(102092 Mar 26  1994 official.answers.thru.12.3)

<------------------------------------------------------------------------------->

N O T I C E ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

  This is NOT the FAQ list. This is a compilation of other answers from the
  Snark (David Howell) and other persons of note, and are more of less official.
  Use at you own risk.

                                         Darrell Budic
                                         (budic@macc.wisc.edu)
                                         Network Archivist for
                                         Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
<------------------------------------------------------------------------------->


Date: Wed, 15 Sep 93 16:25:36 -0700
From: David Howell <snark@omnigroup.com>

to avalent:

The FAQ makes no mention of the Black Vise in any form. It does
indeed apply to all players except the owner.

>Also, there's my still-unanswered question about, if I have a creature
>(such as frozen shade) which gains toughness for mana that I pump in,
>and that creature is currently tapped, and my opponent does damage to
>the creature in some manner, can I still pump mana into the creature
>so that it can survive the damage, even if it is tapped?

Yes.

Anytime you clear unused mana from your pool, you take a point of
damage.

>I had a good chuckle when this reminded me of something.  I heard of a
>really inventive/unusual technique for defending against the Chaos Orb.
>BLOW it back onto the 'dropper's' cards....which ain't against the rules
>either.

I'm afraid it is. This will be in the next FAQ.

>Does the use of a card that allows you to draw extra cards invalidate
>the conditions on the "Island Sanctuary" card?

Yes.

What follows is the text of a reply of one of our expert playtesters
to phadrus's questions.

==============================================================

>>cast Instill Energy on the resulting artifact creature, and use
>>that extra untap to untap the Time Vault in the middle of each turn,
>>do I really get infinite turns?  [Ouch.]

Yes.  Now they are on to Joel.

>>When a multi-land (Tundra, etc.) is altered by Phantasmal Terrain,
>>Gaea's Liege, etc., is the entire card affected (so it changes from a
>>multi-land into a regular single land), or is only one "aspect" of the
>>card affected (and if so, who determines which aspect)?  [Entire card
>>is affected.]  If the latter, then if both aspects of the card are
>>changed into the same land type (for example, if Gaea's Liege changes a
>>Tundra to forest/forest over the course of two turns), does it count as
>>one or two lands of that type for the purposes of cards whose effect
>>varies with the number of lands of that type in play?  [Counts as one.]

I know that the original intention was to have phantasmal terrain,
etc. turn just one half of the land, but I'm not sure the current
wording on the card does that.  In ICE AGE, we are planning to fix
the wording to make it clear that you could turn a Tropical Island
into a Forest and mountain card, for example.  I think he is right
that a forest/forest card just counts as one forest, just as a
forest/swamp card still just counts as one land in play.

>>If a Rock Hydra is Animated, does it get a new set of counters?  [No
idea.]
>>(In general, what happens if a variable-cost creature is Animated?)
>>[No idea.]

I believe that if a Rock Hydra is animated, it immediately dies since
it starts off as a 0/0 creature that you pay to put extra counters on
for more toughness and power.  Cards in the graveyard have no memory,
so you don't remember how many counters the Rock Hydra had on it.  In
general, variable cost creatures start off as if the X was 0.

>>For Sacrifice, what happens if you sacrifice a creature with an "X"
>>casting cost?  Do you get back the mana that was actually spent for "X"
>>(and what if no one remembers what "X" is?), or just the base casting
>>cost (1 for a 1X creature)?  [No idea.]

I'm not sure on this one, but I think you need to remember what X was.

>>Are Basilisk's and Cockatrice's stoning abilities considered
>>"damage" for the purposes of Fog?  [No.]

I'm sure the intention was that the Basilisk and Cockatrice would NOT
kill other creatures after Fog, but I'm not sure what the card exactly
reads, so I'm not sure what the wording actually does.  If it doesn't
prevent, I think we'll change it for Ice Age.

>>Do multiple Raging Rivers have any additional effect?  (If you have
>>two Raging Rivers in play, for example, does the defender ave to divide
>>his blockers into three or four groups instead of two?)  [No idea.]

I think the Raging Rivers spell says specifically, "Divide into two" so
multiple Raging Rivers wouldn't have any effect.

>>Does spending one R negate all head losses from damage to Hydra, or
>>does one R have to be spent for each R that would have been lost?
>>[No idea.]

I haven't seen the actual card recently, but I believe it says "R to
regenerate a head" meaning you would have to pay R for each damage.

>>Does using Circle of Protection once against a source in a particular
turn
>>mandate that you use it again (and thus pay the cost) if the source tries
>>to damage you again, as the "must" in "you must pay 1 mana each time"
>>might imply?  [No.]

I'm not sure about the exact nature of the question, so I'll answer:  1)
If you want to block the second use of the source you DO have to pay
again.  2)  You are NOT REQUIRED to block the second use of the source.

When I first read the question, I thought he was asking about 1) but a
second reading seemed to suggest 2).

>>Does Clockwork Beast have to pay 1 counter for each _creature_ it
>>blocks, or just once for each _time_ it blocks?  (In other words, if
>>Blaze of Glory is used to let a Beast block three creatures, does it
>>lose three counters or one?)  [No idea.]
I believe it is each TIME he blocks.  i.e. if he blocks a band with 100
creatures in it, he still loses 1 counter.  Same with blaze of glory.

>>If Jade Statue is activated for an attack, can it be activated
>>again for a block before the player's next turn, or does the artifact
>>stay "tapped" the way a creature would?  [Can be activated again.]
The artifact is definitely tapped by the attack and unless it is
untapped by some mechanism such as twiddle, it can not defend.  First,
you can't use a tapped artifact, so you can't turn it into a creature.
Second, even if you could turn it into a creature, it would be tapped,
so it couldn't block.

>>Can a player choose in what order to perform tasks during the untap
>>and upkeep phases?  For example, a player entering the upkeep phase with
>>1 life point has a Warped Artifact, which costs 1 life point, and a
>>Living Artifact, from which 1 life point can be retrieved.  Does the
>>player get to retrieve the point from the Living Artifact before paying
>>for the Warped one?  [Player whose turn it is chooses.]

This is a very good question.  Many of the actions are simultaneous
(i.e. all lands untap together), but in confusing questions like this, I
think it should be player chooses, and I think that should be in the
rules explicitly.

>>What is Gaea's Liege's power and toughness when it is neither
>>attacking nor defending~~~ [The number of forests its owner has in play.]

Bleah!  Obviously the Gaea's Liege wording shoudl change to:  Power and
toughness are equal to number of forests opponent has in play when the
Gaea's Liege attacks, and equal to the number of forests you have in
play at all other times.

>>If Creature Bond is played on Gaea's Liege, then an effect is played
>>that destroys Gaea's Liege as well as some forests in play, how does
>>this affect the damage the controller takes from the Creature Bond?
>>(Which number of forests in play is used, the one before or the one
>>after the effect?  [No idea.]  And do non-forests changed into forests
>>by Gaea's Liege count as forests for determining the damage done
>>by the Bond?  [No idea.]  And what if Gaea's Liege has Aspect of Wolf
>>cast on it as well?  [I go out and shoot myself. :) ] )

If it is the same effect (say a magical hacked volcanic eruption), then
the damage done to opponent would reflect the stats of the Gaea's Liege
before anything was destroyed.  Aspect of the Wolf would definitely
increase the stats of Gaea's liege, so would also count towards the
damage.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Date: Wed, 15 Sep 93 23:12:53 -0700
From: David Howell <snark@wizards.com>

>> > Say I use the Llanowood elves to get a green mana early in the round
(or
>> > I tap Geia's Liege to make a Forest), and my opponent later plays
Siren Song
>> > which forces all units to attack, or are destroyed
>>
>> > Are both pieces destroyed?  Can the Nettling Imp nettle a creature
after
>> > it has already been tapped to do something else?  (I know about the
case
>> > of the Tapping for special after a character is Nettled)

Both would be destroyed by Siren's Call. The Nettling Imp can nettle
a tapped creature. Ick!

>From: Jim Geldmacher <JamesG@asymetrix.com> <jamesg/daemon>
>Once my opponent has declared that they are tapping my Time Vault,
couldn't
>I say I want to tap it. Tapping an artifact is a fast effect isn't it?
>Therefore as the one declaring later, I can say that I tapped it first. Or
>have I misunderstood the timing rules again?

You've misunderstood the timing rules, but you've found the right
result. You using the Vault, causing it to tap, and your opponent
tapping it, are not contradictory. You both twist the card at the
same time, and you get to use it. There's no paradox, so the timing
rules don't apply.

>On a related note can I use Twiddle to untap the Vault without skipping
the
>turn?

You bet.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 19 Sep 93 07:27:10 -0700
From: David Howell <snark@wizards.com>

>From: Peter Sarrett <peter@hebron.connected.com> <peter/daemon>
>
>We'd like an official answer from David for these questions:
>
>1) If two Paralyze spells are cast on the same creature, must 8
>mana be spent to untap that creature?

Yes.

>2) If I have Pestilence in play and am attacked by, say, a Juggernaut, can
>I tap 4 black mana and cause 4 points of Pestilence damage to everyone,
>killing the Juggernaut before it can do its damage?

Yes. Ick.

>3) In Team Magic, if my teammate dies, what happens to the creatures which
>I've moved in front of him?  Do they immediately come back to me

Yes.

>4) If I have more than seven cards in my hand and have the Library of Leng
>in play, can I still choose to discard down to seven?

No.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Date: Wed, 22 Sep 93 20:23:43 -0700
From: David Howell <snark@wizards.com>

>From: diplomacy-3@genie.geis.com <diplomacy-3/daemon>
>
>5) Do the Zombie Master, Lord of Atlantis, Goblin King, etc, count as
their
>type (Zombie, Merman and Goblin respectively) for use of the powers that
they
>bestow?

Nope. Life is odd.

>From: npfluger@cs.tamu.edu (Nathan J Pfluger) <npfluger/daemon>
>
>[Correctly states banding rules]
>
>On a side note, do the cards that transform lands count as enchantments
(this
>is for Disenchant, Consecrate Land and Tranquility).  IE if the Tomb turns
>a land into a swamp and later Tranquility is played, is the land reverted
>to its original state?

No. You have to Disenchant or Shatter the artifact.

>From: David.Katleman@Corp.Sun.COM (David Katleman) <david.katleman/daemon>
>
>Question about the tapping ability of the Icy Manipulator:
>
>I understand that if I were to tap one of my opponent's
>lands, he/she will have one point of mana to use and will
>lose a life point if the mana can't be used.

