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Q: What is banding and what does it do?
A: Banding is really two separate abilities. They are commonly referred to as 'mutual assistance' and 'damage sharing.' Both of these abilities apply when a banding creature attacks, but only damage sharing applies when one blocks. Below are descriptions that cover the basics of these two abilities.

Mutual Assistance - Banding allows you to group creatures together when they attack, often called attacking in a band. In an attacking band, all creatures in the band except for one must have banding. Any creature that blocks any member of the band blocks the entire band (even if it couldn't block those creatures normally).
For example, I could attack you with Benalish Hero and Grizzly Bears in a band. If you block either the Hero or the Bears, you block the entire band.

Creatures in a band do not share abilities; if I form an attacking band out of a Benalish Hero and an Leonin Skyhunter , you could block the entire band with one non-flying creature by blocking the Hero.

Basically, this part of the ability allows you to "gang-attack" your opponent with a whole bunch of small creatures in the same way that you can "gang-block" attacking creatures. (To "gang-block" is to block a single attacking creature with multiple creatures, usually so you can kill the attacker.)


Damage Sharing - Normally, the controller of a creature gets to decide how to assign that creature's combat damage. However, banding allows the controller of a banding creature to decide how to assign the combat damage of any creatures blocking or blocked by the bander, and lets them divide up that damage however they wish, ignoring the normal damage-ordering rules.
For example, let's say I attack with Benalish Hero (1/1) and a Grizzly Bear (2/2) in a band, and you block the band with a 3/3 creature. Because your 3/3 is blocking my banding creature, I get to choose how your creature deals its combat damage. I could assign all three to the Benalish Hero, and then the Grizzly Bear would survive.

Using this aspect of banding is different from forming a band to attack in that it works no matter how many creatures with banding are present.
For example, let's say you attack with an 8/8 creature. I could block with eight 1/1 creatures. As long as just one of these creatures had banding, I could assign all the combat damage from the 8/8 creature to just one of my 1/1 creatures.

This part of the banding ability works especially well against attacking creatures with trample, as you can decide to assign all combat damage to the creatures blocking the trample creature and not have any assigned to the defending player.

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Q: I think I get it--so what is bands with other?
A: Bands with other is a special form of banding.

When creatures with "bands with other" attack, they can form a band consisting of themselves plus any number of creatures that match the quality given after the words "bands with other"--so a creature with "bands with other wolves" could attack in a band with a whole bunch of Wolves.

Other than that, bands with other works the same as normal banding. (Note that this is a change from the original implementation of bands with other, which was insanely counterintuitive and utterly useless to boot.)

Q: What does rampage do?
A: When a creature with rampage X attacks, if it is blocked by more than one creature, it gets +X/+X until the end of the turn for each creature blocking it beyond the first. So if it is blocked by two creatures, it will bet +X/+X once, and if it is blocked by three, it will get +X/+X twice, and so on.

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Q: What happens when a creature with rampage is blocked by only one creature?
A: Not much. While rampage will trigger regardless of how many creatures block the rampager, it only actually does anything if more than one creature is blocking.

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Q: What happens when a creature with rampage blocks?
A: Nothing. Rampage only works when the creature it's on is attacking.

Q: What does cumulative upkeep do?
A: Cumulative upkeep is an ability that imposes a rising cost upon a permanent. If you wish to keep the permanent on the battlefield, you must pay a cost, and the longer the permanent remains on the battlefield, the higher that cost becomes.

At the beginning of your upkeep, you put an age counter on the permanent with cumulative upkeep. Then, you must pay the cumulative upkeep cost once for every age counter on that permanent--if there is one counter, you pay it once, if there are two you pay it twice, and so on. If you don't pay the cost, you must sacrifice the permanent with cumulative upkeep.

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Q: Can I choose not to pay all or part of my card's cumulative upkeep?
A: There's no going halfway on this: you have to either pay all of the cost or none of the cost. If you can't or don't wish to pay all of the cost, you have to sacrifice the card.

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Q: My card has cumulative upkeep " or " (or " or ", or "discard a card or pay 2 life", or some other cost with multiple options). Can I choose to pay some of the full cost with one and some of it with the other?
A: Yes; you can divide up your payments between payment options however you like, as long as you're still paying the cost the right number of times.

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Q: My card has cumulative upkeep "an opponent gains 1 life" or "gain control of a land an opponent controls". In a multiplayer game, can I divide my "payments" among multiple opponents?
A: Yes, you can. The choice of opponent for each single payment is made individually.

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Q: My card has a trigger that works when I pay the cumulative upkeep--how many times will that trigger each time I pay?
A: Just once. The card triggers on you paying the total cost, not on each individual payment.

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Q: My card has an ability that triggers when it dies that counts the number of age counters on it. If I have to sacrifice it because I can't pay its cost, how many counters does that ability "see"?
A: When the cumulative upkeep trigger resolves, it puts an age counter on the permanent first, and then makes you sacrifice it unless you pay. The trigger will see that counter that was just put on it in addition to any others it might have had.

Q: What does vigilance do?
A: Normally, when a creature attacks, it becomes tapped. Creatures with vigilance don't--they just stay untapped instead.

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Q: Does a creature with vigilance have to tap to pay for activated abilities with in the cost?
A: Yes. Vigilance only means the creature doesn't tap to attack. It doesn't mean the creature doesn't have to tap to do other things that require tapping.

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Q: So if my creature doesn't tap to attack, does that mean it can attack the turn I cast it?
A: No. "Summoning Sickness" prevents a creature from attacking, period; it doesn't matter whether or not a tap is required to do so.

Q: What is Phasing?
A: Phasing is an ability from the Mirage block (Mirage, Visions, Weatherlight.)
At the beginning of your untap step, before you untap anything, all phased-in permanents with phasing phase out and all cards that phased out under your control phase in. Then, untap all (phased-in) permanents you control.

To be phased out means that the game effectively treats the phased-out permanent as though it doesn't exist. This means that they can't be targeted, aren't affected by a Wrath of God , don't count for Reckless One , and so on.
To phase in means simply that they stop being phased-out and the game once more realizes they exist.

Now, this is where it gets complicated:

• Since the permanent never actually leaves the battlefield, it "remembers" everything about what it looked like when it was phased-in--whether it was tapped or untapped, any counters that were on it, which permanent (if any) it was attached to, and so on and so forth, and when it phases back in, it will look the same.
  
• Auras and Equipment attached to the permanent phase out along with the enchanted or equipped permanent if the latter phases out. This is called "phasing out indirectly." They phase back in when the enchanted permanent phases back in. (If, for some reason, that permanent doesn't phase back in, they stay phased-out permanently.)
  

Essentially, all of this means that you only get use of permanents with phasing every other turn; the rest of the time, they don't exist.

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Q: Are permanents that phase in affected by summoning sickness?
A: No. A permanent that phases out never actually leaves the battlefield, so it won't be affected by summoning sickness when it reappears.

Q: What does buyback do?
A: Buyback gives you the option of paying an extra cost when you cast a spell. If you do, that spell returns to your hand when it finishes resolving instead of being put into your graveyard like it normally would.

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Q: Does paying buyback change the mana cost or converted mana cost of the spell?
A: No. The mana cost (and thus the converted mana cost) of a spell is determined solely by what appears in the top-right corner of the card. Buyback cannot alter that.

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Q: If I pay for Buyback on a spell, but my opponent counters it or its targets become illegal, do I still get the card back?
A: No. Buyback tries to give you the card when the spell finishes resolving. If it's countered, it never gets that far.

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Q: Can I pay Buyback when I'm casting a copy of a spell? If so, what happens?
A: Yes, you can, but it won't do you any good. The copy will go to your hand, but then cease to exist before you can do anything about it.

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Q: If I'm casting a card of my opponent's (with, say, Grinning Totem ), can I pay buyback? If so, what happens?
A: You can pay the buyback if you wish, but again, it won't do you much good. The card will go to its owner's hand, and you aren't its owner. You just gave your opponent his spell back.

Q: What does horsemanship do?
A: An attacking creature with horsemanship can't be blocked except by other creatures with horsemanship.

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Q: So, isn't this pretty much the same as flying, only with a different name? Why didn't they just use flying?
A: Yes, it's quite similar to flying, with mostly just a name-change.

R&D created horsemanship for the Portal: Three Kingdoms set. They wanted to have creatures with "flying", but the mechanic didn't make any flavorful sense in the setting they were using for that set, so they remade it with a name that did make sense.

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Q: So can creatures with flying block creatures with horsemanship? (And vice versa?)
A: Nope. While the abilities are almost identical as far as wording goes, they're still separate and distinct.

Q: What does cycling do?
A: Cycling is a mechanic that lets you get rid of unwanted cards in your hand and replace them with new, potentially more useful ones. Any time you have priority, you may discard a card with cycling and pay its cycling cost. If you do, you draw a card.

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Q: Is cycling a spell or an ability?
A: Cycling is an activated ability.

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Q: It's an activated ability? So can I Squelch a, say, Decree of Justice to stop the ability from making tokens?
A: Not quite. Cycling itself is an activated ability, and can be Squelched, but all that the actual cycling ability does is draw a card. The other stuff is a triggered ability that triggers off of the card being cycled. You cannot Squelch that.

If you want to stop your opponent both from drawing a card and from doing whatever the cycling trigger does, you'll need to counter both abilities separately.

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Q: If an ability triggers when I cycle a card, what happens first: the "draw a card" part, or the triggered ability?
A: The triggered ability. The ability triggers off of you actually activating the cycling ability, which means it will go onto the stack on top of the cycling ability, and will therefore resolve first.

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Q: So what's typecycling?
A: It's exactly like regular cycling, only instead of drawing a card you search your library for a card with a specific type, reveal it, and put it into your hand, then shuffle your library. (This ability was formerly called "landcycling"; it was expanded to allow it to apply to cards of any type.)

Q: What does echo do?
A: Echo is a mechanic that essentially allows you to spread out a permanent's cost over two turns. You spend some amount of mana to get the permanent onto the battlefield as normal, and then at the beginning of your next upkeep, you must sacrifice the permanent unless you pay its echo cost.

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Q: I gain control of an opponent's creature that has echo--do I have to pay the echo cost if I want to keep it?
A: Yes. Echo will trigger if you haven't controlled the creature continuously since the beginning of your last upkeep, no matter how long the card may have been on the battlefield before.

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Q: My opponent steals one of my echo creatures temporarily--do I have to pay echo again during my next upkeep?
A: Yes. Even though you had the creature before, you still haven't controlled it continuously since the beginning of your last upkeep, and echo will trigger.

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Q: I have an old echo card that doesn't seem to have an echo cost--what do I pay?
A: When echo originally debuted, the echo cost was automatically the same as the card's mana cost, so there was no other cost printed on the card. In these cases, the echo cost is invariably the mana cost of the card.

Q: What does fading do?
A: Fading is an ability that causes permanents to stay on the battlefield for a limited time.

Cards with fading enter the battlefield with a specified number of fade counters on them. At the beginning of each of your upkeeps, you must remove a fade counter from that permanent. When you try to remove a fade counter but there are none left to remove, you have to sacrifice the permanent.

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Q: Do I have to sacrifice the permanent with fading as soon as I remove the last fade counter from it?
A: No. The permanent sticks around until you try to remove a fade counter when there aren't any left to remove.

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Q: What happens if I forget to remove a fade counter?
A: The triggered ability that makes you remove fade counters is mandatory, not optional; you must back up and remove a counter. (If there are none left to remove, you must back up and sacrifice the permanent.)

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Q: Isn't fading the same as vanishing? How are they different?
A: Fading and vanishing are very similar, but have a few subtle differences. Here are the main ones:

• Fading uses fade counters. Vanishing uses time counters.
  The only difference is the name, but this is important for things like Timebender that manipulate specific kinds of counters.
  
  
• Fading causes the permanent to be sacrificed at the beginning of your upkeep if you can't remove a counter. Vanishing causes the permanent to be sacrificed whenever the last counter is removed.
  Usually, this just means a permanent with Fading N will stay on the battlefield a turn longer than a permanent with Vanishing N. Also, Vanishing's sacrifice ability triggers as soon as the last counter is removed, no matter when that is. Fading will only trigger at the beginning of the upkeep, no matter how many counters are present.
  
  
• Vanishing can be permanently circumvented by countering the sacrifice ability. Fading can only be temporarily circumvented this way.
  If you counter vanishing's sacrifice ability, the permanent will stay on the battlefield indefinitely. If you counter the fading trigger that would cause your permanent to be sacrificed, it will simply trigger again at the beginning of your next upkeep.
  

Q: What does kicker do?
A: A card with Kicker allows you to pay an additional cost as you cast it. If you do, that card does gets better somehow.

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Q: So what about multikicker?
A: It's exactly the same thing, only you can pay the cost as many times as you want, rather than just once.

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Q: When do I have to pay a card's kicker costs?
A: You must pay any kicker costs when you cast the spell; you can't wait until later to do so.

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Q: Can I pay a non-multikicker kicker cost more than once?
A: No. You either pay the cost once, or not at all. You can only pay a kicker cost multiple times if it's multikicker, not just regular kicker.

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Q: If I'm choosing not to pay the spell's kicker, do I still have to choose targets for the kicker effect?
A: No. Deciding not to pay kicker means you don't have to choose targets for the parts of the spell that are kicker-specific.

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Q: Does paying kicker or multikicker change the mana cost or converted mana cost of the spell?
A: No. The mana cost (and thus the converted mana cost) of a spell is determined solely by what appears in the top-right corner of the card. Kicker costs do not alter that--they just change what you end up paying.

Q: What does flashback do?
A: Flashback is a mechanic that allows you to cast cards in your graveyard. (They're casted much the same way you would cast a card from your hand.) After you cast a card this way, it gets exiled the next time it would leave the stack.

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Q: When can I cast a card for its flashback cost?
A: Any time you could normally ast it. Flashback doesn't change the times you can ast the card, just where you're casting it from.

