QutKj143

1Q: I'm a red mage, and I've sworn never to cooperate with our enemy colors. Why couldn't WotC put Rakdos or Gruul in Guilds of Ravnica?
2
3A: It turns out that it's mathematically impossible to choose five two-color guilds such that each of the five Magic colors is represented by one allied guild and one enemy guild. If this were a blog about math, I would spend the rest of this question proving that, but unfortunately, we're here to talk about Magic, so on with the Magic questions! If you're interested, you can reach out to me on any of the official JudgingFtW media channels, which you can find on the about page. Also, consider following, which is the best way to support our chann-[card text='Skip ad']Silence[/card]
4
5==============Guild Mechanics===============
6
7Q: If I tap [card]Centaur Omenreader[/card] while casting a [card]Siege Wurm[/card], how many [card]Forest[/card]s will I also have to tap?
8
9A: Creatures are tapped for convoke as part of the process of paying costs []. Unfortunately, the total cost to cast Siege Wurm is determined before costs are paid []. This means that Centaur Omenreader does not become tapped in time for its ability to take effect for this spell, and 6 Forests are required.
10
11Note: For more information on convoke (along with the related mechanics [card text=delve]Dig Through Time[/card] and [card text='improvise']Whir of Invention[/card]) check out last month's Returning Mechanics Review article[].
12
13Q: Amy controls [card]Dream Halls[/card] and wants to jump-start [card]Radical Idea[/card]. Can she?
14
15A: Yes. Jump-start lets you cast the spell from your graveyard, but you're still playing it by paying its real-life mana cost. Because you aren't relying on paying an alternate cost to make this happen, you can still use any other alternate costs that you might have access too (such as from Dream Halls) to cast this spell. You can jump start it by discarding two cards, one of which must be blue.
16
17Note: Beware of using this trick with the similar card [card]Omniscience[/card]! It won't work, since Omniscience only allows you to play spells for free if they're from your hand.
18
19Q: Amy surveils with [card]Notion Rain[/card] and chooses to put [card]Nexus of Fate[/card] into her graveyard and [card]Grizzly Bears[/card] on top of her library. What happens?
20
21A: 
22
23Q: If I put [card]Blood Operative[/card] into my graveyard with a surveil, can I pay to return it to my hand?
24
25A: Yes. The game checks to see if any triggered abilities have triggered and need to go on the stack after every event that happens in the game []. You aren't considered to have "surveiled" until after you've completed all the steps of the surveil action, including choosing whether to put the card in your graveyard and actually putting it there, if applicable. This means that if you surveil a card into the graveyard, the game doesn't check for any "whenever you surveil" triggered abilities until after that card is put there. So if a card has such a triggered ability that triggers from the graveyard (like Blood Operative does), you can surveil it to the graveyard, and it will be there by the time the game checks to see if its ability should trigger.
26
27Q: Amy surveils a [card]Direct Current[/card] into her graveyard. She wants to cast it, but Nicole wants to [card]Surgical Extraction[/card] it before she can. What happens?
28
29Q: Amy attacks with two [card]Wojek Bodyguard[/card]s and a [card]Grizzly Bears[/card]. Can she have both Wojek Bodyguards mentor the Grizzly Bears and end up with a 4/4?
30
31A: No. The target for a mentor ability must be legal at two times: when it is chosen and when the ability resolves []. Grizzly Bears will be a legal target for both mentor abilities when the targets are chosen, but after the first one resolves it will be a 3/3. This means it will no longer have lesser power, and will therefore not be a legal target when the second mentor ability tries to resolve.
32
33Q: Amy attacks with [card]Wojek Bodyguard[/card], [card]Sunhome Stalwart[/card], and [card]Grizzly Bears[/card]. Can she have Wojek Bodyguard mentor Sunhome Stalwart, then have Sunhome Stalwart mentor Grizzly Bears?
