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The purpose of this thread is to compile a list of frequently asked questions about specific cards that seem to cause a lot of confusion, and the answers to those questions. If you think you have a common question about how a specific card or combo works, please check here to see if you can find the answer before asking about it in a new thread in RQ&A.

If you find a rules error or a broken link in this FAQ, please PM me so that I can fix it. Be aware that I may not respond; if it's nitpicky, I might decide to leave it out in the interests of clarity.

There are always many cards that this FAQ doesn't cover, so if you think there is something that needs to be covered or answered, please make a post in this thread.

If you have some other comment, PM me.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this FAQ in any way.

Special thanks to VinnyB for writing out everything anyone could possibly want to know about Eye of the Storm so I didn't have to.

Q: So as soon as my opponent has less life than me, I can cast this and they lose? I mean, it only costs and X life, right?
A: Wrong. Bond of Agony does not cost just and X life. It actually costs and X life. You have to pay both X mana and X life in order to cast it.

Q: So if my opponent doesn't have a copy of that card, I both [Do X] and damage him?
A: No; you're misreading the card. Click those card links and read the Oracle text to the right of the actual card image. That's how they work (and have always worked). When the spell (or ability) resolves, any player can choose to have that spell/ability deal some amount of damage to him or her. If no player chooses to take damage (and only if no player takes the damage), the spell has some other effect. None of these cards care whether or not your opponent possesses a copy of the card or not.

If you're still confused, read the card again, carefully this time, noting the position of the commas. Book Burning , for example, reads:


It does not read:

Q: Okay, so what does this card do?
A: If a player would draw a card (other than the first one in a draw step), if that player has no cards in hand, he or she mills a card. If he or she does have a card, he or she discards a card, then draws a card.

If a player would draw multiple cards (such as through Divination ), each draw is handled consecutively--in this case, the person discards, then draws, then discards and draws again. If the person has no cards in hand to discard, he or she mills two cards instead.

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Q: And if there are multiple Chains on the battlefield?
A: That's when it gets a bit complicated. Each Chains will apply in turn. Essentially, for each one card the person tries to draw, (other than, of course, the first one in a draw step) that person first discards cards equal to the number of Chains on the battlefield, then draws that card. If the person has less cards in hand than the number of Chains on the battlefield, he or she discards however many he or she has and mills a single card.

Again, drawing multiple cards handles each individual draw in turn. Assuming two Chains are on the battlefield and a person casts Counsel of the Soratami , the person who played the Counsel will discard two cards, then draw one, then discard two, then draw one.

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Q: So why don't they just keep triggering off of each other?
A: The Chains' ability is not triggered--it's a static ability that generates a replacement effect. (You can tell because it tells you to do something instead of doing something else.)

A replacement effect can only apply once to any particular event; after that, it looks at the event, says, "Oh, wait, I've already applied to that," and ignores it, even if something else has modified the event since then. (If it didn't work this way, you'd have a heck of a time drawing a card with a Zur's Weirding on the battlefield.)

Q: I control a Circu , and have exiled a few cards with it. My opponent kills it somehow--can he then cast spells with the same name as the exiled cards again?
A: Yes. Circu's last ability is a static ability, and static abilities only function when the card they're on is on the battlefield (unless the card specifically says otherwise or only makes sense when it isn't on the battlefield). When Circu leaves the battlefield, his ability stops applying, and your opponent can start casting cards with the same name as the exiled cards again.

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Q: What if Circu later returns to the battlefield? Does he automatically stop all the cards it exiled before, or does he have to start all over?
A: He has to start all over. When a permanent leaves the battlefield, it "forgets" everything about its former existence...including, in Circu's case, what cards it exiled.

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Q: I have a Circu on the battlefield and I cast a blue/black multicolored spell--how many cards do I remove?
A: Two. Circu has two triggered abilities--one triggers when you cast a blue spell, and one triggers when you cast a black spell. If you cast a spell that is both black and blue, both will trigger, and each will remove a card.

Q: If I have two or more Doubling Season s on the battlefield, how many counters/tokens will I get?
A: Each Season will double the number of counters once. Thus, one Season will give you twice as many as normal, two Seasons will give you four times as many, three will give you eight times as many, and four will give you sixteen times as many. (And five will give you thirty-two times as many as normal, and so on and so forth.)

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Q: So why don't the Seasons just keep endlessly triggering off of each other?
A: Because the Season's ability isn't a triggered ability-it's a static ability that generates a replacement effect. (You can tell because it tells you to do something instead of doing something else.)

A replacement effect can only apply once to any particular event; after that, it looks at the event, says, "Oh, wait, I've already applied to that," and ignores it, even if something else has modified the event since then. (If it didn't work this way, you'd have a heck of a time drawing a card with Zur's Weirding on the battlefield.)

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Q: How does Doubling Season interact with Graft creatures and Simic Guildmage ?
A: Very well. The Season will double the number of counters a Graft creature enters the battlefield with, and doubles any counters that move onto other creatures. ("Moving" a counter has been ruled to essentially be the same as "remove it from this, put it on that".) See also the FAQ entry for Graft.

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Q: How does Doubling Season interact with Planeswalkers?
A: Well, but not quite as well as with Graft. The Season will double the number of loyalty counters the planeswalker enters the battlefield with; however, it will not double the counters added to the planeswalker as a cost to activate one of its "plus" abilities.

Doubling Season only doubles counters placed due to effects; activating a planeswalker's abilities adds or removes counters as a cost, not an effect. (Though note that if the ability happens to create counters or tokens as part of its effect, such as with Garruk Wildspeaker 's Beast-making ability, then Doubling Season will affect that.)

Q: What the hell does Eye of the Storm do?
A: In short, when anyone casts a sorcery or instant, it stores it. Then, it copies all the stored cards, and lets that player cast them.
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Q: Buh?
A: Okay, a (simplified) example:

Eye of the Storm is on the battlefield (it should rarely matter who controls it), and it's "empty."

I cast Concentrate . The Eye exiles it, then makes a copy, which I cast. I draw three cards.

Later, my opponent casts Stone Rain on one of my lands. The Eye exiles it, then makes copies of both the Concentrate and the Stone Rain. My opponent draws three cards and destroys one of my lands.

Later, I cast Sacred Nectar . The Eye exiles it, then makes copies of the Concentrate, Rain, and Nectar, all of which I cast. I draw three cards, destroy one of my opponent's lands, and gain 4 life.

[Etc.]

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Q: Can I cast the sorcery copies even if it's not my turn?
A: Of course. You're casting them all while an ability is resolving. If "timing" mattered, you couldn't even cast the instants.

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Q: So it works for both players?
A: Yes. It doesn't matter who owns the exiled cards. Whoever played the spell gets a copy of all the exiled cards.

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Q: Can I cast the copies in any order I want?
A: Yes.

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Q: Do I have to cast all the copies, or can I just cast the ones I want?
A: You don't have to cast all (or even any) of the copies if you don't want to--you can pick and choose only the ones you want to cast.