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Q: What's the mana cost and/or converted mana cost of a spell that's been flashed back?
A: The same as it always is. The mana cost (and therefore the converted mana cost) of a card is determined by what's sitting in the top-right corner of the card, not by what you actually spend to cast the card.

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Q: Do cards that alter the amount a spell costs to cast also reduce the amount you pay for flashback?
A: Yes; effects that cause you to pay more or less for a spell affect the total cost of the spell, which includes additional and alternate (like Flashback) costs, not just the mana cost.

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Q: I flash back a spell, and it's countered. Where does the spell go?
A: It gets exiled. When you flash back a spell, it gets exiled instead the next time it would leave the stack, no matter how it would leave.

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Q: What happens if I flash back a spell, and something happens that would make the card go somewhere specific? (eg, It was Remand ed, it was Hinder ed, it has buyback and the buyback was paid, there's an Eye of the Storm on the battlefield...whatever)
A: If the effect that's trying to move the card is trying to move it to anywhere except the exile zone, the card gets exiled instead. It can't go to your hand or your library or your graveyard--it will be exiled.

Note that while this screws up most things that try to do things with spells, things that exile the card directly (such as Eye of the Storm and Spelljack ) will work just fine. This is because flashback's own exile effect only kicks in if the card isn't going to be exiled anyway.

Q: What does madness do?
A: Essentially, when you discard a card that has Madness, you're given the option of casting that card for its madness cost. (The mechanism's a bit more complex than just that, but that's the gist of it.)

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Q: Can I discard a card just because I want to in order to cast it with madness?
A: No. You can't discard something just because you feel like it, for the same reason you can't just decide to gain 50 life on a whim. In order to do anything, including things like discarding cards and sacrificing permanents, there has to be some rule or some card that's allowing you to do so.

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Q: Can I cast a card with madness for its madness cost if I discarded it earlier?
A: No. You have to decide whether or not to use madness as you're actually discarding the card. Once you've decided not to, you can't "back up" later and cast it.

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Q: If I cast a spell by paying its madness cost, what is the mana cost or converted mana cost of the spell?
A: Whatever it is normally. The mana cost (and therefore the converted mana cost) of a card is determined by what's sitting in the top-right corner of the card, not by what you actually spend to cast the card.

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Q: Do cards that alter the amount a spell costs to ast also reduce the amount you pay for madness?
A: Yes; effects that cause you to pay more or less for a spell affect the total cost of the spell, which includes additional and alternate (like madness) costs, not just the mana cost.

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Q: Can I cast a madness spell if I am discarding the card as a cost?
A: Yes. Madness doesn't care how you're discarding the card; all that matters is that you're discarding it.

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Q: Can I cast non-instant cards with Madness whenever I discard them? Even on my opponent's turn?
A: Yes. Madness circumvents the normal timing restrictions; you can ast any card with madness when you discard it, no matter whose turn it is or whether or not you could cast the spell normally.

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Q: Do madness cards go to the graveyard as a result of being discarded before being put on the stack?
A: No. When you cast a card with madness, it still counts as being discarded, but it doesn't actually get to your graveyard before you cast it. That means your opponent can't remove it from your graveyard "in response" to stop you from casting the spell. Abilities that trigger on a card being discarded, however, will still trigger.

Do note that while your opponent won't be able to remove it from your graveyard, they could remove it from the exile zone in order to stop you.

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Q: I heard something about some sort of trick involving playing lands or casting sorceries that you could do with Madness. What is it and how does it work?
A: This "trick" is a loophole in the rules that has since been closed.

Madness used to work slightly differently, which made it possible in some cases to play lands or cast sorceries after you discarded the madness card, but before you cast it. This is no longer the case; the madness rules were changed slightly and the loop was closed.

Q: What does fear do?
A: A creature with fear can't be blocked except by artifact creatures and black creatures.

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Q: Can I use a text-altering spell like Mind Bend to change what fear does?
A: No. Since no color words actually appear on the card, text-altering effects can't change it.

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Q: If I block a creature with fear with a black or artifact creature, and then my opponent alt ers my blocker to no longer be black or an artifact creature, what happens?
A: Absolutely nothing. Changing creatures after they've already been declared as blockers won't do anything, even if they would no longer be able to block.

Q: What does morph do?
A: Morph is an ability that applies whenever you could cast a card with Morph. Instead of casting it normally, you may choose to cast it face-down as a colorless, typeless 2/2 creature. It remains that way as long as it's face down. Any time you have priority, you may pay that card's morph cost to turn it face-up; when you do, it stops being a colorless, typeless 2/2 and reverts to its "normal" characteristics, whatever they may be.

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Q: What is a face-down creature's name, creature type, mana cost or converted mana cost?
A: A face down creature has no mana cost (and therefore a converted mana cost of 0), a P/T of 2/2, no creature type, and no name. It basically looks like this:



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Q: My face-down creature has some counters, Auras, and/or Equipment on it. If I turn if face-up, does it keep all that stuff?
A: Yes. It's still the same creature it was before; it's just changed a bit. It hasn't left the battlefield or done anything that might remove any of that, so all of it will remain.

Note that while turning the creature face-up doesn't make it a new creature and so doesn't inherently remove Auras or Equipment, it may cause your creature to suddenly be illegal for certain Auras or Equipment to be attached to that creature, which may cause them to fall off because the creature they're attached to is no longer legal.

For example, if you turn a face-down Akroma, Angel of Fury face-up, it will suddenly have protection from white and from blue, which will cause any white or blue Auras on it to be put into the graveyard. And if you turn your face-down Zoetic Cavern face-up, any Equipment attached to it (and any Auras that can't enchant a face-up Cavern) will fall off, because it's no longer legal for them to be attached to the Cavern.

Counters, however, will remain on a card no matter how its characteristics might change.

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Q: Can I respond to someone turning a morph creature face-up?
A: No. Turning a creature with morph face-up for its morph cost is a special action that does not use the stack and cannot be responded to.

However, you can respond to any triggered abilities that trigger on the morph being turned face-up, and you do get a chance to cast spells and activate abilities after the morph has been turned face-up. To find out more about exactly what constitutes a triggered ability, see the Triggered Abilities section of the Main Rules FAQ.

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Q: When I turn a creature face-up, does it count as entering the battlefield?
A: No, it does not. It was already on the battlefield; it just turned face-up.

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Q: Can I turn my face-up creature with morph face-down again?
A: Not unless you have a card that lets you do so . Nothing about morph itself lets you turn your face-up creatures face-down again. All morph does is let you cast it face-down and then let you turn it face-up; it doesn't allow you to reverse the process.

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Q: Does turning a creature face-up or face-down tap or untap it?
A: No. Turning a permanent face up or face down doesn't change whether it's tapped or untapped.

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Q: Can my opponent look at my face-down creatures?
A: No. (That would kind of ruin the point.) Each player may only look at face-down creatures he or she controls.

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Q: Can a face-down spell be countered?
A: Yes; it's still a spell, and can still be countered. (Remember that it has to be revealed when it hits the graveyard.)

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Q: Can a morphed red creature block a creature with protection from red? If so, what happens if I turn the creature face-up?
A: Yes, you can do that. Face-down creatures are colorless, so you can block with the morph, and if you turn it face-up, nothing much happens; the pro: red creature will still be blocked. Blocking restrictions only matter as blockers are being declared; after that, they don't matter.

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Q: My spell or ability tries to turn a morphed creature face-up. Do I have to pay the creature's morph cost?
A: No. If a spell or ability instructs you to turn a face-down permanent face up, you don't have to pay that permanent's morph cost to do so.

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Q: Can a card like Meddling Mage stop me from casting a card with morph?
A: It will stop you from casting it face-up, but you can still cast it face-down, as face-down morph cards have no name.

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Q: My face-down morph creature is exiled with a card like Otherworldly Journey . When it comes back, will it be face-up or face-down? What happens if it phases out instead?
A: If your creature is exiled, it will be exiled face-up and will come back onto the battlefield face-up. This is because the creature "forgets" that it was face-down when it changes zones, and permanents always enter the battlefield face-up unless something specifically says otherwise.

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Q: Can I turn my morph creature face-up while it's still on the stack?
A: No; you can only turn morph cards face-up while the creature is on the battlefield.

Q: What does amplify do?
A: As a permanent with amplify X is entering the battlefield, you can choose to reveal any number of cards from your hand that share at least one creature type with it. For each card revealed that way, that permanent enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it.

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Q: What happens if the creature with amplify has multiple creature types?
A: If a creature with amplify has multiple creature types, you can reveal cards of any of its types.

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Q: What's the difference between amplify 1 and amplify 2?
A: The number of counters that you get. If you reveal two cards for a creature with amplify 1, it gets two +1/+1 counters, one for each card you revealed. If you reveal two cards for a creature with amplify 2, it gets four +1/+1 counters; two for each card revealed.

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Q: It gets the counters when it enters the battlefield, right?
A: Not quite; it gets them as it enters the battlefield. There is no point when the creature is on the battlefield without the counters.

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Q: What if two creatures with amplify enter the battlefield at the same time? Can I reveal the same cards for both of them?
A: Yes, you can.

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Q: If I use Clone or a similar card on a creature with amplify, do I reveal Shapeshifters or cards of the copied creature's types?
A: Cards of the copied creature's types.

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Q: If I use Artificial Evolution on a card with amplify, can I make it get rid of the counters?
A: No. After you've used it, amplify no longer cares what its creature types are.

However, you can use the Evolution to change the card's creature type while it's still a spell on the stack (to, say, Leviathan), and that can stop your opponent from getting any counters on it in the first place.

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Q: What happens if my opponent uses Desertion on my creature?
A: Then your opponent is the one that gets to reveal cards for it.

Q: What is double strike and how does it work?
A: A creature with double strike deals both first strike combat damage and normal combat damage during combat.

For example, I attack you with a 1/1 creature with double strike. If you don't block it, it will deal 1 damage to you, and then another 1 damage to you, for a total of 2 damage. If you do block it, my double striker will deal 1 damage to the blocker(s), and then another 1 damage. If the blocking creature(s) doesn't have first strike or double strike, it will only deal damage to my doublestriker if it survives the first blow. If it does so, then it will deal its damage at the same time my doublestriker delivers the second blow.

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Q: If my double strike creature is unblocked, will it deal damage to my opponent twice?
A: Yes. Double strike doesn't care whether the creature was blocked or not; it deals damage twice regardless.

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Q: Do I get to attack twice?
A: No, you do not get to attack twice. Double strike causes a creature to deal damage twice in a single combat phase.

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Q: There's a triggered ability that will do something whenever my creature with double strike deals damage. (For example, it's equipped with Sword of Fire and Ice .) Do I get the trigger twice?
A: Yes. Your double strike creature is dealing damage two separate times, so you will get two separate triggers.

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Q: What happens if my creature is blocked, but the first hit kills all the blocking creatures? Does the second hit go to my opponent?
A: No, it does not. A creature that has become blocked will remain blocked for the rest of combat, no matter what happens to the defending creatures, and blocked creatures will not deal damage to the defending player unless there is something that specifically allows them to, such as trample.

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Q: What if a creature has both trample and double strike?
A: During each combat damage step, the controller must assign lethal damage to any surviving blocking creatures. Any "extra" damage can be assigned to the player, and if there are no surviving blockers, all of the damage is assigned to the player.

For example, a 2/1 double strike trample creature attacks and is blocked by a 1/1. The player assigns 1 damage to the 1/1 and 1 damage to the player. The defending player takes 1 damage and the creature is destroyed. Then, when normal damage is assigned, the controller assigns both of the points of damage to the defending player.

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Q: How does double strike interact with first strike?
A: It doesn't. A creature with both first strike and double strike works exactly the same as a creature with only double strike. First strike works by making the creature deal its combat damage in the first of two combat damage steps. Double strike works by making the creature deal its combat damage in both steps. Thus, adding first strike to double strike is completely and utterly redundant.

Q: What does provoke do?
A: Provoke is an ability that allows you to force your opponent's creatures into combat. When you attack with a creature with provoke, you may untap a target creature the defending player controls and have that creature block yours if able.

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Q: Can my opponent respond to provoke? Or do I just choose what blocks?
A: Provoke is a triggered ability and uses the stack, so your opponent can respond to it.

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Q: Does the creature I target with provoke have to be tapped?
A: No, it does not, but if it is, it untaps.

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Q: I target a creature with a tap-ability with provoke, and it untaps. What happens if my opponent uses its ability to tap it again right away?
A: The creature is tapped, and thus cannot block, so it doesn't.

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Q: What if I have a creature with flying (or some other evasion ability) and provoke? Can I make a creature block it that normally couldn't?
A: No, you cannot. Provoke only makes the creature block if it's able to. If your creature can fly over it, it can't block, and so doesn't.

Q: What does storm do?
A: Storm is an ability that makes your spells better if other spells have been cast during the same turn. When you cast a spell with storm, in addition to the original spell, you create a copy of it for each spell that was cast before it during the current turn.

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Q: Do the storm copies count for future storm counts?
A: No. Storm only counts spells that have been cast, and storm copies are put directly onto the stack, not cast.

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Q: What about copies created by {Card}?
A: Read the card you're asking about. If the card says it copies a card, and then lets you cast that copy, it counts for storm because you cast it. If it just says you copy a spell, it doesn't count for storm, as the copies are put directly onto the stack, not cast.

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Q: Does making a storm copy count as casting a spell?
A: No. The copies are put directly onto the stack; they are not cast.

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Q: How does storm interact with replicate?
A: It doesn't. At all. Replicate copies are never cast, so they don't count for storm, and if you somehow replicate a storm spell, the replicate copies will not themselves storm, for that very same reason. (And you can't replicate storm copies, either, again, because you're not casting them.)

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Q: What happens if an opponent responds to my storm spell by casting some other spell? Do I get another copy?
A: No. Storm only counts spells that have been cast before yours; spells cast after it won't count.