This is not correct. Tapping their land won't give them any mana.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Date: Thu, 30 Sep 93 17:54:22 -0700
From: David Howell <snark@wizards.com>

>What the #*%&^ does it mean to PHYSICALLY INTEFERE WITH CASTING A
>SPELL??   "No you con't do thot, I will not allow it you small man."

It means you can't blow on the Chaos Orb, or rearrange your cards
after it comes into play. I don't know if you can rearrange them
before, either, but clearly, now, you can't after. There may be other
cards in the future that use this.

>"This restriction only applies when the enchantment is first played on
>the card" ???  What??  What restriction?  What does this mean??

The restriction that you must play an enchant creature on a creature.
This means that the rules specifically state if the creature becomes
an artifact (because Animate Artifact was removed, for example), then
people don't stand around wondering what to do about the enchantment
that appears to now be illegal.

>You need to say WHO is the controller of the enchantment.
>The caster.

Not necessarily. One day we may see "control enchantment."

>"Toughness is how much damage a creature can take before it is removed
>from play."  Why "removed from play"?  Why not just dies, or better
>yet is destroyed.  Remove from play vs. remove from the game.

What about Swords to Plowshares? That's not 'die,' and it's not
'destroyed.'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 8 Oct 93 19:24:29 -0700
From: David Howell <snark@wizards.com>

>Here's the story: A red/black deck player throws a disintigrate at a
>black/white/blue player who simulacrums the 11 points to a Bog Wrath with
>Red Ward on it.
>
>Here's the problem: The r/b player tried to convince us that after
bouncing
>though the simulactrum, the damage was now colorless. We (the b/w/u player
>& I) were convinced that the damage still retained its red coloration.

The damage was red. The r/b player gets shafted.

>ps: another question: if you use fork to duplicate a spell, do you still
>have to provide mana to power the newly duplicated spell, or is it

IT's amazingly cheap. You don't buy the new spell, you just pay the
fork.

------------------------------
>From: pbm@wdl.loral.com (Paul Melville) <pbm/daemon>
>1)      My spell was met with "power sink" (which says that I cannot
choose to
>let it "be sunk" and must spend all mana from lands and my mana pool).
Can I
>hold back mana that is available (but not yet in my mana pool) from an
artifact
>such as Mana Vault or Sol Ring?

You sure can.

>2)      Creature Bond refers to the toughness of a creature.  The Rules
seem to
>indicate that this does *NOT* include any enchantments or enhancement.

No, no. Rules, bad. FAQ, good. Unless specifically told otherwise,
toughness is always *current* toughness.

>Now,
>about Drain Life---it also refers to creatures toughness---but I get the
feeling
>that I *AM* allowed to drain life of a creature up to the amount of its
>_enhanced_ toughness....Comments?

------------------
>From: "MR. AL M.D." <aamaral@topcat.bsc.mass.edu> <aamaral/daemon>
>
>        When something has a landwalking ability, like forestwalk, if
their
>land of that color is destroyed yet their opponet still has the land type
>is the creature able to use his landwalking ability? In the rules it
states
>that your opponet needs the land type not the caster. That is why I
believe
>that it would be possable. My friend states that if you do not have the
>land type then you do not have a starting place to do this ability from.
>So would the creature be able to use it's landwalking abilities even
though
>it does not have the land needed to do it from yet the opponed does. I
think
>so since the rules state it's ok , but please help explain this to him.

You don't need a land to start from.

---------------------------
From: geoff@omg.org (Geoffrey Speare) <geoff/daemon>
2nd ed rules question...

No, you should not be using 2nd ed. rules to play. First of all,
they're in fifth draft, where things like "Yes, you can regenerate a
tapped creature." are spelled out, and 2nd, because they're dependent
on things like the new def. of destroy and the tap symbol. 1st ed.
and FAQ are the way to go for now.
----------------------
Intuitive rules from Tim.

Yes, the idea was if you imagined two wizards on mountains with
creatures between them, that should usually work. However, some of
the ways the rules interact will specifically contradict this image.
You have been warned. :)

=================================

Jeremy York:

>So generalizations of this question would be, could I interrupt a
>Tim in the middle of his poke, with a red elemental blast, and
>destroy him before the poke goes off?  Could I cast a blue elemental
>blast on a Firebreathing enchantment during the fast effects phase,
>interrupting the powering-up of the enchantment by my opponent,
>eliminating the card *and* resulting in the creature *not* being
>pumped up?

Yes. That's an interrupt.

>More elemental question -- is tapping a creature to use a special
>ability an interrupt (like tapping land)?

Nononono. The special ability is an instant unless other wise stated.
Drawing mana from land is like an interrupt. After these unrelated
actions, in both cases you tap the card to indicate you've used the
card's ability. You don't tap to use the ability, you use the ability
and tap to show it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 93 08:57:21 -0700
From: Dave Howell <snark@wizards.com>

Power sink only requires you tap land. I think I said this already,
but I'll say it again.

This business of what people do is fascinating. Around here, we also
do the "tap" and tap card when we use mana, and "untap untap untap
untap" during that phase, sometimes. Also, "Poke" when we do a single
point of damage, and "ow" to acknowledge damage. I'm in the habit of
counting off damage that way, "ow ow ow" is three points.

By the way, the "text" of a card is indeed *only* the part enclosed
in the box on the lower half.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Date: Tue, 12 Oct 93 22:54:15 -0700
From: Dave Howell <snark@wizards.com>

>Question for the WOTC people:  Does using the NI or the blue spell "Siren
Call"
>force a player to do an attack that turn, or may the player just let the
>affected creatures die without attacking? (I believe that you are forced
to
>attack if any of the affect creature is able to.)

You have to attack unless you can prevent the ensorceled creatures
from attacking, like perhaps tapping or killing them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Oct 93 22:38:35 -0700
From: Dave Howell <snark@wizards.com>

>A friend of mine has noticed that some of the new cards have (gasp!) new
>casting costs.  Does that mean that the earlier versions of the cards
(which
>had lower costs) are now more useful to have in your deck?  :-)  Or are
they
>supposed to be treated as having the same casting cost as the new ones?
>Some examples are:
>        Orcish Oriflamme
>        was:  1R, now 3R
>and
>        Orcish Artillery
>        was:  1R, now 1RR
>
>I also heard the new Elvish Archers are 2/1 instead of 1/2, but I haven't
>actually seen a new one yet.

Oh, dear. We did that? I didn't know we changed the Artillery. Well,
in a perfect world, you'd play the old cards as they were new, but I
can't see any possible way to enforce that. For now, play cards as
written. We may Officially Change Our Minds, but do that for now.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Oct 93 22:47:32 -0700
From: Dave Howell <snark@wizards.com>

>Ok, on one side you have someone with a Nettling Imp, and on the other,
>you have someone with a Prodigal Sorcerer. The guy with the PS begins his
>turn, and when he untaps the PS, the guy with the NI uses the NI to tap
>the PS and do damage to the owner.

Excuse me? The Imp forces a creature to attack. Sometime during the
turn, the Sorcerer must march over at attack, with 1/1, the opponent.
Attack is specifically defined, and does not involve the use of
special abilities.

>Ok. Right after the NI guy says that,
>the PS guy says he'll use the PS to attack the NI before the NI guy can
>use it to do damage to him.
>
>What happens.

If the Imp zaps Tim, Tim can either respond by poking the Imp or it's
owner, which taps him, which prevents him from attacking this turn,
so he dies at the end of the turn, or he doesn't, so he has to march
into battle before the end of the turn, hopefully accompanied by
friends or wearing good armor.

It's not a paradox/timing issue.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Oct 93 23:01:48 -0700
From: Dave Howell <snark@wizards.com>

It's an Infrequently Asked Question!

>When you summon a Clone, it takes on all the characteristics of the
>creature you're copying, minus all enchantments.  So, if you have a
>Sera Angel, and I weakness it and then clone it, you've got a 2/3 Sera
>Angel and I've got a 4/4 one.  This all seems clear and makes sense.
>
>Let's say I'm fighting a black opponant and they've got "Animate
>Dead".  This is an "Enchant Dead Creature" spell.  If you cast it on a
>dead Sera Angel, you get a 3/4 creature that's the animated corpse of
>a Sera Angel.  What happens if I try to clone this?  Do I get a 3/4
>Angel?  A 4/4 Angel?  A dead Clone?

A dead Clone. If you dispell the Enchantment, the creature dies.

>Now let's say you've got a nice Artifact that I like.  Then you
>Animate it.  The resulting creature is only a creature as long as it's
>got an enchantment on it.  But the Clone can only copy the attributes
>of a creature without the enchantments.  What happens if I try to
>Clone your artifact, or shift my Doppleganger over to match it?

Officially, you can't. For a while the designer was letting clones
turn into artifacts, but it's just too hard to explain on the card.

>Now let's say my Clone was killed.  My foe Animates it, bringing it
>out of my graveyard.  What characteristics are had by the animated
>corpse of a Clone?  Is it still a copy of the creature originally
>copied,

Cards back from the graveyard NEVER have any knowledge of their past
lives.

>or does he get to re-declare it?  This bears some similarity
>to Unsummoning a Clone.

Re-declare.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Date: Tue, 19 Oct 93 00:57:34 -0700
From: Dave Howell <snark@wizards.com>

>From: CARL OR KAREN CRAVENS <DAFUZZ@delphi.com> <dafuzz/daemon>
>
>probably more powerful.  Some of these rare cards aren't really worth
>rare status, in my opinion.

You misunderstand. Cards were under stringent requirements to qualify
as COMMON cards. Well-balanced, not devastating in quantity, yet not
a waste of space. Cards that could not meet these criteria were
relegated to the ghettos of rarity. Rare cards may be too powerful,
or too stupid, or just not as good as some other card. Rarity is not
an honor, it's a punishment.

>From: Robert DeLoura <DELOURA@PMEL.NOAA.GOV> <deloura/daemon>
>Subject: Q: Trample vs Banding?
>
>Situation:  One 7/7 Flying Trample monster (gee I wonder what that is :) )
>is attacking.  Defender blocks with 2 1/1 Banding Flying creatures and a
>3/3 Flying creature.
>
>Defender says 'Since I'm banded, I allocate all 7 points to this creature
>(one of the 1/1 creatures)', and removes it from play.
>
>Attacker (me) growls and says Trample doesn't work that way, even if you
>*are* a banded group.
>
>Who's right?  I assumed that since he allocated all 7 points of Trample
>damage to the same 1/1 creature, that the other 6 points would overrun and
>hurt *him*.
>

You're right. The 1/1 creature is trampled for 7, which means 1 to it
and 6 to its controller.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 21 Oct 93 02:30:47 -0700
From: Dave Howell <snark@wizards.com>

>From: bethmo@microsoft.com <bethmo/daemon>
>
>* "When the Kormus Bell is in play, can a swamp be tapped for mana the
>  same turn that it is played?"
>
>If the swamps are really creatures, then they can't be tapped the turn
>that they are played.  If they're land/creatures, similar to animated
>artifacts being artifact/creatures, then they could be.

