Rules Tip of the Day: The power- and toughness-setting effects of type changing abilities that make permanents into creatures are not cumulative. For example, using Genju of the Spires twice will not make the animated land a 12/2 creature.

Q: My opponent casts Bogardan Hellkite. He puts the comes-into-play ability on the stack. With that on the stack, I cast Temporal Isolation on the Hellkite. Is the damage prevented?

A: Yes. The static ability of Temporal Isolation will prevent all damage that the enchanted creature deals; this includes things like the damage from Bogardan Hellkite's triggered ability. Your opponent may have chosen targets and divided the damage already, but when this damage would be dealt, the Hellkite is enchanted by Temporal Isolation, so it will be prevented.

Q: Can I save a (non-black) creature from Terror by Momentary Blinking it? I guess not, as it will be in play again before the Terror looks for its target. Correct?

A: Actually, you can save a creature in this manner. When an object leaves play and then later returns, it is treated as an entirely new object with no connection to when it was previously in play. So this creature that returns to play when Momentary Blink resolves is not the same creature that was originally targeted by Terror. This means that the Terror will not have a legal target, so it will be countered on resolution.

Q: How do Slivers on both sides of the board interact with Sudden Spoiling? For example: I attack with a Watcher Sliver and a Bonesplitter Sliver into my opponent's two Watcher Slivers, and play Sudden Spoiling after he declares a block. My intuition is that my Slivers are 4/4 and his are 0/2 but we weren't sure. Do mine make his 2/4? Or something else?

A: After Sudden Spoiling resolves, your Slivers will be 4/4 and your opponent's will be 2/4. The static abilities of the Watcher and Bonesplitter Sliver are applied after the effect from Sudden Spoiling. This is because continuous effects that set power and toughness are applied before continuous effects from static abilities that do not set power and toughness. When Sudden Spoiling resolves, your opponent's two Watcher Slivers will become 0/2 and lose their ability to give Slivers +0/+2. However, your opponent's Slivers will still get the +2/+0 and +0/+2 bonuses from your Watcher and Bonesplitter Slivers, so they'll become 2/4 creatures. The only real difference between your Slivers and his is that yours do not have their 'base' P/T set to 0/2, so your Slivers will be 4/4s.

Q: I use a Faceless Butcher to remove a face-down Morph creature that my opponent controls. Is it removed from the game face up or down? And if my Butcher leaves play, does this creature return to play face up or down?

A: Anytime a card is removed from the game it is removed face up, unless the effect removing the card specifies otherwise. So you will be able to see what card this Morph is once it has been removed from the game. If Faceless Butcher leaves play, its ability will return the removed card to play face up, it will not be under the Morph effect.

Q: If I have Outrider en-Kor and another 2/2 in play, and someone casts Pyroclasm, can I send the 2 damage from my Outrider to the 2/2, or will it be in the graveyard already?

A: You can get the result that you want. After Pyroclasm is played, and before it resolves, you can activate the ability of Outrider en-Kor twice, targeting the other 2/2 creature you control. Then, when Pyroclasm resolves, the Outrider will not receive any damage, and the 2/2 will receive four points of damage.

Q: How does Dark Withering interact with Smallpox? The order of Smallpox goes: lose life, discard a card, sacrifice a creature, then sacrifice a land. That means players discard before they sacrifice a creature. If I discard Dark Withering, do I declare a target before or after each player sacrifices a creature? If my opponent has a Birds of Paradise and a Llanowar Elves in play and I cast Smallpox, discarding Dark Withering, will it get rid of both his creatures?

A: The Madness triggered ability will not go on the stack until after Smallpox has completely resolved. And you won't play Dark Withering or choose a target for Dark Withering until this triggered ability resolves. When your opponent chooses to sacrifice a creature, he will know that you have discarded Dark Withering, but he won't know what you intend to target. In the example given you will be able to get rid of both creatures, as you can target the creature that is not sacrificed with Dark Withering.

Q: If Balduvian Frostwaker uses its ability to make a Snow-Covered Swamp a 2/2 blue Elemental creature with flying, it's still considered a land. Could Viscerid Drone sacrifice just that one card since it is both a creature and land?

A: No, that does not work. When paying the costs of Viscerid Drone's ability, you will have to sacrifice two permanents. It does not matter if one or both meet both requirements.

Q: Can I play Flash Conscription and target a tapped creature I control?

A: Yes. You can play Flash Conscription and target a creature you control. The word 'untap' in Flash Conscription's text is an instruction to untap the targeted creature when Flash Conscription resolves; it is not a targeting restriction. Similarly, the change of control is also part of the effect, not a targeting requirement. If, when Flash Conscription resolves, you already control this creature and it is untapped, then the targeted creature will still gain haste and the Spirit Link ability until the end of turn if you spent white mana.