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Q: What happens if my opponent counters the original storm spell?
A: That one spell will be countered, but all the copies would still be there. Countering the original spell does nothing to the copies.

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Q: Can storm be responded to? Can it be Stifle d?
A: Yes; storm is a triggered ability, so it can be both responded to and stifled.

Q: What does affinity do?
A: Affinity is a mechanic that makes your spells cheaper if you control certain kinds of permanents; your spells with affinity for X cost less to cast for each X you control. The more of the appropriate kind of permanent you control, the cheaper your spells become.

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Q: Can affinity reduce the amount of colored mana I pay?
A: No.

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Q: Does affinity change the mana cost or converted mana cost of the spell?
A: No; the mana cost and converted mana cost of a spell is determined solely by what's in the top-right corner of the card. Nothing else matters.

Q: What does entwine do?
A: Entwine is an ability of modal spells (spells with "Choose one--") that allows you to choose both options if you pay the entwine cost.

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Q: If I entwine a spell, in what order do I do the two parts?
A: You follow the instructions of the card in the order the card lists them.

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Q: If I entwine a spell, can I do anything in between the two parts of the spell?
A: No, you cannot. You have to do it all at once. (Yes, it's a shame you can't both attack with that creature you Grab the Reins 'd and sacrifice it, but that's the way these things go.)

Q: What does Equip do?
A: Equip is an ability of Equipment cards that allows you to pay some cost to attach them to a target creature you control. This attachment is permanent, and an Equip ability can only be played during your main phase, when you have priority and the stack is empty.

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See the main Rules Q&A FAQ entry on Equipment.

Q: What does modular do?
A: A creature with modular X enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it, and when the creature dies you may put its +1/+1 counters onto a target artifact creature you control.

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Q: When my creature with modular dies, do I put all of its +1/+1 counters on some other artifact creature, or just the ones it got from the modular ability?
A: All of them. +1/+1 counters are +1/+1 counters, no matter where they came from; modular doesn't care.

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Q: When my creature with modular dies, can I split the counters among multiple artifact creatures?
A: No. Either one creature gets all of the counters, or none of them get any.

Q: What does scry mean?
A: To "scry X" means to look at the top X cards of your library, put any number of them on the bottom of your library in any order, and put the rest on top of your library in any order.

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Q: When do I scry for a spell or ability?
A: When a spell or ability resolves, you follow its instructions in the order they appear on the card. If scry comes first on the card, you do it first. If it comes last, you do it last. If it comes in the middle, you do it in the middle.

Q: What does sunburst do?
A: A permanent with sunburst enters the battlefield with a counter on it for each different color of mana that was spent to pay its mana cost. If it's a creature, those counters are +1/+1 counters. If it's not a creature, those counters are charge counters.

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Q: I put a card with sunburst onto the battlefield through some method other than "casting" it. Does it get any counters?
A: No.

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Q: Can I pay more than the cost of the sunburst card so I get more counters?
A: Only if you have some way of increasing the total cost or paying some alternate cost . You can't pay extra for a cost for no reason.

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Q: I use copying card (such as Sculpting Steel ) to copy a permanent with Sunburst. How many counters do I get?
A: You get counters based on the mana you used to cast the copy card.

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Q: There's a March of the Machines on the battlefield, and I cast a noncreature artifact with sunburst. What kind of counters do I get?
A: You get charge counters. The type of counter you get is determined before you begin applying continuous effects like the Machines' animation.

Q: What does bushido do?
A: When a creature with bushido X blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +X/+X until the end of the turn.

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Q: My bushido creature gets blocked by more than one creature at once--do I get the bonus more than once?
A: No. Bushido triggers only once per block, no matter how many creatures are blocking.

Q: What does soulshift do?
A: When a creature with soulshift X goes to a graveyard from the battlefield, you may return a target Spirit card with converted mana cost X or less from your graveyard to your hand.

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Q: If a creature with soulshift goes to the graveyard at the same time as some other creatures, can the soulshift return one of the creatures that died at the same time?
A: Yes. By the time you choose targets, all of those other creatures are in the graveyard too, making them legal targets. (Note that they still have to be Spirits!)

Q: What does splice do?
A: Splice onto X allows you to "splice" your spells onto one another, customizing your spells and getting multiple different effects from a single spell. When you cast an X spell, you may reveal any number of cards with Splice onto X in your hand and pay their splice costs in addition to the card's normal mana cost. If you do, that spell has all of those other spell's effects in addition to its own.

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Q: I don't get it--why would I splice the card onto some other spell when I could just cast it?
A: When you splice a card onto some other spell, the card with splice stays in your hand, meaning you'll be able to cast it or splice it onto some other spell later. You can use this to essentially re-use your spells over and over--with a single Glacial Ray in your hand, all of your other Arcane spells will deal 2 damage in addition to what they normally do, as long as you can pay for the splicing.

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Q: When do I have to say I'm splicing some cards onto my spell?
A: As you're casting it. After that, it's too late; you can't go back and splice cards on retroactively.

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Q: Can I splice the same card onto the same spell more than once?
A: No, you can only splice a particular card onto a spell once. (Though if you have multiple copies of a card in hand, you can splice each of them onto the spell once.)

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Q: I somehow copy a spell that has had spells spliced onto it. (Using, say, Twincast .) Do I get the stuff that's spliced onto the spell, too?
A: Yes, you do.

Q: What does defender do?
A: A creature with defender can't attack.

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Q: "Defender"? So what happened to walls?
A: All walls have received errata to have defender; the wall creature type no longer has any rules associated with it. That means that turning creatures into walls won't stop them from attacking, and changing your walls into something else won't allow them to attack. (Except for Mistform Wall .)

Q: What does offering do?
A: Offering is an ability that allows you to cast your spells more cheaply and at times you normally couldn't by sacrificing a permanent of the appropriate kind. You may cast a card using offering any time you have priority. When you cast a card using offering, you must sacrifice a permanent of the appropriate kind, and the cost of the spell with offering is reduced by the sacrificed permanent's mana cost.

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Q: Can I sacrifice multiple creatures to reduce the cost of an offering even more?
A: No. You can only sacrifice one creature per offering.

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Q: My opponent tries to use offering to bring a creature out--can I kill the creature he's sacrificing in response in order to stop it?
A: No, you cannot. Sacrificing the creature is part of the cost of casting the creature; by the time you can respond, the creature's already dead.

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Q: How is the cost reduction of offering calculated?
A: Colorless mana in the sacrificed creature's cost will reduce only colorless costs of the Patron, but colored costs will reduce either their color (if present) or colorless mana (if it isn't).

For example, you sacrifice Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker to cast Patron of the Akki . The total cost you will pay is - , which comes to .

Or, you sacrifice Hellhole Rats to cast Patron of the Nezumi . The total cost you will pay is - , which comes to .

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Q: Can offering reduce additional costs imposed by cards such as Sphere of Resistance ?
A: Yes; offering applies to all costs, not just the card's "natural" mana cost. (Though it might be hard to find creatures of the appropriate type with casting costs higher than 6 in the first place...)

Q: What does ninjutsu do?
A: Ninjutsu allows your creatures to jump from your hand onto the battlefield, taking the place of an attacking creature that's unblocked. During combat, you may reveal a creature card with ninjutsu in your hand, pay its ninjutsu cost, and return an unblocked attacking creature you control to its owner's hand. If you do, you put the ninjutsu creature onto the battlefield already tapped and attacking. (If you're in a multiplayer game, it's attacking the same player that the creature that was returned was.)

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Q: Can I use a counterspell to stop ninjutsu?
A: No; ninjutsu is an ability, not a spell, and therefore cannot be countered by things that can only counter spells. In order to stop a ninjutsu ability, you need something that can counter activated abilities, such as Stifle or Squelch .

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Q: What happens if I counter the ninjutsu ability? (With Stifle , say.)
A: If you counter the ninjutsu ability, the card with ninjutsu will remain in your opponent's hand, as does the creature he bounced to pay for the ability.

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Q: My opponent tries to use ninjutsu--can I kill the creature he's bouncing in response in order to stop the ability?
A: No. The creature is returned as part of the cost of activating the ability; by the time you can respond, it's already safely in your opponent's hand. You can kill the Ninja when it enters the battlefield, though.

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Q: I heard you can use ninjutsu to bounce multiple unblocked creatures--is this true? If so, how?
A: Yes, you can do this. Simply activate the ninjutsu ability, bouncing one creature, and then activate the ability again in response to itself, bouncing another creature, and so on and so forth until you have bounced as many creatures as you like. Then, the first ninjutsu ability to resolve will put the Ninja onto the battlefield.

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Q: I heard you can have both the unblocked creature and the ninja deal combat damage--is this true? If so, how?
A: It is, but only if your unblocked creature has either first strike or double strike. If it doesn't, then this isn't possible.

First strike and double strike creatures assign combat damage during the first strike combat damage step. (See Turns and the Turn Structure) In the "normal" combat damage step, creatures with double strike, plus any creatures that didn't assign combat damage in the first strike combat damage step, assign their damage, even if they weren't around at the time. This means that if you ninjutsu out your unblocked first/double striker during the first strike combat damage step, before the game moves on to the "normal" combat damage step, your Ninja will deal damage during the normal combat damage step.

Q: What does epic do?
A: Once an Epic spell you cast resolves, you can't cast any other spells for the rest of the game, but you get a brand new copy of the Epic card at the beginning of every one of your upkeeps for the rest of the game.

Epic spells are designed to give you the ability to win using their effects alone, with proper foresight and planning. Note that Epic spells don't stop you from activating abilities or taking other actions that are not casting spells.

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Q: Can I use cards like Isochron Scepter to cast spells once I've played an Epic? Can I use cards like Uyo, Silent Prophet ?
A: Uyo works, but Isochron doesn't. The Scepter creates a copy of a card, and then tries to let you cast that copy. And since you can't ast spells, you can't cast the copy. Uyo, on the other hand, simply copies a spell directly, without any of that messy casting business.

The same principle applies to other cards: things that copy the spell directly will work; things that create copies of cards and then let you cast the copies won't work.

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Q: Do the Epic copies count as being "cast"?
A: No; the copies are simply put directly onto the stack. (You can't cast any spells at all after you resolve an Epic, so it would be pretty terrible if the game tried to make you cast the copies.)

Q: What does enchant do?
A: Enchant is a new keyword for an old concept. With the change of "Enchant [whatever]" cards to Auras, the restrictions on what a particular Aura can be attached to have been moved to the text box in the form of the Enchant ability.

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See the Main Rules FAQ entry on Auras.

Q: What does convoke do?
A: Convoke is an ability that lets you use your creatures to cast your spells. When you cast a card with Convoke, you can tap any number of untapped creatures you control. Each creature you tap this way reduces the cost of your spell by one mana of any of its colors or by one colorless mana.

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Q: Can I tap summoning-sick creatures to help pay for the convoke cost?
A: Yes. Summoning sickness only stops attacking and the use of any activated ability that uses the or symbols in its cost. It doesn't stop the creature from being tapped in other ways.

Since Convoke is neither attacking nor an activated ability, it isn't hampered by summoning sickness at all.

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Q: My opponent starts casting a spell with convoke--can I kill one of his creatures to prevent it from being tapped for convoke?
A: No. You can't do anything while another player is casting a spell or activating an ability--by the time you get a chance to do anything, the creature is already tapped and the spell has already been cast.

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Q: Can I tap a Llanowar Elves or something to reduce the cost and make mana?
A: No. You can either tap it for convoke or tap it to make mana, but not both.

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Q: What do I reduce the cost by if I tap a multicolored creature?
A: You reduce the cost either by or by any of that creature's colors.

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Q: Does convoke reduce the card's mana cost or converted mana cost?
A: No; it only reduces the amount you actually spend. The mana cost and converted mana cost of the card never change.

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Q: My opponent cast something (or has something on the battlefield) that does something bad to my Convoke spell unless I pay mana ( Mana Leak , Nether Void , et cetera). Can I tap creatures to pay for that cost, too?
A: No. Convoke only affects the cost of casting the spell; it doesn't affect any costs or payments that are not a part of casting the spell.

Q: What does dredge do?
A: Dredge allows you to reuse the cards in your graveyard as many times as you want. If a card with Dredge X is in your graveyard and you would draw a card, you can choose to instead put X cards from the top of your library into your graveyard and put the Dredge card back into your hand.

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Q: If I have multiple cards with dredge in my graveyard, can I dredge them all back at once?
A: Only if you're somehow drawing multiple cards . Dredge replaces drawing a particular card with returning a card; once a particular draw has been replaced, you can't replace it again.

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Q: Can I dredge a card back when I don't have the enough cards in my library?
A: No, you cannot. You have to have enough cards in your library to mill if you want to dredge the card.

Q: What does transmute do?
A: Transmute lets you turn spells you don't need into the spells you do. During your main phase, when the stack is empty and you have priority, you may discard a card with transmute and pay its transmute cost. If you do, you search through your library for any card that has the same converted mana cost as the transmute card and put it into your hand.

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Q: What can I find with transmute?
A: You can find any card with the same converted mana cost as the card with transmute. Converted mana cost is independent of color--if you transmute a Dimir House Guard , you can find Parallectric Feedback , Ravenous Baloth , Zur's Weirding , or even Dune-Brood Nephilim . As long as the total amount of mana is right, you can transmute for it.

Q: What does bloodthirst do?
A: Bloodthirst makes the creatures you cast stronger if your opponent has been dealt damage during the current turn. As a creature with Bloodthirst N enters the battlefield, it checks to see if your opponent has been dealt damage during the current turn. If he or she has, the creatue enters the battlefield with N +1/+1 counters on it.

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Q: Does it matter how my opponent was damaged?
A: No. The damage can come from anything, even his or her own cards. The only thing that matters is that he or she was dealt damage somehow.

