Rules Tip of the Day: Magic Acronym — APNAP: Whenever both players in the game either need to make a decision or put triggered abilities they control on the stack, the active player acts first followed by the non-active player, or in APNAP order. According to the proposed multiplayer rules, this would expanded so that the active player acts/chooses first, followed by each non-active player, starting with the player to the left of the active player and continuing clockwise around the table.

Q: Can I play Coretapper’s second activated ability requiring that I sacrifice it and target Coretapper? In other words, is the sacrificed Coretapper a valid target for its own two charge counters?

A; Yes. When playing a spell or ability you choose targets before you pay costs. You can choose the Coretapper as the target to its own ability and then sacrifice Coretapper to pay the cost. This ability will then be countered on resolution when it tries to resolve.

Q: Lets say I have a tapped Salvaging Station, March of the Machines, and AEther Spellbomb in play. My opponent then tries to destroy my Salvaging Station. Now, since the station is an artifact creature I sacrifice my spellbomb to bounce it, which should trigger the stations untap ability. What I'm wondering is if the station untaps before it's returned to my hand and if I'm able to use it.

A: Yes, the top object on the stack will be the Salvaging Station’s triggered ability. Just under it will be the Æther Spellbomb ability targeting the Salvaging Station. After the top object resolves and untaps the Salvaging Station but before the Spellbomb's ability resolves, you can activate Salvaging Station's ability to return a target artifact card with a converted mana cost of 1 or less in your graveyard. In fact because Æther Spellbomb is sacrificed to pay the costs of its ability, you can target it.

Q: Lifeline is in play. I play Standardize to convert all creatures in play to Merfolk, then I played Peer Pressure to gain control all of these Merfolk. However, my opponent plays Wrath of God the following turn. Do his ex-creatures return to play under my control (because of the non-stopping effect of Peer Pressure), or on his side (because it was his creatures)?

A: The creature cards that are returned to play by Lifeline's ability are returned under the control of their owners. It does not matter that you controlled some of these creatures when they were last in play, Lifeline's effect will return them to whoever owns them.

Q: If my opponent controls Fatespinner and I choose to skip my combat step, can I play Berserk in my first main phase? Berserk says that it can only be played prior to the combat damage step, but in this turn there won’t be any combat damage step.

A: You can play Berserk during the first main phase as that is before the combat damage step. You don't skip a step or phase until you come to it, so as far as the game knows you will have a combat damage step later. If at the beginning of the declaration of attackers step no attackers are declared, you skip immediately to the end of combat step, so in that instance you skip the combat damage step as well.

Q: If I have Avarice Totem and Guardian Beast both in play, and I activate the Totem, what happens?

A: First of all I assume that you are targeting a permanent controlled by an opponent. Due to Guardian Beast's effect your opponent will not be able to gain control of the Avarice Totem. Because one part of the exchange can not happen, the ability will fail to do anything.

Q: Player A has Vedalken Shackles. Player B has Solemn Simulacrum. If player A takes the Solemn and blocks a creature and the Solemn dies, who draws the card?

A: Player A will draw. This played controlled Solemn Simulacrum when its ability triggered, so they are the controller of this ability.

Q: My opponent has Mogg Maniac in play and two Warrior en-Kor. He Earthquakes for two and re-directs the damage from the en-Kors to his Mogg Maniac, making the Maniac take a total of 6. He says I end up taking 8 total. Is this possible? Doesn't the Mogg die after receiving the first point of the Earthquake?

A: When a spell or ability like Earthquake deals multiple points of damage at once it is all dealt at once, not one at a time. When the Earthquake resolves the Mogg Maniac will be dealt six points of damage at once. Four points of this damage is due to the redirected damage from the en-Kor creatures, but it is still dealt at the same time as the other damage from the Earthquake. Because of this when the Maniac's ability resolves you will be dealt six points of damage. Combined to the two from the Earthquake, you will have been dealt eight points of damage.

Q: What happens when I have a creature with both Binding Agony and Pariah on it and I take damage?

A: Instead of you being dealt damage, the damage will be applied to the enchanted creature due to Pariah. This will cause Binding Agony's ability to trigger. When this ability resolves the damage that Binding Agony would deal to you is instead applied to this creature, which will then trigger Binding Agony again. This loop will continue until the enchanted creature receives lethal damage and goes to the graveyard at which point the damage from the Binding Agony ability on the stack will be dealt to you, as Pariah won't be in play any longer. In the end you will be dealt the same amount of damage as was originally assigned to you, and the enchanted creature and both enchantments will be in a graveyard. If these two enchantments were on an Indestructible creature in this situation then the game would end in a draw.

Q: On the printed copy of Mystical Tutor, it mentions that you can search for mana sources. Does mana source mean Land? Elves? or Dark Ritual?

A: You can not use Mystical Tutor to get a 'mana elf' or a land. Mana Sources do not exist any more, but it used to refer to spells that generated mana, like as you pointed out Dark Ritual. Here is the current Oracle text for Mystical Tutor:

Mystical Tutor

U

Instant

Search your library for an instant or sorcery card and reveal that card. Shuffle your library, then put the card on top of it.

You can get Dark Ritual as that card is now an instant.

Q: Player 1 plays Ancestral Recall. Player 2 then plays Fork targeting Ancestral Recall. Can Player 1 play Misdirection targeting the Fork copy of the Ancestral Recall and change the target of the copy to himself? Is there a way for Player 1 to draw six cards from this situation, via his recall and the misdirected copy?

A: Yes, Player 1 can end up drawing six cards. When Fork resolves a copy of the Ancestral Recall will go on the stack. It is an exact copy in every way except for two things; it will be the same color as the Fork, most likely red, and the controller of the Fork can choose a different target for the Fork copy. This copy is still a spell even though it is not represented by a card. It can be targeted by Misdirection and its target can be changed.