They're land creatures, not much like artifact creatures.

>* "Player A is playing a Summon spell.  He taps the lands for it, and
> tthen before he can lay down the creature player B plays Mana Short to
>  drain all his mana and abort the spell.  Does this work?"
>
>I ruled that it didn't, since Mana Short is an Instant, not an Interrupt.
>
>Some players lay down the creature and then tap, others tap and then lay
>down the creature.  Player B thought that as long as the creature hadn't
>hit the table yet, the spell wasn't being interrupted.  My judgement was
>that the spell was in the process of being cast, rggardless, and so it
>would have required an Interrupt to stop him.  Otherwise this becomes a
>who-yells-first situation.

Theoretically, they could be interrupted. Practically speaking, since
a player *could* have dropped the spell card, then tapped, I always
play as if they *did*, even if they actually play in the other order,
since to insist that they tap after playing is just being anal.

>And here's one that came up before the tournament, and I forgot to ask
>the list.  How does Trample interact with a Veteran Bodyguard?  I had
>originally thought that when damage was passed from a player to the
>Or does trample not count in this case since the Bodyguard isn't actually
>blocking?

The bodyguard intercepts all the damage coming to you. He gets
trampled in your place.

>And another that didn't actually come up in the tournament but we've been
>wondering about:
>
>"Does a creature with Red Ward still get the +1 from Orcish Oriflamme?
>Does it matter whether the Oriflamme was cast before the Ward or not?"

No. The Oriflamme doesn't target any specific creature, so Red Ward
doesn't stop its effects. 2nd Ed. rules.

>P.S.  We also wondered how much mana it takes to summon an Ace of Spades.
:-)

Lots. Lots and lots.

>===============================
>
>> Given that, however, I'm still fuzzy on what should happen if you
>> lightning bolt a regenerating grizzly before dammage dealing phase.
>
>Hopefully this helps, since you are most emphatically *not* "given that".
>
>Dave?  Would you be so kind as to help us all out with this one?

Yes. If a creature regenerates, it is unavailable for further action
during an attack. It's recuperating, if you will. Any creatures
blocked by it do not attack the wizard, they just stand around bored
for that attack.

>From: CARL OR KAREN CRAVENS <DAFUZZ@delphi.com> <dafuzz/daemon>
>
>We nail that 1/1 creature with 7 (non-g for now) damage.
>
>1) How much damage did that creature take, 1 or 7? After the damage
>dealing phase, can I heal the creature for 1 point of damage to save
>him, or must I heal the creature for 7? (We're talking after-the-fact
>healing here, not preventing damage, which must come before the damage
>dealing phase.)

I believe we don't have any spells which heal after the fact. They
all "prevent." You'd have to prevent 7 to save the creature.

>3) Now what if that 7 damage is Trampling?  In this case, it's obvious
>that 6 of the 7 isn't applied to the creature, but to the player.  If
>the answer to #1 is "heal for 7" what is the answer in this case?

Any less than 7 and the creature still dies, and excess is applied to
you.

>It says "in play." I assume the graveyard doesn't mean "in play,"
>right?  This means that although Swamps are treated as creatures, I
>can't use Raise Dead or Animate Dead on one in my graveyard, right?

Exactamundo.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 93 06:57:30 -0700
From: Dave Howell <snark@wizards.com>

>From: CARL OR KAREN CRAVENS <DAFUZZ@delphi.com> <dafuzz/daemon>
>
>The descriptions of Instant and Interrupt both state that these spells
>can be cast "at any time." Reading this literally, this means that I
>can cast spells during the Untap, Upkeep, and Draw phases, correct?

That's correct.

>Another point of semantics and "timing" so to speak...  It is my
>opponent's turn.  If I Twiddle one of his creatures _before_ he
>declares that he is attacking, he can't use that creature to attack,
>correct?

Right.

>From: bethmo@microsoft.com <bethmo/daemon>
>
>Now, what happens if you Clone or Doppelgang a non-creature artifact that
>had an Animate Artifact on it?  The clone/doppel doesn't inherit any
>enchantments.  I would have ruled that it becomes an inanimate copy of
>the artifact, behaving like a Copy Artifact spell.  But I believe that
>Snark ruled in a past message that all you get is a dead Clone.  This
>seems illogical, but if it's the official ruling then it takes precedence.

Well, the designer originally thought that you could indeed clone an
animated artifact, and get an artifact of your own. I don't think
that's any more or less illogical than not, since how can a clone
turn into an inanimate object? Anyway, when we tried to clarify this
on the cards, it wasn't possible to say so clearly in the room we've
got. We did have room to say "you can't," so that's what we went
with. It's not as if it comes up very often anyway...

>From: magic@sneffels.its.bldrdoc.gov (Bill Ingram) <magic/daemon>
>
>1. The Library says "If a card forces you to discard, you may choose
>to discard to the top of your library."
>
>2. The rule booklet says killed creatures "are destroyed and placed in the
>graveyard."
>
>3. The rule booklet says, "If an enchanted card is put out of play, the
>enchantments cast upon it are discarded."
>
>4. The Disenchant spell says, "Target enchantment or Artifact must be
>discarded."
>
>We can conclude from these written rules that,

...the Library of Leng is very poorly worded. The intent is only to
allow cards discarded from the player's hand to be returned to the
top of the library. Note: not the Library, but the library, the stack
that you draw from.

>From: robertw@calvin.usc.edu (Robert Watkins) <robertw/daemon>
>
>If I have a Black Lotus out and someone uses either a twiddle or
>Icy Manipulator to tap it, does the Black Lotus remain in play
>since it wasn't tapped for mana and merely changed orientation?

If you read the card, it's the adding of 3 mana to your pool that
causes the card to be discarded.

>From: Scott Nicholson <grundy/daemon>
>
>What are the rules covering placement of cards?  Can you place
>cards as far apart as you wish, or what????

Officially, now, yes, you can arrange your cards in any pattern,
until the Chaos Orb is put into play. At that time, moving cards
farther apart would be interfering with the Orb, and is illegal.

Practically speaking, I had a Sphere of Annihilation in my
gamma-edition playtest deck (the Orb's former name), and one player,
after he heard the card existed and even before he knew I had it,
started putting cards all over the table and on nearby surfaces. I
promptly quit playing him, since I wasn't about to chase all over the
room just to find out what he had in play.

>From: cheshere@aol.com <cheshere/daemon>
>
>Can you fork someone else's spell? The card easily implies this, but my
group
>would feel better with a ruling.

Yes you can, and you have full control over the copy.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 24 Oct 93 22:34:06 -0700
From: Dave Howell <snark@wizards.com>

>From: p.timm@genie.geis.com <p.timm/daemon>
>
>A) Can you play "Cyclopean Tomb" against an opponents land?

Sure.

>B) When using Zombie Master, can you regenerate ALL zombies in play for
>just one black mana, or does it require one mana EACH?

Each.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 26 Oct 93 08:06:03 -0700
From: Dave Howell <snark@wizards.com>

>     Someone is spreading the rumor around the game store where we
>  get our Magic stuff that WotC are giving away new, previously unreleased
>  cards at conferences or tournaments which will not be available
elsewhere.
>  This sounds totally contrary to everything I know so far.

As someone has pointed out, we now have poker decks with Magic backs
for promotional purposes. No, you can't order them. :) Now, we DO
intend eventually to have cards that are only available from us at
conventions, perhaps included in the program packet or something like
that, but we haven't done it yet.

>    Okay!  That's a new phrase, "Lace cards affect the target
permanently, and
>are discarded after use."  Does this mean that, (1) Lace cannot be
>disenchanted, tranquilitied, or (in a later turn) spell blasted, and that
(2)
>you could bring it back into your hand later with a spell that lets you
take
>a card from your discard?

Ya, sure, you betcha'

>   Some other questions...  Two Raging Rivers...  Must the opponent divide
>into three or four?  (We've suggested that when the player puts down a
>second raging river, he has to decide which side the river is on, thus
it's
>three with a middle channel.  It being 'magic' however, it could be played
>as four.  Any official comment?

Officially, two Raging Rivers make one extra long river. No three- or
four-sided rivers.

>    Mana Flare:  If I have multilands (which I tend to have a bunch of)
and
>a Mana Flare comes out, what kind of Mana can I tap for?  I have been
>playing, admittedly to my disadvantage, that if I pick a mana type to tap
>it for, I get two of those.  It seems the most straightforward, but if the
>official ruling is to pick, I certainly won't mind!  *grin*

Two of whatver you choose.

[ Darrell's note: I think he means "Two of WHICHever you chose", ie, two of ]
[ one, or two of the other, not one of each. My reading, YMMV...            ]

>   Winter Orb:  (I think...) You are only allowed to untap one land per
>turn.  Creatures are not affected...  What if Living Lands is in play, and
>my forests are 1/1 critters.  Can I untap them, or not?  The living lands
>sounds like it makes Llanowar Elves out of all the land, basically.  We
>treated them as critters initially, and untapped all forests as normal,
but
>only one non-forest.

That's what I think, but we're discussing an official ruling now...

>    Living lands:  How does it affect multi-lands?  The obvious choice is
that
>I would have, for example, a Taiga that I can either use as a 1/1 critter,
>tap for green mana, or tap for red mana...

I agree.

>    Can you sacrifice the Lord of the Pit to himself, to keep him from
doing
>you damage?

No, he's just not that stupid. :)

>    Does anybody else have the problem of playing Magic for many many
hours,
>then reaching for a soda and calling back over your shoulder, "Okay, who
>wants to tap some White Mana (Diet Coke) and who wants Red Mana?"  Some
folks
>are now calling Mountain Dew as Green Mana, Coffee is Black Mana, and this
>disgusting local brand of grape soda is Blue Mana.  (Most people play with
>only one color of liquid mana around here...)

You people are really strange. ;)

>    Must you untap EVERYTHING which can be untapped (not taking into
account
>things like paralyze, etc.), and must you draw a card every turn?  (The
>primary focus of these two questions are the Hordes and the Vise.)

Yes.

>    Could you be more explicit about 'Until End Of Turn', or should I
REALLY
>just wait for the second edition of the rules?  (For example, my Scryb
Sprites
>have +3/+3 from Giant Growth until end of turn.  I attack with them.  My
>turn completes, it becomes his turn.  Do 'Until End Of Turn' enchantments
>get discarded then?

