New answers tagged magic-the-gathering
3
Tynam's answer covers the general case very well: the minimal deck size is optimal, and there are very few good reasons to deviate from that.
Nonetheless, here are some examples of corner cases where you may legitimately want to deviate from making one-for-one substitutions when you sideboard.
Storm-style combo decks
Unlike a more "traditional" two- or ...
10
Short answer
Yes. You should take cards out to keep a 60 card deck size.
Medium answer
Yes. It's always legal to play more than 60 cards. But when you design a deck, you don't - you keep it to 60 as much as possible. When you sideboard, you're redesigning your deck on the fly - and the same reasons that you kept it to 60 cards in the first place still ...
1
In general, the same reasoning as when constructing a deck can be used, i.e. if some cards are better than others, reducing the number of cards in the deck makes it more likely to draw the better cards.
In the sideboarding case, we have the additional problem of ensuring a reasonable land/spell ratio, which means that just adding cards to the deck is ...
4
If a triggered ability has a target, you have to choose the target when it goes on the stack. The target has to be valid both when the ability triggers, and when it resolves. From the rulebook:
114.1d A triggered ability is targeted if it identifies something it will affect by using the phrase “target [something],” where the
“something” is a phrase ...
5
Yes, when Aetherling returns to the battlefield, it's considered a new permanent, so it enters the battlefield without remembering that it was tapped.
400.7. An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence.
There are seven exceptions to this rule:
(none of the exceptions ...
-4
The mountain would NOT have summoning sickness period because it specifically states that it becomes a 4/4 red elemental creature until end of turn. It's still a land. Therefor the mountain can't be a creature before that turn or after that turn. Also seeing as how it is still a land It doesn't have summoning sickness. Lands don't have summoning sickness. So ...
2
Assuming your grizzly bear scenarios are either/or (and you're not doing one after another)...
You are correct. The card will come back as either a Lazav copy or a Doppleganger copy and it depends entirely on which card's copy ability you use.
It's the ability itself (of either lazav or the doppleganger) that causes the copy to retain the previous ...
6
You do not need to tap it before the creature dies, you will have an opportunity before the untap trigger resolves.
Goblin Sharpshooter does not contain an intervening "if" clause, but rather a normal triggered ability [CR 603.1]. This means that whenever the event occurs, "a creature dies," an untap trigger is placed on the stack [CR 603.1] . As with all ...
6
Before examining the merits, let's keep in mind that it's a very natural out of order sequencing since he could end up doing draw-untap-draw otherwise.
The limit on out of order sequencing is:
An out-of-order sequence must not result in a player prematurely gaining information which could reasonably affect decisions made later in that sequence.
If he ...
2
No. No player gets priority until after the triggered abilities that happen at the beginning of the upkeep step have gone on the stack.
502.3. No player receives priority during the untap step, so no spells or abilities can be played or resolved. Any ability that triggers
during this step will be held until the next time a player would
receive ...
4
No. The iron maiden's ability goes onto the stack before any player gets priority, and it will resolve regardless of whether it's source is still on the battlefield when it does.
112.7a Once activated or triggered, an ability exists on the stack independently of its source. Destruction or removal of the source
after that time won’t affect the ...
3
Your opponent should have chosen to untap Nettle Sentinel before drawing his second card (the card drawn when Elvish Visionary entered the battle field). Normally, out-of-order sequencing would allow actions like this.
However, You could argue that he missed the trigger due to the fact that he received extra information that influenced his decision to untap ...
8
It's not really fair to judge if he got a decent price or not based just on retail value. Just like trading in a car, you usually could have gotten more money selling it yourself, but the additional time requirements and overall hassle do not always make economic sense for your situation. I need a new car now, not after I eventually find a buyer for my old ...
5
Yes, cost increases and cost reductions apply. (And so do additional costs.)
"X" is whatever you chose, so 6. It doesn't change after you choose it.
Yes, it will cost {U}.
The cost to cast a spell (as defined in [CR 601.2e]) is:
total cost
= mana cost or alternative cost + additional costs and cost increases - cost reductions
Keep in mind that
...
10
Yes, the cost is still increased or decreased. For your example, X would be 6, because Entreat the Angels for x=6 only costs you 6.
117.9. Some spells have alternative costs. An alternative cost is a cost listed in a spell’s text, or applied to it from another effect, that its controller may pay rather than paying the spell’s mana cost. Alternative costs ...
10
Nope, when an ability on an object refers to itself by name it means "this object."
201.4b If an ability of an object refers to that object by name, and an object with a different name gains that ability, each instance of
the first name in the gained ability that refers to the first object
by name should be treated as the second name.
Example: ...
5
There have been many answers to this question, as there are many different ways to handle getting started in magic. Really, the best thing to do is to explore carefully and decide how you are going to play that's the only way to get a feel for how much your initial investment will be.
First and foremost, as others have suggested. Regardless of how you want ...
4
Glaring Spotlight affects hexproof from all sources, regardless of their type or the timestamp order of their effects.
In many cases in Magic, when two continuous effects do opposite things, we must look at their "timestamps" to figure out the final result.