34
35A: No. This time, the problem is that Grizzly Bears won't be a legal target when targets are chosen. All the mentor abilities trigger at the same time, so they all go on the stack together []. At the time targets are chosen for Sunhome Stalwart's mentor ability, Wojek Bodyguard's is still on the stack. Thus, Grizzly Bears won't have lesser power than Sunhome Stalwart and won't be a legal target.
36
37Q: Amy attacks with [card]Wojek Bodyguard[/card] and [card]Grizzly Bears[/card]. In response to the mentor trigger, Nicole casts [card]Price of Fame[/card] on Wojek Bodyguard. What happens?
38
39A: The mentor trigger resolves and gives Grizzly Bears the counter as normal. Once on the stack, the mentor ability exists independent of its source []. Because Wojek Bodyguard is no longer on the battlefield, the game uses the last-known information about its power to determine if the target of that mentor ability is legal [].
40
41Q: Amy attacks with [card]Wojek Bodyguard[/card] and [card]Grizzly Bears[/card]. In response to the mentor trigger, Nicole casts [card]Artful Takedown[/card] (both modes) on Wojek Bodyguard. What happens?
42
43A: Just like before, the game uses the last-known information about Wojek Bodyguard to determine the results of the mentor trigger. Unlike before, as it last existed on the battlefield, Wojek Bodyguard was a 1/-1. Thus, its power is less than Grizzly Bears'. Accordingly, the mentor ability does not have a legal target and is removed from the stack with no effect [].
44
45Note: In the same way, you can also prevent the +1/+1 counter from going on the Grizzly Bears by casting a pump spell to increase its power in response to the mentor trigger.
46
47Note: It's legal to choose the same target for both modes on Artful Takedown because it uses the word "target" separately for each mode [].
48
49Q: Amy casts [card]Victimize[/card] targeting two [card]Rhizome Lurcher[/card]s in her graveyard. She sacrifices an [card text='Insect token']Izoni, Thousand-Eyed[/card] and returns them to play. Assuming there are no other cards in Amy's graveyard, how many counters does each Rhizome Lurcher enter the battlefield with?
50
51A: Rhizome Lurcher has a replacement effect, meaning it counts the number of creatures in your graveyard immediately before Rhizome Lurcher enters the battlefield [CR 614.1]. Victimize returns both Rhizome Lurchers to play simultaneously, as evidenced by its single use of the word "return" []. Accordingly, each Rhizome Lurcher will count not only itself, but the other Rhizome Lurcher returning along with it.
52
53The actions on Victimize are followed in order, so sacrificing the Insect token happens before returning the Rhizome Lurkers []. The token actually does physically move to the graveyard, and does not cease to exist until after state-based actions are perfored, which is after Victimize finishes resolving [,]. Therefore, it too is in the graveyard when the Rhizome Lurchers are counting how many creature cards are in your graveyard. Unfortunately, tokens are not considered "cards," which is what Rhizome Lurcher (and, incidentally, all undergrowth abilities) looks at, so the Insect token doesn't count []. Each Rhizome Lurcher gets two +1/+1 counters.
54
55Note: [card]Kraul Forrager[/card]'s undergrowth ability is a triggered ability, so it functions differently. This ability will go on the stack after Kraul Forrager enters the battlefield and will count creatures in your graveyard only when it resolves.
56
57============New Cards==========================
58
59Q: Amy hasn't cast any spells this turn, but she really needs to gain 2 life. Can she cast [card set='rtr']Aerial Predation[/card] on her own [card]Leapfrog[/card] (Amy has not cast any other spells this turn)?
60
61A: No. Aerial Predation is not considered "cast" until all the steps in the process of casting it have been completed []. In particular, choosing targets is one of these steps. Because Leapfrog will not have flying at the time targets need to be picked, she can't target it with Aerial Predation.
