Q: Would a Meddling Mage naming Fire / Ice prevent a Fire/Ice from being played off an Isochron Scepter? I have asked many respected judges and the answers have been split between them.

A: The Mage's effect only prevents you from playing cards with the given name, and the copies created by the Scepter are copies of cards, not cards themselves. You can still play Fire/Ice off the Scepter with Meddling Mage naming Fire/Ice in play.

Q: Player A has Confusion in the Ranks in play and Chamber of Manipulation enchanting one of her Islands. Player B has a Shivan Dragon in play. Player A plays a Llanowar Elf, exchanging the Elf for the Dragon. Player A then discards and taps her Island to take control of the Elf. When the Chamber of Manipulation effect wears off at the end of Player A's turn, does control of the Elf go to Player B (the Elf's previous controller) or Player A (the Elf's owner)?

A: When a change-control duration effect wears off, the permanent goes back to the player who controlled it when the effect started. The Elf will go back to Player B.

Q: If I have Chains of Mephistopheles in play, and I cast Hymn to Tourach targeting myself, upon resolution do I then get to draw two cards instead of discarding two cards?

A: No. Chains only replaces card draws, not independent discards. The"...if the player discards a card..." part of it only refers to a card discarded instead of drawing a card due to Chains' replacement effect.

Q: Hi! Just a quick question about Standstill: Will a copy of a spell imprinted on Isochron Scepter trigger Standstill? In other words, could I play a copy of my imprinted Fire / Ice if Standstill is in play without my opponent drawing three cards?

A: The copied spell will trigger Standstill because Standstill's trigger condition is a spell being played, and with the Scepter you play the spell.

Q: Another Words of Wind question. Say that I got the Words, Vedalken Archmage, Artifact lands, and lets say three Welding Jars. I have only a Thirst for Knowledge in my hand. Can I play it, pay three to the Words, say that I have no cards to discard, return my Jars, and play them, etc, etc, etc? I think its a matter of timing the stack. Can I do it?

A: You follow the instructions in the order they're written on the card. The Words replaces the three card draws with bouncing the Jars. Then you'll have to discard one (or two if you want). You can then play the remaining Jar(s), triggering the Archmage. You can't go infinite with this, because you need mana to pay the Words' cost.

Q: Will a Goblin Piledriver tap if I play a Wrath of Marit Lage, since it doesn't enchant the Piledriver directly

A: Yes, it will. Wrath of Marit Lage's ability isn't targeted, so the Piledriver's Protection won't help it.

Q: If I discard the right half of B.F.M., can I use Animate Dead to bring the right half into play from my graveyard and put in the left half from my hand ?

A: No. It can't be put into play with Animate Dead or the like. If you want to reanimate it, you'll have to have both halves in your graveyard and then play Living Death.

Q: If my opponent has an Aven Farseer in play and a 2/2 face-down creature, can I respond to him turning the morpher face-up by cycling Slice and Dice to deal a point to the Farseer to kill it?

A: No. Turning a face-down Morph creature face up doesn't use the stack, so you can't respond to it. Morph-triggered abilities go on the stack, but the"flop" doesn't.

Q: If I cast Duplicant and target an activated Stalking Stones, the Duplicant does become a 3/3 creature even though there is no power/toughness printed on the card, right?

A: Duplicant says that as long as a creature card is Imprinted, it has the listed values. Because Stalking Stones isn't a creature card, the Duplicant stays 2/4 Shapeshifter.

Q: If I have Sacred Ground in play, and my opponent plays March of the Machines, what happens to my lands? Do the die or do they stay?

A: I assume you're talking about your artifact lands. They go the graveyard and stay there. Sacred Ground triggers when a spell or ability controlled by your opponent causes a land to be put in your graveyard from play. It's a game rule (a State-Based effect) that causes your artifact lands to be put in the graveyard, not the spell. It's the same if you animate a Treetop Village and your opponent Lightning Bolts it.

Q: If a creature does lethal damage to a player with a No Mercy on the table, will the creature get destroyed?

A: I assume you're talking about a multiplayer game here. Otherwise, it wouldn't really matter. Yes, the creature will be destroyed. The ability triggered while the player was still in the game. Once an ability triggers, it exists independently of its source. Even if the player (and ergo his permanents) is gone, the ability will still resolve.

Q: I have three Dross Harvesters in play and my opponent has three other creatures. How much life do I gain if I cast Wrath of God?

A: Three Dross Harvesters each see six creatures go to the graveyard. All three trigger six times, so you gain (12+12+12) 36 life.

Q: If player A plays Myr Retriever, and player B uses an enchantment which takes control of the Myr Retriever, and then the Myr Retriever is sent to the graveyard, who gets to put the artifact from the graveyard into their hand, the card owner, or the current controller of the card?

A: The player who controlled the Retriever when it went to the graveyard will get to return the card."You" always refers to the card's controller.

Q: During a match today I played an Endemic Plague and sacrificed a Mistform Ultimus to kill all creatures. I kept face down cards alive because as I understand they don't have a creature type. My friends argued saying that being creatures made them die anyway. So what happens?

A: You're correct. They don't have creature types, so Endemic Plague doesn't affect them. Similarly, if you sacrifice to Endemic Plague a creature with no type, it won't destroy other creatures without a type.

Q: I played a Scythe of the Wretched on one of my creatures, and a friend blocked with an artifact token. We had the argument that the token hits the graveyard and doesn't have time to resolve into play under my control. I was sure that the Scythe would just look for a creature to go into graveyard and no more. Who's right.

A: The Scythe's ability will trigger when the token creature goes to the graveyard. Before that ability goes on the stack, the token will cease to exist (as a State-Based Effect). When the ability resolves, there's nothing to return from the graveyard to play, and nothing to which you can attach the Scythe. Note that Scythe says"...return that card..." and a token is not a card.