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Q: If I somehow deal 0 damage to my opponent, will my creatures be bloodthirsty?
A: No. 0 damage is no damage--if something tries to deal 0 damage, it doesn't deal any damage at all, so bloodthirst won't see it.

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Q: Can I Shock a bloodthirsty Scab-Clan Mauler to kill it before it gets its +1/+1 counters?
A: No. A bloodthirsty creature enters the battlefield with the counters already on it--you can't do anything before those counters are put on it.

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Q: Can I get more counters if I deal damage to my opponent more than once?
A: No. Bloodthirst doesn't care how much damage was dealt to your opponent, and it doesn't care when or how, either. All it cares about is the fact that your opponent received damage somehow.

Q: What does haunt do?
A: Haunt lets your creatures and spells come back from the grave to "haunt" living creatures. When your card with Haunt is put into your graveyard (after resolving for instants and sorceries, and after being on the battlefield for permanents), you must exile it haunting a creature on the battlefield. The card with Haunt will specify what it does to that haunted creature.

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Q: Errr... say that again?
A: If the object with Haunt is an instant or sorcery spell, after the spell resolves and goes to the graveyard, you must choose a target creature on the battlefield. That instant or sorcery is then exiled, and is considered to be "haunting" the creature you targeted. Then, when that creature dies, a triggered ability of the instant or sorcery triggers and does its thing.

Haunt works similarly on permanents--when the permanent with Haunt is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, again, you choose a target creature on the battlefield. The permanent with Haunt is then exiled and is "haunting" the creature you targeted. All permanents with Haunt have a triggered ability that triggers twice. First, it triggers when the permanent enters the battlefield. After the permanent has died and begun haunting a creature, the ability triggers again when that creature dies.

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Q: I have a permanent card with Haunt and it says "when [this] enters the battlefield [b]or the creature it haunts is put into a graveyard from the battlefield..." Does that mean I have to choose one or the other?[/b]
A: No. The ability triggers whenever either of its trigger conditions are matched, so you'll get the effect at both times.

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Q: What happens if there are no (targetable) creatures on the battlefield when the haunt ability triggers to exile the creature?
A: Nothing. The ability has no potential targets, and thus doesn't happen.

Note that if there are any (targetable) creatures on the battlefield at all, you must haunt one of them; the ability is not optional.

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Q: What happens if the creature I haunt isn't a creature when it dies?
A: The ability triggers as normal. "The creature it haunts" only means "the permanent that this is haunting"; once the card has started Haunting something, it doesn't care if it stays a creature.

Q: What does replicate do?
A: Replicate lets you make a whole bunch of copies of your spells when you cast them. When you cast a spell with Replicate, you can pay the Replicate cost as many times as you like in addition to the normal mana cost; then you get that many extra copies of your spell.

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Q: How exactly does replicate work?
A: As you cast a spell with replicate, you can choose to pay its replicate cost any number of times. Once you finish casting the spell, a triggered ability goes on the stack. When that ability resolves, it will create a copy of the original spell for each time you paid the replicate cost.

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Q: So if I cast a spell with replicate, and my opponent responds with something, can I then respond to that by replicating it again?
A: No. The only chance you get to pay the replicate cost is as you are casting the original spell. After that, it's too late.

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Q: Does making a replicate copy count as casting a spell?
A: No. The copies are put directly onto the stack; they are not are not cast.

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Q: How does replicate interact with storm?
A: It doesn't. At all. Replicate copies are never cast, so they don't count for storm, and if you somehow replicate a storm spell, the replicate copies will not themselves storm, for that very same reason. (And you can't replicate storm copies, either, again, because you're not casting them.)

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Q: Can countering the original spell stop the copies?
A: No. The copies will be created no matter what you do to the original spell.

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Q: So how can I stop the copies?
A: You could cast something that will counter the triggered ability that creates the copies; this will stop the copies from ever being created, but it won't stop the original spell. You could also cast something that counters all the spells at once .

...And, of couse, you can try to counter each individual copy with a different regular counterspell , but that's probably going to be a bit difficult.

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Q: If I give a mana-cost-less spell (such as Ancestral Visions ) replicate with Djinn Illuminatus , can I replicate it as many times as I want?
A: No. In fact, you can't replicate it at all. Djinn Illuminatus makes the replicate cost equal to the mana cost of the spell, which is nonexistent. That means that the replicate cost is also nonexistent, and a nonexistent cost cannot be paid.

Q: What does forecast do?
A: A forecast ability is a special activated ability that you can activate from your hand during your upkeep. To activate a Forecast ability, you reveal the card from your hand and pay the required cost. The Forecast card remains revealed until the end of your upkeep, and you can't activate the same card's Forecast ability twice in one upkeep.

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Q: Can I counter forecast with a counterspell ?
A: No. Forecast is an ability, not a spell. If you want to counter a forecast ability, you have to use something that can counter activated abilities, like Squelch .

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Q: If I have multiple copies of the same card with Forecast in my hand, can I activate the Forecast ability multiple times?
A: You can activate the forecast ability of each individual card once, for a total of however many of those cards you have in your hand.

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Q: If I ( somehow ) get multiple upkeeps, can I forecast the same card more than once per turn?
A: Yes. Each upkeep is seperate from the others for purposes of Forecasting.

Q: What does graft do?
A: A creature with graft X enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it. Then, whenever any creature enters the battlefield (even under your opponent's control), you can choose to move a +1/+1 counter from your creature with graft onto the new creature.

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Q: Can I move all of my creature's +1/+1 counters onto another creature?
A: Graft only lets you move one counter at a time. While you can graft away all of your creature's counters if you wish, you have to do it one at a time.

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Q: Can I move my +1/+1 counters onto my opponent's new creatures?
A: Yes, you can. Graft triggers whenever any creature enters the battlefield, not just when yours do.

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Q: I have multiple graft creatures on the battlefield, and I cast a new creature. Can I move multiple counters onto my new creature?
A: Yes. You may move up to one counter from each creature with graft onto it.

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Q: Can graft move counters onto untargetable creatures, or creatures with protection?
A: Yes, it can. Graft isn't targeted, and doesn't do anything protection stops.

Q: What does recover do?
A: Recover allows you to get the card it's on back from your graveyard when a creature is put into your graveyard from the battlefield. When a creature is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay the card's recover cost to return it from your graveyard to your hand. But if you don't pay the cost, the card with recover is exiled permanently.

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Q: Can I choose not to bring back the card with recover and wait until later to do so?
A: No. If you choose not to (or can't) bring back the recover card when a creature is put into your graveyard, the card exiled for good.

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Q: What happens if I forget about the trigger, and find out about it later?
A: Exile the card. Forgetfulness is no excuse: you missed your opportunity to bring it back.

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Q: If one of my creatures with recover dies at the same time as another of my creatures, does its recover ability trigger?
A: No; recover will not trigger from creatures that die at the same time as the creature it's on.

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Q: I have a card with recover in my graveyard, and several of my creatures die at once. What happens?
A: The recover ability will trigger multiple times. When the first of those triggers resolves, it will remove the card from your graveyard (one way or the other). Then the other triggers will resolve. You can still choose to pay the recover cost for those triggers if you like, but they won't do anything.

Q: What does ripple do?
A: Ripple potentially allows you to cast many copies of the same spell at once. When you cast a card with ripple X, you may reveal X cards from the top of your library and cast for free any of the revealed cards that have the same name as the spell you just cast.

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Q: I cast a spell with ripple. What happens first, the ripple or the spell?
A: The ripple. Ripple triggers on you casting the spell, thus, it goes onto the stack on top of that spell, and will therefore resolve first.

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Q: Can I choose to reveal only some of the cards?
A: No. You have to reveal either all of them, or none of them.

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Q: Do I have to cast all the copies of the spell I revealed?
A: No. You can choose to cast all of them, just some of them, or even none of them if you wish.

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Q: If the cards I cast for free also have ripple, will those ripple abilities also trigger?
A: Yes! :D

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Q: If a card somehow gets multiple ripple abilities, what happens?
A: You will ripple multiple times for that spell--each trigger acts seperately. (Note that any spells you cast off of the first ripple will resolve before the second of those ripples.)

Q: What does flash do?
A: Flash allows you to cast a noninstant spell any time you have priority, just like you could with an instant.

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Q: Do I have to be able to cast an instant right then to be able to cast the card with flash?
A: No; when the rule says "any time you could cast an instant", it means "any time the timing rules would permit you to cast an instant". Lack of instants to cast (and cards that specifically stop you from casting instants) won't stop you from casting cards with flash.

Q: What does split second do?
A: Split second makes it hard for players to respond to your spells. While a spell with split second is on the stack, players (including you) can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.

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Q: So what can I do while a card with split second is on top of the stack?
A: You can activate mana abilities (activated abilities that produce mana) and perform special actions that aren't spells or abilities, like turning a face-down permanent with Morph face-up. Triggered abilities work as normal, since you don't actually cast them.

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Q: Can I cast a spell with split second in response to some other spell to prevent my opponent from stopping that other spell?
A: No. Spells and abilities on the stack resolve one at a time, and players have the chance to respond to each in turn. Your opponents won't be able to stop the split second spell, but they can wait until it resolves and then stop the other.

For more information on how the stack works, see the post on The Stack and Priority in the Main Rules FAQ.

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Q: How does split second interact with suspend?
A: It generally doesn't, apart from a few isolated situations. You cannot normally use split second to stop suspended spells from being cast, because there is no way to get the suspend trigger that removes the last time counter to be on the stack above the split second spell. It will always be below, because you can't cast the split second spell before the remove-counter triggers go on the stack at the beginning of the upkeep.


The three exceptions to this rule involve Deep-Sea Kraken , Timebender , and Nihilith , respectively. If you have a Deep-Sea Kraken suspended with one time counter on it, and your opponent casts a split-second spell, the Kraken's secondary remove-time-counters ability will trigger and go onto the stack above the split second spell. This will mean that the counter will be removed and the cast-me trigger will go off while the split second spell is still on the stack. In that case, split second prevents you from casting the Kraken.

The Timebender exception makes use of the fact that turning a face-down creature with morph face-up isn't stopped by split second. With a split second spell on the stack, you can flip up Timebender to remove the last time counters from a suspended spell. The counters will be removed and the cast-me trigger will go off with the split second spell still on the stack, preventing the suspended spell from being cast.

Nihilith 's exception is much the same. With a split second spell on the stack, you can flip up a morph creature with some sort of triggered ability that will somehow cause enough cards to be put into the appropriate graveyard for all of Nihilith's counters to be removed.

Q: What does suspend do?
A: Suspend essentially allows you the option of paying for your spells with time instead of with mana. You can choose to cast a card with suspend N for its full cost and get the effect (or permanent) right now, or you can choose to suspend it, paying its suspend cost (which is generally smaller) and exiling it with N time counters on it. At the beginning of each of your upkeeps, you remove a time counter from the suspended card, and when all of them are gone, you cast it for free. You can suspend a card any time you could cast that particular card normally.

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Q: I suspend a non-Instant card, and somehow the last time counter is removed during my opponent's turn or some other time when I couldn't normally cast that card. Can I cast the suspended card even though I couldn't normally cast it?
A: Yes; in fact, you have to. It doesn't matter whose turn it is or what step or phase it is when the last time counter is removed; the suspend ability allows you to cast the card during the ability's resolution, no matter when that might be.

Restrictions imposed by cards, such as Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir , Rule of Law , Orim's Chant , or Enduring Ideal may prevent you from casting the card, but which step or whose turn it is doesn't matter.

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Q: When can I counter a card that's been suspended?
A: The action of suspending a card is a special action that cannot be responded to or countered. However, when the last time counter is removed, the card will be cast as normal. That's when it becomes counterable.

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Q: When do I choose targets for my suspended cards?
A: When the last time counter is removed and you cast them, and not before.

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Q: Can I use cards like Stifle to delay the card with suspend, or even stop it altogether?
A: Yes. The counter-removal ability and the ability that lets you cast the card once all the counters are gone are both triggered abilities that can be countered by spells or abilities. Countering the first will delay the card by a turn, while countering the second ability will stop the card from being cast at all, stranding it in the exile zone forever.

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Q: The last time counter is removed from my suspended card--do I have to cast it?
A: If possible, yes. You have to cast the card even if you no longer want to. You committed to it when you suspended the card.

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Q: The last time counter is removed from my suspended card, but I can't cast it. (Due to having no legal targets or a play restriction such as Teferi .) What happens?
A: The card will be stranded in the exile zone forever.

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Q: I suspend a creature, and it enters the battlefield a few turns later--does it have summoning sickness?
A: No. Creatures that have been suspended have haste until you lose control of them, so you can use them right away.

Note: If your opponents steal the creature somehow, that instance of haste will disappear forever. The creature might still have haste for some other reason, though.

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Q: If there's a card on the battlefield that imposes an additional cost to cast spells, does that apply to cards that are being cast after being suspended? How does that affect things?
A: Yes, it does apply (though it doesn't apply to suspending the card in the first place, as that's not casting a spell).

If casting the suspended card involves an additional cost, you must pay that cost if able. (Remember, you committed to casting the card when you suspended it.) If you can't, the card remains exiled forever.

If the additional cost includes mana, the situation is a bit more complex: if you have enough mana in your mana pool to pay the cost outright, you must do so. If you can't possibly pay the cost, the card remains exiled. However, if you have the means to produce enough mana to pay the cost, then you have a choice: you may cast the spell, produce mana, and pay the cost... or you may choose to activate no mana abilities, thus making the card impossible to cast because the additional mana can't be paid. It's up to you.

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Q: How does suspend interact with split second?
A: It generally doesn't, apart from a few isolated situations. Suspended spells cannot normally be stopped by casting a split second spell, because there is no way to get the trigger that removes the last time counter to be on the stack above the split second spell. It will always be below, because you can't cast the split second spell before the remove-counter trigger goes on the stack at the beginning of the upkeep.

