Rules Tip of the Day: There has been a recent change made to the Magic Floor Rules. It used to be that sets became legal for Constructed play on the 20th of the month in which they were officially released. Now, cards are legal in Constructed formats the day that they go on sale.

Q: If I have a Boggart Mob in play and five Goblins that I control deal damage to my opponent, do I get five tokens, or just one?

A: You would get five goblins tokens. Boggart Mob's ability triggers each time an individual Goblin source deals combat damage to a player. If five different Goblins deal combat damage, then the Mob's ability will trigger five separate times.

Q: I have Stampeding Wildebeests in play. During my upkeep, can I Evoke out Briarhorn, give the Stampeding Wildebeests +3/+3, and then return the Briarhorn to my hand with the Wildebeests before I sacrifice it?

A: No, that does not work. At the beginning of your upkeep, the Wildebeests' ability will trigger and go on the stack. You can respond to this ability by playing Briarhorn via its Evoke cost, but if you do, you will have to sacrifice the Briarhorn before the Wildebeests' ability resolves and you return a green creature to your hand. This combo does work if you play Briarhorn by paying its mana cost of 3G, just not if you play it via the Evoke cost.

Q: If I cast Pacifism on a Champion, and my opponent Champions the Champion, why is the Aura removed from the game? There is nothing that says on either card to remove or destroy target enchantment, but the enchantment is removed anyway.

A: The enchanted creature is removed from the game, but the enchantment is not. The Aura enchantment will remain in play, and then, when state-based effects are checked, it will be illegally in play and will go to the graveyard. The ability does not have to specify what happens to enchantments on the creature that is removed. The Champion ability removes the creature card only, nothing else.

Q: I have one Deathspore Thallid with two spore counters on it in play. My friend puts an Essence Flare on it. On my next upkeep the Thallid will die, but I believe it will get a third spore counter and I'll be able to remove it to make a Saproling, then sacrifice the Saproling before the Thallid dies. Will my idea work?

A: No. At the beginning of your next upkeep, the abilities of the Deathspore Thallid and the Essence Flare will both trigger. You control the Deathspore Thallid ability, but your opponent controls Essence Flare, so he will control this triggered ability. When multiple abilities trigger at the same time, they go on the stack in APNAP (Active Player, Non-Active Player) order. This means that those controlled by the active player go on the stack, followed by those controlled by the non-active player. The topmost item on the stack—in this case, the Essence Flare trigger—will resolve first. When it does, the Thallid will get a -0/-1 counter, and then go to the graveyard due to having a toughness of zero, before it can gain an additional spore counter.

Q: I have Loyal Sentry and Vedalken Mastermind in play. I use the Sentry to block an attacking Molder Slug. Can I use the Mastermind's ability to return the Sentry to my hand while still killing the Slug with the Sentry's ability? How would this have to be timed so that I wouldn't lose my Sentry as well?

A: You can do this. Loyal Sentry's ability triggers when it blocks a creature. You can respond to this ability by activating Vedalken Mastermind's ability and returning the Sentry to your hand before the ability resolves. The ability will still resolve and destroy the blocked creature, even though the Sentry is no longer in play.

Q: When I resolve the triggered ability of Skirk Drill Sergeant, do have to pay the mana cost of the Goblin card that was revealed in addition to the 2R I already payed?

A: You only have to pay 2R when Skirk Drill Sergeant's ability resolves. This will allow you to reveal the top card of your library. If it is a Goblin permanent card, you can put this card into play without paying any additional costs.

Q: I have a Cephalid Illusionist and a Shuko in play. I equip the Illusionist a truly unfathomable amount of times. All of the following cards are in my deck: Dread Return, Narcomoeba, Thermopod, and Gaea's Blessing. My intent here is to get four Narcomoebas into play and play Dread Return from the graveyard to bring back a Thermopod. From there I will continue activating my Shuko untill all four Narcomoebas are back and in play again. At this point I have the potential to create large sums of mana. Can I simply state "I continue this reanimating process untill I have 100,000 red mana" or must I actually shuffle up and mill Narcomoebas out of my deck because of the occasional Blessing trigger?

A: You must shuffle and mill over and over. This loop is repeatable, but the exact outcome each time you resolve Cephalid Illusionist's triggered ability is not the same each and every time. Because of this, the rules that govern repeatable loops will not allow you to just choose a number of time to repeat the loop.

Q: In Two-Headed Giant, does a player playing Divine Congregation get two life for each creature controlled by the other team, or do you have to pick one of the two players for the count?

A: Divine Congregation targets just one player, so the controller of Divine Congregation will gain 2 life for each creature that just that player controls, not for all creatures that the entire team controls.