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Rules Tip of the Day: Most older cards that said"During your upkeep" have been changed to be beginning-of-upkeep triggered abilities. Search the Oracle card reference or search"Ask the Virtual Judge" for full detals.
Q: Can a person attack themselves, or one of their creatures? This guy I play with tries to attack himself and redirect the damage with Zealous Inquisitor or Glarecaster to kill one of my creatures. Is this legal?
A: It is not. A player can only attack an opponent (and not the opponent's creatures). He can, of course, play spells targeting is own creatures and then redirecting the damage (which seems silly to me) because that's not considered an attack.
Q: If you remove the target of an Echoing spell before the spell resolves, will the rest of the effect happen?
A: No, because the spell will be countered on resolution due to an invalid target (rule 413.2a).
Q: If I target an artifact an opponent controls with Goblin Archaeologist, can he choose to regenerate in response to me winning the coin flip?
A: No, for two reasons. First and foremost, he doesn't get priority during the resolution of the Archaeologist's ability to play a regeneration spell or ability. Second, even if he could (or had already set up a regeneration shield), the ability calls for the Archaeologist to be sacrificed. You can't regeneration from a sacrifice.
Q: A Judge here told us that the mana you put in your pool during Upkeep doesn't drain itself until the end of the Draw phase. While I believe this is false, the fact that I've been told this by an official DCI judge makes me wonder if ive been wrong all theses years.
A: The Judge was right, but you haven't been wrong all these years, depending on when you started playing. In the olden days (pre-6th Edition) mana pools would clear at the end of Upkeep, but that's back when it was a phase. Today, Upkeep and Draw are steps in the Beginning phase, and mana pools don't clear until the end of a phase. You can float mana all the way through from your Upkeep to Draw steps.
Q: If The Wretched is blocked by a creature and that creature is destroyed, do I still get control of it?
A: No, you only get the creatures if they'd still in play and still blocking The Wretched at the end of combat. You don't get them if they've been removed from combat beforehand, such as if they've regenerated. If they're destroyed, they stay in the graveyard.
Q: I play something on my first Main Phase and my opponent responds with a Counterspell, which I am able to Mana Drain. Do I get the two extra mana drain mana on my Second Main Phase (same turn)?
A: Yes. Mana Drain says you get the mana at the beginning of your next Main Phase, and your post-combat Main Phase is the next one you get.
Q: I have Land Equilibrium and my opponent has more land than I do. He puts a land into play. Can he tap that land for mana before he has to sacrifice one?
A: No, he can't tap the land for mana. He must resolve the whole replacement effect ("that player instead puts that land into play then sacrifices a land") before he gets priority. The only time you can use a mana ability during the resolution of a spell or ability is when it's specifically called for. Otherwise, you must have priority in order to play a mana ability, even though it doesn't use the stack.
Q: My opponent plays two Frogmites. I then play Grim Reminder, getting a Frogmite of my own. Does he lose 6 or 12?
A: He'll lose 6 life. Grim Reminder looks only for a"yes or no" answer, not"how many times?"