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Q: How does the Eye interact with Isochron Scepter and Panoptic Mirror ?
A: It doesn't. Eye of the Storm 's ability triggers when an instant or sorcery card is cast. Copies aren't cards, and cards aren't copies. Cards are made of paper.

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Q: What happens someone 'responds' to one of the spells?
A: Then it gets more complicated. Let's say I cast a Stone Rain . The triggered ability of the Eye (which let's say is empty) triggers, and is placed on the stack, so the stack looks as follows:
The Stack Show
You're holding a Skyshroud Blessing , and clearly would like to respond. You have two choices:

• 'Respond' right now, to the card itself.
  
  You cast the Blessing; The Eye's ability triggers, and is placed on the stack above it.
  The Stack Show
  Stone Rain card
  Eye of the Storm's ability (Stone Rain)
  Skyshroud Blessing card
  Eye of the Storm's ability (Skyshroud Blessing)
  
  You and I both pass, so the Eye's ability (on top of the stack) resolves. It exiles the Skyshroud Blessing. Then, it makes a copy of the Blessing, and lets you cast it, which you do.
  The Stack Show
  Stone Rain card
  Eye of the Storm's ability (Stone Rain)
  Copy of Skyshroud Blessing
  
  We both pass again, so your copy of Skyshroud Blessing resolves. Lands are untargetable this turn, and you draw a card. We both pass again, so the Eye's ability (the other one) resolves. It exiles the Stone Rain. Then, it makes a copy of the Blessing and of the Rain, and lets me cast both. I can't cast the Rain copy (since it doesn't have any legal targets), but I can cast the copy of the Blessing. I do.
  The Stack Show
  Copy of Skyshroud Blessing
  
  We both pass again, so my copy of Skyshroud Blessing resolves. I draw a card.
  
  Summary: I get a copy of the spell with which you're responding. You don't get a copy of the spell to which you're responding.
  
  OR
  
  
  
• Wait for the Eye's ability to resolve, then 'respond' to the copy.
  
  You let the Eye's ability resolve. It exiles the Stone Rain. Then, it makes a copy of the Rain, and lets me cast it, which I do. (Then I pass.)
  The Stack Show
  Copy of Stone Rain
  
  You cast the Blessing (i.e., you 'respond'); The Eye's ability triggers, and is placed on the stack above it.
  The Stack Show
  Copy of Stone Rain
  Skyshroud Blessing card
  Eye of the Storm's ability (Skyshroud Blessing)
  
  You and I both pass, so the Eye's ability resolves. It exiles the Blessing. Then, it makes a copy of the Blessing and of the Rain, and lets you cast both. You cast the copy of the Blessing, then the copy of the Rain (targeting one of my lands).
  The Stack Show
  Copy of Stone Rain (mine)
  Copy of Skyshroud Blessing (yours)
  Copy of Stone Rain (yours)
  
  We both pass again, so your copy of Stone Rain resolves. It destroys one of my lands. We both pass again, so your copy of Skyshroud Blessing resolves. We both pass again, so my copy of Stone Rain would resolve, but is countered on resolution due to its lack of legal targets (it "fizzles").
  
  Summary: You get a copy of the spell to which you're responding. I don't get a copy of the spell with which you're responding.
  

It's pretty obvious that scenario #2 is what you usually want - It provides you an extra copy, and deprives me (your opponent) of one.

Scenario #1 may be preferable if the card with which you're responding is a counterspell, though. For example, say I played something like Boil , which, with your Counterspell , you wanted to ensure never resolved. By 'responding' immediately, you could counter the Boil card, and thus prevent it from ever being "saved" in the Eye. (When the Eye's ability resolved, it wouldn't be able to find the Boil if it had left the stack.)

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Q: Speaking of spells you never want to resolve, how does Storm interact with the Eye?
A: Very well. A spell's storm ability triggers when that spell is cast, and the Eye effectively makes you cast the cards from your hand twice, as well as allowing you to cast a bunch of other spells. This essentially means that when you first cast it, your card's Storm will trigger twice, and assuming there's stuff on the Eye that you cast and you do it right, the second time will be for more. It also means that the "storm count" will escalate very quickly.

For example, say I simply cast Duress , then Brainstorm , then Tendrils of Agony (without an Eye on the battlefield). The Storm ability will create two copies of the Tendrils. The net effect will be "draining" my opponent for 6.

Now, say I do the same, but while an Eye of the Storm is on the battlefield. (We'll assume it's "empty", just to make things simpler.) I cast Duress --the Eye exiles it and allows me to cast a copy, which I do. I then cast Brainstorm --the Eye exiles it and I cast copies of both Brainstorm and Duress. Then I cast Tendrils of Agony . Its storm ability triggers and creates five copies, and the Eye exiles the original and creates copies of all three. Since I can cast them in any order I like, I'll cast the copies of Brainstorm and of the Duress, then the Tendrils. The Tendrils' storm ability triggers again and will create eight more copies. The net effect will be "draining" my opponent for 28.

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Q: What about "X spells"?
A: Very poorly, if you're talking about spells with in their mana cost, like Fireball . Since you're not paying the mana cost, X will have to be 0. (Of course, if the X isn't a part of the mana cost, it'll work just fine.)

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Q: Can I pay additional costs for those copies, like Kicker?
A: You're casting them, so yes. And if the costs are mandatory, like Fling 's, you'll have to pay them to cast the copy.

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Q: What about Replicate?
A: That works as normal, essentially. For example, with the Eye out, you could cast Train of Thought ( ) "replicated" twice ( ), then cast the copy ( :0mana: ) replicated once ( ). Of course, that's a total of to draw four cards, which you could have done anyway (by just "replicating" it thrice in the first place). There's really only a difference when effects like Stifle 's and Helm of Awakening 's are involved.

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Q: What about Splicing?
A: You can splice cards from your hand onto the copies (assuming the copies are Arcane), since you're casting them. (Of course, you can't splice the copies onto other spells.)

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Q: Can I activate abilities of the copies, like Transmute or Cycle them?
A: No. You can only cast them. Just like the Eye says.

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Q: Does putting another Eye onto the battlefield have any additional effect?
A: Not really. Playing a sorcery or instant card will still result in getting a copy of each exiled card. There'll just be less control over the order in which you're allowed to cast the copies, depending on which cards are "saved" on which Eye. And of course if one Eye disappears, the other will still be hanging around.

For example, say I control an Eye with a Brainstorm , and you control an Eye with a Shahrazad . If I cast a Mulch (it's my turn), then my Eye's ability will be put on the stack first (since I'm the active player), followed by your Eye's ability. Thus, the Mulch will be exiled by your Eye, so I can cast copies of the Shahrazad and of the Mulch (in that order, or vice versa). Then, once those copies and my Eye's ability have all resolved, I'll be allowed to cast a copy of Brainstorm.