62
63pelt collector + -x/-x
64beamsplitter mage + bounty of might
65sleeping the trigger on capture sphere
66
67Q: Amy uses red mana from a [card]Mountain[/card] and a [card]Guildmages' Forum[/card] to cast a [Fresh-Faced Recruit[/card]. Does it get the +1/+1 counter?
68
69A: Yes. A creature's color is determined by the mana symbols in its mana cost []. Even though you aren't paying white mana for it, the hybrid mana symbol still means Fresh-Faced Recruit is red and white, so it counts as multicolored [].
70
71Note: In the same way, you would be able to, for example, play Fresh-Faced Recruit for R if you had an [card]Oketra's Monument[/card].
72
73Q: Does [card]Beacon Bolt[/card] count itself?
74
75A: No. No matter where Beacon Bolt was when you cast it, it's always on the stack when it resolves, which is the time the game counts your instants and sorceries []. Therefore, it never counts itself in the total.
76
77Q: Can I use [card]Invert[/card] targeting my [card]Grizzly Bears[/card] and my opponent's [card]Hill Giant[/card] to switch my bear's p/t with the giant's and create a blowout?
78
79A: Unfortunately, no. As cool as it would be to switch one creature's power with another's, there's a section in the CR that defines what the term switch means in terms of power and toughness, and it always refers to switching the power with the toughness [].
80
81Q: Can you choose [card]Reason // Believe[/card] as one of the cards to return with [card]Vivid Revival[/card]?
82
83A: Yes. On the stack, only the characteristics of the half that was cast exist, but elsewhere, a split card's characteristics are considered to be the combined characteristics of both halves []. Accordingly, Reason//Believe counts as a blue and green multicolored card, even though neither half is multicolored by itself.
84
85Note: On the stack, only the characteristics of the half that was actually cast exist, so, for example, [card]Disdainful Stroke[/card] could counter the Reason half, but not the Believe half. For this and more awesome split card stuff, check out the returning mechanic review article[].
86
87Q: Amy surveils a [card]Brainstorm[/card] into her graveyard with [card]Mission Briefing[/card]. Can she cast Brainstorm?
88
89A: Yes. Mission Briefing does not target, so the choice of what card to cast is made on resolution and is not locked in ahead of time []. The choosing happens after you surveil, and any instant or sorcery card in your graveyard at that time is fair game. 
90
91Q: Amy plays [card]Mission Briefing[/card] in her main phase, then puts a [card]Brainstorm[/card] into her graveyard with the surveil. Amy then says she is going to cast Brainstorm. Nicole says she wants to [card]Surgical Extraction[/card] Brainstorm before she does. Can she?
92
93A: No. Because Amy is the active player, she gets priority to cast spells first after Mission Briefing resolves []. After she casts Brainstorm, it will be on the stack, so it's safe from Surgical Extraction.
94
95Note: If the non-active player were the one playing Mission Briefing, the answer would be different. Since the active player would get priority before the non-active player, they could cast Surgical Extraction before the non-active player got a chance to cast it. On the other hand, if the non-active player is casting Mission Briefing, it's a safe bet that they'll pick an instant, which means they could just cast it in response to Surgical Extraction. If this happens, Surgical Extraction will no longer have a legal target when it tries to resolve, and will be removed from the stack with no effect.
96
97Q: Amy casts [card]Increasing Devotion[/card] from her graveyard using [card]Mission Briefing[/card]. How many tokens does she get?
98
99A: Ten. Increasing Devotion only cares that the card was cast from a graveyard, not how you did it. This is the case here, so you get the full value from the spell even though you're casting it for its normal mana cost.
100
101Q: Nicole casts a [card]Mission Briefing[/card] on Amy's end step. She chooses a [card]Ponder[/card]. Can she cast it?
