Published on 02/25/2008

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Cranial Translation
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Hello again, dear readers. Welcome to another week of dubious delights and rules questions! This week I get to torture you with a quiz article! How fun is that? Okay, now to the terrible medieval device— er, the rules questions!

As always send more rules questions at cranial.insertion@gmail.com . Moko will be pleased.

Number 2 pencils ready? Begin!




Q1: If my opponent has a Bridge From Below and Ichorid in his graveyard, can I reanimate his Ichorid under my control to remove his Bridge when the Ichorid dies?

A. Yes. When the Ichorid dies, it will go to your graveyard until state-based effects move it to his. The Bridge will still have had triggered before the Ichorid gets moved to his graveyard.
B. No. When the Ichorid dies, it will go to your graveyard, then be instantaneously moved to his before state-based effects are checked.
C. It depends on how you stack the state-based effects.
D. No. The Ichorid is placed directly into its owner's graveyard.
E. No, but Jon Finkel can.

I see you quiver with anticip--
D is correct. For no amount of time will an object enter the graveyard of anyone but its owner. This is true for all zones except the in-play zone. This question was designed to test if you paid attention to Tom last week.

--pation.






Matt Cavotta used himself
and his wife as models
for this illustration.

Q2: If I control Shared Fate and Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar, what do I do when I would draw a card?

A. Use timestamps to determine which has come into play most recently, and use that replacement effect.
B. As the one who is drawing the card, you get to choose which replacement effect to apply.
C. You get to do both whenever you would draw a card.
D. Because Shared Fate allows you to access cards from my opponent's library, he gets to choose which replacement effect you apply.
E. Whatever Jon Finkel tells you to do.

Think you've got it?
B is correct. In the case of multiple replacement effects trying to replace the same thing, the controller of the affected object gets to choose which one will apply. In this case, the draw is the affected object, so the player who would be drawing a card gets to choose. E is also a correct answer.

Quote from 419.9a:
If two or more replacement or prevention effects are attempting to modify the way an event affects an object or player, the affected object's controller (or its owner if it has no controller) or the affected player chooses one to apply.





Q3: If my opponent enchants my creature with Lignify, can I enchant it with Protective Bubble to make the Lignify slide off?

A. Yes. Protective Bubble makes the creature untargetable, so Lignify will fall off.
B. No. Protective Bubble makes the creature untargetable, but Lignify takes that ability away so the Lignify will stay on.
C. No. Lignify only targets a creature while it is on the stack, not while it's in play.
D. No, but Protective Bubble will cause all of Lignify's effects to do nothing because they cannot target the creature.
E. Only if you lubricate it well.

You know it's E. Definitely E.
C is the correct answer. Auras target only when they are on the stack as spells, not once they are on the creature. Otherwise, Protective Bubble would remove itself.





Q4: If I control Frogtosser Banneret, and it's my only goblin, how much will I have to pay for Fodder Launch?

A. Four. You have to sacrifice the Banneret as part of the cost of the Fodder Launch, so when it comes time to compute and pay the mana cost, it will not be reduced.
B. Four. You sacrifice the Banneret as part of the cost, but once you do that, the cost increases and you have to pay the deficit.
C. It depends on whether you choose to pay the mana part of the cost or the non-mana part of the cost first.
D. Three. Costs are computed and locked in before you pay them.
E. Forty-two.

The answer is always E.
D is correct. See rule 409 for details on the steps needed to play a spell.





Q5: How does Shared Fate interact with Teferi's Puzzle Box?

A. Poorly.
B. The person whose draw step it is gets to choose whether to use the Puzzle Box or remove a card with Shared Fate.
C. During each player's draw step, that player will use the Puzzle Box to put his hand on the bottom of his library and draw that many cards, then remove the top card from his opponent's library with Shared Fate instead of drawing.
D. During each player's draw step, that player will first use the Puzzle Box to put his hand on the bottom of his library and remove that many cards from the top of his opponent's library from the game, then remove another card with Shared Fate instead of drawing.
E. During each player's draw step, that player will first remove a card with Shared Fate instead of drawing, then use the Puzzle Box to put his hand on the bottom of his library and remove that many cards from the top of his opponent's library from the game.

The answer is never E.
Haha, I lied. A and E are both correct answers. Triggered abilities that happen at the beginning of the draw step go on the stack and resolve after the draw takes place. After one turn of this, no one will gain any cards from the puzzle box.





She can walk my
secret ways anytime.

Q6: If I attack my opponent with a creature, then ninjutsu in another creature in its place, can I make the ninja attack his planeswalker instead of him?

A. Yes. When the new creature comes into play attacking, its controller gets to choose what it is attacking.
B. Yes, but only if you use ninjutsu before blockers are declared.
C. No. A creature brought into play with ninjutsu is automatically attacking the same thing that the creature it replaced was attacking.
D. Yes, but only if you use ninjutsu before damage is put on the stack.
E. Yes, but only if the ninja is Jon Finkel.

That's enough jokes about e. He's so irrational.
C is correct. The rules for ninjutsu were updated with Lorwyn to support this.