Yes, that's when.

>    If someone has two Personal Incarnations out at once, and Wrath of God
>is played (I think that's the one), is that an instant kill?  (*shiver!*)
>I would unfortunately guess that it is, since the damage from both is
>applied at once...

yes.

>[regeneration]

If a creature regenerates, it may not continue to participate in an
attack.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Date: Wed, 27 Oct 93 10:31:14 -0700
From: Dave Howell <snark@wizards.com>

[ can Lan'o'war elves use their manna to power a Regenerate on themselves?]

Regenerating elves can indeed tap themselves to save their own bacon.
For now.

[ Lightning Bolt. Fork Lightning Bolt. If the Lightning Bolt is Countered,
does]
[ the fork
fail?                                                               ]

Fork only works on a spell that has been cast. If the spell is not
cast, which is by definition "successfully cast," then Fork will
fail. Counterspell the original, and Fork won't work.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Date: Wed, 27 Oct 93 10:40:31 -0700
From: Dave Howell <snark@wizards.com>

[ My opponent plays Animate Dead on a creature in my graveyard, I Unsummon
]
[ the creature. Does he go to my hand (unsummon) or my graveyard (animate
]
[ dead)?
]

If you Unsummon a creature your opponent has Animate Dead'ed, it
goes into your hand. The text on Animate Dead is simply stating the
obvious of what happens if you disenchant, and wasn't meant to
override Unsummon. Oops.

[ Can a regenerated creature do damage again after it was rengenerates? ]

Any time a creature is regenerated, it may no longer participate in a
battle from which it has been removed.

And, yes, my secret is out, I'm not perfect. :o

"Enchant Non-Creature Artifact" indeed. Bleh.

>Sleight of Mind states that you can replace one color word with
another.
>Can you replace the word "colorless"?  Make a Sol Ring provide 2 blue
mana?

No. Colorless is not a color. :)

>Swords to Plowshares states that creature controller gains life equal to
>creatures power.  Can I boost 12 red mana into my Dragon Whelp and then
>StP him and get 14 lives? The whelp dies if more than 3 mana is put into
him,
>which takes effect first?

The card says "at end of turn." can you StP it before then? Sure.

>How about a goblin with firebreath kicked way up?

Yes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 3 Nov 93 19:43:48 -0800
From: Dave Howell <snark@wizards.com>

New rules, since the old ones are broken. Sigh.

Untap: no fast effects or spells of any kind until the untap phase
is finished.

Paralyze: A typo. Untapping a paralyzed creature occurs during
upkeep.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 8 Nov 93 00:43:34 -0800
From: Dave Howell <snark@wizards.com>

>>The text of Animate Artifact reads:
>>"Target artifact is now a creature with both power and toughness equal
>>to its casting cost; target retains all its original abilities as well.
>>This will destroy artifacts with 0 casting cost."
>>
>>Therefore, unless you have a way of changing the casting cost of the Mox
(
>>do not believe it exists) animate artifact will -always- destroy the Mox.
>>Giant Growth doesn't keep it alive.
>
>Hrm.  I was thinking that since Giant Growth is an instant it would save
>the mox before it was destroyed.  So, are there any cards that will make
>an artifact into a 1/1 (or better) creature?

Sigh. The card is simply pointing out what might not be obvious. If
"will destroy artifacts w/0 casting cost" weren't on there, then
we'd have a "What happens when..." question in the FAQ. I think using
the instant Giant Growth to prevent the death until a permanent
enchantment can hit the poor creature is brilliant. Just as Weakness
kills skeletons, the Holy Strength would save the Mox Monster.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 10 Nov 93 21:25:40 -0800
From: Dave Howell <snark@wizards.com>

>bethmo says:
>
>I don't think so, unless Paralyze is another that changed wording when
>I wasn't looking.  :-)  Mine says
>
>        Target creature is not untapped as normal during untap phase
>        unless 4 mana are spent. Tap target creature when Paralyze is
>        cast.
>
>And Meekstone:
>
>        Any creature with power greater than 2 may not be untapped as
>        normal during the untap phase.
>
>Paralyze doesn't say "spend 4 mana to untap" -- if it did, you could
>untap any time, not just during untap phase.  Spending 4 mana gives
>it the potential to untap, but doesn't actually untap it.  Meekstone
>then steps in there and says "Whoa, no big creatures allowed!"
>
>At least, that's how I would read the combination.
>
>But if the Omnipotent and Omnibenevolent Snark rules otherwise, I will
>grovel at his feet and marvel at the greatness of his wisdom.  :-)

Oops. Darn. It was so cool to have Paralyze, under certain esoteric
conditions, be a card you'd play on yourself. Actually, since one of
the conditions was to move Paralyze to Upkeep, it's not untapping as
normal anyway, anymore. Oh, dear, how complicated.

>--------------
>From: Scott Nicholson <daemon>
>
>    I purchased two starter decks from a comic shop in
>  Oklahoma.  The two decks had the exact same composition.
>  Since these were the last two decks left in the area, I
>  was understandibly angered.

This is an odd artifact of the manufacturing process. You don't get
random cards, you get a sequence of cards, and where the cards start
in the sequence is random. You had three pairs start in identical
places. What a drag.

>-------------------
>From: "Jeremy C. York" <jeremy@stat.cmu.edu> <jeremy/daemon>
>
>Also, this "fix" of untapping a paralyzed creature during upkeep
>doesn't seem right to me -- if I a Meekstone is in play and my
>Craw Wurm has a Paralyze on it, it seems ridiculous to me that
>the Wurm should be able to untap *because* of the paralyze.
>*I* don't think this is "Cool!"
>
>How about "No fast effects that require casting a spell or
>tapping a permanent (other than land) during upkeep"
>
>So you can tap land in order to feed Paralyze, you can tap land
>to power a CoP...and not much else!

Complicated.

I know, this Un-Double-Poke fix causes other problems, but they're
all smaller than the original flaw. With a game this complicated,
there will always be problems, and we're working to clear as many as
possible for the 2nd ed. In the meantime, we all just get to glare at
each other a lot. Sigh.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Date: Wed, 10 Nov 93 22:15:11 -0800
From: Dave Howell <snark@wizards.com>

>From: John Charles Fiala <jf2z+@andrew.cmu.edu> <jf2z+/daemon>
>
>The Blue Elemental Blast says, 'Cast to counter a red spell being cast
>or to destroy any red spell in play."
>
>Now, If I cast a blue elemental blast on a troll *in play*, I think the
>troll should die.  My erstwile opponent doesn't.  My argument, is that
>the card is destroyed, and the intent was that regenerating creatures
>would be killed.  His argument is that the card only says 'destoryed'
>and not 'destroyed w/o possiblity of regeneration', that the troll stays
>around, assuming you've got the R to regenerate it with.

Ick. Well, I think the troll should die too, but that's not what the
card actually says. :( Destroyed=killed=can regenerate. Bleh.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 10 Nov 93 22:52:34 -0800
From: Dave Howell <snark@wizards.com>

Oh, by the way, re: fork.

"Any [spell] just cast is ...]

Just cast. As in, just sucessfully cast. You have to stop the
Lightning Bold BEFORE the fork is cast. Until the Bolt is past tense,
you can't use Fork.

There. <dusts hands>

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Nov 93 10:35:33 -0800
From: Dave Howell <snark@wizards.com>

A note on somebody's question.

The Rock Hydra does have an X/X power/toughness, based on the mana
used to cast it. This happens to make Raise Dead completely useless
on this creature. Since it has no memory of its former life, it
can't use the X it had before, and X always defaults to 0 for
purposes of cost unless the spell was cast during the present turn.
Ergo, it's a -1/0 creature when raised. Oops.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 21 Nov 93 09:07:41 -0800
From: Dave Howell <snark>

>> 3a)  Tapping land happens at the speed of an interrupt.  If a variable
cost
>> spell (eg. Fireball) is Spell Blasted, can more land be tapped and the
mana
>> thrown into the spell to stop the Fire Ball from being countered?
>>
>
>Yes

No. Unlike fast effects, you must set the cost of an X in the casting
cost when you first take the card from your hand.

>> 5a)  A 4/4 Nightmare is hit with a Lightning Bolt, then one of his
>> supporting swamps is destroyed.  Is he then a 3/3 Nightmare with 3
Points
>> of damage (dead) or a 3/3 Nightmare with 2 Points of damage (alive)?  In
>> other words, can the owner choose to remove one of the damaged points of
>> toughness or not?
>
>Nightmare is dead, it has taken three damage, and then its 3/3 wich means
>its dead.  You can't dispose of the missing life points its just damage
>accumulation vs. current toughness.

A 4/4 Nightmare becomes a 4/1 nightmare. The loss of a swamp means it
becomes a 3/1 Nightmare. The creature's toughness is reset at the
end. The issue of accounting for damage as total damage done vs.
toughness left is very subtle, and is not explained anywhere in the
rules.

>Okay.  If you think this wording is ambiguous, you're not thinking it
>through.  If by dies, you mean the whole go-to-the-graveyard process,
>then *NO* card that dies can be regenerated, as regenerate can only
>ever be played at the moment of death.  If that's what was meant, then
>disintigrate just has a silly tautology on it.

I'm afraid Disintegrate has a silly tautology on it.

>So, does the Kormus Bell make them into creatures *instead* of land,
>or creatures *in addition to* land?

In addition to.

>> I think that the intent of Consecrate Land was simply that no
>> enchantments except Consecrate Land could affect that land.  Why is
>> that so hard?

Because you don't get to play a card based on the intent, but only on
the words printed. We wish this weren't necessarily true, but it's
the only vaguely fair way to play.

>That may have been the intent, but then why would Snark have said
otherwise
>at OryCon? An update or clarification may change this, but currently, by
the
>rules in the book, the FAQ, and the "official" postings I've seen so far,
a
>Concecrated Land can be affected by Living Lands.

Exactly.

>I play the black spell "Word of Command" on my opponent.
>He has a Disintegrate spell in his hand, which I want him
>to use on one of HIS creatures (this is a legal target for
>the Disintegrate spell).  My opponent claims that HE, NOT I,
>decides the amount of additional mana pumped into the
>Disintegrate (the "X" of the casting cost), as it is legal to cast
>it with a strength of zero.  His claim is based on the phrase
>"legal spell" on the WoC card (don't have the full text handy,

Casting with 0 is legal, as is casting with any other value up to the
amount of non-spell mana available. Clearly a decision must be made,
and Word of Command says you get to make it.

