Q: Can you play the flashback ability as an instant on sorceries, such as Call of the Herd? Basically, can you flashback a Call of the Herd during your opponent's attack phase?

A: No, you can't. The phrase"Flashback [cost]" means"You may play this card from your graveyard by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost. If you do, remove this card from the game instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack." It doesn't change the spell type. You can only play Call of the Herd when you could normally play a Sorcery. Try Beast Attack instead (it's an Instant, and the creature is fatter).

Q: Does the threshold upgrade to cards like Werebear go on the stack? Can an opponent Urza's Rage my Werebear after the resolution of a Lay of the Land that gives me threshold and still kill it?

A: Threshold is a static ability that's either"on" or"off." As soon as that Lay of the Land hits your graveyard (giving you seven cards), the Werebear is 4/4. To kill it (we're assuming here you have six cards in your graveyard at the moment), your opponent would have to respond to your Lay of the Land with his Rage. The Rage would resolve first, doing three damage to (and killing) the 1/1 Bear.

Q: In a recent game, my opponent had Darkest Hour in play, making all creatures black. I held a Fleetfoot Panther in my hand. I didn't play it because I thought that I couldn't with no green or white creatures to return to my hand.

Ordinarily, with no other G/W creatures in play, the Panther's effect would return itself to my hand. However, in this case it is also black. So could I have played it without returning anything to my hand?

Thanks,
Steve

A: Steve,

You could have. The Panther's coming-into-play triggered ability doesn't say anything about"if you can't..." If there are no green or white creatures in play (which there aren't, because the Panther comes into play as a black creature due to Darkest Hour's continuous effect), then you get a cheap Panther with no downside.

Q: I play a Meddling Mage and say Counterspell or Mystic Snake. Can my opponent counter it with one of these cards?

A: You have to give him the chance to counter the spell before you name the card. The naming of the card is part of the resolution of the spell that puts the Mage in play, making it too late to counter it at that point. If you have a Mage and he has a Counterspell, you're out of luck (unless you have a Counterspell of your own).

Q: I have a Spike Feeder and some lands in play. My opponent has a Cursed Scroll and three lands in play with one card in hand - a Scrubland. At the end of my turn my opponent taps three lands and the scroll and says he is targetting the feeder, naming Scrubland as the card to be shown randomly. I declare no responses to the Scroll's activation. He proceeds by revealing the only card in his hand. The damage is then put on the stack, and I respond to the damage being dealt by saccing the Feeder. Is any part of that incorrect? My friend believes that the Scroll's resolution happens immediately, with no stacking of damage - is this correct? If the latter is true, then in order to sac the Feeder to gain the life I would have to respond to the activation of the Scroll's ability going on the stack.

Q: You have a couple of problems (but your last statement is correct).

First, with Cursed Scroll, you don't name the card during announcement of the ability; you name it when the ability resolves.

Second, the damage from the Cursed Scroll doesn't use the stack (only combat damage uses the stack like you're describing); it's the activation of the Scroll that uses the stack. If you don't respond to that activation by sacrificing the Feeder, you don't have another opportunity to do so before the Feeder dies (assuming he names the correct card).

Q: Hey there,

Suppose I cast a High Tide. When I go to tap my Tropical Island for mana, what happens?

A: Hey there back,

You get an extra U (even if you tapped it for G).

Q: If I use a Recurring Nightmare to sacrifice a Mindslicer and bring back a Spiritmonger, do I discard the Recurring Nightmare? Does its ability being"played as a sorcery" come into play in this issue?

Thanks,
Brad Kinney

A: Brad,

You'll end up discarding the Recurring Nightmare. As soon as you announce the Nightmare's ability and pay its cost (putting the Nightmare in your hand and sacrificing the Slicer), the Slicer's ability will trigger. It'll go on the stack after you've finished announcing the Nightmare; when the trigger resolves, the Nightmare is in your hand and must be discarded."Played as a sorcery" means you can only play it during one of your Main Phases and only if the stack is empty.

- Sheldon