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compiled by Urza
Incredible, how well some messages work. Last month, I told you all that there was a shortage of letters coming in, and asked for more. You listened, all right. In the past month, I received so many questions and comments that I almost had to cut some out of this month's column! But, no matter. Here are the December letters! As is customary by now, I'll look at the letters relating to corrections first. It seems I made a bad call last month when answering a question about Mind Bend and Shimmer. The question was whether the Mind Bend could change the color on Shimmer, because what Shimmer does is makes you choose a color when it is cast which is used for as long as the card is out. Anyway, here's my correction: Mind Bend cannot change a color word on a card unless it specifically has the word printed. It doesn't work if you pick the color when the card is played. Sorry to anyone who took my previous answer to be true, and thank you to everyone who told me my error. Now, on to the questions! I'll try not to give a wrong answer this month...
The Big One
Respectful Urza, My favourite deck consists of the following:
My questions:
Paul from Sydney, Australia Wow! As you can tell, this is one of the letters this month that included more than two questions and made my job really tough. But that's ok, I enjoyed answering them. And as long as I brought up the topic, here they are.... Type 1 and Type 2 refer to the Duelists Convocation (DCI) tournament regulation deck types. The only real difference is that in Type 1, you can use any card you'd like in your deck that isn't banned, and can't have more than 1 if it's restricted. Type 2 means the latest Edition release (5th Edition now), and the last 2 expansions (Portal does not count). So right now, Type 2 is any card from 5th Edition, Tempest and Weatherlight. Even though tournament types like those have many fans, they also have enemies. Many people think they only complicate things, but the types were created to give newer players a better chance in tournaments. Beforehand, people who had been around since the beginning obviously won all the time, with Moxes, Black Lotuses and more of the old, powerful cards. 1) That deck is, by those rules, Type 1 legal, but not 2. Besides having cards from some (by now) older expansions, it has cards like Kird Ape, which have not been printed in the Edition set ever since 3rd (Revised). 2) My advice here would be to play the deck a few times and see what needs to be changed. Usually, a deck won't work for you if it is just something a friend told you to make. Learning to make your decks and test them is just as important as learning to play them. 3) Some of the writers at Beyond Dominia do, in fact, have ICQ, but give their numbers out to people they know. They don't really like to be bothered by all the people who want to comment on their writings or ask them questions when they are trying to do something. That's what their email addresses are given for. ;) 4) 4) You can continue to ask questions to this address, and they will be printed if I decide it is fitting to go into the column each month. 5) Yes, actually you do. One says you can only do one thing, and the other says you can only do what the other card prohibits. By elimination, your opponnent has no choices for blocking. 6) As far as me and quite a few other people have been able to tell, no. It all depends on how you use it, however. If you can come up with a great use for it, then please send it here! I'm sure a lot of people would like to hear it.
Paul's ReturnAnd then, look at this... seems like our friend Paul has another question. :)
Dear Urza,
Thanks for your time, Don't worry. No questions I print here are ever stupid questions. As for the answers... 1) Yep, the White Knight needs to die. Sure, it has Protection from Black, but that only protects it against targeted abilities. Because Funeral March is not targeted to the sacrificed creature, you can kill two birds with one stone here. 2) To complement the yes of the last answer, I have to say no on this one. It's been changed (with errata) to mean, "When Hecatomb comes into play, sacrifice 4 creatures or bury Hecatomb." I assume it's the same for the others.
Mishra's Factory and PoisonIf I turn my Mishra's Factory into an assembly worker, and then Clone it, what exactly do I get? An assembly worker, a Mishra's Factory, or what? Too bad. The Clone can't affect Mishra's Factory, even as an Assembly Worker. The errata issued for Clone and Vesuvan Doppleganger have been that they cannot copy a creature that is not a creature by default (says Summon Creature), or has an enchantment affecting that (such as Animate Artifact). So your question doesn't even apply, since the situation can never happen. ;) Does paying the activation cost of Mishra's Factory to turn it into a critter cause Aether Flash to trigger? As for your second question, you've got pretty much the same luck. Mishra's Factory's ability of turning into a creature is just that: an ability. It's as if there's no longer Mishra's Factory, but now there's an Assembly Worker in it's place. The Assembly Worker did not come into the play, nor did the Factory leave it. Therefore, it doesn't trigger Aether Flash. On cards that give poison counters, it always tells you that a player with 10 poison counters loses the game. I haven't read the most recent rulebook, but I don't remember the death by poison counters being mentioned. So, technically, are you still alive if you have 10 poison counters, but nothing saying "A player with 10 poison counters loses the game" is in play? As for your last question, I believe the rulebook mentions it as one of the ways to die, along with running out of cards and getting zero or lower life. If you get 10 poison counters, you immediately lose the game. The poisoning cards just reaffirm that fact. How much scrag could a Scragnoth noth if a Scragnoth could scrag noth? All depends on whether it's got Giant Growth on it or not. ;)
The Feared Icy ManipulatorOk, this card is annoying, not only me but my best friend... We don't get what we can exactly do with it.... We know we can tap creatures and stuff, but If I tap it during when me opponent announces his attack with it, does the attack go through? Wow, you've probably guessed that you've stumbled upon one of the most confusing topics in Magic rules. But here, to clear them up, is the EXACT ruling. :) Tapping or destroying the source of an effect will not prevent the effect. So basically, these things are perfectly legal. The only problem is that they won't do what you want them to do. :) I'll take them step by step, just to make sure you understand. Referring to the first question, above, the attack goes through. The effect of the attack, which is attempting to damage the opponnent, still happens. What you can do, however, is tap the most dangerous creatures as soon as your opponnent announces his or her attack. By the official rules, it's not proper to say "I'm attacking with this and this and this." So take advantage of it. The proper thing to do is, "I'm attacking. (Wait a few seconds for a response.) With this and this and this." Can we tap turn off artifacts like Winter orb? Yes. Any tapped (Non-creature) artifact has it's abilities stopped when tapped. So Winter Orb actually CAN be effectively turned off with the Icy, assuming you do it every turn. Even non-tapping cards untap at the beginning of your turn. If I tap my friend's basic land, does he still have the chance to respond by tapping that land for mana? He sure does. Because a special thing about lands are that making mana is faster than anything else, including interrupts. When you declare that you are tapping his land, he can still tap it, which includes making mana since it happens before any other effect, like the Icy's. If I tap my creature for attack, then my friend taps his Royal Assassin, can I tap my icy to prevent the fast effect of the Royal Assassin? As you probably have guessed by now, the answer is that you can tap the Assassin, but the effect will still go through. No use tapping over spilled milk. ;) Every time I play someone I get a different ruling on the ICY.. So to settle the score, I ask you to please tell me what I can and can't do with the ICY.