><Stuff about vampire w/ lance and 11 1/1 creatures deleted>
>
>>Bzzt. Vamp w/ Lance kills four and does not suffer any damage from
>them because
>>of the Lance which allows him to kill them before they can touch him.
Lance
>>gives a creature First Strike.
>
>The interesting thing about this question is that the vampire gets the
>counters when the creature dies.  The creatures don't technically die
>until they hit the graveyard, because they could be regenerated after
>the damage phase.  All damage is simultanious.  So the vampire kills 4
>of the creatures, but takes another 7 points of damage BEFORE it gets
>the counters.  I think the vampire would die.

This is really interesting. According to our revised, expanded
sequence of play, dead=goes to graveyard, and creatures go at the end
of battle. The vampire wouldn't get the points until then, after the
non-first strike creatures can do damage back. Vampire dies.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 22 Nov 93 14:10:27 -0800
From: Dave Howell <snark>

Ladies and Gentlemen, I regret having wasted people's time on the
Fork/Counterspell issue. What happens is the interaction between the
Fork spell being an Interrupt, the fact that the card says "just
cast," (past tense), and the definition of casting, which actually
was codified after the game was released. I have been basing my
rulings on the phrase "just cast," but the message below is clear and
concise enough to bring out the utter paradox between this and the
Interrupt rules. Fork cannot both be an interrupt and affect spells
"just cast." Ergo, "just" is a typo. Please replace it with the word
"being," it affects spells "being cast."


>What I'm interested in is if we have consensus on my CONCLUSIONS below.
>Only a fraction of this is a re-hash of what's already gone by.  For
>reference, this is the text of Fork:
>
>  "Any sorcery or instant spell just cast is doubled.  Treat Fork as an
exact
>  copy of the target spell except that Fork remains red.  Copy and
original
>  may have different targets."
>
>HYPOTHESIS 1
>------------
>The phrase "just cast" is equivalent to "successfully cast."  At the
moment
>Lightning Bolt becomes "just cast" the opponent takes 3 damage.

True.

>COROLLARY 1.1
>-------------
>In order to successfully Fork my Lightning Bolt, I must wait until it
>becomes "just cast."

No longer true. You *must* interrupt the Lightning Bolt before it's
done being cast.

>COROLLARY 1.2
>-------------
>If I interrupt my Lightning Bolt with my Fork, then my Fork will not be
>able to use the Lightning Bolt as the target, because the Lightning Bolt
is
>not the "just cast" spell.

Also no longer true.

>CONCLUSION 1.1
>--------------
>If my opponent takes the damage from the Lightning Bolt, and then I Fork
>the Lightning Bolt, he can no longer Counterspell the Lightning Bolt--only
>the Fork.  IS THIS CORRECT?

No. He can counterspell either. The counterspell will take effect
first, since it was cast later, leaving no spell for the Fork to
fork.

>CONCLUSION 1.2
>--------------
>To run a series of Forks off one Lightning Bolt, you must successfully
cast
>the Lightning Bolt, then successfully cast a Fork (which will become a
>Lightning Bolt, do 3 damage, and become "just cast" all at the same time),
>then successfully cast a 2nd Fork on the 1st Fork (which is now a
Lightning
>Bolt), etc.  There is no interrupting taking place here.  IS THIS CORRECT?

No.

>CONCLUSION 1.3
>--------------
>(Already answered by Snark, but restated here.)  I cast Lightning Bolt, my
>opponent interrupts with Counterspell, and I interrupt with Fork.  What
>happens?  Nothing.  No Lightning Bolt (it is Counterspelled), and my Fork
>could succeed IF I point it at the spell "just cast" which is the last
>spell successfully cast BEFORE the Lightning Bolt.  IS THIS CORRECT?

You can get the effect you want by forking the Counterspell, and
counterspelling it back, leaving the lightning bolt to succeed on its
own. Your Fork will create a copy of the spell in progress, the
counterspell, and finish its effects before the counterspell
realizes it's failed. Your interrupt takes effect first.
Strange but true.

>CONCLUSION 1.4
>--------------
>Assume I have two Forks and a Lightning Bolt.  I cast the Lightning Bolt,
>and assume my opponent lets it succesfully complete.  Then I cast Fork,
but
>my opponent Counterspells the Fork.  I let the Counterspell successfully
>complete.  Oops!  I no longer have access to my original Lightning Bolt,
>because the spell "just cast" is the Counterspell.  IS THIS CORRECT?

No. However you can counter the counterspell as seen above.

>CONCLUSION 1.5
>--------------
>Assume I have two Forks and a Lightning Bolt.  I cast the Lightning Bolt,
>and assume my opponent lets it succesfully complete.  Then I cast Fork #1.
>My opponent interrupts with Counterspell.  I interrupt with Fork #2.
(Fork
|JM


2uKW-HK$]4e original Lightning Bolt, as that is the spell "just
>cast.")  For the resolution, we flip to page 30 of the rulebook:
>
>  "If the same spell [ Fork #1 ] has more than one interrupt [
Counterspell,
>  Fork #2 ] done during its casting, the caster [ me ] of that spell [
Fork
>  #1 ] does his or her interrupts first [ Fork #2 ], regardless of
whether it
>  was announced first."
>
>(Side note: There is an error in this sentence, where the singular "it"
has
>a plural antecedent, "interrupts."  Presumably, "it was" should be "they
>were.")  So the sequence is: Fork #1 is interrupted by Fork #2 is
>interrupted by Counterspell.  The resolution is Counterspell counters Fork
>#1 (which was the target of the Counterspell, never mind the fact that
Fork
>#2 has technically fired off in between!) and Fork #2 successfully
>completes, becoming a Lightning Bolt and doing 3 damage to the opponent.
>IS THIS CORRECT?

The results are correct.

>CONCLUSION 1.6
>--------------
>Assume I have two Forks and a Lightning Bolt.  I cast the Lightning Bolt,
>and assume my opponent lets it succesfully complete.  Then I cast Fork #1.
>My opponent interrupts with Counterspell.  I interrupt with Fork #2.  My
>opponent interrupts with Counterspell #2.  (I am not making this up.)  For
>the resolution, use the same rule as in CONCLUSION 1.5 above.  The
sequence
>is: Fork #1 is interrupted by Fork #2 is interrupted by Counterspell #1 is
>interrupted by Counterspell #2.  Counterspell #2 counters Fork #2,
>Counterspell #1 counters Fork #1, and nothing happens.  But wait!  Now
>apply the same rule to Counterspell #1:
>
>  "If the same spell [ Counterspell #1 ] has more than one interrupt [
Fork
>  #2, Counterspell #2 ] done during its casting, the caster [ my opponent
] of
>  that spell [ Counterspell #1 ] does his or her interrupts first
>  [ Counterspell #2 ], regardless of whether it was announced first."
>
>So the sequence is: Fork #1 is interrupted by Counterspell #1 is
>interrupted by Counterspell #2 is interrupted by Fork #2.  The resolution
>is Fork #2 successfully completes, becoming a Lightning Bolt and doing 3
>damage to the opponent, Counterspell #2 fizzles because its target is
gone,
>Counterspell #1 counters Fork #1.  IS THIS CORRECT?

<blink> The solution is to cast Counterspell #2 during Fork #2, since you
cannot play both forks w/o allowing the other player to respond. You play
F1, you opponent plays C1 during F1, you play F2 during C1, and your
opponent plays C2 during F2. Only C2 is extant during F2, so F2 dies. C1 is
during F1, so it dies. The rule quoted above is ambiguous. Choice of frames
is everything here.

>TOTAL CONFUSION 1.7
>-------------------
>How does the next sentence in the rulebook, on page 31, apply?  It reads:
>
>  "Interrupts take effect immediately, unless they themselves are
interrupted,
>  in which case you resolve their interruptions first."

That's intended to de-ambiguize the above ruling. :)

>So what's the deal?  Do we resolve the interrupts 1 by 1 (in which case,
we
>have clear pairs of Fork vs. Counterspell) or do we start moving
interrupts
>around according to whose perspective and which spell?

The former.

Where's my ibuprofin?

>1)  Volcanic Eruption
>
>The situation is that I have two mountains, my opponent has three.  He
>also has an Ironwood Tree out.  I cast Volcanic Eruption.
>
>Can I spend 5 mana do destroy the Ironwood tree even though my opponent
>has only two mountains?

Yes.

>If I do spend 5 mana, do my mountains have to be destroyed as well?

Yes.

>2)  Power Surge
>
>When Power Surge is cast, does it go into effect immediately?  If so, it
>is one HECK of an ambush spell...just wait till your opponent has 15 mana,
>but doesn't use any of it, and whamo!

When played it applies to the next person to have an untap phase.

>3)  Mana Barb
>
>If you have a Circle of Protection:  Red, does this protect against Mana
>Barb, which is a red spell?  Even though in order to get the protection,
you
>must tap mana, which does a point of damage, and to avoid that, you need
>to tap another, to avoid more...etc etc.

Exactly. The only way to make a CoP:red work against manabarbs is to have
some non-land mana available.

>4)  Upkeep
>
>If a card is out that does damage during upkeep (Copper Tablet, Feedback),
>does it do damage if you have no cards that require upkeep?

Oh, yes. You still have an upkeep phase every turn, even if you don't do
anything during it.

>1. The difference between the special ability of regeneration and
>   the enchant creature 'Regeneration' is that the later can be
>   disenchanted, affected by tranquility etc, i.e. can be removed from
>   play separately.                                ===

True.

>2. An attacking creature cannot regenerate, neither by abilty nor by
>   enchant creature cast before, because it is tapped. (page 24, 27)

False.

>3. An attacking creature can regenerate by death ward.

True.

>4. A regenerating attacking creature deals damage. (page 26)

False.

>5. A by death ward regenerating creature (attacking or defending) deals
>   damage.

False.

>6. The enchant creature 'Firebreathing' lasts until end of turn. (each
>   use of mana to boost the power.) (in analogy to page 29)

True.

>7. An in my last turn freshly summoned creature can defend in my opponents
>   following turn, unless it somehow becomes tapped.

True.

>PS: Comes the unlimited printrun with new rules or are they due for the
revised
>    edition?

Revised.

>        1) The rules don't specifically say that you can use the banding
>ability during blocking.  Does that mean you can't band 5 creatures
>together to block, and decide which one dies?

You can do exactly that. You don't see this from p. 28?

>        2) I have a green creature/w green ward on it.  Does it mean
>tranquality (green spell) can still get rid of the enchantment?

Yes.

>        3) My Personal Incarnation gets swords to plowshare.
>Technically, PI isn't destroyed.  Do I still lose half life?

No.