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Q: Does casting the copies trigger [random card]'s ability?
A: Does the ability trigger when you cast a spell? You certainly are, so yes, abilities like Wee Dragonaut 's and Circu 's will trigger - both when you originally cast the spell, and when you cast each of the copies.

For example, say you control a Cloudhoof Kirin and an Eye with a Blessed Breath "in" it, and you cast a Candles' Glow . Both the Kirin's ability and the Eye's ability will trigger. When the Eye's ability resolves, it'll exile the Glow, then makes copies of the Glow and the Breath for you. If you cast both, the Kirin's ability will trigger twice more, and you'll end up "milling" five cards (2, 2, and 1).

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Q: What happens to the copies I don't cast? Can I cast them next time?
A: No, they cease to exist, as soon as state-based effects are checked.

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Q: If I've resolved a spell with Epic spell, can I still cast the Eye's copies?
A: Of course not. You can't cast any spells at all.

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Q: Does the Eye copy the last-known information from the stack, or the current information from the exile zone?
A: The latter; if you Wish for a card, then it's not "in" the Eye any more.

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Q: What happens when I have an Eye of the Storm and a Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir on the battlefield? I heard something about this stopping my opponent from casting spells...how does that work?
A: Whenever a player casts an instant or sorcery spell, Eye of the Storm's ability does its normal thing and lets players cast copies of a whole bunch of cards, as described above. However, the important part of this is that all of those copies are played while the Eye's ability is still resolving. Since the ability is still resolving, it is still on top of the stack. (Spells and abilities are removed from the stack as the very last part of their resolution; up until then, they're still sitting on the stack.)

Now, pretend that your opponent casts an instant or sorcery spell (they have to do it during their main phase when the stack is empty, because Teferi won't let them do it otherwise). The Eye triggers, exiles the spell, creates a lot of copies, and then tries to let your opponent cast them. But the Eye's ability is still on the stack. This means that the stack is not empty, and therefore Teferi won't let them cast any of the copies.

Basically, if you have both Teferi and the Eye on the battlefield, any instant or sorcery your opponent casts is exiled permanently, and they don't get anything in return. (But since it's on the Eye, you'll be able to use it if you like.)

Q: I have a Humility on the battlefield...?
A: Our sympathies.

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Q: No, I mean how does it work with...
A: Before we get into specifics, it's important to know three things. The first is that continuous effects that modify permanents on the battlefield work in a series of layers, like an onion--each type of modifying effect is applied in a specific layer. The second is that within each layer, effects are usually applied in "timestamp order", which basically means the order they were created, entered the battlefield, or were attached to the permanent(s) they're attached to. The last thing you need to know is that if an ability has multiple different types of modifying effects, each effect is applied in the proper layer, but once an ability starts to apply, the rest is applied as normal even if the ability that generates it disappears in the meantime.

The layers are as follows:

• Copy effects ( Clone , Cytoshape )
  
• Control-changing effects ( Dominate , Persuasion )
  
• Text-changing effects ( Mind Bend , Swirl the Mists )
  
• Type-, subtype-, and supertype-changing effects ( Unnatural Selection , Conspiracy )
  
• Color-changing effects ( Shifting Sky , Cerulean Wisps )
  
• Effects that grant or remove abilities ( Flame Fusillade , Adarkar Windform )
  
• Power- and/or toughness-changing effects
  • Effects from characteristic-setting abilities ( Heedless One )
    
  • Effects that set power and/or toughness to a specific value ( Riptide Mangler , Sorceress Queen )
    
  • Effects that modify power and/or toughness but don't set them to a specific number or value ( Glorious Anthem , Giant Growth )
    
  • Changes from counters (+1/+1 counters, -1/-1 counters, etc.)
    
  • Effects that switch a creature's power and toughness ( About Face )

See also the Layer System FAQ Entry for an in-depth explanation of this process.

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Q: ... Opalescence ? (And other animation effects?)
A: What exactly happens depends on when they entered the battlefield.

Regardless of the order they entered the battlefield, in layer 4, Opalescence turns all non-Aura enchantments (including Humility ) into creatures. Then, in layer 6, Humility removes all abilities from all creatures (which now includes itself). At that point, however, both abilities have started to apply, and will continue to apply. Now, both Humility and Opalescence's abilities want to set the power and toughness of creatures to a specific value, so they both want to apply in layer 6b. Since they want to apply in the same layer, you apply them in timestamp order.

If Humility entered the battlefield first, it sets everything to 1/1, and then Opalescence sets the Power and Toughness of all the enchantments it turned into enchantment creatures to their converted mana cost. Humility ends up as a 4/4 enchantment creature with no abilities.

If Opalescence entered the battlefield first, first it sets the P/T of all those enchantment creatures to their CMC, and then Humility comes around and turns everything into a 1/1. Humility ends up as a 1/1.

With multiple Opalescences, the timestamp order again applies. If Humility entered the battlefield first, all of them are 4/4s. If it entered the battlefield last, they're all 1/1s. If it entered the battlefield somewhere in the middle, all the ones that would be affected by the later Opalescence(s) are 4/4s, and the rest are 1/1s.

This same principles hold true for other animation effects as well.

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Q: ...P/T-modifying counters?
A: Counters are always applied in 6d, after Humility does its thing in 6b. Thus, creatures with counters on them will always be boosted by their counters, even if a Humility's on the battlefield.

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Q: ... Giant Growth ? (And other spells and abilities that modify P/T?)
A: As with counters, the effect applies over top of Humility. In the case of Giant Growth, the creature will be 4/4.

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Q: ... Jump ? (And other spells and abilities that grant abilities?)
A: If the effect was created before Humility entered the battlefield, then Humility overwrites it, as if it never happened. If the effect was created after, then it applies over top of Humility.

If you Jump your creature, then cast Humility, it will not have flying.
If you cast Humility, then Jump your creature, it will have flying.

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Q: ... Glorious Anthem ? (And other continuous effects that modify P/T?)
A: Abilities that modify power and toughness (but don't set it) will always apply after Humility. If you have both Humility and Glorious Anthem on the battlefield, your creatures will be 2/2.

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Q: ... Knighthood ? (And other continuous effects that grant abilities?)
A: Apply them in timestamp order. All the abilities that were granted before Humility entered the battlefield will be erased, but all the ones that were granted after will stay.

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Q: ...Some strange combination of the above?
A: Okay, so we can't answer all of the possible questions this card can raise, but just remember that layering system laid out above and remember about timestamps. Also, remember these tips:

• If multiple things are entering the battlefield at the same time (like with Replenish ), the person whose turn it is decides their timestamp order relative to each other as they entered the battlefield.
  
  
• If an effect in a particular layer would affect the existence or applicability of something else in the same layer, that something else is said to be "dependent" on the first; things that are dependent on something else are always applied after that something else. (Thus, an animated Knighthood will never give creatures first strike if a Humility is on the battlefield.)

If that fails, feel free to ask.

