Rules Tip of the Day: When sideboarding in a constructed event you must remove a card from your deck for every card that you put in. Therefore, if you use a sideboard, it should always start the game with 15 cards in it.

Q: If I have eight cards in hand and have to discard at the end of turn, do I still have to sacrifice Measure of Wickedness and lose 8 life or does it resolve and move to my opponents board?

A: You will end up sacrificing the Measure of Wickedness and losing eight life because you discard down to your maximum hand size in the cleanup step of your turn, after you have dealt with all at end of turn triggered abilities. If you are in the cleanup step of your turn and have to discard a card, then the second triggered ability of Measure of Wickedness will trigger and go on the stack. This will cause your opponent to gain control of the Measure before your turn ends. However in order for this to happen Measure of Wickedness would have to had come under your control after your end of turn step had begun.

Q: If I played Ideas Unbound and and I drew the three cards then played Time Stop before the end phase of my turn (say during my post-combat main phase), would this completely neutralize the "at end of turn, discard three cards" effect of Ideas Unbound, or would I have to discard three cards at the end of the next turn?

Because there is not a specific duration indicated by the delayed triggered ability created by Idea's Unbound, the ability will wait around until the next end of turn step that takes place to trigger. To get what you want, you'll need to play Time Stop after this triggered ability has gone on the stack.

Q: My opponent has a flipped Erayo, Soratami Ascendant. Earlier in the game I played an Epic spell. Am I locked down? In other words will the copy of the Epic spell be countered by Erayo's Essence's ability?

A: No, this copy of the Epic spell is not played, it is put directly on the stack without being played. Because of this the ability of a Erayo's Essence will not trigger when it is placed on the stack.

Q: If I have Dreamcatcher and I play a Spirit spell, can my opponent respond by killing my guy? Basically I am trying to find out whether the sacrifice ability goes on the stack, or whether it is a cost that needs to be paid before it goes on the stack? Can it be killed before i get a chance to sac it when I play a spirit or arcane trigger?

A: You sacrifice the Dreamcatcher when its Spiritcraft triggered ability resolves. If the Dreamcatcher is leaves play before that happens, then you will be unable to sacrifice it and won't draw a card.

Q: I control Tatsamusa, the Dragon's Fang pay the six, remove Tatsumasa from the game and put in the token. If I then play Sway of the Stars, will the Tatsumasa come back into play?

A: No you will not regain control of Tatsumasa and it will remain removed from the game. This is because the Dragon token did not go to a graveyard, it was shuffled into a library and then ceased to exist.

Q: A judge at a recent FNM ruled against the concept of my deck. My deck revolves around the combo of Reweave and Spiritual Visit with The Unspeakable in my library. I've been told that a token does not have a card type thus I won't be getting my Unspeakable into play. Is he correct or not?

A: The answer you were given is incorrect. While the token in play is not a card, it does have a permanent type. Reweave only cares about the type of the targeted permanent, it does not care if it is or is not a card.

Q: I am wondering about timing of Masako the Humorless if my opponent has a fast effect to kill it. Say my opponent has a Shock in hand, or Umezawa's Jitte with one counter on it and attacks me. If I play Masako in response to the declare blockers step, my opponent can't kill Masako when it is on the stack, and then it comes into play. Do I have the ability to declare my blockers that are tapped before my opponent can kill Masako?

A: Because blocking creatures are announced at the very beginning of the declaration of blockers step in order for you to block with Masako and your tapped creatures you'll have to play Masako in the declaration of attackers step. After Masako comes into play and before blockers are declared both player are given the chance to play spells and abilities. So if your opponent has some way to remove Masako from play, he will get the opportunity to do so before you can declare your tapped creatures as blockers.

Q: Last weekend at Regionals I was playing my Tooth and Nail deck against Mono Blue Control. During Game 1, my opponent played Bribery and got my Sundering Titan which easily allowed him to win the game. Midway through game 2, He draws his card...then calls for a Judge...and reveals my Sundering Titan which he just drew! The judges discussed the situation for about 10 minutes, then decided for us to simply restart Game 2, giving neither of us a warning. Is this a correct ruling? Most people have told me that we should have both received warnings. What would you have done?

A: If nothing was done that arranged the order of your library, then I probably would have shuffled the Titan back into your library. If there were effects that did arrange the top or bottom of your library I would have removed the top and/or bottom and shuffled the Titan back into the rest and then put the top and or bottom back. Technically both of your were playing with illegal decks which normally merits a game loss at that level of play, however I would think that warnings for Procedural Error - Major for both of you and the correction above is probably a better solution (Restarting the game is almost never a good solution--Sheldon).