>   What is the exact ruling on this seemingly nasty creature, in terms
>of 'each time the fungusaur is damaged'?  Does this mean that you can
>use three Prodigal Sorcerers on it in your turn (now a 5/5 creature) then
>two more in your opponents turn (now 7/7).

If you've got 5 Tims, yes.

 What about in attack phases?
>When attacking, does it receive +1/+1 for each creature blocking (and
doing
>damage), or +1/+1 once for the whole bunch?

1 for the bunch, since they're simultaneous.

>   Taking a look at the Sengir vampire which seems like the Fungusaur's
>opposite (but definitely not its equal), it looks like the Fungusaur
should
>have read 'Each turn the Fungusaur is damaged...'

It should have, but didn't. Our mistake.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Nov 93 04:14:01 -0800
From: Dave Howell <snark>

>From: mathiesen@brhep1.physics.brown.edu <mathiesen/daemon>
>
>    Actually, the text of island sanctuary says: "cannot be attacked by
>creatures other than flying and islandwalking creatures", not "can't be
>damaged."  So the imp nettles, creature can't attack anything, and is
>destroyed.

Actually, it says both. This is a card that changed between the alpha
and beta parts of the first print run. :)

>From: Jeff Alexander <jwa@zap.iipo.gtegsc.com> <jwa/daemon>
>
>     Personally, I believe playing with decks that have been modified
>by trading and card omission to be fair, since A) the rulebook implies
>that these things can and should be done, and I'm willing to give the
>game designers the benefit of the doubt; B) trading can be fun; C)
>playing with the same deck all the time can be boring -- furthermore,
>playing with the same, weak deck that puts your chance of winning more
>in the hands of luck than skill is frustrating (and I DON'T like the
>alternative of buying a whole new Starter Deck because I got a "bad"
>one); and D) some cards are *just* *plain* ANNOYING (Copper Tablet,
>anyone?).

Your best clue is that we advertise it as a "Trading Card Game." You
are supposed to win and trade for new cards, and we certainly expect
you to put those cards in your deck if you choose.

>From: kimbo@netcom.com (Kimbo Beattie) <kimbo/daemon>
>
>I have two Frozen Shades in play.  I tap five Swamps.  The text for
>the Frozen Shade says "B:/+1/+1 until the end of turn.
>What happens?  Do I have two 5/6 Frozen Shades?  Does mana spent to

It costs one black mana to pump a shade. If you use 5 black mana to
power one special effect, the other shade will get nothing.

>From: ulbrikg0@seraph1.sewanee.edu (Karl G. Ulbrich) <ulbrikg0/daemon>
>
>1. Suppose Kudzu is cast on a land.  Each time that land is tapped, and
>   thus destroyed, the Kudzu is replaced on another land card.  Suppose
>   however that someone uses Sinkhole or Stone Rain on the Kudzued land.
>   The land is destroyed, but it hasn't been tapped.  Is the Kudzu
>   discarded, or is it moved to another land as it would be if the
>   land was destroyed as a result of the Kudzu?

Discarded.

>2. If the Cockatrice blocks or is blocked by a creature that can
regenerate,
>   can the creature regenerate?  The cockatrice card says the critter is
>   "destroyed", but I don't know if that means it's dead, and can thus
>   regenerate, or dead without possibility of regeneration.  (I say it's
>   destroyed and can't regenerate, but there's dissention in the ranks...)

"Destroyed" = "Killed" = "may regenerate"

In this edition, we always say "without possibility of regeneration."
Somttime (maybe Feb. or Mar.), we'll have new cards that use "buried"
to mean "dead without possibility of regen."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Nov 93 11:43:54 -0800
From: Dave Howell <snark>

>From: kimbo@netcom.com (Kimbo Beattie) <kimbo/daemon>
>
>Example:  Conversion (all Mountains treated as Plains) is in play.  I
>draw and play a Consecrate Land on one of my enchanted (via the
Conversion)
>Mountains.  Does the enchanted Mountain revert back to a "true" Mountain?

Afraid not. It is not being enchanted itself, although it is being
influenced by an enchantment, a dreadfully subtle point, I admit.

>From: ullfig@fnrobo.fnal.gov (Roberto Ullfig) <ullfig/daemon>
>
>Q. Does a Disenchant cancel the -effects- of the Island
>Sanctuary or does the controller of the Island Sanctuary
>continue to get the benefits of it until his next turn,
>even though it may not be in play anymore?

The benefits of Island Sanctuary would cease immediately.

>From: ullfig@fnrobo.fnal.gov (Roberto Ullfig) <ullfig/daemon>
>
>Tap the Tome, draw a card and use that card to prevent the
>damage from the Wandelust. In this instance the card that was
>drawn was a Swords to Ploughshares which I could play on my
>Goblins, destroying them, taking 1 point from Wanderlust and
>gaining 1 point from Swords to Ploughshars leaving me with
>1 life point and no Goblins or Wanderlust.

That would work.

>From: ullfig@fnrobo.fnal.gov (Roberto Ullfig) <ullfig/daemon>
>
>Q. Are Forests which are -living- because of Living Lands treated
>as Land-Creatures and effected by spells affecting both Lands and
>Creatures or are they treated as Creatures which can be tapped for
>1 mana like Llanowar Elves?

They are Land-Creatures, still susceptible to sinkhole and the like.

>From: Kai Chang <enkadu@eden.rutgers.edu> <enkadu/daemon>
>
>        The text of the Jade Statue says spend 2 mana to turn into a
>creature.  Does that mean after it's a creature I can do instants like
Jump
>on it?

That's correct.

>        2)      My opponent attacks with a War Mammoth.  I defend with 2
>creatures, not banded.  He claims that he could assigned enough damage to
>kill one creature and then to me.  I say he can get to me only if he gets
>pass all the toughness of all the defending creatures.  He says the
trample
>ability (as stated in the rules book) only mentioned 1 defending creature.
>Who is right?

He is. If a trampler puts all its power on a weak spot and gets
through, damage is done to the other player, even if other creatures
used in defense are unharmed.

>        3)      If my opponent casts a Control Magic on my creature, and
then
>I cast a Control Magic, who now controls the creature?

You do. If your Control Magic is dispelled, then it snaps back to
her, unless her CM is dispelled, allowing the creature to return
home.

>        4)      If I have a Firebreathing on a creature, and my opponent
>casts control magic, who is the controller of the firebreathing?

You are still.

>        5)      If there is a creature with flight and earthbind on it,
and
>the flight is taken off, will the earthbind be taken off also (I argue yes
>because the card specifically targets flying creatures).

Nope. You must *cast* it on a flying creature, but if an enchantment
becomes illegal after it is cast, it just sits around hoping it will
become legal again later.

>        6)      I have a living wall.  My opponent casts a shatter
artifact
>on it.  Can I regenerate?  Can I regenerate from a Disenchantment?
(There is
>a text difference between the two.)

You can regenerate from shatter. You cannot from disenchant.

>From: "Kohler, Steve*" <kohler#m#_steve*@msgate.corp.apple.com>
<kohler#m#_steve
>
>Unlimited Edition:
>How compatible will these cardbacks be with the other runs?  If they are
then
>no problem.  If not then since this will be the most common cardback
around
>(due to the lack of limit on printing quantity) any extra cards players
have
>from the limited print runs will have less value as playing cards.

Identical within our manufacturing ability.

>From: ullfig@fnrobo.fnal.gov (Roberto Ullfig) <ullfig/daemon>
>
>If you clone a 20-headed Rock Hydra do you then have 2 20-headed Rock
Hydras,
>one of which only costs 4 mana to summon instead of the normal 22?

Yes.

>just remembering things like Animate Dead and such. I myself
>would think it would be neat in the future to have spells
>(maybee "Permanent Sorcery") that would have a permanent effect
>on a duel.

We have such things. They're called "enchantments." :)

>So did you set mail to ack so you could get messages instead
>of digests? I did and it seems to work. Doesn't make sense
>with what the guy from WotC said. Was he lying?

That just means we didn't lock the change down. If enough people
change over, we'll get tossed off our mail link.

>>  Hi, I ran in to a couple of problems tonight while playing.  The first
>>involved a clone.  Someone tried to red elemental blast a clone that was
>>cloneing a serra angel.  What I figured was that the clone became a white
>>card, and could not be blasted, the other guy thoght that the CREATURE
was
>>white, but the card was blue.

The creature is the card. It was all white, there was no blue left
after the cloning process.

>>  Second, can the basalt monolith [the new card, not the 1st printing
one]
>>be untapped during someone else's turn, i.e. not during upkeep.  Again, I
>>thought no, the other guy thought yes.  The wording on both cards is a
little
>>vague...

You can untap it at any time.

>From: Mike Evans <AXMEV@asuvm.inre.asu.edu> <axmev/daemon>
>
>>Earthbind states that it does 2 damage to the target creature who also
loses
>>the flying ability.  Does the 2 points of damage occur EACH turn or is
it only
>>when the enchantment is cast?
>
>It's an Enchantment..so That creature now is two points less on Toughness
>until enchantment is gone, also can't fly. If it kills creature, Creature
>is dead.

Ah, but it doesn't say "0/-2" it says Damage. It takes two points of
damage when the card is first played, then never causes that damage
again.

>From: Brian Markenson <brianm@soda.berkeley.edu> <brianm/daemon>
>
>A question of my own regarding this:  My opponent casts power surge.  I
>did nothing on the previous turn, so I have 17 untapped mana.  Do I have
>the opportunity to do things AT THE BEGINNING OF MY TURN?  Instants and
>such.  For example, can I somehow make use of my guardian angel?  Tap my
>white mana, and then tap all the rest of it?  Or something like
>that...Obviously, this is happening BEFORE the untap phase, I guess...how
>does this play with the rule that I heard of last week--no instants or
>spells, during the untap phase...I'd really like an answer to this one.

You will take the damage. During upkeep, you have the opportunity to
respond to events that occured at the start of the turn, like this
damage, if you live that long.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 2 Dec 93 01:46:10 -0800
From: Dave Howell <snark>

>Q1: I know this has been asked before and I know it is explicitly
>stated in the FAQ, I would just like OFFICIAL confirmation that
>the FAQ is accurate.  According to the FAQ, only 1 defender has to have
>banding ability for all the defenders to band and block a critter.
>(Ie, my 4 Unicorns and 1 Benalish hero are considered a band
>if they all block the same attacking creature)..  Is this correct?

The FAQ is officially official. Really. Just like it says. The
section this part refers to is simply a repetition of what the
rulebook says.