The three exceptions to this rule involve Deep-Sea Kraken , Timebender , and Nihilith , respectively. If Deep-Sea Kraken has a single time counter on it, and your opponent casts a split-second spell, the Kraken's secondary remove-time-counters ability will trigger and go onto the stack above the split second spell. This will mean that the counter will be removed and the cast-me trigger will go off while the split second spell is still on the stack. In that case, split second prevents you from casting the Kraken.

The Timebender exception makes use of the fact that turning a face-down morph creature face-up isn't stopped by split second. With a split second spell on the stack, you can flip up Timebender to remove the last time counters from a suspended spell. The counters will be removed and the cast-me trigger will go off with the split second spell still on the stack, preventing the suspended spell from being cast.

Nihilith 's exception is much the same. With a split second spell on the stack, you can flip up a morph creature with some sort of triggered ability that will somehow cause enough cards to be put into your opponent's graveyard for all of Nihilith's counters to be removed.

Q: What does vanishing do?
A: Vanishing is an ability that causes permanents to only remain on the battlefield a short time. A permanent with vanishing X enters the battlefield with X time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, you remove a time counter from that permanent, and when the last is removed, you must sacrifice it.

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Q: What happens if I counter the sacrifice ability when the last counter is removed?
A: Your permanent with Vanishing will remain on the battlefield indefinitely. The sacrifice ability only triggers once, when the last time counter is removed. After that, it won't trigger again unless you somehow get more time counters on it.

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Q: Isn't Vanishing just a new name for Fading? How are they different?
A: Fading and Vanishing are very similar, but have a few subtle differences. Here are the main ones:

• Vanishing uses time counters. Fading uses fade counters.
  The only difference is the name, but this is important for things like Timebender that manipulate specific kinds of counters.
  
  
• Vanishing causes the permanent to be sacrificed when the last counter is removed. Fading causes the permanent to be sacrificed at the beginning of your upkeep if you can't remove a counter.
  Usually, this just means a permanent with Fading N will stay on the battlefield a turn longer than a permanent with Vanishing N. Also, Vanishing's sacrifice ability triggers as soon as the last counter is removed, no matter when that is. Fading only triggers at the beginning of the upkeep, no matter how many counters are present.
  
  
• Vanishing can be permanently circumvented by countering the sacrifice ability. Fading can only be temporarily circumvented this way.
  If you counter Vanishing's sacrifice ability, the permanent will stay on the battlefield indefinitely. If you counter the Fading ability that would cause your permanent to be sacrificed, it will simply trigger again at the beginning of your next upkeep.
  

Q: What does fateseal mean?
A: To "fateseal N" means to look at the top N cards of an opponent's library, put any number of them on the bottom of that library in any order, and put the rest on top of that library in any order.

Q: What does absorb do?
A: Absorb is an ability that prevents damage to your creatures. If a source would deal any amount of damage to a creature with absorb X, X of that damage is prevented.

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Q: So if I have two Lymph Sliver s on the battlefield, and something tries to deal damage to one of my Slivers, 4 of the damage is prevented?
A: No. Lymph Sliver's reminder text isn't telling you what Absorb itself does; what it's doing is telling you what happens when every Sliver has Absorb 1, in the same way that Sidewinder Sliver tells you what happens when every sliver has Flanking.

Each instance of Absorb 1 on a sliver will prevent 1 damage, so if there are two Lymph Slivers on the battlefield and something tries to deal damage to a Sliver, 2 of that damage will be prevented. Three Lymph Slivers means 3 damage is prevented, and so on and so forth.

Q: What does aura swap do?
A: Aura Swap allows you to exchange an Aura on the battlefield for an Aura card in your hand by paying the aura swap cost, putting each where the other one was.

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Q: How exactly do I work this exchange?
A: As the ability resolves, you may choose an Aura card in your hand. If you don't (or can't), nothing happens. If the Aura you chose can't enchant the permanent the aura swap card is enchanting, or the aura swap card has left the battlefield, or if you don't own the aura swap card, nothing happens.

But if all those hoops have been jumped through, you simultaneously switch the Aura in your hand for the aura swap permanent. The Aura that was in your hand is put onto the battlefield attached to the aura swap card was attached to.

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Q: Is there ever a moment when both Auras (or neither) are on the battlefield?
A: No. The two are switched simultaneously--there's never a moment when they're both in the same place.

Q: What does deathtouch do?
A: If something with deathtouch deals any (nonzero) amount of damage to a creature, the damaged creature is destroyed immediately, no matter whether the damage would normally be enough to be lethal or not.

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Q: If the damage from my deathtouch permanent is prevented, is the creature still destroyed?
A: No. If the damage is prevented, it's never dealt, so deathtouch won't take effect.

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Q: Does deathtouch target?
A: No. Anything that targets will use the actual word "target", either in the rules text of the card itself or, if a keyword is involved, in the rules of the game. (And in those cases, the reminder text for the keyword will include the word "target".)

Thus, since deathtouch does not use the word "target" at all, it doesn't target.

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Q: If my deathtouch permanent deals 0 damage to a creature, does deathtouch destroy the creature?
A: No. 0 damage is no damage at all. Something that's trying to deal 0 damage never actually deals any, so deathtouch doesn't apply.

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Q: Can a creature regenerate from deathtouch damage?
A: Yes. Deathtouch attempts to destroy the creature, and regeneration protects the creature from being destroyed. Note, however, that you must create the regeneration shield before the damage is actually dealt, because after the damage is dealt, deathtouch takes effect and kills things before you can do anything.

Also note that you will only ever have to regenerate once to save a creature from deathtouch damage, no matter how many instances of deathtouch may be present and how much damage was dealt.

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Q: Can deathtouch kill an indestructible creature?
A: No. Deathtouch attempts to destroy the creature, and indestructible creatures can't be destroyed.

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Q: If the source with deathtouch is removed before the damage is dealt, does that stop deathtouch from working?
A: No; the only way to stop deathtouch from working would be to somehow make the source lose deathtouch before the damage is dealt. (Say, with Ovinize .) Or somehow stop the damage entirely, but that goes without saying.

This is different from a triggered ability; deathtouch works because the rules of the game look to see if things have deathtouch when they're determining how damage will affect a given creature. Triggered abilities work because they're around to say they work; deathtouch works because the game goes looking for it to see what happens. Deathtouch doesn't need to actually be around to see the damage being dealt because the game goes looking for it, and if whatever's dealing the damage had deathtouch when it left the battlefield, the game will see that and make the damage work accordingly. (This is a change from how deathtouch originally worked.)

Q: What does delve do?
A: Delve allows you to reduce the cost of your spell by exiling cards in your graveyar. As you cast a card with delve, you may choose to exile any number of cards in your graveyard. The card costs less to cast for each card exiled this way.

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Q: Does delve affect the card's mana cost or converted mana cost?
A: No; delve only reduces the amount you actually spend. The mana cost of a card (and therefore its converted mana cost) is based solely on the mana symbols that appear in the top right-hand corner of the card. (For the Future Sight timeshifted cards on which delve appears, the mana cost is on the top left, just below the name.)

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Q: My opponent starts casting a spell with delve--can I remove cards from his graveyard to prevent him from removing them for delve?
A: No. You can't do anything while another player is casting a spell or activating an ability--by the time you get a chance to do anything, the cards are already exiled and the spell has already been cast.

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Q: Can delve reduce the amount of colored mana I pay?
A: No. Delve can only reduce the colorless portion of a card's cost.

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Q: I have some cards with mana abilities that put cards in my graveyard as a cost or side effect (by sacrificing permanents, discarding cards, whatever). Can I activate those abilites to get mana and exile the cards they put into my graveyard to reduce the cost of my delve spell?
A: Yes, you can. (Even if you activate the mana abilities during the act of casting the delve spell.) You have an opportunity to activate mana abilities just before you actually pay the costs of casting the spell. If you do so, the cards will be in your graveyard when it comes time to pay costs, and therefore you'll be able to exile them for delve.

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Q: My opponent casts something (or has something on the battlefield) that does something bad to my delve spell unless I pay mana ( Mana Leak , Nether Void , et cetera). Can I remove cards from my graveyard to pay for that cost, too?
A: No. Delve only affects the cost of actually casting the spell; it doesn't affect any costs or payments that are not a part of casting the spell.

Q: What does fortify do?
A: Fortify is an ability of Fortifications that allows you to attach them to a target land you control. This attachment is permanent, and a fortify ability can only be activated during your main phase, when you have priority and the stack is empty.

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See the main Rules Q&A FAQ entry on Equipment. Basically, Fortifications are exactly the same thing, only they go onto lands instead of creatures. The Fortify keyword works exactly the same way for Fortifications as the Equip keyword does for Equipment.

Q: What does frenzy do?
A: When a creature with frenzy X attacks and isn't blocked, it gets +X/+0 until the end of the turn.

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Q: Are multiple frenzy abilities cumulative?
A: Yes. All the triggers will act independently, and each will give the creature its own bonus.

Q: What does gravestorm do?
A: Gravestorm makes your spells better if permanents have been put into a graveyard during the current turn. When you cast a spell with gravestorm, in addition to the original spell, you create a copy of it for each permanent that was put into any graveyard during the current turn.

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Q: What exactly counts for gravestorm? Do cards that have been discarded count? How about cards milled?
A: Gravestorm only counts permanents (cards or tokens on the battlefield) that are put into the graveyard from the battlefield. Cards being put into a graveyard from anywhere else are not permanents, and cannot count for gravestorm.

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Q: Does making a gravestorm copy count as casting a spell?
A: No. The copies are put directly onto the stack; they are not are not cast.

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Q: How does gravestorm interact with replicate?
A: It doesn't. At all. Replicate copies are never cast, so their gravestorm abilities will not trigger, and you don't cast the gravestorm copies, so you can't replicate them. (Though you could replicate the initial spell.)

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Q: What happens if I or my opponent responds to the gravestorm ability by casting something that puts another permanent into the graveyard? Do I get another copy for that newly-dead card?
A: Yes. When the gravestorm triggered ability resolves, it creates a copy for every permanent that was put into a graveyard from the battlefield this turn, no matter when exactly it did it. As long as it died this turn, gravestorm creates a copy for it.

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Q: What happens if my opponent counters the original gravestorm spell?
A: That one spell will be countered, but all the copies would still be there. Countering the original spell does nothing to the copies.

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Q: Can gravestorm be responded to? Can it be Stifle d?
A: Yes; gravestorm is a triggered ability, so it can be both responded to and stifled.

Q: What does lifelink do?
A: Damage dealt by something with lifelink causes you to gain life in addition to whatever other effects the damage may have--this lifegain happens as the damage is dealt.

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Q: I have an old creature that says it gives me that much life whenever it deals damage. Does this card have lifelink?
A: No, it does not. When lifelink was introduced, it worked differently, and older creatures that worked that way were given errata to have it, but then they wanted to change how lifelink worked, so rather than have a whole ton of cards that didn't work the way they say they worked, they removed the errata and returned the cards to their original un-keyworded state.

If you're not sure, be sure to check the Oracle text of your card; a card's Oracle text is its current, "official" wording, and overrides the printed text. (The Oracle text can be found by looking up the card in Gatherer .)

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Q: Does lifelink give me life for all damage, or just combat damage?
A: Lifelink takes effect no matter why or how the damage is being dealt. As long as it has lifelink, and it's dealing damage, you'll be gaining life.

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Q: My creature with lifelink is blocked or being blocked by a creature with toughness lower than my creature's power. Do I gain life equal to my creature's power, or the opposing creature's toughness?
A: You gain life equal to your creature's power. (Assuming nothing interferes and prevents some of the damage.) Creatures in Magic never "pull their punches" (in fact, nothing does). If your creature's power is 10, it will deal 10 damage in combat (and thus you will gain 10 life), no matter what the toughness of its blockers are.

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Q: I'm being attacked, and the damage from the attacking creatures will be enough to kill me. But I have a creature with lifelink blocking, and the lifegain from it would be enough to keep me alive. Do I get the life from lifelink in time to save me?
A: Yes. (Assuming the attackers aren't going to kill you with first strike or double strike damage before your lifelinker can deal any.) All (regular) combat damage is dealt at the same time, and you gain life from lifelink as the damage is dealt, so there's never a point when your life total is less than 0, so you don't die.

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Q: If the source with lifelink is removed before the damage is dealt, does that stop lifelink from working?
A: No; the only way to stop lifelink from working would be to somehow make the source lose lifelink before the damage is dealt. (Say, with Ovinize .) Or somehow stop the damage entirely, but that goes without saying.

This is different than a triggered ability; lifelink works because the rules of the game look to see if things have lifelink when they're determining what the damage does. Triggered abilities work because they're around to say they work; lifelink works because the game goes looking for it to see what happens. The ability doesn't need to actually be around to see the damage being dealt because the game goes looking for it; if whatever's dealing the damage had lifelink when it left the battlefield, the game will see that and make the damage work accordingly. (This is a change from how lifelink originally worked.)

Q: What does poisonous do?
A: Whenever a permanent with poisonous X deals combat damage to a player, that player gets X poison counters. (A player with ten or more poison counters loses the game, the same way he or she would if he or she had 0 or less life.)

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Q: If the damage from my poisonous creature is prevented, does the player still get poison counters?
A: No. The poisonous ability triggers off of combat damage being dealt, and if the damage is prevented, it's never dealt.

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Q: If my poisonous creature deals 0 damage to a player, do they get poison counters?
A: No. 0 damage is no damage at all. Something that's trying to deal 0 damage never actually deals any, so poisonous won't trigger.

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Q: If my poisonous creature also has double strike, and isn't blocked, will the defending player get poison counters twice?
A: Yes. The creature will deal damage twice, so the poisonous ability will trigger twice, and your opponent will get two sets of however many poison counters the poisonous ability says he or she gets.

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Q: Can I respond to or counter the part that makes me lose the game if I have ten or more poison counters?
A: No. While you can respond to or Stifle the poisonous ability itself, the thing that makes you actually lose the game once you have too many poison counters is a state-based effect, which cannot be countered or responded to. Once you hit ten poison counters, that's it: you're dead.