Q: I've heard there was a combo involving Izzet Guildmage , Desperate Ritual , and Lava Spike to deal an arbitrarily large amount of damage to my opponent(s), but I can't figure it out--how does it work?
A: Okay, here's how it works:

First, have Izzet Guildmage on the battlefield.
Then, cast Lava Spike , targeting your opponent, with Desperate Ritual spliced to it.
In response to that, activate the Guildmage's second ability, targeting the Spike/Ritual. (You can do that because its converted mana cost is still 1, no matter what it has spliced onto it.)
Let the Guildmage's ability resolve. It puts a copy of the Spike/Ritual on the stack.
Let the copy resolve. The copy deals 3 damage to your opponent, and you get .
Use that to activate the Guildmage's ability again, targeting the original Spike/Ritual (it hasn't gotten a chance to resolve yet). Lather, Rinse, Repeat--each copy deals damage to the opponent and gives you just enough mana to make another copy.

Note that this combo requires that you have at least six mana available to start with, three of it red: to cast the Spike/Ritual, and to copy it the first time. You can reduce the amount required to five (three of it still red) by casting the Ritual itself in response to the Spike/Ritual in order to get the mana to activate the Guildmage's ability the first time. (And you can reduce the amount required to three, only one of it red, if you have a Seething Song kicking about, and while we're at it, if you have a second Ritual in your hand as well as that Song, you can do it with just two mana. The Guildmage still has to be on the battlefield first, though.)

Q: Can I cast cards exiled with Kaho more than once?
A: No, for the same reason you can't cast cards in your hand more than once. When you cast the spell, it moves to the stack, resolves, and is then put into your graveyard. It's no longer exiled (much less by Kaho), so Kaho won't let you cast it any more.

Q: What happens when I copy a creature/enchantment/artifact spell with Odds?
A: Nothing, because you can't. Odds is limited to targeting instant and sorcery spells-it can't target anything else. (Read it again-its target is "target instant or sorcery spell".)

Q: Does Omnibian remove abilities from the creatures it changes?
A: No. Omnibian doesn't say it removes abilities, so it doesn't. All it does is change the creature's creature type to Frog and change its P/T to 3/3. That's it, no ability-removal involved.

Q: Do I have to pay the Wurm's cost if I'm casting it from my library?
A: Yes, you do, for the same reason you would have to pay the cost if you were casting it from your hand. You are casting it as a spell (and it doesn't say you don't pay the cost), so all the normal rules for doing so apply, including having to pay its cost.

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Q: I am searching my Library and want to cast Panglacial Wurm . What happens when I use a Chromatic Sphere to do so?
A: Okay, here's what happens.

First, you start searching your library and decide you want to cast the Wurm. You then put the Wurm on the stack (putting a card on the stack is the first step in casting it). The whole time you're searching, you must be very careful to not change the order of any of the cards in your library (save removing the Panglacial Wurm you're casting), or else you will be accused of cheating (because you are).

Then, you have the chance to activate mana abilities, like the one on Chromatic Sphere. If you use the Sphere, you will add one mana of any color to your mana pool, and then draw the top card of your library, keeping it face-down in your hand (even though you already know what it is because you were searching your library at the time). If you use multiple Spheres, you will draw the top several cards. Remember, you must not change the order of the cards in your library during this process. If you change the order of the cards in your library, you change what you're going to draw, and that's cheating.

After that, you finish up casting the Wurm, the card(s) you drew with the Sphere(s) starts being face-up again, and finish searching your library for whatever it was you were searching for. Then, you'll probably have to shuffle your library.

Q: Can I play this land on the first turn so I don't have to bounce a land?
A: Well, you can technically play a bounceland on the first turn. However, doing so won't do you any good, because it'll immediately bounce itself and you'll have wasted your land drop.

The bounceland's return-ability ("When ~ enters the battlefield, return a land you control to its owner's hand") triggers when it enters the battlefield. That is, the land enters the battlefield, then the ability "goes off". Since the land is on the battlefield when the ability resolves, and the ability does not specify that you return a land other than that one to your hand, it sees that you do indeed have a land to return and forces you to do so. You're forced to return it, and you get nothing for your troubles.

Q: Can I use the Valkyrie to return dead creatures to the battlefield?
A: No, you cannot. The Valkyrie's ability can only be played on a still-living creature, for the same reason you can't Shock a dead creature. (Only permanents are legal targets unless the spell or ability specifically says it targets something else.)

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Q: I control two untapped, non-summoning-sick Valkyries, and my opponent casts Wrath of God or an equivalent. Can I use my Valkyries to save each other?
A: Yes, you can; both Valkyries will die, and then the delayed triggers will return them to the battlefield. When a card calls itself by name, it simply means "this card", not "any card with this name". If it meant any card with that name, that's what it would have said.

Q: Can I use Djinn Illuminatus to replicate these spells infinitely?
A: No. The Djinn makes the replicate cost of the card equal to the mana cost of the card. Since the mana cost of these cards is nonexistent, the replicate cost will be nonexistent, and a nonexistent cost cannot be paid.

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Q: Can I use {Card} and similar to cast these spells?
A: Depends. Does the card say you cast it "without paying its mana cost" or "pay {some other cost} rather than [its] mana cost"? If so, yes. If not, no.

Since these cards don't have a mana cost, and a nonexistent cost can't be paid, anything that tries to allow you to cast them but doesn't circumvent the nonexistent cost won't work.

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Q: Can I copy these spells, say with Twincast or Izzet Guildmage ?
A: Yes. You may not be able to cast them, but you can copy them just fine, because that isn't the same as casting the spell.

Q: Does this card exile creatures in graveyards, hands, and/or libraries?
A: No, just the ones on the battlefield. If a card uses the name of a type (supertype, card type, or subtype--"creature" is a card type) without specifying otherwise, it refers only to cards of that type that are on the battlefield. Nothing in any other zone will be affected unless the card specifically says so.

Q: Can I use Saffi's ability to endlessly return herself?
A: No, you cannot. While you can choose to target Saffi with her own ability (targets are chosen before costs are paid), you have to sacrifice her as a cost to activate the ability, and that happens long before the ability actually tries to resolve and set up the return-effect. When the ability tries to resolve, it will see that Saffi is no longer on the battlefield and be countered for having no legal targets.

Q: What happens to the exiled cards when the Scepter is destroyed?
A: They remain exiled, and remain face-down. Your opponent still doesn't get to see what they are. (Nothing is telling you to do anything with them, so they stay where they are.)

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.

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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.)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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."

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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:

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.)

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?

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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.)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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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.)

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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.

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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.

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.

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.

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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.

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.

Q: Do Slivers' abilities stack? (ie, Are they cumulative?)
A: Yes, but sometimes that doesn't do anything.

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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.

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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...)

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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.

