Q: When I use Momentary Blink on a creature, do its enters the battlefield/leaves the battlefield abilities trigger? A: Yes. It is leaving the battlefield, then returning to the battlefield. Thus, any abilities that trigger on such an event will trigger.
Q: I Blink a face-down creature. Does it come back onto the battlefield face-up or face-down? A: Face-up. Unless something specifically tells you otherwise, cards always enter the battlefield face-up. (And untapped.)
Q: I Blink a face-down creature that has an ability that triggers "When [it] is turned face-up". Does the ability trigger? A: No. The card is exiled face-down and is returned to the battlefield face-up; there is never a moment when you turn it face-up while it's still on the battlefield, which is what that ability is looking for.
Q: Can Momentary Blink save a creature from Wrath of God , Pyroclasm , or other mass-removal spells? A: No. Momentary Blink exiles the creature and then returns it right away, so it will still be around when the spell resolves, and will still be killed.
Note that there are creatures whose enters-the-battlefield or leaves-the-battlefield abilities may be able to save themselves, and you can use the Blink to trigger these abilities and cause the creature to save itself. (Whitemane Lion is an example.) But the Blink will not save the creature all by itself.
Q: What happens if I Blink a token creature? A: The token is exiled permanently. Once a token leaves the battlefield, it can't be returned to the battlefield by any means.
Q: What happens if I Momentary Blink a creature that was evoked? A: The creature will be exiled, then come back onto the battlefield. It will be considered a completely different permanent than the one that just left, and you didn't pay its evoke cost that time, so you won't have to sacrifice it.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: My opponent doesn't want to put any more permanents onto the battlefield--can I keep on putting more onto the battlefield, even if he doesn't? A: Yes. Each player can put as many cards as they like onto the battlefield, no matter what their opponents do.
You only stop putting cards onto the battlefield when no-one wants to put more cards onto the battlefield, just like it says on the card.
Q: Someone puts something onto the battlefield that has an ability that triggers when it enters the battlefield. Does that trigger do its thing while Hypergenesis is still going off? A: No. Triggered abilities that trigger during the resolution of a spell or ability will always wait until that spell or ability is completely done resolving before they even get put on the stack, which is itself long before those abilities resolve and do their thing.
Hypergenesis/Eureka has to finish resolving before those abilities will even be put onto the stack, and long, long before they resolve.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: How does this work with Spellbook or other effects that alter your hand size? A: For effects that set the hand size to a specific value (or eliminate it entirely), whichever effect is most recent will "overwrite" the others and predominate. If you cast a Spellbook, then a Profusion, your hand size will be 2. If you cast a Profusion, then a Spellbook, you will have no maximum hand size. Remember also that if the most recent one stops applying (your opponent Naturalize s your Spellbook), the remaining ones will again apply in the appropriate order.
For effects that alter your hand size without setting it to a specific value, determine where your hand size has been "set" by the game or the cards, then adjust accordingly.
Q: What counts as "playing a card"? A: "Playing a card" means casting any spell or playing any land that is represented by an actual card. See the Main FAQ entry on Casting Spells and Activating Abilities for a precise definition of what it means to "cast" something.
Note that activating an ability of a card (like Cycling, Ninjutsu, or Forecast) is not the same thing as playing the actual card.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: Can I tap Urborg for mana? A: Yes. Urborg makes itself into a Swamp as long as it's on the battlefield, and all Swamps have the inherent ability, ": Add to your mana pool."
Q: If Urborg is on the battlefield, what color and amount of mana do lands produce? A: All lands will have the exact same abilities they had before, but will also have the ability to tap for . They will not produce "extra" mana with their normal abilities; the swamp-granted ability to tap for is separate.
Q: Does Urborg affect land cards that are not on the battlefield? (For instance, could I use Korlash 's grandeur ability to fetch any lands I wanted if I had an Urborg on the battlefield?) A: No; Urborg's ability doesn't affect land cards that are not on the battlefield. Land cards anywhere other than the battlefield won't be Swamps due to Urborg.
Unless a card specifically says otherwise, such as by using the word "spell " or by telling you what it affects , it's only going to affect things that are on the battlefield.
Q: I have an Urborg and some regular Swamps on the battlefield. What happens with cards that care about how many Swamps I control, like Nightmare or Tendrils of Corruption ? A: They will count each land you control as only a single Swamp.
There's no such thing as a "Swamp Swamp"; things can't have multiple instances of the same type. A card either has a certain type or it does not, with no other options. (Note that abilities are different; an object can have multiples of the same ability.) Even if that wasn't the case, cards that care about how many of something there are on the battlefield are looking for the number of distinct permanents that match their requirements.
Q: How does Urborg interact with Blood Moon or Magus of the Moon ? A: Urborg will simply be a regular Mountain, and its ability will not do anything. This is true regardless of who controls them or what order they entered the battlefield. It will essentially look like this:
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth Legendary Land - Mountain (: Add to your mana pool.) Yawgmoth's corpse is a wound in the universe. His foul blood seeps out, infecting the land with his final curse." --Lord Windgrace
This is because giving a land a basic land type without saying it keeps its previous types will remove all of that land's abilities as well, and replace them with just the ability to tap for the appropriate color of mana.
