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Published on 07/30/2012

Black and White and Red All Over

or, Sunburnt Zebras

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

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 Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes.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 week's article title is a question? That can only mean one thing! Moko and Question Elemental? are conspiring to kill us all and start a new world order!

Or it's time for a quiz article. Maybe that.

Quiz articles are slightly redundant since we moved to the new site. If you register and then go to "My Account," you can set answers to be hidden by default. That means that every week, you can read the questions, but you won't see the answers until you click the "Show Answer" button. However, quiz articles have questions that are somewhat trickier but have a selection of possible answers for you to choose from.

If you've got more questions for us, go ahead and send them in! You can use the email button at the top left, mail to moko@cranialinsertion.com , or fire off a tweet to @Cranialtweet.

As for the title, for those of you who are (frighteningly) too young to know: The answer was a newspaper. It's black and white, and was once read all over. (Please tell me that none of you are too young to know what a newspaper is.) Nowadays... I suppose one of the eReaders is only black and white instead of off-green or taupe.

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Q: What does Sudden Spoiling do to my Spike Weaver with two counters on it if I already activated it this turn?

A: The sudden answer is...

A: It's a 2/4 and will still prevent damage.
B: It's a 2/4 and won't prevent damage.
C: It's a 0/2 and will still prevent damage.
D: It's a 0/2 and won't prevent damage.
E: It's getting a pony for Christmas and a Ferrari for its birthday.

The answer is

A, big and damage-free!

Don't forget your layers! Things that add or subtract power and toughness always apply after anything that sets power and toughness. So the Spike first becomes 0/2, and then gets +2/+2 from its counters.

Since Spike Weaver's last ability doesn't say that your creatures gain any abilities or anything, there isn't anything to lose to stop the damage prevention. It'll still be prevented.

For those of you new to our quiz articles, you should generally be very suspicious of the E answer.

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Q: What are some state-based actions?

A: The stately answers are...

A: Untapping at the start of each turn.
B: Creatures being destroyed for having lethal damage.
C: A player losing for having an empty library.
D: Endangered Armodon triggering while you control Maro and resolve Time Reversal.
E: Moving into your Maine phase.

The answers are

B, lethal damage!

Yes, sometimes we have "multiple answers may be correct," and when we do, sometimes only one is correct anyway! So let's look at why A, C, and D are wrong.

A: This is a turn-based action, not a state-based action - it happens every turn as part of how the turn works rather than cleaning up a game state.

C: Oh yeah, sometimes we have more tricksy answers on quiz questions. This isn't a state-based action because it's not even true. A player loses as a state-based action after trying to draw from an empty library, not from the library being empty. If you got snagged by a trick answer but knew the right answer anyway, give yourself 3/4 credit.

D: This is a state trigger, since it triggers on a game state rather than cleaning up a game state automatically.

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Q: Can I sacrifice Sheoldred, Whispering One during my upkeep and get it back with its own trigger?

A: Listen close, the answer is...

A: That depends on how you stack the triggers.
B: Yes, you can always choose to return it.
C: No, you can't target it.
D: Only if you use the sacrifice ability during your untap step.
E: Look at that lady. Are you going to tell her "no"?

The answer is

C, what an illegal target!

Since no player gets priority in the untap step, and triggers go on the stack in the upkeep before anyone gets priority to do things, Sheoldred won't be in your yard when its trigger goes on the stack. That's when you have to choose a target, so you're generally out of luck.

Fun fact: There is a way to have Sheoldred get itself back, though it's not any of the answers above. You need to phase out one Sheoldred, and then get a second. The first one phases in during your untap step, then in your upkeep, you check state-based actions and put them in the yard. Then you put the second Sheoldred's "get a thing" trigger on the stack, since it was around as the upkeep started, and it can target Sheoldred!

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Q: Which of these cards has a mana ability?

A: The answers are, mahna mahna...

A: Koth of the Hammer
B: Lion's Eye Diamond
C: Witch Engine
D: Dark Ritual
E: Island

The answers are

B and E!

A mana ability is either an activated ability which produces mana, or a triggered ability that produces mana and triggers off a mana ability. This question didn't include any triggered mana abilities, so we can ignore that and look at the activated ability part. The trick is, there are a handful of exceptions.

