Rules Tip of the Day: The words 'each' and 'all' do NOT denote or imply targeting.

Q: When I bring Grinding Station into play, can I tap it and use it as the artifact that I sacrifice in order for its ability to take effect?

A: Yes. When you play a spell or ability you can pay costs in any order so you can tap it and then sacrifice it for it's own ability

Q: My friend has Chimeric Idol in play and I have Soul Sculptor. He activates his Chimeric Idol. I use Soul Sculptor to turn his Chimeric Idol (which is now a creature) into an enchantment. Does this enchantment revert to an artifact at the end of the turn, or does the"loses all abilities" effect of the soul sculptor mean that it will remain an enchantment until a creature spell is cast. If the latter is the case, what does it become when a creature is cast? A 3/3 artifact creature, or an artifact?

A: At the end of the current turn when the Chimeric Idol's animation effect 'wears away' the Chimeric Idol will remain as an enchantment. It will stay like this until a creature spell is played. The Soul Sculptor's effect does not care about other effects that are applied to this permanent; Soul Sculptor's effect will continue to be applied until a creature spell is played. When a creature spell is played later in the game it will be just a non-animated artifact. However if a creature spell were played in that same turn that it was animated and turned into an enchantment then it would be a 3/3 artifact creature until the end of the current turn.

Q: My opponent controls my turn with Mindslaver. He plays a creature (out of my hand) and in response plays Condescend (out of my hand) for zero. He then states that he shall not pay zero and considers the creature countered. Is this correct?

A: Yes that is perfectly legal. He gets to make all choices for you, that includes making you decide to not pay zero mana when Condescend resolves.

Q: I enchant my Blinkmoth Nexus with Living Terrain and it becomes a 5/6 creature. Then I use the Nexus' ability to turn it into a 1/1 Flying creature. My question is about when it becomes a 1/1 creature, or does Living Terrain's effect will override the Nexus' effect and kick its power/toughness back to 5/6?

A: The Nexus will be a 1/1 creature. Because the Living Terrain was played first the power and toughness set by it will be overridden by the Nexus' ability.

Q: If Shared Fate is in play and the game is in a state that where it is impossible for either player to win or lose, what should be done if the game in question is in a tournament setting? Obviously, the game could be called a draw if both the players agree. However, what happens if a player is ahead 1 game to 0 and would simply like to"continue playing the game" and let time eventually run out. What kind of ruling should be made in a situation like this?

A: As a judge I would step in and rule that the game is a draw. If a player wanted to continue this game that can not advance I would let him know that if he continued to argue that he would get a warning for slow play, and this will be escalated to a DQ for stalling if it went beyond that.

Q: I control Horobi, Death's Wail and my opponent control Cowardice. I target his Trinket Mage with Lava Dart, what happens to it? Will it die, or will it return to his hand?

A: It depends on whose turn it is. Whenever a targeted spell or ability is played these two triggered abilities will go on the stack in APNAP (Active Player, Non-Active Player) order. This means that the triggered ability controlled by the active player will go on the stack first, followed by the one controlled by the non-active player. What happens will be determined by whoever is the non-active player; if it is the controller of Cowardice then the targeted creature will be 'bounced,' if it is the controller of Horobi, Death's Wail it will be destroyed.

Q: Say I Mind's Desire for 13 or so, revealing Temporal Fissure and Tendrils of Agony, but a pesky Platinum Angel is keeping me from winning. Is there any way to stack the triggers and resolutions of Temporal Fissure to bounce both a Leonin Abunas and then Platinum Angel?

A: No, you announce the target for all of the Storm triggered abilities when they all go on the stack. This will be before any of them resolve, so the Abunas will still be in play.

Q: If I play Misery Charm, do I have to announce which part I am going to do before or after it resolves? I was always under the impression that I didn't have to, like how Persecute works. My opponent says I have to choose before, so he can see if he wants to counter it or not.

A: Misery Charm is a modal spell; you can tell because it uses the phase"Choose one." You have to announce which mode you are using when you play the spell and put it on the stack.

Q: I play Polymorph on my opponent's Shambling Swarm (there are no other creatures in play). He eventually reveals Laquatus' Champion. Does the Champion die?

A: Yes. During the resolution of Polymorph the Shambling Swarm is destroyed and it's ability will trigger, but it won't go on the stack quite yet. Polymorph will continue to resolve and put Laquatu's Champion into play. Now that Polymorph has finished resolving Shambling Swarm's triggered ability will go on the stack. Because the Champion is the only creature in play, your opponent will have to target it with the Swarm's ability and choose to put all three -1/-1 counters on it. Immediately after the Swarm's ability resolves the Champion will go to the graveyard. (The Champions coming into play and leaves play triggered abilities will also have triggered, but they don't impact on this situation.)