Rules Tip of the Day: With the Star City Games outage this week, some of your questions may have been lost. Please feel free to resend questions you sent on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Q: Cryptic Command has an choice that says "tap all creatures your opponents control" my question, does this option target players, or all opponents' creatures?

A: It does not target anything. This mode can tap creatures that are controlled by an opponent that cannot be targeted and it can tap individual creatures that cannot be targeted. If this mode is chosen, all creatures controlled by all of your opponents will become tapped.

Q: In play I have a Mirror Entity, an Imperious Prefect, and a Ceaseless Searblades. Can I repeatedly use Mirror Entity with X=0 to make all of my creatures 0/0 with all creature types (including Elf, making them 1/1) in order to pump my Searblades to an arbitrarily large power?

A: No. The Searblades will be 1/1 creature. The Searblades' ability triggers when you play an Elemental activated ability. This ability will go on the stack on top of the Mirror Entity ability. Both the effects from the Mirror Entity's ability and Searblades' abilities are applied in the same layer according to timestamp order. The last thing to resolve in this example is the Mirror Entity's ability, which will make the Searblades a 1/1 creature. Mirror Entity's effect will effectively negate the effects from the Searblades' triggered abilities.

Q: If my opponent sacrifices a permanent that Nettlevine Blight is attached to, will that prevent Nettlevine Blight from being attached to another land or creature? Or does the ability trigger whenever the enchanted permanent is sacrificed?

A: No. Nettlevine Blight's ability triggers at the beginning of the enchanted permanent's controller's end of turn step. If the enchanted permanent is sacrificed before the end of turn step and before this ability resolves, then the Nettlevine Blight will not be able to enchant something else.

Q: I attack with a 4/4 Epochrasite, which is blocked by a 7/7 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade. After the combat phase, I cast Sudden Death on his Korlash, which has already received four damage from my Epochrasite. Can my opponent regenerate Korlash?

A: Yes, it is a 3/3 creature with four points of damage on it, so he can regenerate it. It does not matter that an effect that lowers toughness was the last to be applied. When state-based effects are checked, Korlash will be destroyed by lethal damage. However, regeneration can replace this.

Q: If I attach Verdant Embrace to a creature someone else controls, does that person get t he 1/1 tokens?

A: Verdant Embrace gives the enchanted creature the triggered ability that makes token creatures. This means that the controller of the enchanted creature will be the one that puts the 1/1 token creatures into play under his or her control.

Q: When you draw a card with Niv Mizzet, the Firemind in play, can you look at the card before you deal damage to a creature or player? Or do you have to decide before you actually draw the card?

A: Niv-Mizzet's ability will not go on the stack until after the draw has been completely performed. This means that this card will be in your hand and you will know what it is when you choose a target for the triggered ability.

Q: If I have a flipped Erayo, Soratamai Ascendant, is its casting cost zero or two?

A: Its mana cost is still 1U, and its converted mana cost will be two. When a permanent flips many of its characteristics change, but its mana cost does not.

Q: If I have Undiscovered Paradise in play and I haven't taped it for mana, will it still have to return to my hand on my upkeep?

A: No. When you use its mana ability a delayed effect is created that is applied when you untap next. Undiscovered Paradise is only returned to your hand as you untap permanents if you have used this mana ability.

Q: Player A has a Fecundity and two creatures. Player B has two creatures and plays Wrath of God. Who draws first?

A: It is player A's choice. When Wrath of God resolves, these four creatures will go to the graveyard. This will cause Fecundity's ability to trigger four times. Player A controls Fecundity, so he can choose the order that these abilities go on the stack.

Q: Regarding card alterations, what's the protocol on them? I've heard conflicting reports about what is and isn't legal. I know generally discretion is left to the head judge, but are there any hard and fast rules past the obvious 'don't leave indentations'?

A: The general rules are 1) It must not mark the card so that it is identifiable in any way when the card is in the deck / library. And 2) that the card be recognizable by its art. Keep in mind that while you may not be able to see card markings, others—including judges—might. This also applied to being able to recognize a card by its art. The best method is to keep card alterations to a minimum.