Q: Hello, this is an interesting question that came up last night: Vampiric Tutor says"Pay 2 Life: Search your Library..." Could you Stifle one part of this card, the pay two life seems like the effect of the card; but the Search the library seems more like a triggered affect. Can you clarify?

A: Vampiric Tutor was originally written using bad templating that made it look like an Instant with an activated ability - which it isn't and never was. In the olden days, the two life was part of the cost and now it's not. Here's the new wording:

"Search your library for a card, then shuffle your library and put that card on top of it. You lose 2 life."

There's nothing there to Stifle. The good news is the two life is part of the resolution, so if it's countered you don't lose the life.

Q: When a creature such as Spikeshot Goblin or Viridian Joiner is tapped for its ability, and in response returned to its owner's hand, the creature is not in play when its effect resolves. Does it use the"last known" value of its power, or zero because there is no creature, and thus no power?

A: It uses last known information because the game is looking for information about a permanent that's no longer in play (rule 402.6). It doesn't assume it's zero.

Q: I would like to ask you the exact manner by which Glissa Sunseeker works, do you get a mana burn if you use mana to target an artifact? Do you actually have to tap the mana to use this ability?

A: You don't take mana burn until the end of the Phase. If you want to use Glissa and do nothing, you'll obviously have to take mana burn, but you can just wait until you're going to play a spell, put the amount of mana you want into your pool, activate Glissa, and once her ability resolves, play your spell. Her ability counts the mana in your pool when the ability resolves, not when it's announced.

Q: If I have a Form of the Dragon and a Lich in play, what would happen at the end of turn when my life is supposed to go back to five? Would I be able to draw endlessly, since my life would never be at five?

A: Form of the Dragon will try to change your life from zero to five (gain five life), which Lich will replace with having you draw five cards instead. Replacement effects don't invoke themselves over and over; they happen once per event to be replaced.

Q: I was wondering how Imprint works with the stack (I have read on how Imprint works with Stifle, but not a disenchant-effect)

For example, when an opponent plays Isochron Scepter and I have a Naturalize in hand, is there a way for me to make my opponent lose not only the Scepter, but also the card he wishes to Imprint?

A: If you wait until the Imprint resolves to Naturalize the Scepter, the Imprinted card stays removed from the game. You can Naturalize the Scepter while the Imprint is on the stack, but because the Imprint is optional, your opponent doesn't have to remove a card. Your opponent doesn't reveal the card to be Imprinted until the triggered ability resolves, so you'll have to take your chances that it's not a Counterspell.

Q: How do discard effects like Cabal Interrogator and Blackmail (that reveal a limited amount of my opponent's hand to for me to select a card to discard), work when my opponent's hand is revealed with effects such as Telepathy and Zur's Weirding? Can I, for example, pay only one mana and target any card in my opponents hand (with Cabal Interrogator)?

A: No. Note the wording on the Interrogator. You can only choose one of the cards that he reveals as a result of the Interrogator's ability, even if they've been revealed by something else.

Q: I have a Flayed Nim equipped with a Loxodon Warhammer and Dead-Iron Sledge and enchanted the creature with Lure and Regeneration. If I attack and three creatures are to block it, will Flayed Nim give fifteen damage to opponent and give fifteen life points to me? Will all the blocking creatures be destroyed? If I am to regenerate, will the Equipment and enchantment still be attached to Flayed Nim?

A: After blockers are declared, the Dead-Iron Sledge will trigger, destroying the three blockers and the Nim. The Nim will regenerate, but be removed from combat (that's part of what using a regeneration shield does).

Therefore, it won't be in combat to deal damage during the Combat Damage Step. Neither the Warhammer nor the Nim's native ability will trigger.

Q: I have in play a Chromatic Sphere and two Great Furnaces. Is there any way to cast my Thoughtcast?

A: Yes. After putting Thoughtcast on the stack, you determine the cost to play the spell, which is 1U (4U minus the Affinity discount of 3). That cost becomes locked in. Then you play mana abilities, at which time you can tap your Furnaces and activate your Chromatic Sphere, giving you the 1U. Then you pay the costs. Consult rule 409 for more details about the order of the steps of announcement.

Q: The following was on the board:

Opponent - 15 goblin tokens, 1 Skirk Fire Marshall

Me - 2 land, 1 Mourner's Shield - Imprinting something Red

Opponent plays Marshall's ability and taps five goblins, then says before the other tokens die he'll tap the other ten

I activate Mourner's Shield and target Marshall. Is that damage prevented?

Scenario Number Two - same cards

Opponent taps 5 goblins for Marshall's ability.

I activate mourner's shield Opponent then taps the other 10 goblins.

Because Mourner's shield text reads"all damage until end of turn" is the subsequent damage also prevented?

A: 1. They're all prevented because the Shield's ability resolved before any of the Fire Marshall's activations. 2. The Second and Third activations aren't prevented because the Shield's ability hasn't resolved yet.

This is a game of chicken. He can activate the Fire Marshall once and pass priority. If you activate the Shield, then he activates the Marshall again. However, because he's passed priority to you, you can just let the ability resolve, killing all the Goblins. He can't have priority back once the two of you have passed in succession. If he wants to be sure he can activate more than once, he'll have to do it before he passes priority.

Q: Does removing the counters from an Illusionary Masked creature use the stack? Can I Fire from Fire / Ice an 0/1 creature in response to its controller removing the mask counters; thereby killing the masked creature?

A: The action of turning the face down creature face up doesn't use the stack (rule 504.3). It's just like Morph in that regard. You don't get priority until after the creature is already face up.