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Q: I just had a quick question about Shapeshifter. If I were to play a Living Armor on a Shapeshifter, would it grant a bonus of six to the initial total of seven, with which I could then work to determine his power and toughness, or would it then still count as a 0/6 which I could add another seven on both/either power or toughness, distributed however?
A: The six counters from Living Armor are counted after the base power and toughness of the Shapeshifter (rule 418.5a). If you set the Shapeshifter to 2/5 during your upkeep, it will end up as a 2/11.
Q: If City of Traitors is in play and Retraced Image is cast in order to put a second City of Traitors into play, does the first City have to be sacrificed?
A: No, you don't have to sacrifice the City. The City's ability only triggers when you play another land; it won't trigger if you put a land into play by some other means.
Q: Someone asked what happened if I controlled some arbitrarily low power's worth of guys and they used Goblin Welder to put my Phyrexian Dreadnought in to play. The errata says the sacrifice is unconditional, so I said that I'd have to kill all my dudes even if I can't reach 12 power. A different person suggested that the sacrifice is only made if I can reach 12 power. If not, they claim, it's ignored.
If the other guy is right, could I opt to kill my guys without reaching 12 power? And could I select just a few guys to get rid of?
A: The Dreadnought's effect isn't optional. You have to sacrifice creatures until you reach 12 power when it would come into play. If you don't have 12 power worth of creatures, you'll end up sacrificing all your creatures, and the Dreadnought won't come into play.
Q: Can I play a Trinisphere and Chalice of the Void for six to get three charge counters on it would that counter any spell three or less?
A: No. Trinisphere doesn't change the converted mana cost of a spell, it just changes the cost to play the spell. The CMC is still the value in the upper-right corner of the card, and that's what Chalice of the Void looks for.
Q: If I play an artifact land while my opponent has control of a Drooling Ogre the"whenever a player plays an artifact" effect triggers off the artifact land which I just played from my hand right?
A: No, that's not correct. Drooling Ogre triggers when an artifact spell is played. Artifact lands are not spells (says so right on them).
Q: Exactly how does Panoptic Mirror work in terms of its imprint ability? When it comes into play, does it imprint a card from my hand, or do I have to activate it once in order for it to work? I understand that you can respond to the trigger by using its activated ability and imprint a card, but how does the trigger work exactly? Does the trigger play a chosen spell for you in the upkeep?
A: You have to activate its ability in order to Imprint something on it, but you can Imprint multiple cards on it. When the beginning of upkeep trigger resolves, you can choose to play any one of the Imprinted cards.
Q: I have a Mesmeric Orb in play. I am about to untap 5 lands that was tapped from the last turn. If the second card that I am going to remove from my library is Darksteel Colossus. Do I have to wait until all 5 cards are removed from my library before shuffling the Darksteel Colossus back into my library?
A: Mesmeric Orb triggers during Untap, but the triggers don't go on the stack until the beginning of Upkeep, when players get priority. The Orb triggers five times, and you resolve the triggers one at a time. If the Colossus is the third one, you'd mill, mill, mill/shuffle, mill, mill.
Q: If I control Mindslaver and someone (not relevant who) controls a City of Solitude, and I sac the Mindslaver to take control of their next turn, will the City of Solitude prevent me from doing anything? (As it won't be my turn, but their turn.)
A: No, it won't stop you from making them do stuff. When you Mindslave someone, you take control of their turn, but they still control the spells and abilities that you make them play.