102
103A: No. Even though Mission Briefing says you can cast the spell, you still have to cast it in a legal way [CR 601.3]. There's no rule that says you can't cast spells from your graveyard (rather, the rules positively say what zones you can cast each type of card from, ref. []) This means that no special permissions are required to enable you to cast it from there. On the other hand, the rules do explicitly say you can only cast sorceries on your turn [], so a card would need to specifically say it's letting you do that (with wording like [card]Quicken[/card], which lets you cast the spell as though it had flash or [card]Memory Plunder[/card], which instructs you to cast the spell right then during the process of its resolution) in order to bypass that restriction. Memory Briefing has no such language, so you can only cast a sorcery spell chosen with it during the times when you're normally able to cast those spells.
104
105Note: If another effect such as [card]Hypersonic Dragon[/card] or one from the card itself, such as [card]Breaking Wave[/card] allows you to cast sorcery spells at instant speed, these effects can combine with Mission Briefing to enable you to cast the spell from your graveyard at instant speed.
106
107Q: Amy chooses [card]Force of Will[/card] with [card]Mission Briefing[/card]. Can she cast it for its alternate cost?
108
109A: Yes. Mission Briefing lets you cast the card, and doesn't put any restrictions on how you have to cast it, so you can cast it however you want, including by paying alternate costs. 
110
111Note: The reason the answer is different if you were to use the related card [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card] is that Snapcaster Mage is letting you cast the spell using the flashback mechanic, which involves paying an alternate cost []. Only one alternate cost can be paid when casting a spell; they can't be combined, which is why this trick doesn't work with Snapcaster Mage []. On the other hand, Mission Briefing is letting you cast the card for its real live mana cost, so you can still choose an alternate cost to apply. 
112
113Q: Amy casts [card]Brainstorm[/card] from her graveyard using [card]Mission Briefing[/card]. Nicole [card]Remand[/card]s Brainstorm. Into what zone is Brainstorm placed?
114
115A: This is another way Mission Briefing works differently from Snapcaster Mage. Two replacement effects want to change what zone Brainstorm goes to. Remand's is applied first because it is a self-replacement effect []. This modifies the event to [counter Brainstorm, put it into Amy's hand]. At this point, Brainstorm is no longer being put into a graveyard, so the effect from Mission Briefing does not apply to the modified event []. Brainstorm goes to Amy's hand.
116
117Note: In contrast, flashback exiles the card "instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack" [CR 702.33a], which means it still applies to the event even after Remand's self-replacement effect has modified it. This is why cards cast with Snapcaster Mage are exiled if they are Remanded.
118
119Q: Nicole casts [card]Mission Briefing[/card] and puts [card]Swift Reckoning[/card] in her graveyard, choosing to play it. Besides Swift Reckoning and Mission Briefing, there are no other cards in her graveyard. Can she cast Swift Reckoning on Amy's end step?
120
121A: No. After Nicole proposes the casting of Swift Reckoning, the game checks to see if it can legally be cast [CR 601.2e]. Swift Reckoning is moved to the stack as the first step in the proposal to cast it, though [CR 601.2a]. This means that during the time when the game is checking whether it's legal for Nicole to cast this spell, the only instant and/or sorcery in her graveyard will be Mission Briefing, so she won't be allowed to cast it as though it has flash.
122
123Q: Amy discards [card]Muck Drubb[/card] to jump-start a [card]Gravatic Punch[/card] that will have her [card]Grizzly Bears[/card] deal damage to Nicole. Can Amy cast Muck Drubb with its madness ability, then change Gravatic Punch's creature target to Muck Drubb?
124
125A: No. Muck Drubb's ability only can affect a spell that "targets only a single creature." Such an effect checks the number of different objects or players that became the target of that spell or ability when it was put on the stack and only applies if that number is one [CR 114.9c]. Because Grizzly Bears and Nicole both became the targets of Gravatic Punch, it is not a legal target for Muck Drubb's ability.
126
127Note: Bounty of Might
128
129Note: The only reason this doesn't work is because Gravatic Punch does not have the appropriate targets. For example, [card]Maximize Velocity[/card] targets only a single creature, so this trick would work with that spell.
