lich's Mirror in play, and my opponent has no way of getting rid of artifacts, will he lose the game because he will eventually run out of cards in his library?
A: No, not necessarily. He can cause you to lose the game by dealing damage to you. If you would lose, all permanents you own, including the Lich's Mirror, will be shuffled back into your library, you'll draw seven cards, and your life total will go to 20. At this point he can ty to cause you to lose again before you get a Lich's Mirror back into play.
Q: If an opponent plays Cruel Ultimatum and I had previously dealt damage to that player from a Stigma Lasher, does the player still get the other effects from the Ultimatum?
A: Yes; that player will not gain any life, but all of the other effects from Cruel Ultimatum will be applied.
Q: Can you use the ability of Cradle of Vitality more than once for a single act of gaining life?
A: No, the ability only triggers once each time you gain life. You choose one target creature when this trigger goes on the stack, and you can only pay 1W once when the ability resolves.
Q: I play a land and then play Brilliant Ultimatum. I remove the top five cards and all five are lands. Can I play the lands from one pile?
A: No. Effects that allow you to play cards without paying their mana costs do not change the rules regarding the number of lands you can play in a turn.
Q: If my opponent has taken control of my Necroskitter with a Sower of Temptation, and I used two copies of Scar to kill the Sower, will the Sower return to play under my control?
A: No. The Sower will not leave play until state-based effects are checked after the second Scar resolves. When it does leave play, the continuous effect from its ability will end. At that point, you will regain control of the Necroskitter. However, because the Sower has already left play by the time you get the Necroskitter back, its ability will not trigger.
Q: Can I use Beseech the Queen to search for my Ink-Treader Nephilim and get every other creature out of my library as well?
A: No. First of all, Beseech the Queen does not target anything. And second, Ink-Treader Nephilim's ability only triggers when it is a permanent in play.
Q: My opponent has Painter's Servant and Grindstone in play, and activates Grindstone. Ancient Grudge and another card are revealed. Will I have the opportunity to flashback the Ancient Grudge, targeting the Painter's Servant and interrupting the Grindstone loop?
A: No, the loop occurs while Grindstone's ability is resolving. The next time you will receive priority to do anything is after Grindstone's ability has resolved, and your library will be empty at that point.
Q: If you use Abundance's ability with Dark Confidant, will you avoid taking any damage?
A: There is no interaction between these two cards. Dark Confidant does not have you draw cards; you reveal the top card of your library, lose life equal to its converted mana cost, and then put this card into your hand. This does not count as drawing a card, as the ability does not refer to drawing a card. Because of this, you cannot replace any part of Dark Confidant's ability with Abundance's ability.
Q: If Homura, Human Ascendant dies under the control of a player other than its owner, under whose control does it flip?
A: It will return to play flipped under its last controller's control. This is because that player controlled its leaves-play triggered ability and it is implicitly instructing him to return the card to play.
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