Glaring Spotlight, however, doesn't remove hexproof from anything; what it does do is change the ...
0
I've recently been in this situation, I haven't played in almost 20 years and my girlfriend was interested in playing because one of her friends played.
If you want to learn the rules get the Magic the Gathering Game Duels of the Planeswalkers for the iPad/XBox/PS4/whatever the free demo should give you a pretty good basis in the rules.
Once you are sure ...
9
Yes, given that Bioshift is an instant.
The combat unrolls as follows:
...
Declare Blockers [CR 509]
Blockers are declared. [CR 509.1]
Damage Assignment order for attacking creatures is decided. [CR 509.2]
Damage Assignment order for blocking creatures is decided. [CR 509.3]
Players get priority. [CR 509.4-5]
Combat Damage Step (First Strike) [CR 510]
...
1
Yes, Both players get priority between first strike damage and normal damage.
21
It depends on the card in question. If it can't be determined use 0.
208.2a The card may have a characteristic-defining ability that sets its power and/or toughness according to some stated condition. (See
rule 604.3.) Such an ability is worded "[This creature's] [power or
toughness] is equal to . . ." or "[This creature's] power and
toughness are ...
5
Commander/EDH is a community-moderated format. Its banned list is not managed by Wizards of the Coast or the DCI. Official announcements from the EDH Rules Committee an be found on mtgcommander.net.
In this case, the April 2013 banned list announcement explains (emphasis added):
Trade Secrets is much like Limited Resources in that has some issues in a ...
2
It breaks multiplayer commander.
Two players in cahoots draw as many cards as they wish (including Reliquary Tower, or some other way to extend their max hand size).
There are other things, but I believe this is the primary reason.
6
If the spell has converted mana cost 1 or 2, it will be countered.
This answer may seem different to the Dark Confidant question. While rule 708.5 adequately answers that question, there are further split card rules relevant to Counterbalance.
708.5. An effect that asks for a particular characteristic of a split card while it’s in a zone other than ...
4
In the library, Life // Death has CMCs of 1 and 2. If the spell cast has a CMC of 1 or 2, it will be countered.
This is similar to how Protection from Red will protect from a source that's Red and White, or how a Human Soldier will get +1/+1 from Field Marshal.
708.6. Some effects perform comparisons involving characteristics of one or more split ...
8
No, Counterbalance only counters the original Storm spell.
706.10. To copy a spell or activated ability means to put a copy of it onto the stack; a copy of a spell isn’t cast and a copy of an activated ability isn’t activated. [...]
Since the copies are not cast, Counterbalance never triggers for them.
5
It does work like that. That's part of the point of Ripple... if your deck is built correctly, you can just keep on Rippling all the way through it.
This ruling on Thrumming Stone in Gatherer may be instructive:
If you cast a spell that already has ripple (such as Surging Flame,
which has ripple 4) while Thrumming Stone is on the battlefield, both
...
2
Yes. The first rat will ripple and then each subsequent casting of the spell 'relentless rats' will ripple, because the triggered ability will happen each time you cast a spell.
Note that this is a may trigger. Which means once it is on the stack, you may choose to do it or you may choose not to do it when it comes time to resolve the ripple effect.
7
No. Basilica Screecher will no longer be on the battlefield when the spell becomes cast, so its ability will not trigger.
Casting a spell:
Placing it on the stack. [CR 601.2a]
Make choices (e.g. modes, targets) that need to be made to cast the spell. [CR 601.2b-d]
Determine the total cost to cast the spell. [CR 601.2e]
Activate mana abilities. [CR ...
10
If it's somewhere other than the on the stack or if it's fused, a split card has two CMCs. You'll lose the life equal to both of the cards CMCs.
708.5. An effect that asks for a particular characteristic of a split card while it’s in a zone other than the stack gets two answers (one for each of the split card’s two halves).
Example: Infernal Genesis ...
10
Yes, because extort is merely a keyword. The color symbol {hybrid white/black} is not part of the card, but only exists in reminder text, which is not officially part of the card.
Here's the official ruling on the matter:
EXTORT
With the release of Gatecrash, we'd like to clarify our stance on extort by confirming that, as always, reminder text has ...
8
In simplest terms possible: Your opponent can cast any instants in response to your sorcery, but he'll still have to discard 2 cards if he has any.
so, if you cast mind rot, your opponent can't choose 2 instants to discard and cast them instead. He can cast instants before he chooses.
If you cast duress, your opponent can't cast the instant that you ...
4
Short Answer: As long as they chose to cast the instant before you chose the cards to discard, then the Instant applies (resolves) first.
Magic the gathering uses a stack for casting spells. This means that literally all spells being cast go on the stack.
Each time a player casts a spell they get priority back after the spell is cast so they can continue ...
-2
get some mind grinds or increasing confusions as well as mind sculpt curse of the bloody tome, sands of delirium, and paranoid delusions.
16
You can "fail to find" a card, but only while explicitly searching someone's library or hand. In the case of Inquisition of Kozilek, you are not "searching" the zone, so you must choose a card if a valid choice is available.
Per the comp rules, "fail to find" is specific to searching a hidden zone:
701.15b If a player is searching a hidden zone for ...
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