Rules Tip of the Day: The converted mana cost of most tokens is zero. The only exceptions are token creatures that are copies of other cards. These creatures will have the same converted mana cost of whatever they are copying.

Q: If I have Skyfire Kirin in play, and I play Shimatsu the Bloodcloaked, can I grab an opponent's 4cc creature first, and then sacrifice it to Shimatsu second?

A: Yes that works. Skyfire Kirin's ability triggers when you play the Shimatsu spell. This triggered ability will go on top of the Shimatsu spell and resolve before it does. This means that you will gain control of the creature targeted by Skyfire Kirin's ability before you need to sacrifice creatures as Shimatsu resolves.

Q: I control four permanents--three lands and one Genju. My opponent plays Choice of Damnations. When it resolves I choose the number two. My opponent chooses for me to has me sacrifice down to two permanents. I choose to sacrifice the enchanted land first, putting the Genju trigger on the stack, then sacrifice the Genju itself (because its still in play because the choice hasn't finished resolving so state-based effects have not been checked). Then after the choice resolves, I get the Genju back.

A: Your end result is correct, but one portion of your reasoning is not. When you resolve Choice of Damnations you sacrifice all permanents at one time. You do not choose one, sacrifice it and then choose another and sacrifice it. You choose which permanents to sacrifice and sacrifice them all at one time. This means that the Genju enchantment and the land it is enchanting will both go to the graveyard at the same time. Because of this the Genju ability will trigger, as just prior to when the land left play the Genju was attached to it.

Q: I have Gloom and Ghostly Prison in play under my control. If a player wants to attack me, does he/she need to pay two for the Ghostly Prison and three more for Gloom for each creature?

A: No. Ghostly Prison’s ability is a static ability. Paying two mana so a creature can attack to satisfy Ghostly Prison is not playing an activated ability. Because of this Gloom will not raise the amount needed to be paid.

Q: Is there anything against you looking at your hand at the same time as you are revealing cards with something like Sensei's Divining Top or Impulse? I have been told that there was, but I can't find anything to substantiate it.

A: There is nothing that prevent you from looking at your hand and the three cards on top of your library at the same time when resolving Sensei's Divining Top's ability or Impulse. You need to be careful so you do not mix these cards up, but that does not mean you can't look at both sets of cards at once.

Q: My question is about Meekstone. Obviously if I had Ravenous Baloth in play, it wouldn't be allowed to untap, but if that Ravenous Baloth had Enfeeblement on it (making its power 2) would it be allowed to untap? I guess simply I’m asking does the Meekstone check the actual power written on the card, or does it look at the current in-game power that creature has?

A: With Meekstone in play you check the current power of creatures when it is determined whether or not they untap, not the power and toughness as printed on a creature card.

Q: I have Wall of Glare, Wall of Hope, and Fortified Area in play. My opponent attacks with two creatures for two damage each. Can I block both creatures with the two walls banded together and assign all damage to the Wall of Hope?

A: No. Wall of Glare can block both attacking creatures, but Wall of Hope will only be able to block one. You can choose to assign the damage from the one creature that both walls block to Wall of Hope, but not the damage form the other creature.

Q: You’ve written in an article that combat damage is considered has one event. My question is about when Force Bubble is combined with Divine Presence. Since combat damage his calculated as one event does Divine Presence count it as one source of damage and reduce it to 3? Meaning that whatever billions of creature he uses I will still only put three counters on Force Bubble

A: No. While combat damage may be dealt as one time, the individual creatures dealing damage are the sources of this damage. This means that Divine Presence's ability will only affect damage from each creature that is over four or more, and not all combat damage if it is over four points of damage. So if you received combat damage from five 1/1 creatures, you would put five counters on Force Bubble.

Q: Player A has six creatures in play, Player A has a few creatures and blocks. Player A makes a mistake and thinks that more of his creatures should go to grave when combat damage resolves than are supposed to, so he places them in his graveyard. Player B takes his turn, untaps, and then asks about the creatures but doesn't allow Player A to take them back even though there was no reason for the creatures under player A's control to go to the graveyard in the first place. Player B eventually won. What is the correct course of action in this situation? Should Player A get a warning and be allowed to take them back? Should player B get a warning for allowing player A to do it?

A: If player B noticed that these creature should not have gone to the graveyard at the moment that they were placed there, and allowed it to happen anyway then he is cheating. The proscribed penalty for this at any level of play is a disqualification. If Player B did not notice this error until later in the game then he is not cheating, but he does not really have the choice of whether or not these creatures should remain in the graveyard, that is up to the judge running the event. If it were me, my correction would be determined by whether or not any significant game actions occurred between the time the error was made and it anyone made any decisions based on the incorrect game state. However from the description and the fact that this if FNM, I am inclined to put these creatures back in play. Also due to the low level rules enforcement, I would be disinclined to give any warnings if there is no cheating involved.