Q: I have one land untapped, and a Fiery Temper in my hand. My opponent plays Recoil. Now just to make sure, am I allowed to tap the mana in response, float the mana, then return the mountain, and then discard the Temper to Recoil and dealing three to my opponent?
A: I assume he's targeting the Mountain with the Recoil. Yes, this is legal. You can respond to him announcing the Recoil by tapping your Mountain for R. Recoil then resolves, putting the Mountain back in your hand. You discard the Fiery Temper and do its Madness bit, paying for it with the R that you have floating.
Q: My opponent has a Morph creature with Pemmin's Aura on it. He activates the Aura to give his creature -1/+1, making it a 1/3 (or is it a 2/2 with -1/+1 until the end of turn?). That ability resolves.
Turns out it's a Bane of the Living. He flips it over for 3BB. Here's where it gets sticky.
He says the Bane still gets -1/+1 from the Aura's effect, making the Bane a 3/4 that survives the -3/-3 it gets from the triggered ability. I say that the creature was a 1/3, flipped over and became a 4/3 that died to the -3/-3. Who's right?
One judge said this: the -1/+1 modified the P/T on resolution. Thus, the creature was a 1/3. When it was flipped over, its P/T became what was written on the card, 4/3. Thus, it died to the -3/-3.
A: The power and toughness modification from Pemmin's Aura is a continuous effect, though it has a limited duration (until end of turn). It applies whether the Bane is face up or face down; there's no time that the creature is without the -1/+1. When it's face down, it's a 1/3, but the game knows that its base P/T is 2/2 and that the Aura is giving it -1/+1. When you turn it face up, it's 3/4 (rule 418.5a). The effect generated by Pemmin's Aura is no different than, say, Bad Moon. With BM in play, the Bane would be 2/2 when face down and 5/4 when face up - with nothing in between.
Q: If Ivy Elemental comes into play in a way other than from your hand, what is his converted mana cost, and what is his power and toughness?
A: The mana cost is G and X=0, so power and toughness will be one.
Q: I play Reminisce. My opponent doesn't do anything. While Reminisce is on the stack, but before it takes effect, I play Tolarian Winds in response to my own spell. My opponent doesn't do anything. I discard my hand and draw that many cards. Then Reminisce takes effect, and I shuffle my graveyard into my library.
I don't think there is a timing problem, but I wanted to make sure. If this does work, how do the two cards I used work with the graveyard? Would Tolarian Winds be in the graveyard when I Reminisce?
A: No timing problems; you can respond to the Reminisce with the Tolarian Winds. The Winds will resolve first, so you'll shuffle back the cards you discarded.
The Winds goes to the graveyard as the final part of resolving the spell (before Reminisce resolves), so it'll be there to get shuffled back.
Q: Can cards with activated abilities without tapping or specified"use only X time(s) per turn" restrictions be used more than once, like redirecting damage away from an Shaman en-Kor as many times as desired per turn? Would this apply in the same way to global enchantments such as Opposition?
A: You can activate abilities as many times as you can pay the costs. Since the cost of the Shaman's first ability is zero, you can activate it as often as you like. With Opposition, the cost is tapping an untapped creature you control; you'll eventually run out of creatures to tap.
Q: I am an avid sliver player and I know most of the rules - but this one has me boggled. The Hunter Sliver comes into play, with other many slivers already out. It's my opponents turn, and he lays down a Royal Assassin. It's my turn again and I enter my attack step. Now can I legally take 2 of my non hunter slivers and set their sights on the Royal Assassin - because I know if I only attack with one, my opponent will tap the Royal Assassin to destroy the attacking sliver, right?
A: Provoke and opponent's creatures with tap abilities are a bad mix. If your opponent's Assassin is active (meaning doesn't have what we used to call Summoning Sickness), then there's no way for you to force it to block.
When the Provoke trigger resolves, it untaps the Assassin. After it does, your opponent can then tap the Assassin to destroy your Sliver and keep it from blocking. If you have multiple attacking Slivers, each will trigger, and your opponent can simply activate the Assassin after each trigger resolves.
The good news for you is that Provoke's ability is optional. It will trigger when you declare your attackers and you must choose a target, but you can choose to not untap anything when it resolves.
The other good news is that the first turn the Assassin comes into play, your opponent can't tap it. That's when you need to Provoke it, make it block, and be rid of it.
Q: My question is: If I sacrifice Death's-Head Buzzard to Carrion Feeder, will the Feeder survive?
My thoughts were: The sacrifice is a cost, so the Buzzard goes to the graveyard and its ability goes to the stack. Then the Feeder's counter-adding goes on the stack. The counter-adding resolves first and the Buzzard's -1/-1 resolves afterwards.
A: No, you have it backwards. When you announce an ability, the first thing you do is put the ability on the stack (rule 409.1a). After that, you pay the costs. The Carrion Feeder's ability goes on the stack, and then the Buzzard's. The Buzzard's resolves first, putting the CF in the 'yard before it gets the +1/+1.
Q: I was reading about the draw step and stack interactions and had a question, as I have been playing with Teferi's Puzzle Box. Let's say I have an Enlightened Tutor in hand and want to tutor for an Underworld Dreams with a Teferi's Puzzle Box in play. What is the order I would have draw, play, and spin with Puzzle Box to get the Underworld Dreams to my hand?
Would it be:
1. Draw a card, in response to drawing cast Enlightened Tutor, spin with the Puzzle Box?
or
2. Draw a card, in response to the TPB effect going on stack cast Enlightened Tutor.
I think the second is right because drawing doesn't use the stack anymore. Am I right? Or am I totally messed up without a hope or clue of ever understanding the numerous interactions of cards and actions in this game?
A: The 8th Edition rules have changed the draw step so that the first thing that happens - without using the stack - is your normal draw for the turn. That means you can't respond.
You can respond to the Puzzle Box going on the stack (after you've drawn your normal card) by playing the Tutor. The Tutor will resolve first, putting the card on top of the library. The Puzzle Box will then spin, and you'll get your card.
Q: I have a Nightmare in play and my opponent steals it with an enchantment like Control Magic. Would the Nightmare die if he controls no swamps instantly, or can I play a spell to give control back to me, when the nightmare has power and toughness again?
A: As soon as the Control Magic resolves, and before players get back priority, you check State-Based Effects. Your opponent will control a zero-toughness creature, so it'll be put in its owner's graveyard. You don't get priority to play the Naturalize or any other spell.
Q: Me and my better half agree that Mogg Conscripts doesn't count itself as a spell cast this turn, but I cant help wonder if, just maybe, it *does* count itself - so I figured I'd send Yet Another Rules Question to ya!
A: It will count itself. Of course, it'll have to gain Haste somehow in order to attack, but if you have Anger in your graveyard (and a mountain in play), you can attack away.
Q: What happens if I have two Future Sights in play?
A: Nothing. Multiple copies are redundant. There's still only one top card of your library.
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