An activated ability that produces mana isn't actually a mana ability if it has a target (Witch Engine) or if it's a loyalty ability (Koth of the Hammer). Having a weird timing rule doesn't stop it from being a mana ability, so the Diamond's still in. Dark Ritual isn't even an activated ability, so it's right out.

Island would possibly be more balanced without a mana ability, but it has one.

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Q: I sacrifice Solemn Simulacrum to Birthing Pod and fetch Mulldrifter. What do I draw when?

A: The answer is drawn as...

A: It depends entirely on how you stack the things.
B: Draw all three cards, then shuffle.
C: Draw two, shuffle, draw one.
D: Draw one, shuffle, draw two.
E: Shuffle, then draw all three cards.
F: Draw a happy fish with wings sometime in 2006 or 2007.

The answer is

D, one-two!

The first step of activating Birthing Pod is to put the ability on the stack. Then you sacrifice Sad Robot to pay its cost, which causes the "draw a card" trigger to fire. It goes on top of the Pod ability, so it'll resolve first and you draw a card. Then you resolve the Pod ability fully: search, put, and shuffle. Once you've done that, the triggered ability from Mulldrifter goes on the stack, and once it resolves, you'll draw two more cards. Nothing in here can be ordered any other way.

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Q: My opponent controls Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Curse of Death's Hold. I cast Fiend Hunter. Can I get rid of Elesh Norn?

A: The fiendish answer is...

A: It depends entirely on how you stack the things.
B: Draw all three - wait, wrong question.
C: No, you can't exile anything.
D: No, you can exile Elesh Norn, but it'll come back.
E: Yes, it'll be gone for good no matter what.

The answer is

A, it all depends!

Fiend Hunter does enter the battlefield, even though it dies right away, so its enters-the-battlefield ability does trigger and you get to exile something. But it also died before triggers go on the stack! That means that you can order the triggers as you like, regardless of the order in which they actually triggered. If you let the leaves-the-battlefield trigger resolve first, and then the enters-the-battlefield trigger, the first one will return nothing and then the second will exile Elesh Norn indefinitely.

It's very similar to the trick with Cloudshift, but feels somewhat even less natural.

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Q: I control Volrath's Shapeshifter and the top card of my graveyard is Dominating Licid. Can I steal creatures with it?

A: The dominant answer is...

A: No, when Volrath's Shapeshifter becomes an Aura, it stops copying Dominating Licid.
B: No, when Volrath's Shapeshifter becomes an Aura, its control-changing effect can't apply.
C: Yes, but it will immediately stop copying Dominating Licid and give the creature back.
D: Yes, you can steal the creature for as long as Dominating Licid remains on top of your graveyard and Volrath's Shapeshifter remains an Aura.
E: Volrath's Shapeshifter and a Licid in the same question? Seriously? Do you want us to have a drinking problem?

The answer is

B, it can't apply!

This one's fairly simple if you know your layers well. In layer 2, control-changing effects apply. But Volrath's Ugly Licid is just a creature, not an Aura, so there is no "enchanted creature" and nothing happens. In layer four, it becomes an Aura. But we've already applied layer 2, and it's too late to go back.

To make matters worse, it gains the "gain control" ability in layer 3 - and now it's too late to go back and apply it in layer 2!

This is a huge, silly nonbo.

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Q: I control Arcane Melee, and my opponent controls Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Trinisphere. How much will it cost me to cast Fact or Fiction?

A: The answer is...

A:
B:
C:
D:
E:

The answer is

B, two much mana!

When you're fiddling around with the cost of spells, there's a nice, convenient formula: Start with the mana cost, replace it with an alternate cost if there is one, add any additional costs, subtract any discounts, and then apply Trinisphere. Why is Trinisphere last? Because it's a weird, weird card.

So, for this case, you get + - , then check Trinisphere. You're ready to pay , so it doesn't apply, and that's what you pay.

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Q: I attack with first-striking Boldwyr Heavyweights and my opponent blocks with Gisela, Blade of Goldnight. How much damage do I get to deal to Gisela and my opponent so I can hit him for the most?

