The time for Mirrodin has come. And just like any other set, it has brought numerous questions to the field. This article is designed to hopefully answer most of those questions that have been brought up. And just a reminder: although the answers to most of these question seem obvious to most people, they're not always obvious to everyone (I have seen people asking questions in the past month on virtually everything talked about in this article). The official Mirrodin FAQ, the Comp Rules, and the Oracle may also help you understand these rulings a little better. And hey, you never know: you just might find something you didn't know.

Artifact Lands
They count as both an artifact and a land. Like it says on the card, they do not count as spells, so forget them for powering up storm effects. Since they're artifact lands, they can be destroyed or affected by anything that could affect either one (so an artifact land can be destroyed by a Shatter or a Stone Rain).

Entwine
When you announce the spell, you choose if you are going to use the Entwine or not. If you choose to Entwine the spell, when it resolves, you follow the instructions in the order they're written on the card (so, for instance, on Grab the Reins, you gain control of the creature, then you sacrifice a creature).

There is also no"pause" in between effects, so you can't do anything in between the two, like Grabbing someone's Atog and then sacrificing an artifact before you throw it at someone's head.

Equipment
You can only move Equipment from nothing to a creature or from a creature to a creature: You can't"unequip" a creature. Just like local enchantments, you still control them even if they somehow end up on an opponent's creature - so as long as you control the equipment, you're the only person who can move that equipment around. If the Equipment becomes a creature, it loses the Equipment subtype and cannot be attached to a creature.

A creature with protection from artifacts cannot be equipped by equipment. Nor can a creature that can't be targeted.

Imprint
You can choose not to imprint the card or cards on it when the triggered ability resolves if it uses the word may (so, for instance, you can choose to imprint nothing on a Chrome Mox, but it won't be able to tap for mana). If the card is no longer removed from the game (for example, you Living Wished your land back), then nothing will be imprinted on the card anymore and it won't be able to do anything.

Arc-Slogger
Removing the cards is part of the cost of activating the ability (it's before the colon), so if you don't have ten cards in your library, you can't use the ability.

Bosh, Iron Golem
Since Bosh is an artifact, he can sacrifice himself to his own ability.

Broodstar
Since the total cost of a spell is determined before you actually pay the cost (see 409.1f and 409.1h), you can announce the Broodstar, have the cost set in, and then sacrifice artifacts in play to reduce the cost (so, for instance, if you have two Chromatic Spheres and no other artifacts in play, you can announce Broodstar, the cost of the Broodstar will be set at 6UU, and then use can use the Spheres to produce the two blue mana needed to play the Broodstar).

Cathodion
If it dies during combat, you have until the end of the combat phase to use the mana or you will take mana burn. It does not carry over into your second main phase.

Chalice of the Void
The Void triggers when a player plays a spell with a converted mana cost equal to the number of counters on it. So if I play a spell with a converted mana cost of three and the Void has two counters on it, moving a counter onto the Void with Power Conduit won't do anything since the converted mana cost wasn't equal to the number of counters on the Void when I played the spell.

Face-down creatures have a converted mana cost of zero, so a Void set for zero will counter any face-down creature played.

Cloudpost
Locus is a land type, not creature type. Since there is no creature that has a creature type"Locus," you cannot change your creatures into a"Locus." (Remember, you can't just make up creature types to name with Artificial Evolution and change goblins into cupcakes - it has to be something already printed in Magic.)

Confusion in the Ranks
It triggers off itself, so if your opponent controls an enchantment, you'll exchange control of those enchantments. As long as the permanents share at least one type, you can exchange them, so if an artifact creature comes into play, you can exchange control of anything that has artifact or creature as a supertype (so you could gain control of an artifact land or a creature in this case).

Copperhoof Vorrac
The Vorrac's bonus is constantly re-evaluated, so if you control a Vorrac and I tap my five lands for mana, your Vorrac will immediately lose the bonus from those lands.

Culling Scales
Tokens (unless they're an exact copy of a creature) and face-down creatures have a converted mana cost of zero.

Damping Matrix
An activated ability is written"Cost: Effect." Equipping a creature is an activated ability and will be stopped by the Matrix.

Deconstruct
If the artifact is not in play when Deconstruct resolves, the spell is countered and you won't get any mana.

Duplicant
The Duplicant only copies the base power and toughness of the creature that's removed: it doesn't take counters, enchantments, or anything else that altered that creature's toughness while it was in play (so removing a Clockwork Dragon would result in the Duplicant being a 0/0 creature, no matter how many counters the Dragon had before it left play).