Q: I use something that grants Nacatl War-Pride an ability or changes its power or toughness, and I attack with it. Do the tokens get the ability/bonus as well?
A: No. The tokens are copies of the War-Pride, and copy effects can only "see" the actual card and other copy effects. Counters, Auras, Equipment, effects from spells and abilities...anything that is not part of the actual card and isn't a copy effect won't be given to the tokens. (See the Copying section of the main FAQ for more information.)

For example:

I enchant my Nacatl War-Pride with Mythic Proportions and attack with it. The copies will be 3/3s without trample; the Proportions does not have a copy effect, so the effect that creates the token copies won't "see" it.

I attack with Nacatl War-Pride , and while the "copy-me" triggered ability is on the stack, I use Cytoshape to turn the War-Pride into a Vizzerdrix . The tokens will also be Vizzerdrixes, because Cytoshape is a copy effect, and thus will be "seen" and duplicated.

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Q: How does Nacatl War-Pride 's blocking restriction work?
A: If it is possible for the defending player to block the War-Pride with exactly one creature, he or she is forced to do so. (The choice of exactly which creature to block it with is up to the defending player.)

If that isn't possible, the defending player may block it with multiple creatures or leave it unblocked.

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Q: How does Nacatl War-Pride work with effects like Lure ?
A: A Lure on a War-Pride doesn't have much effect; the only thing it does is to force your opponent to not let the Lure-Pride be the one unblocked War-Pride that gets through their defenses. This is because when blocking, you must satisfy as many blocking requirements as possible, and blocking the Lure-Pride with only one creature and having your other creatures block the other Prides will always fulfill more requirements than blocking it with multiple creatures would.

If a non-War-Pride creature with Lure and a War-Pride attacks you, each creature you control will be forced to either block the Lured creature or whichever of the War-Prides you wish. (You won't be able to multi-block any of the War-Prides, though.)

This answer changes if there are (for some reason) more potential blockers than there are War-Prides. Ask in Rules Q&A if that happens.

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Q: How does Nacatl War-Pride work with Doubling Season ?
A: The War-Pride's ability will put double the number of tokens onto the battlefield than it normally would. These tokens are exactly like the regular tokens created by the War-Pride. They will be attacking, and they will be exiled at end of turn.

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Q: Do the tokens have the token-making ability too? If so, why doesn't it trigger and create even more tokens, which then make even more, and even more...?
A: Yes, they have the ability. But the ability triggers when the War-Pride is declared as an attacking creature, and the tokens are put onto the battlefield already attacking; they are never declared as attacking creatures, so the ability won't trigger.

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Q: Wait, the tokens have the token-making ability? So if I find some way to attack again before they're exiled, each of those tokens will make another set of tokens?
A: Yes, as long as you can give them haste so they can be declared as attackers. (The tokens are summoning-sick, since you haven't controlled them since the beginning of your most recent turn. The only reason they could be attacking before was that they were put onto the battlefield already attacking.)

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Q: I attack the opposing team with Nacatl War-Pride in a Two-Headed Giant game. Do I get tokens for the creatures controlled by both "heads", or only one? And if only one, which?
A: You only get tokens for the creatures controlled by one of the opposing team's "heads", but it's whichever one you want.

Q: What counts as an "ability"?
A: Any text in a card's text box that is not in italics is an ability, no matter what it says or does. Anything that has any non-italics text in its text box will not be boosted by the Petroglyphs. (Yes, this includes Imperiosaur .)

Also, anything that says that your creature(s) "gain(s)" or "has/have" something is granting an ability to the creature; thus, your creature will no longer be given the Petroglyphs boost.

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Q: I have something on the battlefield that turns my lands into creatures. Will my basic lands get the Petroglyphs bonus because they don't have any text in their text box?
A: No. They do have an ability; it's just hidden. All basic lands have the ability ": Add [big symbol on card] to your mana pool."

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Q: If I have Life and Limb out, do my Saprolings get the bonus?
A: No. Because they're Forests, 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.

Q: Can I flashback Dread Return from my graveyard to reanimate one of the creatures that I sacrificed to cast it?
A: No. You choose targets for your spells before you pay costs, so it has to be a creature card that was already in your graveyard.

Q: So, these spells keep on suspending and re-suspending themselves every time they resolve? So they come back every three turns?
A: Yes.

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Q: When can I counter one of these spells? What happens when I do so?
A: Each time the spell comes out of suspension, its controller is casting it and putting it on the stack, so it can be countered the same way any other spell can. If it's countered, it's put into its owner's graveyard and does not resuspend, because it did not resolve. (Note that Chronomantic Escape and Festering March don't have any targets, so can't be countered by making their targets illegal.)

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Q: What happens if I copy one of these spells? Does the copy suspend itself and come back the same way the original does?
A: The copy will exile itself with time counters on it, but it won't come back, because it will then cease to exist.

Q: If my Pact is countered, do I still have to pay during my next upkeep?
A: No. The Pacts only set up the pay-or-lose trigger during their resolution, and if a spell is countered, none of its effects occur. This means that if the Pact is countered, it doesn't have time to set up the delayed trigger and thus you will not have to pay.

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Q: If my Pact of Negation or Slaughter Pact 's target becomes illegal somehow, do I still have to pay during my next upkeep?
A: No. A spell whose targets become illegal is countered when it tries to resolve, and just like above, none of its effects will occur, including the setup of the delayed trigger.

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Q: On my next upkeep, can I avoid having to pay by countering the triggered ability or by having something that says I can't lose the game ?
A: Yes. If you counter the triggered ability, it will never resolve, so you will never have to pay, and "can't" beats "can", so if something says you can't lose the game, the Pact can't force you to.

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Q: What happens if I somehow skip my next upkeep?
A: The Pact's delayed trigger waits until the next upkeep you actually take, not necessarily your next "scheduled" upkeep. If you keep skipping your upkeep, you won't have to pay for any of your Pacts...but as soon as you do take an upkeep, you'll have to pay for all of the Pacts you've cast since you started skipping them, all at once.

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Q: What happens if I untap and draw my card and forget to pay for my Pact?
A: You lose the game. (...What did you expect? That is what it says.)

In a casual game, your opponent may be lenient with the rules and allow you to back up and pay, but they don't have to, and you certainly shouldn't expect it of them, much less in any kind of sanctioned tournament play. You're the one who cast the Pact, so you're the one responsible for remembering to pay it. If you don't, you must suffer the consequences.

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Q: But wait, isn't the payment mandatory? So I have to back up and pay it?
A: The payment is mandatory, so if you happened to have enough mana in your mana pool to pay it at the time the trigger resolved, you would be forced to do so. However, nothing is forcing you to generate the required amount of mana. So if you move on to your draw step without doing so, it is assumed that you didn't do so and thus couldn't possibly have paid for the Pact, so you lose.

Q: If I have a Platinum Angel on the battlefield, can I lose the game because of...
A: No. Stop right there. If you have a Platinum Angel on the battlefield (and it still has its ability), there is absolutely nothing that could possibly make you lose the game or make your opponent win. Not Phage , not having 0 life, not drawing cards from an empty library, nothing.