Q: What does reach do?
A: Reach allows a creature to block creatures with flying.

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Q: I have an old creature that says it "Can block creatures with flying" or that it "may/can block as though it had flying". Does this card have reach?
A: Yes. When reach was introduced, all creatures with those abilities were given errata to have reach instead.

If you're not sure, be sure to check the Oracle text of your card; a card's Oracle text is its current, "official" wording, and overrides the printed text. (The Oracle text can be found by looking up the card in Gatherer .)

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Q: Can a creature with reach block a card that "can't be blocked except by creatures with flying", such as Treetop Scout ?
A: No. (Unless it has flying as well as reach, for some reason.) Having reach does not mean the creature has flying.

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Q: Can a creature with reach block a card that "can't be blocked by creatures with flying", such as Gnat Alley Creeper ?
A: Yes. (Unless it has flying as well as reach, for some reason.) Having reach does not mean the creature has flying.

Q: What does transfigure do?
A: During your main phase, when the stack is empty and you have priority, you may sacrifice a creature with transfigure and pay its transfigure cost. If you do, you search your library for a creature card with the same converted mana cost as the sacrificed creature and put it onto the battlefield.

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Q: What can I find with transfigure?
A: You can find any creature card with the same converted mana cost as the card with transfigure. Converted mana cost is independent of color--if you transfigure Fleshwrither , you can find Plague Sliver , Rumbling Slum , Ravenous Baloth , or even Dune-Brood Nephilim . As long as the total amount of mana is right, you can transfigure for it.

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Q: I have a card on the battlefield that turns artifacts, enchantments, or lands into creatures. Will this let me transfigure my creature for artifacts, enchantments, or lands?
A: Not unless they're naturally creatures as well. If a card that does such a thing doesn't state or imply otherwise, it's talking about only permanents on the battlefield. Cards in your library won't be affected, and therefore can't be found with transfigure.

Q: What does shroud do?
A: A permanent or player with shroud can't be the target of spells or abilities.

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Q: I have an old creature that says it can't be the target of spells or abilities. Does this card have shroud?
A: Most probably, yes. When shroud was introduced, all old creatures with the exact same ability were given errata to have shroud instead. It's a good idea to read the card carefully, however. There are a few cards (not many, but some) with abilities that only stop them from being targeted by certain kinds of spells or abilities, such as Karplusan Strider , Spellbane Centaur , or Troll Ascetic . These cards do not have shroud.

Also note that Auras and Equipment follow the same rule; those that make the creature they're attached to completely untargetable grant shroud, while those that only protect from targeting by a specific kind of spell or ability do not.

If you're not sure, be sure to check the Oracle text of your card; a card's Oracle text is its current, "official" wording, and overrides the printed text. (The Oracle text can be found by looking up the card in Gatherer .)

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Q: What does shroud protect against?
A: Shroud will only protect against things that specifically use the word "target", or cards with keywords that target by definition. (If a card's keyword targets by definition, it will use the word "target" in its reminder text. If it doesn't have reminder text, you can look up a card with the same ability that does to see if the ability targets.) If the spell or ability doesn't target, shroud can do nothing to stop it.

For more information on targets, see the Targets and Targeting entry of the Main Rules Q&A FAQ.

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Q: Does shroud function when the creature it's on isn't on the battlefield? (ie, Can I Zombify or Cancel something with shroud?)
A: No, shroud doesn't work when the creature it's on isn't on the battlefield, so you can Zombify and Cancel those shroud creatures as much as you like.

For an ability (any ability) to work outside of the battlefield, it has to either define a characteristic of the card (like Transguild Courier , Woodland Changeling , or Maro), specifically say it works outside of the battlefield (like [c]Anger or Glory ) or else do something that would logically mean it has to function somewhere else (like Squee, Goblin Nabob --you can't exactly return Squee from your graveyard if he isn't there in the first place). If an ability doesn't say it works somewhere else, and it would make sense for that ability to work while it's on the battlefield, then it works only on the battlefield. Shroud is one such ability.

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Q: My permanent has an Aura or Equipment attached to it, and then it gains shroud. Will the Aura/Equipment fall off?
A: No. While Aura spells on the stack and the Equip ability target, being attached to another card isn't something that targets. While you won't be able to cast Auras or Equip Equipments to a permanent with shroud, ones already on it won't fall off.

Note that it is possible to put additional Auras on Equipment onto a creature with shroud, as long as you do it in a way that doesn't actually try to target the creature.

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Q: Wait, "or player"? Players can have shroud?
A: Yes.

Q: When I regenerate a creature, does that mean it comes from the graveyard back onto the battlefield?
A: No. Regeneration does not reanimate dead creatures; it can only save living ones from being destroyed. Only creatures on the battlefield can be regenerated. Read on to find out how regeneration actually works.

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Q: What is regeneration and how does it work?
A: "Regenerate [permanent]" means "The next time [permanent] would be destroyed this turn, instead remove all damage from it, tap it, and (if it's in combat) remove it from combat." Note that only two things "destroy" creatures: lethal damage and spells and abilities that use the word "destroy". Anything else does not "destroy" things and cannot be stopped by regeneration.

To see how regeneration works, let's look at a couple of examples:

Example 1: You control a Drudge Skeletons . You attack with them, and your opponent blocks them with a 2/2 creature . You pay to activate the ability of the Skeletons. This sets up a "regeneration shield" that will save the Skeletons the next time they would be destroyed. The Skeletons are then dealt 2 damage by the 2/2, which would be enough to destroy them, but since they have a regeneration shield, instead you remove all the damage from them and remove them from combat. (They're already tapped.) The 2/2 creature takes 1 point of damage: not enough to destroy it.

Note that in the above example, if your opponent later deals damage to the Skeletons, they are destroyed, because the shield was used up. If you wanted to stop this, you would have to activate the ability again to put another regeneration shield on.

Example 2: You control a Drudge Skeletons . Your opponent casts Mortify targetting the Skeletons. In response, you pay to activate the ability of the Skeletons. This sets up a "regeneration shield" that will save the Skeletons the next time they would be destroyed. Mortify then resolves, and tries to destroy the Skeletons. Instead, the shield gets used up, the skeletons become tapped and they get removed from combat (if they were in combat). If there had been damage on them, it would have been removed as well.

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Q: Do Auras, Equipment, and counters fall off of the creature? Do things that would trigger off of it leaving the battlefield trigger?
A: No. Regeneration replaces the act of destroying the creature with tapping it, removing damage from it, et cetera. The creature never actually leaves the battlefield, so any Auras, Equipment and counters on the creature remain there, anything that would trigger on it leaving the battlefield doesn't trigger, and any effects that were applying to it (such as Giant Growth cast earlier in the turn, for example) continue to do so.

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Q: When can I activate a regeneration ability? Can I cast it multiple times?
A: You can activate any activated ability, including those that create regeneration shields, any time you have priority, and as many times as you can pay for it, unless the ability specifically says otherwise. Normally players will only activate regeneration abilities in response to something that would cause the shield to be used up, but you can do it at other times if you wish.

Note that abilities that create regeneration shields, but aren't activated abilities (such as Duskworker 's ability), don't have the same sort of flexibility.

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Q: When is a creature actually "regenerated"? Is it when I activate the ability, or when the shield is used?
A: A creature isn't actually "regenerated" until the shield is used up. This is important for creatures such as Skeleton Scavengers and Debt of Loyalty .

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Q: Does regeneration save my creature from sacrificing, or from effects that exile it or reduce its toughness to 0?
A: No. Regeneration only saves a creature from being destroyed, and none of those things are destroying the creature. If the creature would be removed from the battlefield in some way other than being destroyed, regeneration can't stop it.

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Q: How does regeneration interact with Deathtouch? What happens when something with deathtouch deals damage to a creature that can regenerate?
A: Regeneration can save a creature from deathtouch; deathtouch uses the word "destroy", so it's something regeneration can stop.

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Q: How does regeneration interact with Wither? Can I regenerate from -1/-1 counters?
A: Wither generally kills regenerators dead; regenerating won't save them and won't remove the counters accumulated thanks to wither. Wither causes -1/-1 counters to be put on the creature, and if the creature accumulates enough of them, its toughness will be 0 or less, which regeneration can't save the creature from.

Q: What does clash mean?
A: To clash with another player is to have both players reveal the top card of their library, then put it on the top or bottom of their library. A player wins a clash if his card had a higher converted mana cost than any other card revealed this way.

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Q: What happens when there's a tie?
A: A player only wins a clash if his card had a higher converted mana cost than any other players' card. If there's a tie, no players' card had a higher converted mana cost, so nobody wins.

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Q: How does clashing work in multiplayer?
A: In a multiplayer game, when asked to "clash with an opponent", you choose one (and only one) opponent with which to clash, and the two of you clash in the same way that you would in a two-player game. The other players do nothing--they are not clashing.

You decide which opponent to clash with during the resolution of whichever spell or ability is causing you to clash; at the time players can respond to your spell or ability, they will not know for certain who you will choose to clash with. Players cannot respond with spells or abilities in between you deciding who to clash with and the actual clash occurring. (But of course, you can't try to stop them from being able to respond by jumping ahead of yourself and telling them who you intend to choose--Magic is not a game of reflexes.)

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Q: Something triggers when I clash. Does it count when my opponent clashes with me as well as the other way around? And does that trigger happen before or after the clash does?
A: Yes, it counts no matter who caused the clash, and the trigger will happen after. Something that triggers on a particular event occurring will always happen after the event that triggered it. (It can't happen before, because it hasn't triggered yet.)

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Q: What happens if the card I reveal has no mana cost or has an in its mana cost?
A: A card with no mana cost has a converted mana cost of 0, and an in the mana cost of a card that's not being cast counts as 0. So a Blaze revealed during a clash will have converted mana cost of 1.

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Q: Who decides where to put their card first? Can I wait to see where my opponent puts his card after clashing before deciding where to put mine?
A: Players decide where to put their revealed cards in turn order, starting with the player whose turn it currently is. (Who may or may not be the person who started the clash.) Players will know the decisions of players who chose before them when it becomes time for them to choose. Then all the cards are moved simultaneously.

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Q: What happens if someone reveals a split card?
A: Split cards have two separate converted mana costs, so something weird will happen. Let's assume you're the one who revealed the split card. Each half of the card counts separately; if one of your split card's halves has a converted mana cost higher than that of your opponent's card, you win. If your opponent's card has a higher converted mana cost than that of one of your split card's halves, he will win.

So if you revealed a Dead // Gone and your opponent revealed a Grizzly Bears , both of you would win, because the Gone half's converted mana cost of 3 is greater than the Bears's CMC of 2, and his Bears's 2 is greater than the Dead half's 1.

Clear?

Q: What does champion do?
A: Champion allows you to "upgrade" your creatures by essentially replacing them with bigger, stronger creatures. When a creature that says "champion a {foo}" enters the battlefield, you must sacrifice it unless you exile some other {foo} you control. That {foo} is "championed" by the creature with champion. When the creature with champion leaves the battlefield, the championed {foo} comes back onto the battlefield under its owner's control.

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Q: I cast a creature with champion, and in response to the remove-trigger, something kills the permanent I was going to champion. What happens?
A: Not much, as long as you have at least one other thing you could champion.

You don't choose which permanent to champion until the champion ability actually resolves, and by the time that happens, it's too late for anyone (including you) to try to do anything about it. There's no time in between you choosing which permanent to champion and actually championing it in which anybody can do anything about it.

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Q: Do I get the championed {foo} back if my champion creature is bounced? Exiled? Put into my library?
A: Yes. You get the championed {foo} back whenever the creature with champion leaves the battlefield, no matter how it does so or where it goes when it does.

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Q: Can I respond to the champion trigger by doing something with my creature? Say, sacrifice it to Greater Gargadon or Nantuko Husk ?
A: Absolutely. Champion's trigger works just like any other triggered ability, and can be responded to just fine by activating any abilities or casting any instants you like.

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Q: Will using a spell or ability to remove the champion ability just as soon as my creature enters the battlefield stop me from having to champion something? Would removing it just before it left the battlefield stop me from getting the thing I championed back?
A: No and yes, respectively. When something with champion enters the battlefield, by the time players get the chance to cast things that could possibly remove the champion ability, the ability has already triggered, and removing the ability won't stop the instance that has already triggered.

On the other hand, removing the champion ability just before a champion creature leaves the battlefield will prevent the trigger from ever triggering, because at the time the creature leaves the battlefield, it doesn't have champion. Be careful, though, because if the creature is being removed from the battlefield as a cost to cast some spell or activate an ability, you won't get the chance to respond before the creature is already gone and the champion leaves-the-battlefield trigger has triggered and gone onto the stack.

Q: What does changeling do?
A: A creature or tribal card with changeling is all creature types at all times, no matter where it happens to be.

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Q: Is a creature or tribal card with changeling just all races, or is it all classes as well?
A: While some people see a flavor distinction between creature types that describe species (so-called "races") and creature types that describe function (so-called "classes"), as far as the rules are concerned, there is no difference whatsoever between the two--they're all just plain old creature types, no matter whether they happen to describe species or function, and a card with changeling will have them all; see the link below.

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Q: So what types is my card with changeling? Is it a...
A: Cards with changeling have all creature types; however, note that changeling doesn't give them anything that isn't a creature type. For a full listing of existing creature types, see this post--your changeling creature is all of the types listed under the bullet labeled "creature types".

So if something asks your changeling if it's one of those types, it will say "yes".

Note: "Artifact" is not a creature type; it is a card type. Changeling does not make the card it's on an artifact.

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Q: All creature types? So creatures with changeling are walls? Does that mean they can't attack?
A: They are walls, but that isn't going to stop them from attacking. The rule that said walls can't attack was removed more than half a decade ago--all existing walls at the time were given the defender ability instead. (Which does the same thing, but as a keyword instead of being tied to the wall creature type.)