-Phil
May the Force be With YouI attack with my Force of Nature (8/8). My opponent blocks it with a Polar Kraken (11/11). Before my Force of Nature goes to the graveyard, can I cast Worthy Cause, and sacrifice it to gain 8 life? Thanks. And keep up the great work! Are you sure I didn't miss a few other questions in your letter? Oh well. That's an illegal move, sorry. The Force of Nature dies almost immediately. There's one, widely unknown (at least the name) phase called "Damage Prevention". It's at the end of that phase that, if the creature wasn't saved, it goes to the graveyard. It occurs as soon as the creature gets enough damage to kill it. Anyway, the problem with your move is that during Damage Prevention, you can only do actions that will, well, prevent damage or save the creature some other way. You can't sacrifice it for any purpose other than those two (which kind of defeats the purpose, don't you think?).
Big Ideas
Hey Urza! Your first question has two problems with it. You can't use Soldevi Sentry's drawing ability without it regenerating. And unless you've got a way to deal it lethal damage every time you do this process, it won't work. Secondly, read the text of the card carefully: "Target opponnent MAY draw a card." Take careful note of the "may" in there. If you did that to your opponnent, their best, and easiest, move would be to simply ignore it. They're given a choice whether to draw or not. They will use it to their advantage. Or can I cast Library of Leng and Gaunlets of Chaos and then make him take damage every turn with the Black Vise? That's an interesting combo. The Library of Leng, when switched to his side, will make him hold his cards! The Black Vise will deal him damage, and well, you know the rest. ;)
Guess who's back?
Dear Urza... You see, my brother Animated the Shivan Dragon, which belongs to my partner (... yap, you got it! We are having a foursome... hehehe), the question is: You see? That Shivan has already visited the graveyard... can it be still return to my partner's hand with the Boomerang? My younger brother... the older one, who is acting as my opponent now, would like to ask you whether this is an official Magic the Gathering site... and the type I and type II info you offered me... is that official rule?
Thanks for your help! Actually, yes, it can. :) As long as the permanent (Shivan Dragon) is in play, it can be affected by the Boomerang. As for the other question, Beyond Dominia is as "official" as we can be without being owned by Wizards of the Coast. We have recieved full permission from WOTC to use their copyrighted names and information on our web site, and have the same officiality as, say, InQuest or Scrye magazines. The Type I and Type II information was given from the best of my knowledge. If it has changed, I may be wrong, but it has operated that way for a pretty long time now.
MedallionsCan the medallions in Tempest be used to reduce buyback on a card of the same color? Like, can I reduce the cost of playing and buybacking Capsize to UU if there are 4 Sapphire Meadallions in play? Yes, in fact, it can. The buyback is technically part of the cost -- it's just a choice whether you want to make the card better for a higher price. So the Medallions will work like that. The cost part, just to clear it up, is an extra cost, and not part of the casting cost. Therefore, cards that operate using another card's casting cost (like Spell Blast) do not need to pay the extra buyback cost.
The End of the World!If I tap all my lands and cast Armegeddon or Jalukapaps, do they destroy my mana in my mana pool? Not at all. Your mana pool is a completely seperate from your actual lands, so that once you have mana in the pool, it stays there until the phase is over and they empty. Therefore, lands being destroyed will not empty your pool, which is a useful way to get an edge while your opponnent is stuck with nothing they can do.
Drawing, countering, sacrificing, and more
Dear Urza, Bill, Lord of the Homelands Winter Sky 1) In the millstone situation, you lose the game as soon as you do not have a card to draw when it's time to. You have until the beginning of your turn to kill your opponnent. 2) Island Sanctuary only works on one card. If something gives you 2 or more cards each draw phase, you can't decline as many as you want. 3) Unfortunately, the Armageddon takes effect before you can cast the Lotus Vale. So no. 4) You're right, you can't counter a Dark Ritual, but you can counter whatever it's being used to cast. 5) The effect of Corpse Dance is that the creature is removed from the game at the end of the turn, whether it's in the graveyard or not.
ConcludingWell, that's it for this month. I got so many letters that I had to cut some from the final column, but those were only one or two questions. One thing I'd like to request this time, though, is for comments, suggestions, and other letters like that, so that I have more than rules questions to print here. Here's a general question for the new year: What's your favorite part of Beyond Dominia? What's your least favorite?" I'll put together the best entries I recieve and make them a special part of the letters column next month. Until then, this is Urza, saying goodbye and have a happy holiday.
Urza
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