Rules Tip of the Day: When a land has its type changed into a basic land type, it will lose all of its text other than the snow covered ability, and will gain the text the appropriate mana ability.

Q: This scenario has occurred on Magic Online repeatedly and every local judge has said that MTGO is glitched but since it involved commonly used cards online I'd figure wizards would have caught it by now.

I play roughly 5 spells in one turn, and then play Brain Freeze targeting my opponent. Brain Freeze hits the stack, followed by the Storm trigger. My opponent responds to this with Gilded Light.

When the Storm trigger resolves I need to choose targets for each copy. MTGO still lets me target my opponent with the copies. As each resolves I get a message saying Brain Freeze is countered because of an illegal target. Then the original spell gets countered because of NO legal targets.

A: MTGO is correct. When a Storm copy of Brain Freeze is put on the stack it is an exact copy of the original. When you put this copy on the stack you are able to choose a new target for the copy if you want, but you are not required to. This means that you can choose to have the copies have the same target as the original. These copies will later be countered on resolution, but at least you were not forced to target yourself. MTGO isn't allowing you to target your opponent when you put these copies on the stack; it is just allowing you to choose to not change their targets.

Q: If I have Endless Whispers in play and Suntouched Myr goes into the graveyard, does it die right away when it goes back into play under my opponents control because it would be a 0/0, or does it keep its toughness and power from when it originally came into play?

A: It will come into play as a 0/0 since no colored mana was paid to play it. It will immediately go back to your graveyard. This will trigger the Endless Whispers ability again, so this Suntouched Myr will return to play at the end of your turn under your control and then go back to your graveyard all over again to repeat the process.

Q: I have Mesmeric Orb in play and play Insurrection, my opponent has 6 tapped creatures on the board, which deck gets hit for the 6 milled cards?

A: His will. Insurrection has you untap all creatures in play just before you gain control of them. At the moment these creatures untap he is their controller so Mesmeric Orb's ability will mill his deck.

Q: What happens when both Zur's Weirding and Shared Fate are both in play? Since both are draw replacing effects, which is the combined effect in the game?

A: Whenever two or more replacement effects try to be applied to the same event the affected player or the controller of the affected permanent decides which to apply first. Then if the other effects are still applicable, they are applied. In this example each time a player would draw a card they can choose to apply Zur's Weirding's replacement effect first or the Shared Fate replacement effect first. If this player chooses to apply Shared Fate first, then the draw is replaced by an entirely different action and the Weirding's effect is not applied.

If a player chooses to apply Zur's Weirding first then he will reveal the top card of his library. At this point any player can choose to pay 2 life, starting with the active player. If anyone does pay 2 life then this revealed card goes to its owner's graveyard and nothing else happens. If no one does pay life, then this player would draw a card instead. However because of Shared Fate's ability, instead of drawing a card this player will then remove the top card of his opponent's library from the game, which he can play as long as Shared Fates remains in play.

Q: Can I activate Conjurer's Bauble if I have nothing in my graveyard to put into my library (excluding the Bauble itself if that's possible)? Also, can you target the bauble itself for the effect?

A: Yes, you can use Conjurer's Bauble's ability even if there are not any cards in your graveyard. This is because the ability states that you can target up to one card in your graveyard, so you can choose not to target any. No you can not target the Bauble itself. This is because the Bauble is not in your graveyard when you need to choose targets for this ability.

Q: My question is about Illicit Auction and Platinum Angel. If I have at a negative life total, am I allowed to"bid" life?

A: You can not pay life you don't have, but that's is not what is happening here; you are bidding life and then losing that amount it you win the auction. So you can bid life that you do not have.

Q: By the time Viashino Bey's ability goes on the stack, would it not be too late for your other creatures to attack?

A: Viashino Bey's ability is a static ability that does not use the stack. It creates a requirement when announcing attackers that is applied as you choose these attackers.

Q: If you have Mycosynth Lattice in play, can you use Golden Wish to get any card?

A: No, Mycosynth Lattice only makes cards in play into artifacts. It does not affect cards that are outside the game.

Q: I'm starting to suspect that cheating in drafts is becoming incredibly rampant in my local area. Players seem to be sliding cards into their decks from outside the draft. I played an opponent this week who had 2 Spikeshots, 2 Bonesplitters, 1 of each Talisman, 2 Neurok Spies and Loxodon Warhammer as the only Mirrodin cards in his deck (that I saw anyway). I just can't come up with a scenario where that could happen in and MD5 draft... first pick Warhammer and get passed back to back Spikeshots... only to then get back to back Bonesplitters and then no one in the first half of the table could have been playing Blue (or switched into blue) or have wanted a Talisman for their colors... it boggles my mind.

I asked the Tournament Organizer about what could be done, and he (a local shop owner not a real judge) said he couldn't do anything unless there was actual PROOF of cheating.

Which leads me to my question. What can be done to ensure a fair draft environment? Is there a way to catch people cheating by sliding cards into their draft deck? Is there any way to make sure that people are only playing the cards they actually drafted? Is there a way to help us feel comfortable drafting at our local store?

A: First of all you never mentioned in your question whether or not these drafts are sanctioned. Not that it matters too much; cheating is cheating wherever it occurs. But if these are sanctioned tournaments then the DCI might want to eventually get involved.

The first thing that can be done is that you notify the TO or judge immediately whenever you suspect such blatant cheating. As the TO said, that he couldn't do anything as there was not any evidence. Assuming your story about the double Spikeshot, double Bonesplitter etc. deck in an MD5 draft is true, and you inform the relevant tournament official during the draft then he CAN collect evidence at that point. It doesn't take much to look at this player deck and talk to the people around this player and ask what they opened and what they passed. Unless you are dealing with very inexperienced / young drafters or other people assisting in the cheating, most players will remember passing two Spikeshots etc. At a minimum they should be able to remember what they took over these cards. He can even do this without revealing too much information. As opposed to asking,"Did you pass two Spikeshots?' The TO can ask,"What did you open? What did you take as first/second pick?" Or"What do you recall passing?" If the cheating is as blatant as you describe, this should be all that is needed to prove someone is adding cards to their draft decks.

If the TO does not learn about this suspected cheating until after the event then he still has some options. If the TO believes you he can at a minimum talk to the suspected cheater and threaten him if necessary. I know of at least two instances when a head judge confronted a suspected cheater, told him he did not have enough evidence to do anything that point but that he would watch him like a hawk and bring the hammer down if the cheating was caught in the future. In one instance the suspected cheater pretty much reformed and is now an active and honest player. In the other the cheater proceeded to lose several rounds in a row and dropped from the event.

If the TO is unwilling to confront the suspected cheater for whatever reason, he can still makes few changes to the drafting procedure in the future. It may take a bit of time, but you can have players register their decks after the draft including all of the cards they drafted and what they intend to include in their main decks. Something that takes even longer but is even more effective is to have players write down the contents of the pack when they open it. After each pack is opened the TO can then collect these lists and use them to confirm decks later. Just taking these two measures will be enough to catch a cheater but even more likely it will prevent a smart cheater from even attempting to cheat. If the TO implements these policies I'd bet these cheaters just stop showing up. There might be complaints, but anyone who is serious about creating an honest game will understand

If the TO is unwilling to help at all or make any changes to the draft procedure then you have two options. You can either bring a friend to watch what people draft, or you can decide not to draft this time and you can be the person doing who watches these suspected players. This isn't the optimal solution, as you are not a tournament official and you could be accused of cheating yourself for snooping on the draft. Make sure you do not do this if this is happening at sanctioned drafts.

The other option you have is the nuclear one: don't draft there anymore. If you do decide to do this make sure that the storeowner / TO knows the reason why you won't play and or buy product from his store anymore. If the drafts that have been occurring at this store are sanctioned then you should contact the DCI as well. Many stores hold sanctioned events as a service to their customers and a way to make money, but a TO has responsibilities to make certain efforts ensure that these events are free of cheating. If this TO is unwilling to even investigate then this needs to be reported to the DCI. I realize that this might not be too palatable, but it may be the only way to get the TO to change his ways.

Q: You said in a recent article that Duplicant with two creatures imprinted on it had problems, but they're now fixed with the errata. Doesn't Soul Foundry cause similar problems if two creatures somehow become imprinted on it?

A: No, because Soul Foundry does not derive any of its characteristics from the cards imprinted on it. If two of more creature cards are imprinted on a Soul Foundry then you can choose which card to make a token copy of. If two or more cards imprinted on Soul Foundry have different converted mana costs then you can only make a token copy of the card that has a converted mana cost equal to the amount you paid when activating Soul Foundry. If two or more card imprinted cards have the same converted mana cost then when Soul Foundry's ability resolves you can choose which creature card to make a toke copy of.