A: The heavy answer is...

A: 4 to Gisela
B: 2 to Gisela, 3 to your opponent.
C: 2 to Gisela, 2 to your opponent.
D: 2 to Gisela, 1 to your opponent.
E: Eat Gisela, kick your opponent under the table.

The answer is

D, two plus one plus- no, that's it.

Assigning combat damage ignores anything that will later prevent or otherwise modify it. So your initial damage assignment can at most be a 5/3 split. Then you halve this and round down for a result of 2 and 1 damage.

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Q: My opponent controls a Darksteel Sentinel and a Narwhal. I cast Earthquake for 2, and then cast and attack with two Hellspark Elementals which we'll name Tweedledee and Tweedledum. He blocks with what creatures he has left; how much combat damage max can I deal with them and my Rage Reflection?

A: The awesome answer is...

A: 0.
B: 1.
C: 2.
D: 3.
E: 4.
F: 5.
G: 6.
H: 7.
I: π.
J: K.
L: 42.
M: 9001.

The answer is

G, 6 damage!

Let's start from the Earthquake. The Sentinel has 2 damage marked on it, even though damage won't kill it, and the Narwhal has none marked on it since the damage is prevented due to its protection from red. Now Tweedledee and Tweedledum swing.

In the first-strike damage step, Tweedledee assigns 1 damage to the Sentinel and 2 to your opponent. Tweedledum assigns 2 to Narwhal and 1 to your opponent. Remember, trample ignores things that will prevent it! Narwhal causes a commotion and kills Tweedledum.

In the regular damage step, Darksteel Sentinel has 3 damage marked on it, so Tweedledee can assign all 3 damage to your opponent. Tweedledum is dead and does nothing. Your opponent ends up with a total of 6 damage.

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Q: After game one at a draft FNM, we find my 41st card in my opponent's deck! What now?

A: The drafty answer is...

A: Fix it and continue.
B: Warning for both players, fix it and continue.
C: Game Loss for both players.
D: He gets to keep it for this game.
E: He gets to keep it forever.

The answer is

A, just fix it!

At FNM, and other Regular REL (Rules Enforcement Level) events, Warnings are nonexistent, and Game Losses are reserved for repeated infractions. For a situation like this, just fix it: shuffle your card into your deck. Your opponent keeping it is just odd.

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Q: After I shuffle and present at a PTQ, what else can my opponent and I do with my deck?

A: The present answers are...

A: He must shuffle.
B: He may shuffle.
C: You may cut.
D: You must cut.
E: You may shuffle.
F: Put the top card of your deck into the ante zone.

The answer is

A, every game he's shuffling!

It's not very well known, but at Competitive REL events, such as a PTQ, players are required to shuffle the opponent's deck after it's presented.

It's slightly better known, though still widely forgotten, that you don't get a final cut anymore. Once you present your deck, you don't get to manipulate it at all until you draw your opening seven.

If you chose F, please let me use your time machine to buy some Beta boosters.

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Q: Which of these will let me play Dryad Arbor in my upkeep?

A: The flashy answers are...

A: Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
B: Vedalken Orrery
C: Yeva, Nature's Herald
D: Djinn of Wishes
E: Island

The answers are

A, D, and E! Because Islands just do everything.

Okay, Island needs a little help to get your Dryad out, but they're an important component of the other two correct answers! I know some of you thought this was a trick question and the answer was "none," but it's entirely possible to play a land during your upkeep - as long as something gives you permission to do so and you haven't played a land like that already.

However, Vedalken Orrery only lets you cast nonland cards, and the Dryad is a land in addition to other types. Yeva seems more permissive, but you can't cast a land card at all, so it's functionally the same.

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That's all for this week. How did you do? Have you proven your brains strong enough to feed Moko? Or do you need to read more Cranial Insertion before you'll be ready?

Either way, come back next week for another dose of delicious brain stuffing! And remember, if you enjoyed the quiz format, sign up for an account and set answers as hidden by default so you can have a taste of it every week.

Until next time, may all of your zebras stay firmly on the ground!

-Eli Shiffrin

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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.

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