---

Published on 06/11/2012

CI vs Megashark vs Giant Octopus

or, Deep in the Asylum

By Eli Shiffrin, Carsten Haese, and James Bennett
This Article from: Eli Shiffrin

Cranial Translation
简体中文 繁體中文 Deutsch Español Français Italiano Pусский

---

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 Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes.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.

You've heard of The Asylum, haven't you? The film company that makes absurd, insane ripoffs of real movies? Look them up on IMDB, lose hours of your life.

We've braved the depths of dementia to fight these abominations and bring you rules questions! Lots of rules questions! You're welcome.

As always, send in your questions at our @CranialTweet Twitter account, to moko@cranialinsertion.com , or think it really hard in our direction.

If that last one works, we will be very happy.

---

Q: Sakashima's Student enters the battlefield as Inferno Titan thanks to the power of ninjutsu. I have another Student in hand. Can I ninja that in, too, bouncing my first Student, also copying the Titan, and repeat?

A: Go Ninja, go Ninja, go! You can loop your ninjas like this for per iteration. Ninjas that ninja their way into combat are unblocked attacking creatures, and so can be bounced for something else to ninja in. While this is normally rather pointless, enters-the-battlefield triggers like that make it quite useful!

---

Q: What does Enigma Sphinx do when it dies but you only have one card left in your deck?

A: It'll dig down as deep as it can go and hibernate there until you draw it, much like that groundhog in Pennsylvania, except when it comes out it promises that face-beatings are coming rather than spring. In case the logic of this seems shaky to you, we have rule 401.8 to state it explicitly. The putting part, not the face-beating part.

---

Q: Can I Incinerate my opponent's soulbond target before he pairs up his creatures?

A: Alas, soulbond doesn't target. You won't know what your opponent will pair his creature to until it's too late for you to do anything about it. If he has limited options, though, you can further limit them in response to the soulbond trigger, but you can't stop him from pairing something unless you can take out all of the creatures that matter.

---

Q: My opponent's creatures took some damage in combat. If I Black Sun's Zenith now, will they die, or does damage go away end of combat?

A: They'll die and be dead. Damage marked on creatures stays marked on until the cleanup step, which is well after your second main phase.

---

Q: Phantasmal Image is copying Treacherous Pit-Dweller and dies. Pit-Dweller is the only creature left now. Do I have to copy it and give it to my opponent now?

A: If you're going to copy anything, it'll trigger since it came back from your graveyard and you'll have to give it to your opponent. Luckily, copying is optional! If you choose not to copy anything, you'll have an Image that is 1/1 thanks to its counter, and more importantly your opponent will not have a 5/4 Demon.

---

Q: For Liliana of the Veil's ultimate, I want to put an Aura and the permanent it enchants into different piles. Can I actually do that?

A: Yup! Nothing's changing zones while you make piles; the Aura and whatever it's sitting on are both on the battlefield, and the Aura's still sitting on that permanent. If he chooses to sacrifice the pile with that permanent, your opponent will put the Aura into his graveyard shortly after as a state-based action when the Aura finds its comfy chair gone.

---

Q: Will Condemn get rid of my commander forever?

A: Forever is a very long time. Condemn will just get rid of your commander until you find a way to tutor for it, shuffle and then draw it, or just draw your entire deck. The commander-to-command-zone rule only replaces exile and graveyarding with going to the command zone. It won't save it from wandering off to explore your library.

---

Q: If it's my turn, is there any way for my opponent to use Surgical Extraction to stop me from casting Lingering Souls and immediately flashing it back?

A: There's nothing he can do. Lingering Souls doesn't go to your graveyard until it's done resolving, and after that, you get priority first since it's your turn. If you cast it right away, it immediately moves to the stack, and can't be the target of Surgical Extraction.

---

Q: If I cast Comet Storm for X = 1, can I use Rosheen Meanderer's mana to kick it a bunch?

A: You sure can! Comet Storm's cost includes an , and that's all Rosheen cares about - she doesn't care whether you spend her mana to pay , only whether you pay a cost containing with it, and the cost of Comet Storm is plus per kick.

---

Q: Can Cast through Time or Trail of the Mage-Rings let me rebound Temporal Mastery?

A: No such luck. Rebound replaces going to the graveyard from resolving with all sorts of awesome stuff, but Temporal Mastery exiles itself during resolution. It never tries to go to the graveyard, so there's nothing for rebound to replace.

---

Q: Tandem Lookout marries an Inferno Titan which attacks and hits three of my opponents for 1 each. Do I draw three cards?

A: The trigger event, dealing damage to an opponent, happened three times. All of the damage was dealt at once, which would only trigger it once if it were dealt to one player, but hitting three opponents at once matches "an opponent" three times.

---

Q: Can Bruna, Light of Alabaster steal a Daybreak Coronet and Rancor if she doesn't have an Aura on her yet?

A: She can't. Immediately before moving any Auras, you choose what you'll move and then verify that that's legal. Since Daybreak Coronet can't be attached to Bruna at this point, your choice is illegal, and you have to make a new selection.

