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Q: I was curious if someone could use a Mana Short as a counterspell. For example, I attempt to summon a creature and my friend then decides to play Mana Short as a instant and tap all my land and empty my mana pool.
A: No. The first time your friend/opponent gets priority after you played the creature, you've already paid for the spell. It just prevents you from playing other spells that turn.
Q: I cast Clone and copy a Penumbra Kavu. When my cloned Penumbra Kavu is put into the graveyard, do I put a 3/3 black Kavu creature into play?
A: Yes. Clone has the exact same ability as the card it is copying, including put into the graveyard triggers. Put into graveyard triggers look back in time, that is why it works.
Q: When the ability on Convalescent Care resolves, does it check the current life of the player or life total at the beginning of their upkeep? I don't believe a card can check anything but the current game state, but this has caused a few"discussions" in my play group
A: The ability is a special one. The"if" after the comma makes it so that it checks at the beginning of the upkeep to see if the condition is true. If and only if it is, the ability is put on the stack. When the ability resolves, the condition still needs to be true - otherwise it won't resolve.
Q: Rule 216.1 states that a token's name is the same as its creature type. Also, another rule states that if I have to choose a creature type, I must choose one that is actually used somewhere in Magic. So does this mean that if I play a Riptide Replicator and have it produce 1/1 blue Abomination tokens, I can use a Retraced Image to put a copy of the card Abomination into play? Can I do the same thing for any creature which has a name the same as its creature type?
A: Yes. This works; it is a small but not very abusable loophole, I guess.
Q: I have a Compost in play, and an opponent casts Duress. Do I draw a card and then show my hand, or do I show my hand, discard, and then draw?
A: The Compost triggers when a black card is put into an opponents graveyard. The final part of a spells resolution is putting it into the graveyard. When the Duress is put into the graveyard, you have already discarded the card and only then does the Compost trigger.
Q: What happens if a double strike creature is given first strike - for example, a Frenetic Raptor enchanted with Crown of Fury? I assume that the first strike becomes redundant, and in the case of the example, the Raptor would effectively be a three-power double striker.
A: There are two damage steps if there are creature with first strike or double strike. In the first, only creatures with double strike and first strike deal damage. In the second, all creatures that didn't yet deal damage and double strike creatures deal their damage. So giving a creature both first strike and double strike makes the first strike redundant; it will deal damage in both steps.
Q: If Abyssal Specter attacks a player with no cards in their hand and no blockers, does that player take damage?
A: Yes. The damage is first dealt, then the ability triggers. If the defending player has no card in his hand, the ability doesn't do anything.
Q: I just have one quick question that can probably be answered easily. I was playing Magic the other day with a friend who Lured his Beloved Chaplain and attacked me with it and a bunch of other creatures. He said that he read somewhere that this would work because Lure forces creatures to block the Chaplain. I don't think it would work, because the Chaplain has protection from creatures and therefore cannot be blocked by creatures.
A: You are correct; because the Chaplain has protection from creatures, it can't be blocked by creatures.