Effects that remove abilities directly, however, such as Ovinize , will not work on Urborg, as such abilities are applied in a later layer, after Urborg's ability has already done its thing. (For an explanation of the layer system, see this FAQ entry.)
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: I use a spell or ability to put a creature onto the battlefield directly. Does the Pair trigger? A: No. "Putting" something onto the battlefield is not the same thing as "casting" something, and the Pair only triggers if you "cast" the creature.
To put a card onto the battlefield, you simply take it from where it is and drop it onto the battlefield. To cast something, you announce it, put it on the stack, pay the costs of doing so (usually just the mana cost of the card), and wait for it to resolve and enter the battlefield. See the difference?
Q: What counts as "same total power and toughness"? A: Total power and toughness is the sum of the creature's power and its toughness.
For example, a Grizzly Bears has a total power and toughness of 4 (2 power + 2 toughness = 4), so you could find a 0/4, a 1/3, a 2/2, or a 3/1. (And if they existed, you could find a 4/0, a -1/5, a 6/-2, and so on, too.)
Q: What kind of power- and toughness-altering effects count when deciding how big a creature I can find? A: Pretty much all of them--counters, Glorious Anthem , Night of Souls' Betrayal , Giant Growth before the trigger resolves...whatever.
Wild Pair doesn't care anything about the creature's "base" power and toughness, or whether it's been boosted or reduced by some spell or ability. It simply searches for a creature with total P/T equal to the current power and toughness of the creature, whatever that may be.
Q: What does a * count for when the card is in my library? A: A * on a card that isn't on the battlefield is whatever the card's characteristic-defining ability says it is.
Q: What happens if my creature dies before the Pair's ability resolves? A: The Pair will search based on the power and toughness of your creature as it existed just before it left the battlefield.
If your creature died to a toughness-reducing effect like Sudden Death , this may mean you won't be able to find anything. See also the next answer.
Q: Does Wild Pair trigger when a noncreature object enters the battlefield as a creature, thanks to March or the Machines , Opalescence , Nature's Revolt , or similar? A: Yes, as long as you played the card from your hand. Wild Pair only cares that the card is a creature when it hits the battlefield. It doesn't care whether or not the card was a creature when you started to cast it.
Q: What if my creature has a total power and toughness below 0 somehow? A: Then you search for a creature card with total power and toughness 0. Remember, in Magic, any number that's less than 0 counts as 0 for all purposes except changing it.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: If I have a Life and Limb on the battlefield, do my Forests have summoning sickness? A: Yes. Anything that is a creature is affected by summoning sickness; you will be unable to tap your forests for mana (or attack with them) until they have been under your control continuously since the start of your most recent turn.
Q: If I have Life and Limb and Muraganda Petroglyphs on the battlefield, do my Saprolings get +2/+2? A: No. They have the ability ": Add to your mana pool", so they aren't "creatures with no abilities", and thus will not be boosted by the Petroglyphs. (For more information on Muraganda Petroglyphs, see its FAQ entry.)
Q: I have a Life and Limb on the battlefield, along with something that changes creature or land types (such as Blood Moon or Conspiracy ). What happens? A: That depends on several things: which order the cards entered the battlefield, what exactly the cards do, and what else you have on the battlefield.
Now, a good explanation of how these kinds of cards work is going to require a bit of an explanation of exactly how the rules apply effects that modify permanents. The system the game uses is known by rules gurus as "the layer system", because (surprise) it works in a series of layers, like an onion--each type of modifying effect is applied in a specific layer. First all of the effects of one kind are applied, then all the effects of another kind, and so on until all effects have been applied. (See the Main FAQ entry on The Layer System for a complete rundown on this process.)
Within each layer, effects are usually applied in what is known as "timestamp order"--basically the order in which they were created, entered the battlefield, or were attached to the permanent(s) they're attached to. Older effects are applied first, then newer ones. This can be changed, though, if one effect "depends on" another.
An effect "depends on" another effect if applying the second would change the existence of the first, or changes what the first would apply to or how it would affect the things it applies to. If one effect depends on another, the effect that doesn't depend on anything is applied, then the one that depends on it. If multiple effects create a "loop" of effects that depend on each other, you ignore all the dependency issues and just use timestamp order.
Q: Okay...so how does this help me? A: All right, look at Life and Limb, the other card that changes creature/land types, and what you have on the battlefield.
Now, ask yourself these questions:
Based on what you have on the battlefield right now, if you applied the Life and Limb's ability first, would that change what the other card applies to, or how it would affect the things it applies to?
Same question, but the other way around. Based on what you have on the battlefield right now, if you applied the other card's ability first, would that change what Life and Limb applies to, or how it would affect the things it applies to?