The Duplicant only copies the power, toughness, and creature types of the creature; it doesn't copy any of the abilities the creature had.

Fatespinner
Having multiples in play won't do much, since your opponent can choose to skip the same phase for each one.

Fiery Gambit
This has one target: A creature. If there are no creatures in play, you can't play it. If you win all three flips, you'll get all three effects. You can flip more than three coins: however, if you lose one, you won't get any effect (so if you win five flips but lose the sixth, you won't get anything)

Fractured Loyalty
The spell or ability will still resolve normally even though you gained control of it (so if you play a Terror on the creature, the Terror will still resolve normally and kill it)

Goblin Charbelcher
Just like any other spell or ability, you choose targets when you announce the ability, not when the ability resolves. If you have no lands in your library, you'll end up dealing damage equal to the number of cards revealed and you'll be able to put your library back in any order.

Grab the Reins
This spell has two targets if you Entwine it: a creature (for the first half of the spell) and a creature or player (for the second half). If one target is illegal when the spell resolves, the other half still resolve normally (so if the creature you targeted with the first half is no longer in play, you'll still have to sacrifice a creature for the second half of the ability, provided you have a creature).

Grid Monitor
It only prevents you from playing creature spells: You can still put creatures into play via other means (like Elvish Piper).

Isochron Scepter
A split card with at least one half of the card having a converted mana cost of two can be imprinted on the Scepter. When you use the Scepter in that case, you can play either half of the split card.

Unlike every other copy card (except for Spellweaver Helix), the copies are actually played, not simply put on the stack, so they count for Storm and, if they have Storm, Storm will trigger.

You can (and sometimes must) play extra costs associated with the spell: for instance, if you imprint Shrapnel Blast on the Scepter, you'll need to sacrifice an artifact each time you make a copy. And you can also pay additional costs (like kicker) when you play the spell.

Krark's Thumb
Just a reminder: Legendary is now a supertype. Under 8^th Edition rules, animating a Legendary permanent will not remove the Legendary supertype, nor will it make it a Legend, so things that would change its creature type (like Artificial Evolution) won't alter the fact it's Legendary.

Leveler
Remember that if you play it and then your opponent gains control of it before the coming-into-play ability resolves (for instance, Confusion in the Ranks is in play), you'll still be the one who has to remove your library from the game, since you control the ability.

Liar's Pendulum
You can choose not to reveal your hand after your opponent names a card. However, you won't be able to draw a card unless you reveal your hand (and the named card isn't in it).

Lightning Coils
This will count any creature that dies under your control. It won't count anything that dies you don't control.

Lightning Greaves
Equipping a creature targets, so once the Greaves is on a creature, you can't Equip anything else on it. As soon as the Greaves stops equipping the creature, it loses haste, so if you have one Greaves in play and three creatures with summoning sickness, you cannot attack with all three (at most, you can attack with one).

Lodestone Myr
Tapped equipment (as well as most artifacts out there) still work normally while tapped, so tapping equipment or other artifacts to use the Myr's ability won't"turn it off" or stop you from moving the equipment around.

Loxodon Warhammer
Unlike Armadillo Cloak, the Warhammer gives the life gain ability to the creature, so if this somehow ends up on a creature your opponent controls, your opponent will be the one who gains the life, not you.

March of the Machines
Lands have a converted mana cost of zero, so artifact lands will become 0/0 creatures and die. This will animate any equipment in play (and remove the Equipment subtype), and the equipment will unequip itself from any creature they were attached to (and cannot equip themselves to any other creature until the March leaves play).

Mindslaver
The fun one. You can make your opponent do anything in the game he could normally do. You cannot make him do illegal actions (like make him try to play a Terror on a black creature). Even though you control your opponent's actions, he still controls the spells and abilities you make him play. You cannot make him concede (see rule 507.3b). You can't make your opponent do things that aren't called for by the game (so you can't make them go to the bathroom, take off clothes, or intentionally receive penalties in a tournament).

Mindstorm Crown
The Crown looks at the number of cards in your hand when the ability goes on the stack, not when it resolves - so once the ability is on the stack, you can't discard cards from your hand in order to draw a card.

Mirror Golem
If you imprint something with multiple types (like an artifact creature), it will have protection from both types (so in this case, it will have protection from artifacts and from creatures).

Mourner's Shield
Don't bother imprinting an artifact on this. Artifacts are colorless, and colorless is not a color, so you won't be able to prevent any damage.

