Rules Tip of the Day: When having a judge give a ruling at the pre-release, always give the judge a little extra time to make the ruling. This is generally the first chance we get to see the cards as well. While a good judge should be able to incorporate any rules changes into his knowledge, R&D always manages to throw something very unusual into the mix. I am personally in awe at the instant that cannot be played. Ever.

Q: If you have Panoptic Mirror with some random Sorcery Imprinted and you have already played an Epic spell, can you activate the Mirror during your upkeep and put another copy of the imprinted card on the stack?

A: No that does not work, because Panoptic Mirror does not put a copy on the stack, it makes a copy that you can then play. Panoptic Mirror's triggered ability will still trigger at the beginning of your upkeep, but you will be unable to play the copy due to the Epic effect.

Q: Does Pithing Needle cancel Equip abilities and does it prevent an opponent from removing counters from Umezawa's Jitte to gain life, pump his creatures, etc.?

A: Yes. The Equip ability is an activated ability and it will be prevented from being played if that particular equipment card was named as Pithing Needle came into play. Umezawa's Jitte's ability is also an activated ability, so the Needle will prevent that ability from being used as well.

Q: When I play Thoughts of Ruin, if I have Akki Raider in play will its +1/+0 ability trigger once as all of the lands are placed into the graveyard simultaneously, or, will it trigger once for each land placed into the graveyard?

A: Akki Raider's ability will trigger once for each land that goes to a graveyard. It does not matter if multiple lands go to the graveyard at one time; the Raider's ability will trigger once for each land.

Q: If I have Clash of Realities and Forbidden Orchard in play. When I tap the Orchard for mana, do I get to choose what creature is dealt 3 damage? Since it doesn't say "Target opponent puts a 1/1 spirit creature token." but rather "put a 1/1 spirit token creature into play under target opponent's control".

A: The fact that you put this token into play makes you the owner of this token creature. However, the controller of the triggered ability is whoever controls the permanent when the ability triggers. Because you put this token into play under your opponent's control he is the controller of this triggered ability and he is the one who gets' to choose the target non-Spirit creature to target with this abiltiy.

Q: Can my opponent play Squelch in response to my regenerating my Troll Ascetic? He says that the Squelch is targeting the ability of the Troll Ascetic, and not the Troll itself.

A: Your opponent is correct. Squelch targets abilities on the stack, not permanents in play. And although the Troll cannot be targeted by spells and abilities controlled by your opponent, its ability on the stack can be.

Q: The wording on Hisoka says that if the converted mana cost of the discarded card is equal to the converted mana cost of target spell, counter it. Do I have to discard a card with the same cost, or could I discard a card with a different cost just to get it into the graveyard? For example, my opponent attacks with a flying creature, and he's playing a spell with a converted mana cost of five. Could I tap the mana for Hisoka's ability and discard Wonder from my hand, even though that wouldn't counter the spell in question?

A: The card you discard when playing Hisoka's ability does not have to equal the converted mana cost of the targeted spell; you can discard any card. However, if this discarded card shares a converted mana cost with the targeted spell, then the targeted spell will become countered. If it does not, then nothing else happens. But if the goal was to get a certain card into your graveyard then your objective has been achieved.

Q: My question involves the interaction of Seedtime and Isochron Scepter. If I imprint the Seedtime on my Isochron Scepter could I make a COPY of the spell when I activate Isochron Scepter on my opponent's turn?  Since I'm not playing it from my hand and actually activating an artifact ability would the limitation of when it can be played be ignored?

A: No you can not do that. Isochron Scepter makes a copy of a card that you are then allowed to play, it does not make a copy of a spell and automatically put it on the stack. Because of this it does not matter that you are playing a copy of the card and not the card itself, the restriction on when it can be played is still applied.

Q: I was reading the FAQ for Saviors of Kamigawa and came upon the entry for Dense Canopy. Can you explain why ‘A creature that blocks "as though it had flying" can still block either creatures with flying or creatures without flying. However, if the creature also has an ability that allows it to block an additional creature, it can't block both a flier and nonflier at the same time’ Is true?

A: Sure. When you have a creature that has the spider 'can block as thought it had flying' ability, you get the make the choice as to whether or not to treat this creature exactly as thought it had flying for the purposes of blocking. This choice is made each time blockers are declared. If you do treat it as thought it has flying then the effect from Dense Canopy is also applied to it, so therefore this creature cannot block non-flyers. If you choose to not take advantage of this ability, then it will be able to block non-flyers, but not flyers. And because of this interaction of the Spider ability and Dense Canopy, it won't be able to do both at the same time.

Knowing how this works can have strategic ramifications with respect to other effects that force blocking. For example let's take assume that you have a spider, and Dense Canopy in play, and your opponent attacks with a non-flying creature enchanted with Lure that you really do not want to block for some reason. You can choose to have this creature block as thought it had flying. If you do, then it will be unable to block this attacking creature with Lure, so it won’t have to.