If you answered no to both questions, there's no problem, and you can just apply both effects in any order without worrying about it.
If you answered yes to the first question and no to the second, apply the Life and Limb first, then the other card. If you answered no to the first question and yes to the second, apply the other card first, then the Life and Limb.
If you answered yes to both questions, the two effects form a dependency loop, so you need to apply them in timestamp order. First apply the one that entered the battlefield first, then apply the one that entered the battlefield second.
Note: Your answers may change if what you have on the battlefield changes; for example, if you previously had no (real) Saprolings on the battlefield and then you suddenly get one, the order you apply the effects on the battlefield may change. Be on the watch for situations like this.
If you have any questions, ask in Rules Q&A and we'll be happy to clarify.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: I have a Mark of Eviction and a Reality Acid on one of my opponent's creatures. What happens? A: If the Reality Acid has more than one counter on it, then at the beginning of your upkeep, you will return the creature, the Mark, and the Acid to their respective owner's hand. (You may or may not remove a time counter from the Acid before doing this, but that doesn't affect the end result.)
If the Acid has only one time counter on it, you can choose to either return the creature, the Mark and the Acid to their owner's hand, as described above, or to kill all three permanents. (You do this by resolving the Vanishing trigger before the Mark's. This causes the Acid to die, which forces your opponent to sacrifice the creature, which kills the Mark before its ability can resolve and save itself.)
You cannot, under any circumstances, have the creature die and the Auras return to your hand; either all three permanents are bounced or all three permanents die. The Mark returns both the Auras and the creature to their owner's hand at the same time, long before the Acid's leaves-the-battlefield ability could possibly kill the creature.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: One of these cards stops some card from being cast/used. Some time later, the permanent leaves the battlefield somehow. Can the named card(s) be cast/used again? A: Yes. Abilities of permanents only work while the permanent is on the battlefield, unless the ability states otherwise or can only logically work outside of the battlefield. Once the permanent that forbids the card from beng cast/used leaves the battlefield, the effect ends and that card can be cast again.
Q: I name a card for one of these cards, and then my opponent tries to use the card I named "in response" to the naming. Can he do that? A: No. The card is chosen as the permanent resolves, and this choice cannot be responded to. By the time you actually name the card, it's too late for your opponent to do anything--the permanent is on the battlefield and is actively forbidding him from using that card.
Note that you can't "speed through" the process of casting and resolving the spell without giving your opponent a chance to do things in response. Your opponent will have a chance to do things in response to the spell itself, perhaps even casting/using the card you're planning to name, if it's an instant or activated ability. He won't know for sure what you will choose until it's too late, but he can take a guess.
This same answer applies to Circu, Dimir Lobotomist 's ability as well as the other cards in this group. Unless your opponent somehow knows what the top card of his library is, he won't know exactly which card will be exiled until the ability has resolved and it's too late.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: When I attack with Frenzied Goblin , can I pay more than once to make more than one creature unable to block? A: No. The Goblin says you can pay to make a single target creature unable to block, so you can do that. But the Goblin does not say you can pay multiple times, so you cannot.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: Huh? A: Look at the ability/bonus the Sliver grants. Now think: would having two of that exact same ability/bonus do anything extra?
For boosts to power and toughness, the answer is obviously yes. +1/+1 and +1/+1 add together to make +2/+2, for example.
For triggered abilities, the answer is also yes. Two triggered abilities equals two triggers equals two of whatever the ability does.
For activated abilities, the answer is no. Two identical activated abilities don't really do anything more than one of them does, because you can't activate multiple different abilities by paying the cost once.
For static abilities, the answer is generally no, though there are exceptions. "Flying " and "Flying ", for example, don't somehow combine to make "super-flying". "Absorb 1 " and "Absorb 1 ", on the other hand, would both apply and would reduce damage by 1 and 1, or 2. Just ask yourself if having a second instance of that same ability would actually accomplish anything.
Q: Do Slivers' abilities apply to themselves? A: Yes. Slivers' abilities apply to all slivers, and since the creature the ability is from is also a Sliver, it gets the ability/bonus too. (But of course, if it somehow stops being a sliver, it stops getting the bonus, too...)
Q: Does having Shroud stop slivers from granting each other abilities? A: No. Shroud only stops things from being targeted by spells or abilities. Anything that doesn't target works just fine against something with shroud, and the abilities that Slivers use to grant each other abilities don't target. (You can tell because they don't say "target" anywhere.)
However, the abilities that are granted this way may be stopped by shroud if they need to target in order to work. For example, Crypt Sliver . If both Crypt Sliver and Crystalline Sliver are on the battlefield, all Slivers will have both shroud (from Crystalline) and the ability ": Regenerate target Sliver" (from Crypt). However, since using the ability granted by the Crypt Sliver would require you to target the Sliver you want to regenerate, you won't be able to do that, because all slivers have shroud and therefore can't be targeted. The ability granted by Cypt Sliver is effectively unusable as long as Crystalline Sliver is around; they have it, they just can't actually use it.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
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