Quote from 502.43c:
A ninjutsu ability may be played only while a creature in play is unblocked (see rule 309.2f). The creature with ninjutsu is put into play unblocked. It will be attacking the same player or planeswalker as the creature that was returned to its owner's hand.





Q7: Can Beloved Chaplain be enchanted by a licid?

A. No. You have to declare targets for a licid's ability while it is still a creature, and the Chaplain is protected.
B. Yes, but it will fall off the Beloved Chaplain as a state-based effect because it is still a creature while being an Aura.
C. Yes. You carry out the instructions on the card in the order they are printed, so when you get to attach the licid to target creature, it is no longer a creature and can target the Chaplain.
D. Yes. Auras only target when they are on the stack, and this aura doesn't go on the stack.
E. If the licid can proselytize well, yes.

Cranial Insertion Is Serious Business.
A is correct. Like any activated ability, you need to declare targets when you put it on the stack. The Chaplain is not a legal target for the ability of a creature, so you cannot target it with the licid.





Q8:If I enchant my opponent's creature with Weight of Conscience, activate the Weight's ability, then use Simic Guildmage's ability to move the Weight to another one of his creatures, will the creature to which it was previously attached be removed, or the one to which it is currently attached?

A. The previously-enchanted creature. When you activate the Weight of Conscience, its ability goes on the stack and remembers what creature it is going to destroy. If you then move the weight, the previous creature will be destroyed by the ability when it resolves, and the Weight stays in play on a new creature. Hurrah!
B. No creature will die. The ability tries to destroy the previously-enchanted creature, but the Weight is no longer attached to that creature so the ability is countered on resolution.
C. The newly-enchanted creature. Weight of Conscience's ability only looks at what the enchanted creature is when it resolves.
D. The previously-enchanted creature. When the Weight's ability resolves, it looks at the last-known information from when the ability was put on the stack and destroys the creature to which it was attached then.
E. Both creatures are gonna to carry that weight, carry that weight for a long time.

Are you sure?
C is correct. Weight of Conscience only look at what "enchanted creature" is when it resolves, not before. It will remove whatever it is attached to when its ability resolves.





Q9: I play Sudden Spoiling targeting my opponent. Can he morph his Willbender in response and redirect the Sudden Spoiling.

A. No. You can't respond to spells with split second.
B. Yes. Morph doesn't use the stack, so you don't need priority to use it.
C. No. Split second prevents spells and activated abilities from being played while Sudden Spoiling is on the stack, and morph is an activated ability.
D. Yes. Split second prevents spells and activated abilities from being played while Sudden Spoiling is on the stack, but morph is a static ability, so you can use it while Sudden Spoiling is on the stack.
E. It depends on the force of your will.

Did you double check?
D is correct. Morph is a static ability. Ending the morph effect is a special game action, which you do need priority to use, but does not use the stack. Willbender's trigger is neither a spell nor an activated ability, and will be unaffected by split second.

Quote from 502.26a:
Morph is a static ability that functions in any zone from which you could play the card it's on, and the morph effect works any time the card is face down… Any time you could play an instant, you may show all players the morph cost for any face-down permanent you control, pay that cost, then turn the permanent face up. This action does not use the stack.





Q10: If my opponent controls Dovescape, and I play Disenchant targeting the Dovescape using mana from Boseiju, Who Shelters All, what happens?

A. Disenchant gets countered by Dovescape and you get two bird tokens.
B. Disenchant cannot be countered by Dovescape, so it resolves, destroying Dovescape, but you get no birds because it was not countered.
C. Disenchant cannot be countered by Dovescape, so it destroys Dovescape. However, Dovescape's ability has already triggered, so you get two birds.
D. It depends on whether Boseiju or Dovescape came into play first.
E. Alfred Hitchcock's lawyers sue for theft of intellectual property.

The flock is gathering.
C is correct. Dovescape triggers on the spell being played, so you will actually get Doves before Disenchant resolves. Boseiju prevents the Disenchant from being countered.





Q11: If there are no creatures in any graveyards, and I block a 3/4 Tarmogoyf with two 2/2 creatures, will the Tarmogoyf die?

A. Yes. Damage resolves and the Tarmogoyf and one of the 2/2s is dealt lethal damage. All of the creatures with lethal damage on them go to the graveyard simultaneously when state-based effects are checked.
B. No. Because Tarmogoyf and one of the 2/2s would go to the graveyard simultaneously, the Tarmogoyf "sees" the 2/2 going to the graveyard and gets bigger, preventing its death.
C. Because the attacking player is the active player, the Tarmogoyf will be checked by state-based effects first and put into the graveyard before one of the 2/2s are destroyed.
D. The active player gets to choose the order in which the creatures go to the graveyard. It depends on his choice.
E. It dies. Tarmogoyf is broken enough already.

Last one.
A is correct. State based effects are checked, and everything with lethal damage will go to the graveyard at the same time, including Tarmogoyf.





That's all we've got for you this week. Send more questions. We received some spicy ones this past week, and enjoyed them thoroughly. cranial.insertion@gmail.com wants YOU… to send Moko questions.


 

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