---

Q: What if Daybreak Coronet is in my hand and Rancor is on the battlefield?

A: Now this will work! Since Bruna, being so eloquent, uses two verbs in her ability, the actions are sequential: first you yoink Auras from the battlefield, and then you put them from your hand and graveyard onto her. After moving Rancor to her, she can legally be enchanted by Daybreak Coronet, so now it can come out onto her.

---

Q: Bruna, Light of Alabaster pulls a Mind Control I control and one I don't onto her. How do we figure who gets her?

A: It all comes down to timestamps: whichever Mind Control has a later timestamp wins. But do note that timestamps don't care about when the Mind Controls entered the battlefield now! They got a new timestamp when they became attached to Bruna. "But they became attached at the same time!" you cry. That means that the player whose turn it is chooses relative timestamps for them - so if you're attaching both Mind Controls to Bruna, it had better be your turn or you'll be a sad panda.

---

Q: Can two Spellskites play tennis with a spell to make them huge with Wild Defiance?

A: They sure can. Wild Defiance doesn't trigger off a spell being cast - it triggers off of a creature you control becoming the target of a spell where it wasn't a target of that spell before. That'll happen over and over with Andre Spellskitey and Maria Artifactova there.

---

Q: Can I discard a Breeding Pool to cast Foil?

A: It's an Island, so away it goes! Anything that refers to "an Island" (or any other basic land type) just cares about having the subtype "Island," and not the card's name. So you can pitch Breeding Pool, but not Hinterland Harbor, to Foil your opponent's plans and/or potato.

---

Q: When do I have to pay to attack through Ghostly Prison?

A: When it tells you to. Next!

Oh, it'd probably be helpful to tell you when that is. That'll be after choosing who attacks, but before anything else (such as triggers from attacking, or a chance to activate non-mana abilities) happens. Notably, this means that any mana you made in your main phase or beginning of combat is gone, and you won't have a chance to cast spells for mana.

---

Q: Do I have to choose a target for Restoration Angel even if my only legal target is a Phantasmal Image?

A: You do. A trigger that says you "may" do something still goes on the stack - as it resolves, you choose to do the may-thing or not.

---

Q: Can I do anything between knowing the two spells I'll get off Maelstrom Wanderer?

A: You can do all sorts of things between casting them, but you'll never be able to do things knowing what both spells will be.

Cascade is a triggered ability; both triggers go on the stack after you cast the Wanderer. They'll resolve one at a time, though. One resolves, you find a new card to cast, then cast it and get priority. It resolves, then you get priority again. Now the second cascade trigger resolves, letting you cast another free spell, and finally the Wanderer itself resolves. (More priority passes go in there, but you hopefully have the gist of it by now.)

---

Q: If there are ten creatures out, can Maelstrom Wanderer cascade into Blasphemous Act?

A: Maelstrom Wanderer isn't that blasphemous. The Act's ability reduces what you pay to cast it, but it doesn't change its mana cost or converted mana cost. And its converted mana cost is too high for our Wandering friend.

---

Q: If I Hypergenesis out Urabrask the Hidden, do my opponent's creatures come in tapped?

A: That depends on who puts out what when; we have the where, why, and how covered (It was on the battlefield with the Hypergenesis, and I know Professor Plum didn't do it). Permanents entering via Hypergenesis are put out sequentially, unlike many other mass-creature-dump effects, so any opponents' creatures they put out after Urabrask comes out will come in tapped. Any before that won't be.

---

Q: How do I become a judge and be all awesome like you guys?

A: Most of what you'll need to do will be done at the Judge Center. First, test your knowledge! Click "Exam" to create a couple practice exams, then take the Rules Advisor exam and, once you pass, the Level 1 Practice exam. None of these are mandatory, but they'll be invaluable for getting used to the test format, and if you can't do well on them, odds are you won't do well on the real exam.

Remember: Test material is strictly confidential. Sharing it with other people, even if you try to be cute and change a couple things, may result in severe action taken against your DCI membership.

Once you're confident that you're ready, or if you need help getting ready, click "People" to find an L2+ judge near you to mentor you and eventually proctor your exam!

Aside from rules knowledge, you'll need to know the Magic Tournament Rules and Judging at Regular guidelines; you can find links these on our Resources page.

Lastly, if we've inspired you to become a certified judge or just to become a better uncertified judge for your store, please let us know. It gives us warm fuzzies.

---

That's all for this week! And, amazing as it seems, Magic 2013 is just around the corner. We'll have a little schedule switch-around in a few weeks to accommodate our schedules, so you'll get a double dose of James as we break in the new guy, and I'll be back in a few weeks with a rundown of the latest core set!

Until next time, may you know the joy of mocking bad movies.

- Eli Shiffrin

---

About the Author:
Eli Shiffrin is currently in Lowell, Massachusetts and discovering how dense the east coast MTG community is. Legend has it that the Comprehensive Rules are inscribed on the folds of his brain.

---