>Q3: Again, this sacrifice thing.  Is Swords to Plowshares a spell that
causes
>a creature to be sacrificed or does sacrifice ONLY refer to spells
>which SAY sacrifice?

It's not a sacrifice.

>Q4: Strange scenario(perhaps invalid depending on the answer to my above
>2 questions).  I cast Howl From Beyond on, say, a Grizzly and pump him
>up to a 10 Power.  I then cast Berserk on him, pumping him up to a 20
>Power with trample.  From the card, it says, "If it(the creature) attacks,
>target creature i destroyed at end of turn."  I attack my opponent.
>After combat is over the grizzly is still alive but I know
>at the end of the turn it will die, so I cast Swords to Plowshares on it.
>(as far as I know, this is legal).  My opponent beleives that this is a
>sacrifice situation and plays Deathward on the Grizzly which keeps

Your opponent may not play deathward to stop StP.

>Can i Twiddle the mana for a spell while it is cast, therefore causing the
>spell to fizzle?

Not unless your opponent is very foolish, since tapping for mana is
an interrupt, and Twiddle is an Instant. They can always tap for mana
faster than you can twiddle.

>>Q2: This has to do with regeneration and sacrifices.  There have been
>>2 conflicting rulings on this.  One interpretation says that
>>creatures which are sacrificed cannot be regenerated.  The other says
that
>>if the creature being sacrificed is regenerated, the sacrifice is
invalid.
>>Which is correct?
>
>Both, because there are two forms of sacrifice and each ruling applies to

The regeneration stopping a sacrifice rule has ONLY been posted in
the preliminary draft of the new rules, and has never been official
for any version of magic, nor will it be, since we've changed that
since that draft was released.

>    Is the creation of an artifact a spell? I. e. can I spellblast my
>opponents Icy Manipulator or black vise or whatever?  I realize that once
>it is created the various counterspells are useless...

Yes.

>Does the Chaos Orb destroy only those cards it is in contact with when it
>stops moving, or all cards that it touches while moving?

Stops moving.

>Is the Jade Statue tapped to attack while it is a creature? It is a poly
>artifact, and it states that it is only a creature for the duration of the
>"exchange". However, attacking creatures are tapped, and when attacking,
the
>Jade Statue is a creature. When it ceases to be a creature, does it untap?
>I tend to believe not.

You're correct. It taps when it attacks, and it stays tapped until
untap phase.

>Can the Jade Statue hold creature enchantments? It is described as an
artifact
>creature, which normally can, but it also states that it is only a
creature
>for the duration of an attack or defense, which indicates not. I'm not
sure
>on this one.

Normally, there's no way to cast a creature enchantment on the Jade
Statue.

>Can a tapped creature regenerate?
>
>Can Death Ward be used on a tapped creature?

Same question. Yes to both.

>Can excess mana in your mana pool (caused by, say, Mana Flare or
whatever) be
>used to power Circles of Protection or other such spells/artifacts when
there
>is no use for them? Can the mana be used to regenerate creatures which
have
>not died? I tend to say no to both of these.

Generally, no.

>Can excess mana in your mana pool be used to increase the stats on a Holy
>Armor, Firebreathing, or similar enchantment? Can it be used to raise the
>stats on a Frozen Shade, Granite Gargoyle, or similar creature? On these,
I
>tend to say yes.

Correct again.

>When a Lich enchantment is dispelled (Disenchant or Tranquility), does the
>player who had the enchantment die, or is he returned to his original life
>point level?

As the card will tell you, the player dies.

>When a Time Vault is untapped, is the player untapping it required to pay
>any upkeep costs? Such as Lord of the Pit, Force of Nature, or similar
>card? (We found an effective use for this in team play; use Lord of the
Pit,
>slaughter an opponent or two, and when you run out of creatures, untap the
>Time Vault and let your partner Unsummon the Lord of the Pit...)

Clever, and legal.

>If a Twiddle or Icy Manipulator is used to tap a land, does the owner of
the
>land gain mana into his or her mana pool? If said land has a Wild Growth
>on it, does that enchantment place mana into the mana pool?

No, and yes. See the FAQ.

>Can a Twiddle be used to untap a land so that it may be tapped again for
mana?

Sure.

>Can a Twiddle or the Icy Manipulator be used to tap a Circle of
Protection,
>thus making it useless until that player's next untap phase? (A reason to
>cast multiple CoP's.)

See the cards. They cannot be used to tap enchantments. As a matter
of fact, enchantments >never< tap, although they may be on a card
that taps.

>Can a Circle of Protection: Green be used to prevent damage caused by not
>paying upkeep for the Force of Nature? Can a Circle of Protection: Black
be
>used to prevent damage caused by not paying upkeep for a Lord of the Pit?

Yes.

>An Icy Manipulator may be used to tap a creature. Can the Royal Assassin
>then be used an instant later to kill that creature?

Yes.

>The Royal Assassin is tapped to destroy one of my creatures, which is a
fast
>effect. I play a Twiddle in an attempt to tap the Royal Assassin. Do both
>effects happen simultaneously, or does the Twiddle happen first because it
>was the most recently played fast effect? i.e., is the target creature
dead?

They're instants, and not contradictory. Both happen. See the FAQ.

>The Prodigal Sorcerer is used to do a point of damage to my Royal
Assassin.
>I play a Red Elemental Blast, an Interrupt, to destroy the Prodigal
Sorcerer
>(a blue card in play). Does Tim get to poke my Royal Assassin, or does the
>Red Elemental Blast destroy it first? (I'm not sure on the timing of a
fast
>effect vs. an Interrupt.)

Interrupt wins. Nasty.

>I have a Circle of Protection: Blue. My opponent places a Power Drain on
my
>Circle of Protection. I must tap two lands to feed the Power Drain to
prevent
>taking damage. May I tap one land, feed the mana into the Circle of
Protection,
>and avoid damage that way?

Yes.

>I have the Venduran Enchantress in play. I cast a Weakness upon it,
killing
>her. Am I allowed to draw another card to replace the Weakness? (Actually
came
>up; I was rather desperate for a life saving card, and ended up drawing a
>Howl from Beyond that saved by life; I eventually lost anyways, but much
later,
>after much combat.

Yes, they're both instants.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 9 Dec 93 23:36:28 -0800
From: Dave Howell <snark>

>There is some overlap with the FAQ (BTW, someone really should post that
again
>sometime soon for the new people... it has been 6 weeks since the last
one).

New subscribers are automatically sent the FAQ.

>The caster of an enchantement is forever considered its controller. But
>if the enchantment is placed on another card, only the controller of the
>other card can spend mana to drive enchantments.  (?)

Not true. The controller of an enchantment is the *only* person who
can spend mana on it, unless the card indicates otherwise. There is
presently no "control enchantment" spell.

>Unsure if trample damage works from the defender.  Rulebook hints that it
>does not (?)

Correct.

>Animate Artifact:
>  Artifact is now an Artifact-Creature and abides by creature rules while
>    still being an artifact as well.
>  If cast on an artifact-creature, the previous combat values and rules
for
>    combat values are overridden by this enchantment. [Snark]

No! No! My error haunts me still! It can't be cast on Artifact
Creatures, according to the card itself.

>Island Sanctuary:
>  Does not prevent creatures from attacking you, it just prevents damage
from
>    any non-flying or IslandWalk creatures.

This depends on which version of Island Sanctuary you have. One says
they may not attack, the other says they can attack, but can't damage
you.

>Twiddle:
>  Can be used to untap the Time Vault without skipping a turn [Snark]
>  Tapping a continuous artifact deactivates it.
>  The alpha printing card did not limit effect to just creatures, land
>    and artifacts.  It can be used to tap enchantments.

It said no such thing. >:( Enchantments never tap.

>
>"You lose all the mana in your mana pool if you do not use it before a
>phase ends.  The mana pool is also cleared when an attack begins and
>when an attack ends.  You lose a life point for each mana lost in this
>manner."
>
>By normal english grammar, the last sentence affects only the sentence
>before it, not the first.  (It uses the singluar "this," refering to
>only one "manner" while there are two "manners" in which the mana pool
>may be cleared.)

Those silly rules. Any unspent mana, whether at the end of a phase or
before or after the attack subphase, causes mana burn.

>You have a Force of Nature, which you just attacked with, and a Twiddle
>in your hand.  Your opponent has an untapped Royal Assassin in play.
>
>Your opponent taps his Assassin and targets your tapped Force of
>Nature...  an instant.  You pull out your Twiddle and untap your
>Force...  another instant.  Your Force becomes untapped at the same
>instant the Assassin kills it, but being untapped, it is no longer a
>valid target, so the Assassin has no effect.  The Force can't be

But one instant cannot prevent another instant's effects from going
off unless there's a paradox. One card: "creature dies" Other card:
"creature untaps." The effects are not contradictory, so the Force
dies. It dies untapped, but it dies.

>     Okay, here's an interesting question that came up last night...  Is
>the "This will destroy artifacts with 0 casting cost" meant to be a
>mandate, or just a statement of what's usually obvious?
>     Let's say that I have a bunch of Moxes in play for defensive
purposes,
>and my cruel opponent whips out an Animate Artifact, meaning to send one
of
>my innocent Moxes to that Great Deck In the Sky.  But, being one of those
>smug white-deck players, I have previously deployed a Castle.  Now,
>normally the animated Mox would be a 0/0 creature, and thus doomed to a
>wretched deck for having a zero or negative toughness.  But in this case,
>it would be a perfectly viable 0/2 creature.  So does the Mox still die,
or
>does it live to tap another day?

Lives to tap another day.

>The contract from below has the following wording
>"Discard your current hand and draw eight new cards,
>adding the first drawn to your ante.  Remove this card
>from your deck before playing if you are not playing for ante."
>
>The spell is a Sorcery.
>
>Q1: Who is the card instructing to discard and draw a new hand?
>The caster, both players, or the opponent?

"Your" = you, the caster.

>Q2: Just to be officially clear on this, you ADD the first card
>to the ante so now you are anteing 2 cards, its not replace the ante,
>correct?

Right.

>I have a problem with my current understanding of damage,
>regeneration, and going to the graveyard.  The rules seem
>pretty clear, but something in the FAQ seems to confuse the issue.
>I figured I'd bring it up, again, and see what everyone else thinks
>and maybe we can get the FAQ changed (or maybe you can convince me
>to shut up and leave FAQ corrections to more expereinced players)

Generally, you've gotten effects correct. The definition of regeneration
was
fixed after the game was released, and some of the cards reflect this in
wording
that doesn't make perfect sense.