Being a Wall no longer has any special meaning according to the rules.

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Q: So what about "Legend"? Are creatures with changeling Legends?
A: No, they are not. The Legend creature type no longer exists; it was eliminated at the same time the wall rule was removed. All the creatures with that type were erratad to have the supertype "legendary" instead, which does the same thing. (Note that the legend rule was changed at that time as well, so if you hadn't heard about that, be sure to check that out as well.)

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Q: How do creatures with changeling interact with Coat of Arms ?
A: If a Coat of Arms is on the battlefield, a creature with changeling will get +1/+1 for every other creature on the battlefield that has at least one creature type. It will not get a bonus based on the number of creature types it has, because that's not how Coat of Arms works; see the Coat of Arms FAQ entry for more information.

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Q: How does changeling work with effects that remove abilities?
A: Strangely. The Layer System, which defines how effects that interact with an objet's characteristics work, states that effects which alter creature types are applied before effects that add or remove abilities. (And removing an ability after it has already applied will do nothing.)

So if you Ovinize , for example, a creature with changeling, it will no longer have changeling, but it will still be all creature types because Changeling gets applied before Ovinize's effect has a chance to remove it.

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Q: I cast a card that causes a card with changeling to become a particular creature type. Is it still all creature types?
A: No. When something sets something's creature type to a specific type without specifying otherwise, it removes all the object's other creature types. This doesn't mean that it loses changeling; changeling's effect is simply overwritten.

This answer also applies to effects which remove all of an object's creature types.

Q: What does evoke do?
A: Evoke is an alternate cost that you can use to cast the card it's on. When the card enters the battlefield, (evoke appears only on permanent cards) if the evoke cost was paid, you must sacrifice the permanent. But that's okay, because all of the cards printed with evoke have triggered abilities that give you a benefit even though the creature doesn't stick around.

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Q: Does evoke change when I can cast my spell or where I can cast it from?
A: No. You're still casting the card with evoke the exact same way you would otherwise; the only difference is that you pay a different cost.

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Q: Does evoke alter the mana cost or converted mana cost of my spell?
A: No. A spell's mana cost, and thus its converted mana cost, is determined solely by what's printed in the upper right hand corner of the card, not by what you actually spent to cast the spell.

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Q: Do effects that alter the amount a card costs to cast affect its evoke cost, too?
A: Yes. Effects that alter costs are changing the amount you have to pay, not the card's mana cost; they always apply no matter whether you're paying the normal cost or the evoke cost.

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Q: When I evoke a creature with an enters-the-battlefield ability, does the evoked creature get sacrificed first, or do I get its enters-the-battlefield ability, then sacrifice it?
A: Whichever you want. You control both triggered abilities and they trigger at the exact same time, so you get to choose the order they resolve in.

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Q: Can I respond to the sacrifice part of evoke by doing something with my creature? Say, sacrifice it to Greater Gargadon or Nantuko Husk ?
A: Absolutely. Evoke's sacrifice trigger works just like any other triggered ability, and can be responded to just fine by activating any abilities or casting any instants you like.

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Q: If I evoke a creature, what happens if I cast Momentary Blink (or a similar spell) in response to evoke's sacrifice trigger?
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: What does hideaway do?
A: Hideaway does two things. First, the permanent with hideaway will always enter the battlefield tapped. Second, when the permanent with hideaway enters the battlefield, you look at the top four cards of your library. You pick one and exile it face-down, then put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. As long as the card you exiled this way remains exiled, any player who has controlled the permanent with hideaway at any point can look at it. (Anyone who hasn't, can't.)

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Q: Is hideaway optional?
A: No. You're forced to look at the top four cards of your library and exile one. If there's less than four, you look at all of them and exile one.

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Q: If the hideaway permanent leaves the battlefield, then later comes back, will I be able to access the card that it exiled the first time?
A: No. When something changes zones, it forgets all about its previous existence; the game considers the new hideaway card to be completely different from the old hideaway card. Thus, you won't be able to use the card exiled by it the first time, only the one it exiled this time.

Q: What does prowl do?
A: Prowl is an alternate cost that allows you to pay a spell's prowl cost rather than its mana cost if you have dealt combat damage to an opponent with a creature that shares a creature type with the prowl card.

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Q: Does prowl change when I can cast my spell or where I can cast it from?
A: No. You're still casting the card with prowl the exact same way you would otherwise; the only difference is that you pay a different cost.

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Q: Does prowl alter the mana cost or converted mana cost of my spell?
A: No. A spell's mana cost, and thus its converted mana cost, is determined solely by what's printed in the upper right hand corner of the card, not by what you actually spent to cast the spell.

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Q: Do effects that alter the amount a card costs to cast affect its prowl cost, too?
A: Yes. Effects that alter costs are changing the amount you have to pay, not the card's mana cost; they always apply no matter whether you're paying the normal cost or the prowl cost.

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Q: Do I have to cast the card for its prowl cost if I match its conditions?
A: No. Paying the prowl cost rather than the mana cost is completely optional; you can pay the normal mana cost rather than the prowl cost if you wish.

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Q: What happens if things change control or change creature types?
A: All that prowl cares about is that the creature dealt damage, and that at the time it did so, you controlled it and it had a creature type that the spell with prowl currently has.

If the creature's type or control has changed since it dealt the damage, that doesn't matter. If it changed before the damage was dealt, that is important and will affect whether or not you can pay prowl costs.

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Q: Is prowl's reminder text accurate? It mentions specific creature types...
A: Not entirely, no. The reminder text does mention specific creature types, but that's only done for convenience. Only the creature types that the prowl card currently has matter.

For example, if you have a Conspiracy on the battlefield naming "Brushwagg", and you deal combat damage to an opponent with one of your creatures, then try to cast a creature spell with prowl, you will be able to pay its prowl cost, even though the creature is a Brushwagg, not a Rogue or a Faerie or whatever else is listed in the reminder text. This is because both the creature and the spell share a creature type: Brushwagg.

Q: What does reinforce do?
A: Reinforce is an ability that allows you to pay some cost and discard a card with reinforce in your hand in order to put some number of +1/+1 counters on a target creature.

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Q: Is reinforce a spell or ability?
A: Reinforce is an activated ability.

Q: What does conspire do?
A: Conspire is an optional additional cost you can choose to pay when you cast the card it's on. To pay this cost, you must tap two creatures that each share a color with the spell. Once you have finished casting the spell, if you paid the Conspire cost, you get an extra copy of the spell and can choose new targets for that copy if you wish.

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Q: Can I pay the conspire cost more than once?
A: No. Conspire only allows you to pay its cost once to get one extra copy; it doesn't allow you to pay more or get more copies.

If you somehow manage to get a spell that has multiple instances of conspire, you would be able to pay for each instance separately and get multiple copies that way, but you still wouldn't be able to get more than one copy per instance of conspire.

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Q: Do the creatures I tap for conspire have to be the same color?
A: No. Each creature must share at least one color with the spell you're conspiring, but the creatures don't have to be the same color or even share any colors at all with each other.

If you were conspiring an AEthertow , for example, you could tap a mono-white creature and a mono-blue creature for the Conspire cost.

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Q: Conspire makes a copy, so that copy will have conspire itself--so can I conspire the copy?
A: No. Conspire uses an additional cost you pay as you cast the spell, and the copies created by conspire are never actually "cast". As such, you will not be able to conspire the copies.

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Q: Can I stop the conspire copy by countering the original spell, or vice-versa?
A: No. The original spell and its copy are two completely different entities; countering one won't affect the other in any way.

Q: What does persist do?
A: Persist is an ability that allows your permanents (usually creatures) to come back to life after dying if they meet certain conditions. When a permanent with persist is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, you return it to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.

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Q: When persist returns the card to the battlefield, what is it? (IE, do the things that were affecting it when it left the battlefield still affect it? If it was a copy of something, is it still a copy? and so on.)
A: No. When an object changes zones, it effectively becomes an entirely new object; it isn't the same thing as whatever it used to be. So if you had Giant Growth ed your persist creature before it died, it would no longer have that bonus when it returned. If your creature had counters on it, it will no longer have those counters. If it had been turned into a copy of something, it will no longer be a copy of that thing. If it had gained an ability, say thanks to Cauldron of Souls , it will no longer have that ability.

Basically, your card enters the battlefield as a "fresh" copy of whatever card it is.

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Q: My creature has returned to the battlefield thanks to persist. Does it have summoning sickness?
A: Yes. Summoning sickness will always apply if you haven't controlled a creature continuously since the beginning of your most recent turn, no matter how the creature came onto the battlefield.

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Q: A token with persist dies. Does it come back?
A: No. A token that has left the battlefield can never, ever be returned to the battlefield.

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Q: Does my creature trigger things that look for things going to the graveyard?
A: Yes. Your creature hits the graveyard, so it will trigger such abilities. What happens after that is usually irrelevant as far as those triggers are concerned.

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Q: Can my opponent respond to persist, say by exiling my creature so it can't come back?
A: Yes. Persist is a normal triggered ability, and can be responded to just like any other triggered ability.

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Q: Multiple creatures with persist have all died at the same time. (Say, thanks to Wrath of God .) What happens?
A: Each creature's persist ability will trigger at the same time. First, the player whose turn it is (the active player) will put all of his creatures' persist triggers onto the stack in whatever order he chooses; then, in turn order, each other player does the same. Then, all of those triggers resolve, returning one creature at a time, with chances for players to respond and things to happen in between each resolution, until all the triggers have been dealt with.

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Q: My persist creature has some +1/+1 counters on it, and is given enough -1/-1 counters to kill it. (Either by bringing its toughness to 0 or by making the damage already on it lethal.) I know that +1/+1 counters and -1/-1 counters annihilate each other, so does my persist creature come back?
A: No. Your creature dies at the same time the counters would be removed, so the game will see that it did indeed have -1/-1 counters on it just before it died, and persist won't return it.

Q: What does wither do?
A: Wither is an ability that changes how things deal damage to creatures. Normally if something deals damage to a creature, that damage sits around and stays on the creature until the end of the turn. But damage that's dealt to a creature by something that has wither works differently; it causes that many -1/-1 counters to be put on that creature instead. These counters are regular counters in all ways, and stick around permanently; they don't get removed automatically like normal damage.

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Q: So wither replaces dealing damage with putting on counters?
A: No. Wither just causes damage to work differently than normal; it doesn't replace anything. Damage is still being dealt, you just do it by putting counters on the creatures instead of the way you normally do it.

Think about it this way: normally, damage dealt to a player causes that player to lose that much life, right? The damage isn't being replaced by the life-loss--causing the player to that much lose life is what the damage does. In a similar way, dealing damage to a creature with something that has wither is defined as putting that many -1/-1 counters on that creature--that's just what the damage does.

So this means that "wither damage" can be prevented or affected in just the same way that normal damage can, and things that trigger on damage being dealt, like Repercussion 's ability, still work if the thing dealing the damage has wither.

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Q: Does wither target?
A: No. Anything that targets will use the actual word "target", either in the rules text of the card itself or, if a keyword is involved, in the rules of the game. (And in those cases, the reminder text for the keyword will include the word "target".)

Thus, since wither does not use the word "target" at all, it doesn't target. (Note that the spell that has wither or the ability from the permanent with wither that is actually trying to deal the damage might be targeted, like Puncture Blast , but there's nothing inherent to wither itself that would make anything target that wasn't already doing so.)

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Q: Does damage from something with wither work differently on players or planeswalkers?
A: No. "Wither damage" works just the same as normal damage on players and planeswalkers; it only works differently on creatures.

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Q: How does wither interact with Regeneration? Can my opponent regenerate from -1/-1 counters?
A: Wither generally kills regenerators dead; regenerating won't save them and won't remove the counters accumulated thanks to wither. Wither causes -1/-1 counters to be put on the creature, and if the creature accumulates enough of them, its toughness will be 0 or less, which regeneration can't save the creature from.

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Q: If the source with wither is removed before the damage is dealt, does that stop wither from working?
A: No; the only way to stop wither from working would be to somehow make the source lose wither before the damage is dealt. (Say, with Ovinize .) Or somehow stop the damage entirely, but that goes without saying.

This is different than a triggered ability; wither works because the rules of the game look to see if things have wither when they're determining how damage will affect a given creature. Triggered abilities work because they're around to say they work; wither works because the game goes looking for it to see what happens. Wither doesn't need to actually be around to see the damage being dealt because the game goes looking for it, and if whatever's dealing the damage had wither when it left the battlefield, the game will see that and make the damage work accordingly.

Q: What does retrace do?
A: Retrace is an ability that allows you to cast spells from your graveyard instead of your hand if you discard a land in addition to paying the spell's normal costs.

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Q: Isn't retrace just like Flashback?
A: Not quite. Both retrace and flashback allow you to cast spells from your graveyard, but it's important to remember that while Flashback exiles the spell afterwards, retrace does no such thing.

So while you'll only ever be able to flashback a given spell once, as long as you have the lands to fuel it you can retrace the same spell over and over and over and over...

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Q: When can I cast a card using retrace?
A: Any time you could normally cast it. Retrace doesn't change the times you can cast the card, just where you're casting it from.

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Q: What's the mana cost and/or converted mana cost of a spell that's been cast using retrace?
A: The same as it always is. The mana cost (and therefore the converted mana cost) of a card is determined by what's sitting in the top-right corner of the card, not by what you actually spend to cast the card.

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Q: Do cards that alter the amount a spell costs to cast also alter the amount you pay when retracing a spell?
A: Yes; effects that cause you to pay more or less for a spell affect the total cost of the spell and, if they don't say otherwise, affect spells no matter where you're casting them from.

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Q: I retrace a spell, and it's countered. Where does the spell go?
A: If the spell that countered it doesn't say otherwise, your retrace spell just goes back to your graveyard...where you can once again retrace it if you like.

