Published on 08/08/2022
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By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, and Justin Hovdenes
This Article from: Justin Hovdenes
Cranial Translation
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Note: This article is over two years old. Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes. Proceed with caution.
This mail bag seems extra heavy.
Lately I've been spending my time reading and answering Magic Rules Question on Facebook. There is a group on Facebook called "Ask-the-Judge (Magic: the Gathering Rules & Policy Group)". This is a good resource for fast answers to rules questions players may have. So I've collected some of the more interesting questions I've seen in the group over the last few days to share with you here.
We are always looking for new material, so if you have a short question, you can send it to our Twitter account at @CranialTweet, and you can send us longer questions to our e-mail at moko@cranialinsertion.com . If you do so, we may use your question in an upcoming article.
Q: Does the first chapter of Hidetsugu Consumes All destroy all creature tokens?
A: It destroys all tokens with no defined mana cost and all that have a mana value of one or zero. If the token was created by making a generic token, for example Bitterblossom, then yes, because the mana value is not defined. If the token was created by making a copy of a creature that has a mana cost, such as Spitting Image copying a Tarmogoyf, then usually no.
Q: I control Toralf, God of Fury and my opponent controls two 5/5 Beast tokens and an Ugin, the Spirit Dragon with six loyalty counters on it. If I cast Blasphemous Act, can I have the excess damage to the Beast tokens be dealt to Ugin, or because Toralf was killed by Blasphemous Act, he fails to do damage?
A: You can burn Ugin to the ground! Although Toralf and the tokens die simultaneously, you can still use his replacement ability to deal the excess damage from the tokens to Ugin.
Q: I control Luminous Broodmoth and Phyrexian Altar. My opponent then casts Archetype of Imagination, do I suddenly have infinite mana?
A: Yes, the opponent has helped you out by making it impossible for your creature to have or keep flying. You can sacrifice Broodmoth to Altar, and since Broodmoth didn't have flying when it died, it will return the battlefield with a flying counter. The counter will not grant it flying, so you can sacrifice it again, rinse, repeat, make all the mana.
Q: I control Damping Sphere and my opponent controls a Forest enchanted by Wolfwillow Haven. Can they still tap that Forest to get
or do they only get 
?A: Damping Sphere will have no effect on the enchanted Forest. The game sees the Forest make
and then make another . This is two separate groups of one mana, and Damping Sphere only gets involved if a single group makes two or more mana.This bag is too 'bite-y".
Q: My commander is Toski, Bearer of Secrets and is on the battlefield along with my Raised by Giants. If my opponent Threatens Toski, is the Squirrel still a 10/10 while my opponent controls her?
A: Yes, yes she is. Raised by Giants, like all the Backgrounds, cares only that it is your commander, not that you control it.
Q: I control Archivist of Oghma and overload Winds of Abandon. Assuming I have only one opponent and they control only three creatures, how many cards do I draw from Archivist this turn?
A: You draw only one card. Rule 701.19h of the Comprehensive Rules covers this scenario quite specifically. Multiple searches with only one shuffle that are part of one spell or ability count as only one search.
Q: My commander is Arvad the Cursed, can I put Master Warcraft into the deck?
A: Master Warcraft's color identity is both white and red, so it can not be in Arvad's deck.
Q: My opponent exiled my Tarmogoyf with her Duplicant. At the time this happened, the Tarmogoyf was a 4/5 based on the cards in all graveyards. It's now two turns later, and if the Goyf were on the battlefield it would be a 6/7 based on the cards in all graveyards. Currently, how big is the Duplicant?
A: It is a 6/7. Duplicant looks at the Tarmogoyf as it exists in exile to determine its size, and the Goyf's power and toughness are defined by a Characteristic Defining Ability (aka, CDA) that works in all zones, not just while it's on the battlefield.
Q: I control three copies of Pontiff of Blight and no other creatures. Assuming I have access to unlimited white mana, how many times can I extort Reparations when I cast it?
A: You may extort it nine times. Extort is an ability that stacks, but does no go infinite. You have three creatures that each have extort three times, making a total of nine extort triggers.
Q: I attack with Varina, Lich Queen and three Zombie tokens while I control Teferi's Ageless Insight. I know I draw eight cards, but do I discard eight cards and gain 8 life or do I discard four cards and gain 4 life?
A: Varina's ability only cares about how many Zombies you attacked with, not how many cards you end up drawing from the ability. So you draw eight cards, discard four cards, and then gain 4 life.
Q: If my graveyard is empty can I still use Wrenn and Six's +1 loyalty ability?
A: Yes you can. The "Return up to one target land" means you can choose zero targets.
Q: I've just put Mysterious Limousine onto the battlefield and chosen my opponent's Bear Cub for the trigger. Before the trigger can resolve, my opponent Disenchants my Limousine. What happens to the Bear Cub?
A: No Limo rides for this Bear. The Limousine has a trigger that says "exile up to one other target creature until Mysterious Limousine leaves the battlefield". This is a duration set by how long Limousine is on the battlefield, and since that duration has already expired (it's been put into the graveyard) the trigger will do nothing at all to the Bear Cub.
This bag will do just fine.
Q: I currently control Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, Primeval Titan, and only three lands. If I attack with Titan and put two copies of Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle onto the battlefield, how much damage will my Valakuts deal this turn?
A: You will deal no damage with Valakuts this turn. Yes, all your lands are Mountains, but Valakut only cares when your sixth (or more) Mountain enters the battlefield, i.e. if you control at least five other Mountains. Nothing special happens when your fourth and fifth Mountain enter the battlefield.
Q: I control Samurai of the Pale Curtain and my opponent has chosen to mill herself when resolving Druidic Ritual, will my Samurai exile all permanents she mills this way?
A: Your Samurai will not affect the cards milled by Druidic Ritual. The Samurai is looking for permanents that go from the battlefield to the graveyard. There is a very subtle difference that prevents the Samurai from caring about cards that are not on the battlefield.
If a permanent would be put into a graveyard, exile it instead. - This only cares about permanents going from battlefield to graveyard, but will exile tokens.
If a permanent card would be put into a graveyard, exile it instead. - This will get cards discarded from hand, milled, and going from the battlefield to the graveyard, but will not exile tokens that die, as they are not cards.
Q: I have Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm out and my opponent has Leyline of Singularity. I think if cast Adult Gold Dragon and I copy it with Miirym, I'll get to keep both as Miirym stops the token from being legendary, but my opponent disagrees. Who is right?
A: Your opponent is right. Miirym makes a copy of the base unmodified version of the Adult Gold Dragon, only modified by its own copy effect or other copy effects. This all happens in Layer 1. Later in layer 4 both Adult Gold Dragons become legendary.
Q: I control a Grafdigger's Cage and my opponent casts Shardless Agent, cascading into a Bear Cub. Does my Grafdigger's Cage stop them from casting the Bear Cub?
A: It does not. It sort of seems like the Bear Cub is being cast from the library, but it's actually being cast from exile, and Grafdigger's Cage only stops spells from being cast from graveyards and libraries.
Well, the bag is all empty, hope to see you all next time.
- Justin Hovdenes AKA Hovey
Level 2 Magic Judge
Rapid City, SD
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