The only way you can possibly lose if you have an Angel on the battlefield is by you choosing, of your own free will, to concede the game. Period. It really is that simple.

(Okay, okay, or you could be forced by the tournament rules to lose, either by being handed a Game Loss by a Judge or to break a tie in a single-elimination tournament, but nothing within the game can possibly cause you to lose.)

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Q: My opponent and I both have Platinum Angels on the battlefield, and no way to get rid of them. What happens?
A: The game continues until either one of you finds a way to get rid of your opponent's Angel, one of you concedes, or you agree that the game is a draw. The game will not naturally end.

Q: What counts as a card type?
A: There are eight different card types in Magic: instant, sorcery, artifact, enchantment, creature, planeswalker, land, and tribal. Any type that isn't one of these eight isn't a card type*. (It might be a supertype, a creature type, an enchantment type, or whatever, but it's not a card type.)

*Okay, okay, technically there are a few others—Plane, Scheme, Vanguard—but those will never, ever be on a card in a graveyard or anywhere else you'll ever be asked to care about them, so don't worry about those.

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Q: I have a Tarmogoyf on the battlefield with nothing in any graveyard and my opponent tries to kill it with a spell that deals 1 damage or reduces its toughness by 1. (Say, Afflict or Zap .) Does Tarmogoyf get boosted by the increased number of card types in graveyards in time to survive the damage/toughness reduction?
A: Yes. Since creature death due to damage or toughness reduction is a state-based effect, the game doesn't bother checking whether or not Tarmogoyf "should die" until after the spell has completely finished resolving, and by that time, the card is already in the graveyard and boosting Tarmogoyf just enough to make it survive.

This answer applies doubly to permanents that are sacrificed as a cost to activate some ability that would deal damage to/reduce the toughness of Tarmogoyf, as the permanent will be in the graveyard and boosting Tarmogoyf long before the ability resolves.

Note: This answer scales up. If your Tarmogoyf is a 1/2 with no instants in the graveyard and your opponent Shock s it, it will survive. If it's a 2/3 with no sorceries and your opponent Volcanic Hammer s it, it will survive. And so on and so forth. You only check whether or not Tarmogoyf should die after the spell has finished resolving and gone to the graveyard.

Q: How, exactly, does Coat of Arms work?
A: For each creature on the battlefield, Coat of Arms will go around to each other creature on the battlefield and ask them if they share a type with that creature. Every creature that answers "yes" gives the creature +1/+1.

Four example, if four Goblin tokens are on the battlefield, each of the tokens gets +3/+3, because each Goblin sees three other creatures that share a type with them.

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Q: If creatures shares more than one creature type, do they get a bigger bonus?
A: No. Coat of Arms does not count the number of creature types that creatures may share; all that matters is whether or not they share any at all. Sharing two, three, or fifty types is exactly the same as sharing just one, as far as the Coat is concerned.

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Q: Do creatures have to share all of their types in order to be boosted by a Coat of Arms?
A: No; they only have to share at least one. If there's a Human Wizard and a Vedalken Wizard on the battlefield, they each get +1/+1, because they share the Wizard creature type.

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Q: How does Coat of Arms interact with Mistform Ultimus and Changelings ?
A: The Ultimus/Changeling will get +1/+1 for each other creature on the battlefield that has a creature type. It will not get more than that, no matter how many creature types those other creatures may have.

Q: Can I use Reveillark's ability to return Body Double? As a copy of Reveillark? And when the Double-ark dies the ability goes off again and I can effectively have the Double return itself?
A: Yes to all of those questions.

As long as Body Double isn't on the battlefield, its power is always going to be 0, so it's a legal target for Reveillark's ability, no matter what its power might later become. By the time Reveillark's ability resolves, the 'Ark is in the graveyard and thus a legal choice for Body Double to copy. And when the Double leaves the battlefield it's in the graveyard just in time to be chosen as a target for the copied 'Ark-ability.

Q: Does the cost of my spell get reduced by if it has both of the appropriate types?
A: No. Each Banneret will ask each spell you cast "Are you a ____ or a ____?". If it gets a "yes" back, it reduces the cost by . If it hears a "no", it doesn't. It's just that simple. The Bannerets do not care whether your spells have both types or only one--the cost reduction will be the same regardless: just .

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Q: Will having multiple Bannerets increase the total reduction?
A: Yes. Each individual Banneret will only reduce the cost of a given spell by , but each Banneret functions independently of the others, so the first will reduce it by , the second by another , the third by another , and so on.

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Q: Will a Banneret reduce what I pay when using Prowl or Evoke costs of cards with the appropriate types?
A: Yes. Prowl and Evoke are both simply alternate costs you can pay when casting the spell, and the Bannerets reduce the total cost of casting the spell, no matter whether you're paying the mana cost or some alternate cost instead.

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Q: Will a Banneret reduce what I pay when using Reinforce?
A: No. Reinforce is an activated ability of the card, not an alternate cost to cast it like Prowl or Evoke.

Q: What does Painter's Servant affect?
A: All permanents, all spells, and all cards in any player's library, hand, or graveyard, plus all cards that have been exiled. (And any ante cards, but nobody plays for ante any more, so we'll ignore that.)

Yes, it does affect lands. (Lands are permanents.) No, it does not affect cards in your sideboard. (The sideboard is not a game zone.)

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Q: If I use Grindstone with a Painter's Servant out, what happens?
A: Since Painter's Servant ensures that any cards you mill with Grindstone will always share a color with each other, the entire library will be milled.

Cards like Darksteel Colossus that replace going to the graveyard with going somewhere else instead will do so as they are milled, before you continue with the rest of the milling. If there are multiple such cards in the deck that put themselves back into the library, eventually they'll be the only cards left, and the Grindstone will simply repeatedly mill them over and over in an unending loop, unable to stop. The game ends in a draw.

Cards like Emrakul, the Aeons Torn or Purity with triggered abilities that cause them to do something when they get milled will wait until after Grindstone's effect has fully finished resolving, and only do whatever they say they do after that's finished. Such cards will not cause a loop like the previous case.

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Q: How does Painter's Servant affect colorless things?
A: They become the color chosen for the Painter. Since they now have a color, they are no longer colorless.

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Q: What happens if there are multiple Painter's Servants?
A: The two are cumulative. The first grants the color chosen for it, and the second grants the color chosen for it, so everything is both of those colors in addition to whatever they were before.

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Q: What happens when Painter's Servant leaves the battlefield?
A: Its ability stops working and everything returns to normal; just like any ability of a permanent card, it only works while the card it's on is on the battlefield unless it says otherwise or could only logically work somewhere else.

Q: What triggers Flourishing Defenses?
A: Whenever one or more -1/-1 counters is placed on a creature, Flourishing Defenses will trigger once for each counter, and will put that many 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature tokens onto the battlefield.

Note: This includes both things like Gnarled Effigy that put counters on things already on the battlefield, and things that cause creatures to enter the battlefield with -1/-1 counters on them, like, say, Chainbreaker 's first ability.

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Q: How does Flourishing Defenses interact with Blowfly Infestation ...
A: Whew...yeah, that's a complicated one, I'm afraid; the answer changes (a lot) depending on who controls each, what is on the board and whose turn it is.

Let's assume that a -1/-1 counter was just put onto something, killing it. This triggers both the Defenses and the Infestation There are five possible situations here:

• The same player controls both the Infestation and the Defenses and there's no creatures on the battlefield that the Infestation's ability would kill.
  
• The same player controls both the Infestation and the Defenses and there's at least one creature already on the battlefield that the Infestation's ability would kill.
  
• The Infestation and Defenses are controlled by different players and it's the turn of the player who controls the Defenses.
  
• The Infestation and Defenses are controlled by different players, it's the Infestation player's turn, and all the creatures already on the battlefield that the Infestation could target would be killed by the counter. (Or there are none.)
  
• The Infestation and Defenses are controlled by different players, it's the Infestation player's turn, and there's at least one creature already on the battlefield that the Infestation could target, but which wouldn't be killed by the counter.

If it's a multiplayer game and it's some other player's turn who controls neither the Infestation nor the Defenses, follow the normal turn order around the table from whoever is taking their turn. If you come to the Defenses player first, you want #3. If you would come to the Infestation player first, you want #4 or #5, whichever is appropriate.

We'll cover these cases in order below.

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Q: What happens with the Defenses and Infestaton if there are multiple Defenses or Infestations on the battlefield? Or, or, or, or...?
A: This FAQ is extensive, but unfortunately we can't cover everything (or at least not without boring you to tears), so if you happen to encounter some more complicated situation, you'll have to ask about it in Rules Q&A if you want to get an answer.

If you're asking more in order to try to gain some insight into how the underlying game mechanics work, you may want to check out the Triggered Abilities section of the main FAQ.

Q: What happens if you control two or more Empyrial Archangels?
A: If you control two or more Archangels and damage would be dealt to you, you choose one of the Archangels, and all the damage is dealt to that one.

Note that all the damage that's being dealt at the same time has to go to the same Archangel; you can't split up a single "chunk" of damage between them.

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Q: How does Empyrial Archangel interact with Wither, Deathtouch, Lifelink, or similar abilities?
A: Empyrial Archangel changes where the damage that would normally be dealt to you goes, but it doesn't change where it's coming from. Damage that is redirected to the Angel from you is still being dealt by the same source, so all of those things work as normal.

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Q: How does Empyrial Archangel interact with other things that redirect or prevent damage?
A: If two or more replacement or prevention effects would apply to an event (in this case, an attempt to damage you), the affected player (you) decides in what order they're applied. (And if the later ones find that the event they were going to replace is no longer happening, they don't happen at all.)

So, for example, if you control a Battletide Alchemist , you can choose to use its effect to prevent some of the damage before you redirect it to the Angel.

Q: How many creatures do I have to sacrifice to activate the ability?
A: Three; one of each color. You must choose one creature that's the first color, a second that's the second color, and a third that's the third color, then sacrifice them all.

You cannot sacrifice just one creature that's all three colors to meet the requirement. The ability isn't asking you to sacrifice any number of creatures as long as each color is represented. It's asking you to sacrifice three creatures, so you have to sacrifice three.

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Q: If I have the card that the Herald is looking for in my hand, can I still put it onto the battlefield?
A: No. It has to come from your library or not at all.

Q: Lush Growth says that it turns the land it's on into a Mountain, a Forest, and a Plains. Does this mean it taps for three mana?
A: No. You can only tap it for one mana at a time. That mana may be red, green, or white, but it's still only one.

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Q: Why not?
A: This may require a little background information. The reason that you can tap basic lands for mana is because they have an activated ability that allows you to do so. A Forest, for example, has the ability ": Add to your mana pool." (Just like Llanowar Elves .) The reason they have this ability even though it's not printed on the card is because they have a basic land type; the five basic land types (Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest) each come with an activated ability that allows you to tap the card for the appropriate color of mana, and giving something one of these land types will also grant it the appropriate ability.

It's important to understand that these abilities don't produce mana automatically. You have to specifically activate an activated ability in order to get its effects--in order to activate that particular ability, you must pay its costs. And you can't use the same cost-payment to pay for multiple abilities at once, for the same reason you can't use the same dollar in more than one vending machine.

So, Lush Growth turns the land it's on into a Mountain, a Forest, and a Plains. That gives it three separate mana-production abilities:

If you want to activate one of these abilities, you have to pay its cost. (ie, Tap the land.) You then get the effect of the ability and get one mana. But the land is now tapped, so you can't possibly pay the cost of the other abilities to get more mana.

Does that clarify things for you?

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Q: Does the land still have its normal abilities and types?
A: No. When you give something a basic land type and don't specifically say that it's in addition to what was already there, that automatically removes all of its existing types and all of the abilities that are granted to it by its normal rules text.

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Q: Does the land become a basic land?
A: Not unless it already was one. Lush Growth would have to say it did that in order to do so, and it doesn't.

Being "Basic" and having one of the "basic land types" are two separate things; being one doesn't automatically make something the other as well.

Q: Is Progenitus protected from {card}?
A: Technically, yes. "Protection from everything" includes...well, every thing.

However, it's very likely that that doesn't mean what you think it means. Protection, in Magic, has a very specific definition and only stops certain very specific kinds of actions. Thus, "protection from everything" does not mean that that Progenitus can't be affected by things. Read on for an explanation.

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Q: So what does protection from everything do?
A: If you read the FAQ entry on Protection, you'll find that protection only stops four very specific things. Progenitus is protected in this manner from every object in the game. Effectively, this means that:

• If Damage would be dealt to Progenitus, prevent it.
  
• Progenitus can't be Enchanted or Equipped.
  
• Progenitus can't be Blocked.
  
• Progenitus can't be Targeted.

That's it. Everything that doesn't do one of those four things, like Wrath of God , works just fine on Progenitus.

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Q: Is Progenitus protected while it's not on the battlefield?
A: No. Protection, even protection from everything, doesn't function when the card it's on isn't on the battlefield. No ability does unless it either says so or could only work from somewhere else.

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Q: If Progenitus is going to my graveyard, can I do something with it while it's there before it gets shuffled into my library?
A: No, because it never gets put into the graveyard in the first place. Progenitus's second ability is a replacement ability; it replaces going to the graveyard with getting revealed and being shuffled into its owner's library. It never actually gets to the graveyard.

Q: I can use Clone on a creature with Shroud or Protection, so could I also use Rite of Replication on it?
A: No. Clone can copy creatures with shroud or protection from it because it doesn't target them. Rite of Replication on the other hand, does need to target the creature it's going to copy. It can't target creatures with shroud or protection from it, and thus can't copy them.