Q: What does devour do?
A: Devour is an ability that allows you to sacrifice your other creatures as the creature with Devour is coming onto the battlefield in order to make your creature with Devour stronger.

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Q: What does the number mean?
A: The number after devour is how many +1/+1 counters you put on the creature with devour for each creature you devour.

If, for example, the creature has Devour 1, then it would get one +1/+1 counter for each creature it sacrificed. If it had Devour 2, it would get two +1/+1 counters for each creature you sacrificed. And so on and so forth.

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Q: When do I decide what to devour? Can my opponent respond to my choice?
A: You decide what to devour as the creature with devour is entering the battlefield. This means that by the time you decide what to devour, it's too late for your opponent to do anything--by the time they can respond, you've already sacrificed the creatures and the creature with devour is on the battlefield with counters on it.

So if you cast something with devour and your opponent wants to respond, hoping to stop the devouring, they have to do it before you actually make your decision--they have to guess what it is you want to devour in advance, before you actually commit to anything.

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Q: Does it matter how the creature with devour is coming onto the battlefield?
A: No. You can devour things no matter how your creature with devour is coming onto the battlefield.

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Q: If my creature with devour is entering the battlefield at the same time as some other creatures, can I sacrifice those other creatures to it?
A: No. You devour things as the creature with devour is being put onto the battlefield, and you can only sacrifice things that are already on the battlefield. The things that are being put onto the battlefield at the same time as the creature with devour are not yet on the battlefield, so they cannot be sacrificed.

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Q: If two creatures with devour are entering the battlefield at the same time, can I sacrifice one creature to both of them?
A: No, you can only sacrifice it to one of them. If you sacrifice it to one, it will no longer be around to sacrifice to the other one.

Q: What does exalted do?
A: A permanent with exalted gives a bonus of +1/+1 until end of turn to any creature you control that attacks alone. (Meaning it's the only one declared as an attacker.) Note that this happens even if the thing with exalted isn't the one that's attacking. So, effectively, whenever a creature attacks alone, it's going to get +1/+1 for each permanent with exalted you control.

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Q: Is exalted cumulative?
A: Yes. Each permanent's exalted ability triggers separately and gives the attacking creature its own bonus, and those bonuses add up.

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Q: If I attack with more than one creature, then remove all but one from combat somehow, will my lone attacker get the exalted bonus?
A: No. For exalted to trigger, the creature has to be the only one declared as an attacker. If you attacked with multiple creatures, then it didn't attack alone.

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Q: Does exalted target?
A: No. Anything that targets will use the actual word "target", either in the rules text of the card itself or, if a keyword is involved, in the rules of the game. (And in those cases, the reminder text for the keyword will include the word "target".)

Thus, since exalted does not use the word "target" at all, it doesn't target.

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Q: If I attack with one creature, then somehow put more creatures onto the battlefield attacking, does my creature lose the exalted bonus?
A: No. Your one creature attacked alone, so it will get the exalted bonuses. The fact that some creatures later appeared that happened to be attacking doesn't matter.

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Q: How does exalted work in Two-Headed Giant games?
A: In Two-Headed Giant, a creature attacks alone if it's the only one declared as an attacker by your entire team. If you control that creature, your exalted abilities will trigger, but your teammate's won't.

Q: What does unearth do?
A: Unearth is an ability that allows you to return your creatures from your graveyard to the battlefield for one last hurrah. The creature is returned to the battlefield and gains haste, but it's exiled at the end of the turn or if it would go anywhere else.

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Q: When can I unearth a creature?
A: You can only activate unearth abilities during your main phase when the stack is empty and you have priority. (So, basically, when you could normally cast creature cards.)

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Q: When I unearth something, is it a spell or an ability?
A: An ability. Unearth is an activated ability that returns the creature directly from your graveyard to the battlefield. There are no spells involved.

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Q: Do cards that alter the amount a spell costs to cast also reduce the amount you pay for unearth?
A: No. When you unearth something, you're activating an ability, not casting a spell, so the bonus doesn't apply. Something that alters the amount it costs to activate activated abilities, on the other hand, will affect the cost of unearthing your creatures.

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Q: What happens if I unearth a creature, and something tries to move the card somewhere? (eg, It was Boomerang ed, it was Excommunicate d, I sacrificed it...whatever)
A: If the effect that's trying to move the card is trying to move it to anywhere except the exile zone, the card gets exiled instead. It can't go to your hand or your library or your graveyard--it will be exiled.

Note that this doesn't stop things like Momentary Blink or Turn to Mist that are trying to exile the creature in the first place--these cards will work just fine, and will return the creature, because they're trying to exile it anyway. The fact that they later return it is completely irrelevant as far as unearth is concerned. And once they're returned, they're back for good.

Q: What does cascade do?
A: Cascade is an ability that allows you to cast a cheaper spell from your library for free when you cast the spell it's on.

When you cast a spell with Cascade, you exile cards one by one from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that has a lower converted mana cost than the cascade spell. You may then choose to cast that card without paying its normal mana cost. Then all the exiled cards are put on the bottom of your library in a random order.

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Q: If the spell I cast for free also has cascade, will I cascade for that card too?
A: Yes. Cascade triggers when you cast the spell it's on, and you're casting the spell. (You're not paying its mana cost, but you're still casting it).

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Q: Which resolves first, the original spell, or the one I cascaded into from my library?
A: The cascade ability triggers at the time you cast the original spell, and is thus put on top of that spell on the stack. Therefore, the cascade trigger resolves before the original spell, and the spell it allows you to cast is put on top of the stack, again above the original spell. Since the stack resolves from top to bottom, this means that the spell you cascaded into will always resolve before the original spell.

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Q: Do I have to pay any additional costs of the spell I cascade into?
A: Yes. Cascade allows you to ignore the card's mana cost, but that's only the stuff in the top right-hand corner of the card. Any other costs will have to be paid as normal.

In the case of optional additional costs, such as Buyback or Kicker, you can choose not to pay the additional cost--you just won't get the extra effects they provide.

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Q: Can the spell I cascade into be countered?
A: Yes. It's being cast just like any other spell, and can be countered just the same as any other spell.

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Q: What happens if the original spell with cascade is countered? Do I still cascade?
A: Yes. Cascade is a triggered ability that's triggers as you cast the spell, and once it triggers it's independent from the original spell. By the time your opponents have the chance to counter the original spell, cascade has already triggered. Countering the original spell won't stop the cascade ability.

Q: What does intimidate do?
A: A creature with intimidate can't be blocked except by artifact creatures and creatures that share a color with itself.

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Q: Wait, isn't that just like fear?
A: Almost, yes. Wizards liked the way fear worked, but didn't like that the color it was associated with (black) was set in stone as part of the ability, which meant that if they wanted to print creatures with that kind of ability in another color, they couldn't use the keyword itself. (Like Skirk Shaman and Amrou Seekers .) They didn't much like the name, either, which made it sound like the creature itself was fearful, which was odd.

So, rather than change how fear itself works so that they could use it as they wanted (which would have functionally altered a ton of cards) they decided to instead simply stop using fear at all, and replace it with a similar ability with similar flavor that did work the way they needed it to. Hence, intimidate.

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Q: Does a creature have to be the exact same colors as the attacker in order to block?
A: No. It just has to share at least one color with the attacker. So if the attacker is red and black, the blocking creature can be either red or black. Or both. Or red and green, or black and white, or any other combination just as long as one of the colors is either red or black.

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Q: Can I use a color-altering spell like Prismatic Lace to make my creatures able to block?
A: Yes. Changing your creature so that it is one of the colors of the creature with intimidate and changing the creature with intimidate so it is the same color as your own creature will both work. You just have to do it before you need to declare blockers, in the Declare Attackers step at the latest.

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Q: If I block a creature with intimidate with an appropriately colored or artifact creature, and then my opponent alt ers my blocker to no longer be the right color or an artifact creature, what happens?
A: Absolutely nothing. Changing creatures after they've already been declared as blockers won't do anything, even if they would no longer be able to block if you were to declare blockers now.

Q: What does Annihilator do?
A: When a creature with annihilator attacks, the defending player is forced to sacrifice the number of permanents specified by the number that appears after the name of the ability.

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Q: Can I block with a creature that I sacrifice to Annihilator?
A: No. Annihilator triggers during the Declare Attackers step of combat, and will resolve before the game can possibly move on to the Declare Blockers step, and therefore the sacrifices will happen before blockers can be declared.

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Q: Who is the defending player if a planeswalker is being attacked?
A: If a creature with annihilator is attacking a planeswalker, the defending player is that planeswalker's controller; he or she is the one who will sacrifice things, which might possibly include the planeswalker being attacked. (If that happens, the attacking creature remains attacking, but won't deal combat damage to anything if it isn't blocked.)

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Q: Who is the defending player in a Two-Headed Giant game?
A: The controller of the creature with annihilator will choose which of the 'heads' of the team being attacked must sacrifice permanents as the annihilator trigger is resolving. That player will sacrifice the requisite number of permanents. (Since this decision is made as the trigger is resolving, there will be no chance for players to respond in between the decision of which player must sacrifice and the sacrifice itself.)

Q: What does Level up do?
A: Level up is an activated ability used on special permanent cards (known colloquially as levelers). Any time you could cast a sorcery, you may pay the level up cost to put a level counter on that permanent. While these counters don't do anything on their own, the card itself will lay out some additional abilities and, for a creature, different P/T that the card will have if it has the right number of level counters on it.

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Q: How do 'levelers' work?
A: Count the number of level counters on the leveler, then match it up with the little boxes on the left-hand side of the text box. If the number of counters matches the numbers in one of those boxes, then the leveler has the abilities in the corresponding 'slice' of the text box, and if it's a creature, has the corresponding power and toughness. That's the idea in a nutshell.

See the Main FAQ entry on Levelers for a full explanation.

Q: What does rebound do?
A: If you cast an instant or sorcery spell with rebound from your hand, after it's finished resolving, instead of putting it into your graveyard, you exile it. Then, at the beginning of your next upkeep, a delayed trigger goes off which allows you to cast the card without paying its mana cost.

So basically, the spell 'goes off' twice. Once when you cast it initially, and a second time at the beginning of your next upkeep.

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Q: Where does the spell go the second time it resolves, off the rebound?
A: It goes to your graveyard, just like any normal spell.

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Q: What happens if I don't want to cast the spell the second time?
A: Then you can choose not to, and it remains exiled permanently. Casting the rebound card the second time is optional, but the card just stays where it is if you do that.

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Q: What happens if the spell gets countered the first time, before it rebounds?
A: Then it just goes straight to your graveyard. Rebound only works if the spell gets to finish resolving; if the spell gets countered, it never gets to that point.

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Q: What happens if I copy a spell with rebound? Does the copy rebound too?
A: No. First of all, you didn't cast the copy, least of all from your hand, so rebound would never be applicable. Second of all, even if you did so and rebound did exile the spell, it would cease to exist before your next upkeep rolled around, and the delayed trigger wouldn't be able to do anything because the copy would no longer be there.

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Q: What if I cast the spell from my graveyard? Or from exile? Or from some other weird place?
A: Then rebound doesn't apply, and does nothing. Rebound only works if the spell was cast from your hand.

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Q: Can I get rid of a spell from the graveyard so it can't rebound?
A: No. A spell with rebound does not go to the graveyard at all when it gets exiled--it goes directly from the stack to exile, no stop in the graveyard along the way.

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Q: What happens if multiple spells will rebound on the same turn? What order do they happen in?
A: All the rebound triggers go off at the same time, and you control all of them, so you choose the order in which to put them on the stack, and thus the order in which they will resolve. The spells will be cast and will resolve one at a time in whatever order you wish.

Q: What does Totem armor do?
A: If an Aura that has Totem armor is enchanting a permanent, and for some reason that permanent would be destroyed, that doesn't happen. Instead, you remove all damage from it and destroy the totem armor Aura. The enchanted permanent survives.

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Q: So it regenerates the permanent?
A: No. Totem armor is not regeneration. While it does something similar, it's something entirely different. Things that stop regeneration will not stop totem armors from working.

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Q: What counts as destruction? What does totem armor stop?
A: Only two things work by destroying permanents: damage, and things that actually use the word 'destroy'. Anything else is not a form of destruction, and will not be stopped by a totem armor. Totem armor will only stop death due to damage or things that use the word 'destroy'.

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Q: What if I want the permanent to be destroyed? Can I choose not to use the Armor?
A: No. Totem armor's replacement effect is mandatory; you cannot choose not to use it.

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Q: What happens if my permanent has multiple Totem armors on it?
A: If something attempts to destroy the permanent, each of the Armors wants to replace that destruction at the same time. As the controller of the permanent, you choose which Aura's replacement to apply; that Aura is destroyed, and the rest of the totem armors don't do anything because there's nothing for them to do any more.

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Q: What happens if something would destroy both the permanent and the Aura at the same time? (Like, say, Planar Cleansing )
A: The replacement effect from totem armor applies and saves the permanent. What used to be an instruction to "destroy both {the permanent and the aura}" becomes "destroy both {the aura and the aura}", which is basically the same thing as just destroying the aura.

Note that this is different from something like Austere Command that could destroy the enchantment and then destroy the permanent after that. In that case, the Aura is gone before the permanent would be destroyed, and thus isn't there to save it. Read the card carefully, and follow the instructions in order.

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Q: What happens if something would both destroy the permanent and do something based on what it looks like? Does it see the permanent with or without the armor? (For example, you cast Vendetta on a creature enchanted with Boar Umbra . Does it use the toughness with or without the Umbra?)
A: When something resolves, you follow its instructions in the order written, and totem armor's replacement happens at the same time the permanent would have been destroyed.

Thus, if the other instructions occur after the destruction, then it works based on how the permanent looks without the armor, because the armor is gone by the time it checks. So in the Vendetta example mentioned above, it counts the creature's toughness without the Umbra.

If the other instructions occur before the destruction, you do it before, and the armor is still there when you do.