Rules Tip of the Day: Using an ability that will tap a creature that has been declared as an attacking creature will not remove it from combat. In order to tap something so it does not attack you must tap it BEFORE it is declared as an attacking creature. The last time to do this is in the beginning of combat step. Keep in mind that your opponent can not just jump ahead and without passing priority and given you an option to play something before he declares attacking creatures.

Q: If one of my creatures is equipped with Umezawa's Jitte, when do the counters go on? Specifically, say my equipped creature is 2/2 and he is blocked by a 5/5, is it possible to use the two counters from combat damage to beef my creature to a 6/6 surviving the block and killing the blocker? Or are the counters placed on the Jitte after combat damage resolves which would kill my 2/2?

A: The Jitte's ability will trigger when the equipped creature deals combat damage. This ability will use the stack like most other things. When this ability resolves the Jitte will get the two counters. If the equipped creature received lethal damage when it also dealt damage, then you will not get the counters in time to save it.

Q: I have been having an argument with a friend of mine regarding Kokusho the Evening Star and the new Legend rule. He will use Dragonstorm get 3 Kokusho's and seems to believe he gets 15 life instead of 10 and 1 Kokusho in play. So I've come to you for the answer is he correct or am I correct? I agree he can gain 15 life off of Patriacrh's Bidding since they all come into play at once. However since Dragonstorm with the storm effect is a separate spell for each, I am assuming that he would gain 10 life and have an extra Kokusho in play.

A: You are correct. Because each Storm copy of Dragonstorm resolves separately, each Kokusho comes into play one at a time. Once a second Kokusho comes into play , the legend rules is applied and both go to the graveyard. When the third one comes into play it will be the only Kokusho in play, so it will remain there.

Q: Can I use Lifespinner to find Jaraku the Interloper?

A: No. When in any zone other than in play and flipped, the characteristics of a flipped cards are those of the unflipped version.

Q: I play First Volley Splicing Consuming Vortex onto it, targeting two different creatures. My opponent saves the creature targeted by First Volley with Blessed Breath, however the creature targeted by the spliced Consuming Vortex goes back to his hand. Does my opponent still take the one point of damage because the spell First Volley was not countered on resolution?

A: Yes, the controller of the now illegal target will receive one point of damage. While the creature targeted by the First Volley portion of that spell may be illegal, the spell will still know who the controller of that creature was and deal a single point of damage to him.

Q: With Disrupting Shoal, can you counter Force of Will played with the alternate cost for free, by paying just the 2 mana for the Shoal? In other words, they Force for free with the card and the 1 life, does the Force have a converted mana cost of 0 at that point?

A: No. The converted mana cost of Force of Will is always five, regardless of whether it was paid by paying it's mana cost or by using the alternate play cost.

Q: I had read somewhere about a previous ruling on the card Quash and its interaction with Obliterate that you can Quash an Obliterate and still have the remove from game effect still work and the rest of the copies of the Obliterate.  I was wondering as to first, why this is so, because the way the card is worded it would seem like Quash would have to successfully resolve against a legal target in order for the rest of the text on it to be fulfilled. Since Obliterate cannot be countered why is Obliterate still a legal target for Quash? Additionally I was wondering if the interaction between Quash and a Sorcery played using Boseiju, Who Shelters All was the same as that between Quash and Obliterate.

A: Obliterate is not an illegal target for Quash. Just because a spell or ability cannot be countered does not mean that someone can't play spells or abilities and try to counter it. When Quash goes to resolve, it will still resolve. However the counter portion of Quash's effect will just fail to do anything.

And yes, the mana generated by Boseiju prevents the Sorcery or Instant from being countered, but it does not prevent the other effects. Your opponent will still be able to search your hand library and graveyard for copies of the spell that used the Boseiju mana and remove them from the game.

Q: My opponent has two White Knights in play.  I tap my Dominating Licid to gain control of one, and he decides to attack with his other.  Now, given it's untapped, I can block the incoming knight with my newly dominated knight.  Is there a step in combat where I can end the Licid's effect after the knight has been dealt (and deals) combat damage, or does my Licid have to die in order for damage to be fully resolved?

A: You can get the result you want if you pay U to have the Licid become a creature again if you do this after combat damage has been assigned and put on the stack, but before it resolves. Once combat damage is on the stack it will be dealt as originally assigned, even if a creature has left combat or changed controllers (wait...do Licids actually exist?--Sheldon).

Q: If I get into combat with a creature, stack damage, then move Heart of Light onto it with a Kitsune Mystic or some such thing, does either creature deal damage? If that doesn’t work, then can I instead put it onto their creature, stack damage, so they deal none, then move it off, so they die and my creature takes no damage? I guess what I’m asking is; is there a way to abuse this through moving it round during combat. It feels like there should be, but I’m not sure that either of the above will work?

A: Heart of Light does not prevent a creature from assigning combat damage, only from dealing it. All that matters is that whatever creature that is 'wearing' the Heart of Light when combat damage is dealt will have all combat damage assigned to it and from it prevented. There is no way to abuse this, as it does not matter which creature has the Heart of Light when combat damage resolves, both the blocking and attacking creature in each situation will not deal any damage.