130============Errata====================
131
132Q: Is the p/t swap for [card text=Invert]Invert // Invent[/card] permanent?
133
134A: No. As written on the card, it would be, but WotC confirmed this was a mistake. Invert joins the ranks of [card]Hostage Taker[/card], [card]Majestic Myriarch[/card], and brother [card]Oboro Envoy[/card], getting zero-day errata to reach its intended functionality.
135
136Note: The omission of "until end of turn" on [card]Chance for Glory[/card] is intentional. Your creatures are indestructible during both turns.
137
138Q: Amy activates [card]Teferi, Hero of Dominaria[/card]'s +1 ability, but forgets to untap 2 lands at the end of turn. What happens?
139
140A: Nothing! This Oracle update, Teferi received errata to make it less annoying. The new text for this ability instructs you to "untap up to two lands," meaning that untapping nothing is a completely legal play. 
141
142
143
144
145Q: Nicole plays [card]Chance for Glory[/card] during Amy's end step. Is that a good idea?
146
147A: No. The extra turn Nicole gets is right after the turn it was created, not right after her normal turn that she's about to take []. Nicole will lose the game at the end of this turn.
148
149Q: Amy controls [card]Divine Visitation[/card] and [card]Essence of the Wild[/card]. She plays [card]Sworn Companions[/card]. What happens?
150
151A: Both of Divine Visitation and Essence of the Wild have replacement effects that change how the creature tokens created enter the battlefield. Essence of the Wild's is applied first because it causes them to enter as a copy of an object []. After that, Divine Visitation applies and makes the tokens into Angels. 
152
153Note: In the same way, replacement effects like [card]Crafty Cutpurse[/card] which change whose control a permanent enters under also apply before ordinary replacement effects []. So if Amy controlled Divine Visitation and Nicole stole her tokens with Crafty Cutpurse, she would just get the ordinary tokens, not Angels.
154
155Q: Amy plays [card]Assassain's Trophy[/card] on Nicole's [card]Grizzly Bears[/card]. In response, Nicole casts [card]Adamant Will[/card] targeting Grizzly Bears. What happens?
156
157A: Grizzly Bears is indestructible, so Assassain's Trophy can't destroy it. The search for a basic land isn't worded such that it's contingent upon the creature getting destroyed though, so that part still happens.
158
159Note: If Nicole had played a spell that gave her Grizzly Bears hexproof, for example, the search would not happen. If all of Assassain's Trophy's targets are illegal when it tries to resolve, it is removed from the stack with no effect [].
160
161Q: Amy [card]Throttle[/card]s Nicole's [card]Attendant of Vraska[/card] while Nicole controls a Vraska planeswalker. Does Nicole lose 1 life?
162
163A: No. It's not possible to gain negative life [CR 17.1b]. So nothing happens.
164
165
166beamsplitter mage + profane command
167beamsplitter mage + strafe
168
169Q: Amy plays [card]Selective Snare[/card] targeting Nicole's [card]Lazav, the Multifarious[/card]. In response, Nicole activates Lazav's ability to make it into a [card]Grizzly Bears[/card]. What happens?
170
171A: Choices like choosing a creature type, for example, with [card]Extinction[/card], are ordinarily made when the spell resolves. The actual rule that governs this is CR 608.2d, which states, "If an effect of a spell or ability offers any choices other than choices already made as part of casting the spell, activating the ability, or otherwise putting the spell or ability on the stack, the player announces these while applying the effect." Because the game needs your choice of creature type in order to know whether the targets you're choosing are legal, that choice is made as you're picking targets. Accordingly, when Selective Snare tries to resolve, Lazav is no longer the creature type of your choice (presumably Shapeshifter), and Selective Snare is removed from the stack with no effect.
172
173Note: Because you choose a creature type as part of choosing targets, it's important to be clear about this choice in cases where it could be ambiguous. 