Oblivion Stone
It doesn't matter how the fate counter got on the permanent. So if both you and your opponent have a Stone in play and you've been putting counters on creatures and one of you blows the Stone, it doesn't just look at the counters that Stone made, so all the creatures with fate counters will be spared.

Pentavus
You can sacrifice any creature with the creature type Pentavite to the Pentavus... So you could use Unnatural Selection to make your creatures into Pentavites, and then sacrifice them to the Pentavus.

Platinum Angel
This prevents you from losing or your opponent from winning in any way. It doesn't prevent drawing the game. Conceding causes you to leave the game and then lose, so the Angel doesn't prevent you from conceding. You can still receive tournament penalties like game losses and the like, so don't be a jerk or try to cheat.

Transcendence and the Angel can cause an infinite loop. If you're at twenty or more life, Transcendence will trigger. When that trigger resolves, you lose the game, but the Angel prevents that. Transcendence will once again see you have twenty or more life and trigger again.

There is also a quick fix that will be updated in the next version of the comp rules concerning trying to draw with an empty library - the way rule 420.5g, the Angel prevents you from losing, but it doesn't stop the fact that you didn't draw, so if the Angel leaves play, it leaves a messy situation: treat 420.5g as though it said,"A player who tried to draw but couldn't since the last time state-based effects were checked loses the game."

Proteus Staff
You can target a token creature with the Staff. If you have no creatures in your library, you'll end up putting nothing into play and rearranging your library in any order (you don't get to put the token back into play).

Quicksilver Fountain
The lands with the flood counters on them will remain Islands even if the Fountain leaves play.

Scythe of the Wretched
If multiple creatures were damaged and go to the graveyard, the Scythe will trigger for each of them, and the last one to return to play will be equipped with the Scythe.

Soul Foundry
The tokens are exact copies of the creature, so they'll copy name, creature type(s), abilities, etc. Since they're exact copies, they have a converted mana cost of whatever the copied creature was.

And nothing changes the converted mana cost of a card - not affinity, not Nightscape Familiar, not Sapphire Medallion, not Urza's Incubator. (Those reduce the amount of mana you need to play the spell, but not the cost. If you get a $10 coupon to help you buy a $20 DVD, it makes the DVD cheaper to buy, but it doesn't change the cost.) Therefore, if you imprint a Broodstar on the Foundry, it will always cost ten mana to put a Broodstar copy into play.

Spellweaver Helix
You can imprint the same card on there twice, but you'll only get one copy of the spell, not two.

There's also a unique loophole at the moment with the Helix: imprint Relentless Assault and any of the Invasion sorceries that can be played as instants (like Ghitu Fire). Now, during the end of turn step, play the Fire. This will trigger the Helix, and you'll put a copy of the Assault on the stack. Now, after the end phase is finished, you'll get another attack phase followed by another main phase and then you go to the next player's turn (you don't go to another end phase). The Rules team knows of this, but no official ruling (to my knowledge) has been released yet.

UPDATE: I have just received word on the Relentless Assault issue. For now, Relentless Assault (and similar cards like Seize the Day and Aggravated
Assault) will only give you additional phases if they resolve during a main phase. If they resolve at any other time, you won't gain any additional
phases. See this message by Jeff Jordan for details.

Sun Droplet
Unlike what most people think, the Droplet triggers at the beginning of every upkeep, not just your own upkeep. And if you have multiple Droplets in play, it's possible to end up with more life than you started out with.

Sword of Kaldra
The Sword's ability will only remove the creature if it's in play when the ability resolves. If it dies before the trigger resolves it will not be removed from the game.

Thought Prison
If a player plays a spell with the same color and converted mana cost, the Prison will only trigger once and will only deal two damage, not four.

Trash for Treasure
You choose targets before you pay costs, so you cannot choose to return whatever you sacrifice to the Treasure.

War Elemental
You can play the Elemental, let its coming into play ability go on stack, and then damage your opponent. When the Elemental's coming-into-play ability resolves, it will see that an opponent was dealt damage and will remain in play.

Welding Jar
You can regenerate any artifact with the Jar, not just an artifact creature.

Feel free to send any other questions to the Ask The Judge department, as it allows Ferrett to archive the answers in the searchable database - and speaking of that, please search the database before you ask! (All of these questions have been answered and are in StarCity's"Ask The Virtual Judge" database, as are many others.) Please do not e-mail me rules related questions.

Nathan Long
DCI Level 1 Judge
Moderator - MTGNews.com
that_guy_eating_some_bread@hotmail.com