Regionals Tip of the Day: Regionals uses the Standard format, what used to be called Type II. Currently the Standard legal sets are Mirrodin, Darksteel, Fffth Dawn, Champions of Kamigawa, Betrayers of Kamigawa, Saviors of Kamigawa and Eight Edition. Also keep in mind that you can use any version of a card printed in any of those sets.

Sheldon will be at Atlanta Regionals and I will be at the first Northern Regionals in Minneapolis. I hope to see a lot of you.

Q: I have a question regarding Lethal Vapors and Pithing Needle.  I have an Underworld Dreams deck and I am trying to improve its creature control.  If I play Lethal Vapors immediately followed by Pithing Needle and name Lethal Vapors will the Lethal Vapors still kill creatures that come into play and not allow my opponents to set off the lethal vapors?

A: Yes, that works. Pithing Needle will prevent all players form activating the ability of Lethal Vapors however it will not prevent Lethal Vapor's triggered ability from destroying creatures that come into play.

Q: I have Sakashima, the Imposter in play copying Kokusho, the Evening Star. I play another Sakashima. Does she get to copy the Kokusho text before state based effects put them into the graveyard?

A: Yes. As this second Sakashima enters play you will choose a creature in play for this Sakshima to copy. Then Sakashima will enter play as a copy of this chosen, but it will still retain the name Sakashima, it will still be Legendary, and it will have the activated ability to return it to your hand. However as it is Legendary and has the same name as another Legendary permanent in play, both will go to the graveyard as a State-Based Effect. When they do, the leaves play triggered ability that they copied from Kokusho will trigger for each.

Q: I sacrifice my Kami of Ancient Law and target my own Promise of Bunrei. What goes on the stack first: the Promise-effect (sacrifice it and get tokens) or the Kami-effect (destroy target enchantment)? Please explain how this will end up resolving.

A: When you play the ability of Kami of Ancient Law that ability will go on the stack first. Because you sacrifice the Kami when you play this ability, the ability of Promise of Bunrei will trigger, but this triggered ability will not go on the stack until after you have completed the announcement of the Kami's ability. As the triggered ability of the Promise is added to the stack last, it will resolve first. When it does, you will sacrifice the Promise and put four 1/1 spirit tokens into play. Then the Kami of Ancient Law's ability will try to resolve, but be countered on resolution as it is no longer in play.

Q: Can I return a "flip enchantment" (such as Kuon's essence) to my hand with Hanna, Ship's Navigator? Or are the cards treated as creature cards when in a graveyard?

A: When not in play, these cards do not have any of the characteristics of the flipped versions and they will only be creature cards. In other words no, you can not use Hanna's ability to return one to your hand.

Q: I’m attacking with a Swamp animated by Genju of the Fens. My opponent blocks with his Keiga, the Tidal Star. I then pump up this attacking Swamp so it will deal lethal damage to Keiga and survive combat My opponent than targets this animated land with Keiga’s leaves play triggered ability. If this Swamp is later destroyed, where does the Genju enchantment go?

A: When this enchanted Swamp goes to the graveyard, the Genju ability will trigger. While your opponent may control the land, you are still the controller of the Genju enchantment. This means that you are the controller of this triggered ability. When this triggered ability resolves you are given the option of having this Genju enchantment remain in your graveyard or of having it go to your hand.

Q: Confusion in the Ranks is in play, and I play Duplicant while my opponent has a 2/1 creature and a 4/5 creature in play. May I target the Confusion ability on the 4/5 critter, then respond to the Confusion by having the Duplicant remove the 2/1 from the game, then resolve the Confusion by giving a 2/1 Duplicant to my opponent while taking his 4/5?

A: Yes this works. Keep in mind that the order that these two triggered abilities resolves does not matter, the result is the same as long as the targets remain the same.

Q: My friend has Megrim in play and he plays Wheel of Fortune and Forks it. I had three cards in my hand. do I take four damage or 20?

A: If you do not play any of these cards, or the cards you draw from the First Wheel of Fortune, before you are forced to discard them, then you will end up taking 20 points of damage.

Q: If the mana cost of Shifting Wall is "X" and I spend, six mana to play it, then I get a 6/6 wall. If I later use Metamorphosis and sacrifice the Shifting Wall, I get 7 mana of any one color I choose, correct?

A: No, you will get one mana of any color. When in any zone other than the stack, the value of X in the mana cost of a card is zero.