174
175Q: Amy steals Nicole's [card]Chamber Sentry[/card] with [card]Hostage Taker[/card]. Can Amy cast Chamber Sentry for 5 blue mana and spend that mana as though it were WUBRG to have Chamber Sentry enter the battlefield as a 5/5?
176
177A: No. Effects that read "as though" allow the [CR 609.4]
178
179
180
181
182Q: Amy [card]Clone[/card]s a [card]Chamber Sentry[/card]. What happens?
183
184A: 
185
186Note: Sunburst
187
188Q: chance for Glory + Magosi note indestructible forever, seers sundial
189
190Q: Amy controls [card]March of the Machines[/card] and [card]Divine Visitation[/card]. She activates the ability of [card]Cogwork Assembler[/card] targeting [card]
191
192
193
194Q: Amy controls [card]Experimental Frenzy[/card] and the top card of her library is [card]Expansion // Explosion[/card]. Can Amy cast Explosion and look at the new top card of her library before deciding what value to choose for X?
195
196A: No. Although 
197
198=============New rules
199Q: Amy casts [card]Chamber Sentry[/card] with X=4. Can she activate Chamber Sentry's ability with X=1 later?
200
201A: Yes. Due to a rules change that was made to accomodate this card, if an object's activated ability has X in it, the value of that X is independent of any other values for X chosen for that object [CR 107.3j].
202
203================New Policy
204Q: Amy and Nicole call you to the table and explain that Amy's friend brought her some food at the start of Amy's turn, so she forgot to draw for turn and untap her creatures because she was distracted. Since this has happened, Amy has cast and resolved a [card]Sift[/card]. What do you do?
205
206A: The infraction is clearly a Game Rule Violation for Amy and a Failure to Maintain Game State for Nicole, with Warnings for both. For the fix, a simple backup is not possible here, so we look at partial fixes. This situation fits two of the available partial fixes, namely the ones about forgetting to untap and forgetting to draw, but because it falls under multiple ones, it doesn't fit either exactly. A new policy change allows us to perform partial fixes even in cases where other parts of what happened do not fit under a single partial fix as long as the entirety of the infraction falls under one or more additional partial fixes. Have Amy untap her creatures and draw now.
207
208Note: Although Amy committed two errors, both of which would be considered a GRV if considered alone, only a single GRV is assessed because their root cause is the same [].
209
210Q: While performing a deck check, you notice that Amy has registered 16 cards in her sideboard. You find that Amy has all 16 of these cards in her sideboard. When you ask Amy about this, she apologizes and says she changed some numbers in her sideboard around right before the event and must have miscounted. What do you do?
211
212A: Amy's decklist is illegal, and it matches what she intended to play, so Amy gets a Game Loss for a Decklist Problem. Under previous rules this situation was fixed by removing cards from Amy's sideboard starting from the bottom. Now, the player gets to choose which cards are removed to make the decklist legal.
213
214Q: team with 2 nihil spellbomb players
215
216Q: Nicole plays [card]Unexplained Disappearance[/card] during her opponent's end step, but forgets to surveil. She realizes this after untapping and drawing for her turn and calls a judge. What do you do?
217
218A: There's a tournament shortcut that says if a player forgets to scry, that means the player is considered to have left the cards on top in the same order. This shortcut has been extended to surveiling also. No infraction has been committed, so have the players continue the game.
219
220Note: Because no infraction has been committed, Amy's opponent is not obligated to point out to Amy that she forgot to surveil (although she still can point it out if she wants to).
221
222Q: On her first turn of the game, Amy cracks a [card]Flooded Strand[/card] and says "go to 17". She gets a [card]Hallowed Fountain[/card] out of her deck and starts shuffling. As she is shuffling, she changes her mind and gets a [card]Watery Grave[/card] out and puts the Hallowed Fountain back. Amy's opponent calls a judge and asks if Amy is allowed to do this. What do you rule?
223
224A: