Rules Tip of the Day: To counter a spell means to remove it from the stack. If a spell is countered, it doesn't resolve. That means you don't follow any of its instructions, even if you want to.

Once again, we have a question involving an Unglued card. As always, you were warned.

Q: With Endless Whispers and Lethal Vapors in play, does this create an infinite loop anytime a creature dies that would result in a draw?

A: No, because Endless Whispers doesn't put the creature back into play until the end of turn, and then it's too late for EOT triggers to go on the stack; it will wait until next EOT to come back (and then be destroyed again).

Q: While I was playing a friend of mine, he declared"During your untap step, I'll play Starstorm for 4. You can't respond by sacrificing Ravenous Baloth for life." My real question is, can that actually work, or is it that you can only untap permanents during the untap step, and no one can do anything?

A: No. Your friend is either confused or a savage cheater. Players don't get priority (neither of them) during untap to play Starstorms or activate Baloths. You can only untap stuff. If he Starstorms during your upkeep, you can respond by sacrificing your Baloth.

Q: With Vedalken Orrery in play, I used to think I could use an ability that I could play as a Sorcery (e.g. Recurring Nightmare) whenever I could play an Instant, but if I get the card text right then I can simply play the Nightmare whenever I like, but not activate it on my opponent's turn. Please tell me I'm wrong.

A: Unfortunately, you're not wrong. You can only play cards with Vedalken Orrery, not activate abilities that you can only play as a Sorcery.

Q: I have Razormane Masticore and Bringer of the White Dawn in play. If I do not discard a card in my upkeep and sacrifice the Razormane Masticore, can i return it to play in the same upkeep with the White Bringer?

A: No, you can't. The Bringer's ability is targeted. That means you have to choose a target artifact card in your graveyard when you put the ability on the stack. At that time, Razormane Masticore isn't in the graveyard, it's in play.

Q: My opponent played Animate Dead and put the triggered ability on stack. I Naturalized it before it can get the creature in graveyard into play. Would my opponent be able to get to creature into play?

A: No, because Animate Dead must still be in play when the triggered ability resolves. Here's the current Oracle(tm) wording:

"When Animate Dead comes into play, if it's in play, it becomes an enchant creature. Put target creature card from a graveyard into play under your control enchanted by ~this~. ; Enchanted creature gets -1/-0. ; When Animate Dead leaves play, destroy enchanted creature. It can't be regenerated."

Q: If you use an Entwined Tooth and Nail to fetch both halves of Big Furry Monster, will it survive coming into play? Will the game see the two halves coming into play at the same time properly? Yeah, our local game is a little odd.

A: The official ruling (ask any NetRep) is that Tooth and Nail transforms BFM into Chaos BFM. You must drop both halves from at least one foot above the table, ensuring that each half spins at least one full revolution. If both halves land face up, you may keep them. Otherwise, take all of the cards that are touching either half of BFM and use them to perform an interpretive dance.*

Q: I'm at 20 life and have Ageless Entity in play. I play Beacon of Immortality. Do I gain that extra 20 life and put on 20 counters on Ageless Entity, or does my life total just go to 40?

A: You gain 20 life, and Ageless Entity gets 20 counters. Any time your life total changes, even if it's set to a specific value, you're either gaining or losing life. You gained 20, so Ageless Entity triggers.

Q: With Vedelkan Shackles, if you take control of a 4 power creature and go below 4 Islands, do you lose control of it?

A: No. The count for Islands only comes when the ability resolves. Once the ability has resolved, the only condition on maintaining control is that the Shackles remains tapped.

Q: Mycosynth Lattice is in play, and my opponent controls Silver Knight. Can I Cycle Gempalm Incinerator and target the Knight with the triggered ability?

A: Yes, you can. Mycosynth Lattice clearly says that all cards that aren't in play are colorless. Because the triggered ability comes from a colorless source, it's legal to target the Knight.

* The above BFM answer was supplied by Agbaar on EFNet's #mtgjudge channel. The real answer is that both halves of BFM will come into play simultaneously if you Tooth and Nail it.