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Q: Does Rite of Replication copy the effects of counters, Auras, Equipment, or any spells and abilities that may be affecting its target?
A: No. The only thing that copy effects will see, and thus copy, are the card (or token) itself, plus other copy effects.

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Q: What happens if I use a kicked Rite of Replication to get five copies of [my/my opponent's] Turntimber Ranger , Hagra Diabolist , or similar Ally?
A: Each token sees itself and the others entering the battlefield, and thus will trigger five times, once for each. Each of your other Allies with similar triggers (if any) will trigger five times. So there will be 25 triggers total from the tokens, plus 5 more from each Ally you already controlled.

If one of these effects counts the number of Allies you control, it counts the number you control as the ability resolves, so every trigger will see all five tokens sitting on the battlefield. (Assuming your opponent doesn't remove them or something before the triggers resolve.)

Q: What is an activated ability? What kind of abilities does the Ooze gain?
A: An activated ability is an ability that you can activate whenever you like by paying a cost in order to get an particular effect. You can recognize an activated ability because it will have a colon in it that separates its costs (what you must pay in order to use the ability) from its effects (what happens when the ability resolves). If there isn't a colon, it isn't an activated ability.

Note that some abilities, like those on Drowner Initiate or Frenzied Goblin , may have you pay a cost in order to do something, yet still not be activated abilities. (You can tell because they don't use a colon.) These are triggered abilities, not activated ones, and the Ooze won't get them. (Triggered abilities are easy to recognize because they always start with the words 'when', 'whenever', or 'at'.)

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Q: Does Necrotic Ooze have the activated abilities of creatures in graveyards while it's not on the battlefield?
A: No. The Ooze's static ability, the one that grants it all those activated abilities in the first place, only functions while the Ooze is on the battlefield, just like most other static abilities. It doesn't work elsewhere for the same reason that the abilities of cards like Glorious Anthem or Furnace of Rath don't work while they aren't on the battlefield.

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Q: Does Necrotic Ooze gain…
A: There's a bunch of these, so let's cover them all in one go:

Q: How does Mimic Vat work?
A: Whenever any nontoken creature is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, Mimic Vat's imprint ability will trigger. When that trigger resolves, whoever controls Mimic Vat can choose to exile that creature and imprint it on the Vat. If he or she chooses to do so, anything else that was already imprinted on the Vat is put into its owner's graveyard. (This basically just means you can only have one thing imprinted on the Vat at a time—everything else goes back to the graveyard it belongs in.)

The player who controls the Vat can use the Vat's other ability to create a token that's a copy of whatever happens to be imprinted on the Vat at the moment--that token will be exiled at the beginning of the next end step.

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Q: What happens if my opponent and I both control Mimic Vats? Who gets to imprint creatures first?
A: When a nontoken creature dies, both Vats will trigger at the exact same time. The player whose turn it is will put their Vat's trigger on top of the stack, and then the other player puts theirs on the stack on top of that. The stack resolves one thing at a time from the top down, so the trigger from the player who is not currently taking their turn will resolve first. If that player chooses to imprint that card on their Vat, it will no longer be in the graveyard and thus cannot be imprinted onto the other Vat.

In a multiplayer game, the same basic principle applies--the triggers are put onto the stack in turn order, and then resolve from the top down. Whoever is furthest away from taking their turn 'wins' and gets first chance to use their Vat.

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Q: Do the enters-the-battlefield abilities of the imprinted creature trigger when I create a token copy? What about leaves-the-battlefield abilities when it goes away?
A: Enters-the-battlefield abilities will trigger. The token is indeed entering the battlefield, so they will trigger.

For leaves-the-battlefield abilities…it depends. Does the ability trigger on the creature "leaving the battlefield", like Reveillark , or does it trigger on the creature going to the graveyard, like Perilous Myr ? The token is being exiled--it does leave the battlefield, but it isn't going to the graveyard, so the first kind will trigger, but the second kind will not.

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Q: What happens if something that's not normally a creature dies as a creature? Can I imprint it on the Vat? And if so, what happens?
A: Anything that's not a token and was a creature when it died will trigger the Vat, and you will be able to imprint it. However, the tokens you create will not be animated--they'll just be a plain-jane copy of the card itself.

So if, for example, someone animated a Mountain with Koth of the Hammer and it died, you could imprint it on your Vat; the tokens you create will be regular old, non-creature Mountain s.

Q: My opponent uses a spell or ability that can't target Spellskite. Can I change its target to Spellskite to cause it to fizzle?
A: No. You can only change a target to something that is itself a legal target. If the spell or ability you're targeting couldn't have targeted Spellskite normally, you can't force it to do so for the same reason your opponent couldn't target it in the first place.

Note that you can use Spellskite's ability--it just won't accomplish anything since what it's trying to do is impossible.

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Q: So how can I use Spellskite to fizzle my opponent's spells or abilities?
A: If your opponent casts a spell or uses an ability that can target Spellskite, you can change the target to Spellskite first, and then after that give Spellskite shroud somehow (or do something else that would make it an illegal target). The target has already been changed to Spellskite, so the fact that it has suddenly become an illegal target won't change it back. The spell or ability will try to resolve, but if all its targets are illegal it will fizzle instead.

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Q: Does Spellskite work against the Equip ability of my opponent's Equipment?
A: No. The Equip ability can only target a "creature you control", and your opponent doesn't control Spellskite, so it's an illegal target for the Equip ability. (As before, you can use Spellskite's ability if you wish--it just won't accomplish anything.)

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Q: Does Spellskite work against Auras?
A: If an Aura spell could legally target Spellskite, yes, you may use Spellskite's ability to change its target. If not, no. (So yes to Holy Strength , no to Evil Presence .)

Note that an Aura that's already on the battlefield is not a spell and is not targeting anything, so you can't use Spellskite's ability to move it.

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Q: If a spell or ability has multiple targets, can I change more than one of them to Spellskite?
A: Maybe, but most likely not. A spell or ability can only target the same object once for each instance of the word "target" in its text--so for example, something like Repel the Darkness can't be cast targeting the same creature twice, and Spellskite can't force it to do so either. (You also can't change the number of targets.) And even if the spell uses the word "target" multiple times, if it specifies the targets need to be different you can't change more than one of them to Spellskite. Arc Trail works this way, for example: it specifies that the second target must be "another" creature or player, ie one that's different from the first.

However, there are a few rare spells that do neither of these things--they use the word "target" multiple times and don't say the targets need to be different. Cards like these can have multiple targets changed by Spellskite. Seeds of Strength is an example of such a card.

Q: I control Norn's Annex , and something is forcing my opponent's creature(s) to attack into it "if able". Does my opponent have to pay? ( Gideon Jura , Curse of the Nightly Hunt , etc.)
A: No. Your opponent's creatures must attack "if able", but if your opponent decides to not pay the cost, they're not able, so they won't have to attack. Your opponent is not forced to pay the cost.