Rules Tip of the Day: At the beginning of the combat damage step all creatures in combat will assign damage equal to their power to creatures blocked by or blocking them or to the defending player. Barring First Strike damage, all of this damage goes on the stack as one item and will resolve at once. Once this combat damage goes on the stack it will be dealt as originally assigned even if the creature that assigns it is not in play. This means that your opponent can block with a creature and return it to your hand after combat damage has gone on the stack. The damage from this creature will be dealt even though it is not in play any longer.

Q: I play Spring of Life. Can I copy it with Uyo, Silent Prophet? If I can, how much life will I get?

A: Yes you can use Uyo's ability to copy Spring of Life. When the copy and the original resolves you will gain the number of lands you have in play at that time, which will be 2 less then before you used Uyo's ability.

Q: My opponent has Ghostly Prison in play. I have a Battle-Mad Ronin in play. Does the Ronin still have to attack?

A: No you do not have to attack with Battle-Mad Ronin. It may have a requirement that it attack if able, but you can choose to not pay the cost associated with Ghostly Prison, therefore making it unable to attack.

Q: Is Ghostly Prison's effect cumulative? If I have 2 Ghostly Prisons in play, does the opponent have to pay 4 to attack?

A: Yes, in order for an individual creature to attack you, your opponent must pay 4 mana.

Q: When I flip a creature, does it have summon sickness?

A: No, it is still the same permanent, it has just had its characteristics changed.

Q: If I play Devouring Greed and sacrifice a Zubera, what is the order of effects? Is it 1) opponent Loses 4 life and I gain 4 life, then 2) Zubera effect? Or is it the other way around? I can't remember if the Zubera effects stack on top of the spell, since the sacrifice is part of the casting cost, or do they not actually go into the graveyard until after the spell resolves?

A: The first thing that happens when you play a spell is that it goes on the stack. In this example the Devouring Greed will be on the stack and the Zubera triggered ability will go on top of the Greed as this ability triggered after the Greed was placed on the stack. Because items on the stack resolve in LIFO (Last In, First Out) order, the Zubera ability will resolve first.

Q: How does Night of Soul's Betrayal work with creatures with 1 toughness? Am I able to use in said case the ability of Hearth Kami before it dies or am I unable to use abilities that don't require tapping as cost to use it? Like Spore Frog, Quirion ranger, Monk Realist, etc.

A: Creatures with zero toughness will go to the graveyard immediately upon coming into play, before any player can play any spells and abilities. Hearth Kami will go to the graveyard before it's controller can use it's ability to destroy an artifact. This applies to any abilities of one toughness creatures, regardless of the activation cost of the abilities.

Q: I play Spellweaver Helix, and imprint Bubbling Muck and Elven Cache on it. Could I generate a lot of black mana with swamps with only a second Bubbling Muck (i.e. play Bubbling Muck use the copy of Elven Cache to bring it back to hand, play the same Bubbling Muck again, etc.), or would I need a third Bubbling Muck already in the graveyard to do this? I guess what I'm asking is would the ability of the copied card resolve before or after the trigger card goes to the graveyard?

A: You would need a third copy of Bubbling Muck in your graveyard in order for this trick to work. This is because Spellweaver Helix's ability triggers when a spell is played and, as you probably feared, the copy created by the Helix will resolve before the triggering spell resolves and goes to the graveyard.

Q: With Temporal Aperture, what happens to the revealed top card, if not played? Up to now we shuffle the library, because there is nothing written about remaining or whatever to do.

A: The revealed card stays on top of your library and remain revealed until it is drawn or the library becomes shuffled. You do not automatically shuffle your library due to this ability.

Q: Can I play Inspirit on a creature that is already untapped?

A: Yes. Inspirit can target a tapped or untapped creature. It instructs the controller of the Inspirit to untap this creature when it resolves, but that is not a targeting restriction. If this creature is untapped when it does resolve, then that portion of the spell will do nothing, but the targeted creature will still get +2/+4.

Q: I have Goblin Cannon and Avarice Totem in play. I want to activate the Cannon a few times targeting my opponent or his or her creatures and then use the totem to switch control of something they have with my Cannon while the Cannon ability is still on the stack. Afterwards, I want all the damage resolve and then get there thing and them end up with nothing. Is that possible?

A: While you didn't specifically mention it I assume that by switch control of the Cannon with something controlled by an opponent you mean to use the totem's ability once targeting the Cannon an then respond by using the ability again and targeting something controlled by your opponent.

What you want to do does not work. Goblin Cannon's ability has you sacrifice the Cannon as you are the controller of the Cannon's ability. Because you can only sacrifice a permanent you control, if your opponent controls the Cannon when one of the Cannon's abilities resolves you won't be able to sacrifice it.