Rules Tip of the Day: You cannot tap a permanent just because you want to. In order to tap something, it must be to pay the cost of a spell or ability or due to the effect from a resolving spell or ability.

Q: If Sprouting Thrinax goes to the graveyard and you have a River Kelpie in play, do you get to draw three cards because the Thrinax is generating three token creatures from the graveyard?

A: No. No cards are entering play from the graveyard. Sprouting Thrinax's ability is putting three Saproling tokens into play, but this does not count as a permanent entering play from the graveyard.

Q: I have Manaplasm in play, and I play Exuberant Firestoker and another spell to raise Manaplasm's power to 5. I end my turn. Can I choose to have the Exuberant Firestoker's ability go on the stack first and deal two damage to target player, then resolve Manaplasm's reversion to a 1/1?

A: No, you cannot choose that, but you will get that result. Exuberant Firestoker's ability triggers when your end of turn step begins. The effect from Manaplasm's ability ends in the cleanup step of your turn. The end of turn step is before the cleanup step, so the Manaplasm will be a 5/5 when the Firestoker's ability triggers.

Q: Your opponent plays Sanity Grinding on you. Can you use Mirror Sheen's ability and then Swerve it to have double Sanity Grinding toward the opponent?

A: No, Sanity Grinding can only target an opponent. You can make a copy of it with Mirror Sheen and have this one target your opponent, as you control this copy. But you cannot change the target of the original so it targets its controller. Keep in mind that the original Sanity Grinding will count the blue mana symbols from the top 10 cards in your opponent's library, and the copy made by your Mirror Sheen will use cards from your library.

Q: My River Kelpie is in play, and I play Cabal Therapy from my graveyard for its flashback cost, sacrificing my River Kelpie. Will I still be able to draw a card from River Kelpie's ability that triggers when you play card from a graveyard?

A: No. River Kelpie's ability triggers when a spell is played. A spell is not completely played until after it is fully announced, put on the stack, and paid for. However, as you are sacrificing the Kelpie during the announcement of Cabal Therapy, it will not be in play when this spell has been fully played, and its ability will not trigger.

Q: Can Glamerdye change a color word on Oversoul of Dusk?

A: Yes, but only when the Oversoul of Dusk spell is on the stack. When it is a spell, it can be targeted by blue spells and abilities. If you change the text of the spell at this point, then the Oversoul will enter play with the altered text. However, if Oversoul of Dusk has entered play, it will have protection from blue and cannot be targeted.

Q: Say you have a Devoted Druid and a Quillspike in play. If you were to pump the Quillspike and use Mercy Killing on it, followed by Scars" target="new">Heal the Scars, would the Quillspike revert to a 1/1 when regenerated, or would it remain pumped until the end of the turn?

A: It will not regenerate at all. Mercy Killing has you sacrifice the targeted creature. Regeneration replaces what happens when a creature is destroyed, not when one is sacrificed.

Q: Can I return Kagemaro, First to Suffer to play with an evoked Reveillark, regardless of the number of cards in my hand?

A: No. Kagemaro's ability that determines its 'base' power and toughness is a characteristic-defining ability that applies in all zones. You can only target a Kagemaro card in your graveyard with Reveillark's leaves-play triggered ability if you have one or two cards in your hand when the ability goes on the stack.

Q: If a creature with lifelink is removed from play with damage on the stack, will its controller still gain life?

A: No. In order for an ability that triggers on combat damage resolving to trigger, the ability must exist when combat damage is dealt. If a creature with lifelink or deathtouch leaves play after combat damage has been put on the stack but before it resolves, the ability will not trigger.

Q: When Dauthi Mindripper is not blocked, can it do both its damage and use its sacrifice ability, resulting in the player being attacked taking two damage and discarding three cards?Ê

A: No. When Dauthi Mindripper attacks and does not block its ability triggers. When this ability resolves, you can choose to sacrifice the Mindripper to get your opponent to discard three cards. This happens before the combat damage step, so if you do sacrifice it, it will not deal combat damage.