Rules Tip of the Day: Regeneration is a destruction replacement ability. When you use a regeneration ability a 'shield' is created. This shield will be used the next time this creature would be destroyed. When this shield is used, instead of going to the graveyard this creature will stay in play, be removed from combat (if it is in combat), have all damage on it removed, and become tapped. If this shield is no used by the cleanup step of the current turn it will go away.

Q: I have Panoptic Mirror in play imprinted with Oxidize. During my upkeep, I put the Mirror's ability on the stack. In response, my opponent play Shatter targeting the Mirror. When the Mirror trigger finally resolves, can I still play Oxidize, since it was imprinted on the Mirror when the Mirror was last in play, or can I not, since at the time of resolution the Mirror is in the yard and so nothing is imprinted on it?

A: You will be able to make a copy of Oxidize and play it. When the Panoptic Mirror's triggered ability resolves it will use the last known information regarding the Mirror and allow you to choose to make a copy of the Oxidize.

Q: Would Kilnmouth Dragon in play continue to keep the +1/+1 Amplify Counters it has on it each time it enters and leaves play during a Worldgorger Dragon/Animate Dead Loop? Each time it comes into play can Amplify the Kilnmouth again and again?

A: Each time the Kilnmouth Dragon would come into play from the removed from game zone he needs to reveal Dragon cards in his hand in order for the Kilnmouth Dragon to get any counters. When a card moves from one zone to another it is treated as a new object. So when the Kilnmouth leaves play and then enters play again it is treated as a new Dragon and will not get the counters it had on it from when that card was in play previously.

Q: Does the effect of Damping Matrix stop the Chromatic Sphere's ability? In other words, is Chromatic Sphere's activated ability a mana ability?

A: Damping Matrix does not prevent a player from using the ability of Chromatic Sphere because that is an activated mana ability. This ability may do more than just generate mana, but it is still a mana ability.

Q: If I use Ashnod's Transmogrant on a land that is animated by something like Vivify, will the land remain a 1/1 creature when the Vivify effect ends at the end of the current turn?

A: This permanent will keep the +1/+1 counter and it will permanently become an artifact but it will not remain a creature. The +1/+1 counter will do nothing until this land is animated again.

Q: If I have a creature with an enchantment on it, and Thieves Auction is played, what happens? My understanding is that the enchantment will not be an eligible target for returning at all. Is that right?

A: The permanents returned to play by Thieves Auction are not all returned to play at once; they each come into play when a player chooses them. If there is a legal permanent for this enchantment to attach already in play you can choose to enchant that.

Q: How does Heart of Bogardan work? If you don't pay its Cumulative Upkeep, it does damage equal to its last paid Cumulative Upkeep to target player and the creatures he/she controls. But does it stay in play and do the damage again on the next upkeep?

A: The ability of Heart of Borgarden that deals damage is a triggered ability that triggers when you don't pay the upkeep cost. If you don't pay this cost the Heart of Borgarden will be sacrificed and this ability will trigger. So when the Heart ability deals damage it will no longer be in play.

Q: If I have Grave Pact and a creature in play, and my opponent attacks with a Double Strike creature, and I block, does his creature deal regular combat damage or is it sacrificed first?

A: Assuming that the blocking creature receives lethal damage in the First Strike combat damage step and that the Double Strike creature is your opponent's only creature, then it will be sacrificed before the normal combat damage step. Even without the Grave Pact this attacking Double Striking creature would not deal any normal combat damage unless it had Trample. This is because it has been blocked and it will not deal any combat damage to the defending player even if the blocking creature leaves play, unless, as pointed out above the attacking creature had Trample.

Q: I just read the oracle text of Invoke Prejudice, and it seems to me to have changed the actual effect of the card greatly. Before, under the reading, artifact creatures were not mentioned as different, so I would assume that, since artifact creatures can never share a color with a creature you control, they would always be countered unless the cost was paid. However, the oracle text excludes artifact creatures, meaning that they will never be countered. I am curious why the change was made.

A: The original text of Invoke Prejudice referred to 'summon' spells. When Invoke Prejudice was printed artifact creatures were not summon spells, so they were never affected by Invoke Prejudice. The text of Invoke Prejudice now specifically refers to non-artifact creature spells so that it DOES work the way it was originally intended.

Original text of Invoke Prejudice: If an opponent casts a Summon spell that does not match the color of one of the creatures under your control, that spell is countered unless the caster pays an additional X where X is the casting cost of the Summon spell.

Oracle text of Invoke Prejudice: Whenever an opponent plays a nonartifact creature spell that doesn't share a color with a creature you control, counter that spell unless its controller pays X, where X is its converted mana cost.

Q: What happens when a second copy of Konda, Lord of Eiganjo comes into play, as both are indestructible?

A: Both will go to the graveyard. When state-based effects are checked, these two legends will go to the graveyard; this isn't a destruction event, so the fact that they are indestructible does not keep them in play.

Q: I have Lethal Vapors and Endless Whispers in play. I play Leveler. When it comes into play my library is removed, and the Leveler dies from the Vapors and is sent to my opponent at end of my turn. Can my opponent, in response to my end of turn declaration, skip his turn to destroy the Vapors, thus skipping his next turn and causing me to lose due to not being able to draw? An further, could I, in response to his activation of the Vapors, respond by skipping my next turn to destroy it, thus nullifying out his next skipped turn??

A: The problem with this situation is that each player can respond to his opponent activating the Lethal Vapors ability to skip a turn. As both players want to skip one more turn than the other, you have an infinite loop. Because of this the active player must choose how many turns he wants to skip, and then the non-active player can choose how many he wants to skip. You are the active player in this situation as this is happening during your turn. Because your opponent chooses second he has the upper hand and can choose to skip 1 more turn than you, so you will lose when you can't draw during the next turn.