>Next to last is Creature Bond:
>"If target creature is destroyed, Creature Bond does an amount of damage
>equal to creature's toughness to creatures controller."
>
>Since this calls for an something to happen when a creature is destroyed
>and not when a creature "goes to the graveyard" regeneration WILL NOT
>stop the controller from taking damage.

This is not correct. If it doesn't go to the graveyard, then it wasn't
destroyed.
Regeneration keeps a creature from going to the graveyard.

>Lastly, the Black sacrifice card.
>This says "Destroy one of your currnet creatures without regenerating it,
>and add to your mana pool a number of black mana equal to creatures
casting
>cost."
>
>First off, the card does not say the creature cannot be regenerated,
>just that if it is not regenerated you get the benefit of the spell.
>Therefore your opponent can regenerate it before it goes to the graveyard
>and you don't get the mana.  Also, nothing is said about removing the
>card from the game so you are allowed to then cast spells like
>Raise Dead, Animate Dead, etc on the creature.

You're allowed to reanimate it, yes. It is immune from regeneration,
though. The
card does not make this clear, and could be interpreted either way.

>This interpretation makes Disintegrate a more powerfull spell rather than
>simply a single target version of fireball.  Since the casting costs
>are the same for a single target, I beleive this was the original intent.
>Fireball has the ability to have multi-targets and Disintegrate has the
>ability of stripping regeneration from a creature for a turn.

that's how it's supposed to be.

>Q: If I enchant my opponents creature with the Regeneration enchantment
>I am the controller of that enchantment and can power it to keep the
>creature from dying, correct?

Correct.

>Another problem I had with regeneration is, as I interpret the rules
>damage accumulates and when it equals or exceeds a creatures toughness
>the creature dies.  Damage is not subtracted from the toughness.
>When it exceeds the creatures toughness, the creature dies, than the
>controller regenerates it.  Does the process of regeneration clear all the
>damage done that turn so far?  I would say it does.

Yes, it does.

>1. What happens to a creature with bonuses like Holy Strength which are
>   damaged... and afterwards the bonus is removed (by a Disenchant or
>   such)?
>
>   Snark has hinted that there is more here than meets the eye.  For
example,
>   a Hill Giant (3/3) with Holy Strength (+1/+2) (a total of 4/5) takes
>   3 damage.  Is it proper to say that it is a 4/5 creature with 3 damage
or
>   a 4/2 creature at this point?  Does that matter?
>   If the Holy Strength got removed, is it a 3/3 creature with 2 damage or
>   a 3/2 creature (the Holy Strength absorbed 2 points of the damage)?

Snark was jerking your chain, as it turns out. I'd received contradictory
rulings, and picked the wrong system. Damage, as it turns out, works like
this:

For every point of damage, put a counter on the creature (an imaginary one
will
do). If at any time the creature's toughness is not greater than the
number of
counters, the creature has taken lethal damage. Proceed accordingly.

>2. The controller of enchantments has always had me somewhat confused.  As
>   I understand it right now, the caster of an enchantment is always the
>   controller.  There are no cards which change the controller of an
>   enchantment.  But (and here's the question) who can pay costs
associated
>   with enchantments?

>   The rulebook specifically states that only the controller can pay the
>   costs associated with the enchantment.  So, if I cast a Regenerate on
>   another player's creature, am I the one who can pay to have it
Regenerate?
>   Or is it my opponent?

You are the one.

>   This gets a bit more complicated when Control Magic is used to steal
>   away a creature.  Who now "controls" the enchantments on the creature?
>   Control Magic does not say that it takes control of the enchantments,
>   so if I Control Magic a creature with Regeneration on it, can I power
>   that enchantment?

Nope.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 9 Dec 93 23:37:40 -0800
From: Dave Howell <snark>

>What characteristics are "normal characteristics"?

See page 22 of the rulebook. ;)

>In the latest Ruling Summary, Volcanic Eruption cannot do more damage
>than mountains in play.  This is not signified by a [Snark] symbol.
However,
>the previous Summary DID have a [Snark] symbol, and did state that VE can
do
>more damage than mountains?

[low, ominous music] You May Not Use Volcanic Eruption to Do More
Damage Than There Are Mountains In Play. The Great And Powerful Snark
Has Spoken. [flames billow forth]

(Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.)

>Black knight has inherent Protection from white.
>Can other wards be placed on the Black knight?
>My impulse is to say no, but I'm not sure.

Use The Impulse, Luke.

>Simularly, Can Howl from beyond or Unholy Strength be put
>on the White Knight, which has Protection from Black?

It may not. What a drag!

>PS Any plans for a solitaire deckmaster game at any time in the future?
>I think that would be cool

Oh, yes, we'll release solitaire rules the very instant that anybody
in the entire world sends us a set that's fun. We have not had much
luck in inventing same.

>I don't think it would be logistically possible for WotC to make all their
>expansions unlimited. They probably have -thousands- of card ideas they
want
>to print and to have that many different cards in constant circulation is
>probably a very difficult task. However, I think that their supply of
limited
>edition cards is way too low. Because of such a high demand, cards stay
in the
>
>     Before we all go griping about not being able to get our hands on
Limited
>Edition cards, let us remember that WotC wasn't exactly TSR before MtG
came
>out!  I think they were all a little surprised at the tremendous
popularity of

Oh, yes, just a wee. A smidge. A hair. A bit.

>MtG and were astounded by how quickly the first printing sold out.  As
soon as
>they had the capital and the personnel available to handle such a load,
they
>very graciously went to the Unlimited Edition, thereby making the
wonderful
>new game available to all of us (and also setting themselves up for quite
a
>bit of healthy profit from the Christmas buying season).

Boy, howdy. We have to pay for paper and flow pack material before
they'll start a print run, and the lag time is 2 months. We were
originally planning to bring Arabian Nights out sometime early '94.
Production on that game was rushed like crazy (and it shows, sigh),
and we actually got it done months early, just for you.

While future sets will be limited, it is not necessarily true that
they will be AS limited. More on this when I have facts, and am not
talking through my sleeve.

>
>(magical hack, et. al.)

[low ominous music] Magical Hack and Sleight of Mind Affect All
Occurances Of The Relevant Text On The Card. [flames billow forth]

>I remember early on it was determined that the following was a legal play.
>
>A summons Prodical Sorceror.
>B casts Lightning Bolt on Sorceror.
>A casts Holy Armor on Sorceror and spends an extra white mana to stop
Sorceror
>from dying.
>
>If this is the case then you could cast Animate Artifact and Holy Armor
on a
>Mox and prevent it from dying. You do not need Fast Effects that increase
>toughness.
>
>You are not limited to react to your opponent's spells with only Fast
Effects.
>You can react with other spells like Sorceries, Enchantments, etc if you
are
>the main player. I am pretty sure this is right. I think if you read the
>section on timing it becomes obvious.

Oooo. Did I say that? I don't think I said that. You may only respond
to a spell with fast effects: instants, special abilities,
interrupts, and the like. Enchantments and sorceries occur once the
previous spell is cast. In the above example, Tim dies.

>In a recent game, this came into question.  I was holding a Twiddle, and
my
>opponent knew it (Urza).  He had two Psychic Venoms on his tapped Swamp.
>During Untap, he claimed he did not have to untap everything, and that it
>doesn't say you have to in the rules.

>I remembered the above ruling, but as it's not in the FAQ (unless I missed
>it somehow), it's not an official ruling.  As this puts a serious damper
on
>our blue players, I was wondering if this is to be an official change in
>the next edition of the rulebook.

Bad opponent! This is exactly why you MUST untap everything.

Page 11: "1. Untap. Untap *all* your previously tapped lands,
creatures, and artifacts." (emphasis mine)

Page 11, bottom. "Unless an action described above includes the word
*may*, you must perform this action."

Seems pretty clear to me...


>===
>Also, my opponent has the misprinted Cyclopean Tomb.  Zero casting cost.
>Is there any way to thwart this card?

Oh, sure! I had some smart-alec try this on me. "It *says* zero
casting cost."

"No, Moxes have a zero in a gray circle. THAT's a zero casting cost.
What you hold has no casting cost at all. Ergo, you may not cast it.
I'll give you a choice: play it as written, and leave it in your
hand, or play it as the FAQ dictates, and pay four. Either way, I
don't care."

>===
>Last question:  My opponent Shatters my Living Wall.  Can I use it's
>Regenerate ability to save it?

You bet.

>We have an ongoing argument over whether something can be Regenerated if
>it's Destroyed (i.e. Creature Bond problem, etc.), or if Destroyed can not
>be helped. This is a very confusing issue when you've got lots of
shatters,
>creature bonds, and regenerations running around.

Destroyed = Killed = may regenerate.

Discarded = removed from play = may not regenerate.

>Does Creature Bond then do damage to a creature that is destroyed, but
then
>regenerated?

The above is a paradox. If it was regenerated, than it wasn't
destroyed.

>Q:  Can a White Knight block a Hurloon Minotaur that has Fear on it?
>I'd say no; The Fear is on the Minotaur and doesn't directly affect the
Knight.

Correct.

>Q:  Can a White Knight + Blue Ward black a Hurloon Minotaur with
Invisibility?
>Again, I'd say no for the same reason.

Correct.

>Q:  Can a COP:White be used to stop damage from a Black Knight?
>I'm sure this one has been answered before, but I don't seem to have it
handy.

You may stop the damage.

The above three questions according to the FAQ, not necessarily the
rules.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1993 11:10:36 -0800 (PST)
From: Dave Howell <snark@fungusaur.wizards.com>

>my summoning, by the rules the creature is discarded.  Discarded cards
>"go to the graveyard".  Regeneration prevents creatures from "going to
>the graveyard".  Therefore, I can cast death ward and 'save' my Craw worm.
>This does not seem logical to me(of course, sometimes you have to forget
>logic with this game).
>
>Therefore, perhaps we should revise the way regeneration is described.
>
>maybe add to the FAQ,
>
>Q: How exactly does this regenration work?
>
>A: Regeneration can be cast on any creature to prevent it from dying or
>otherwise going to the graveyard <this covers dwarven engineers, blue
>elemental blasts, etc.>.  No affect that is generated by the creatures
>death will occur.  The creature must have been successfully summoned
before
>it can be regenerated.
>
>How is that, accurate?

Yes, it's accurate. I believe somewhere else in the FAQ it points out
that the Craw Wurm isn't a creature until the spell is over. You can't
cast Death Ward on another spell, only on a creature, and it's not a
creature until it's on the table, which it doesn't get to do, because the
summoning spell was countered.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1993 11:52:52 -0800 (PST)
From: Dave Howell <snark@fungusaur.wizards.com>

>Player one has a gaea's leige and 10 forests. Player 2 has no forests and
>a meekstone that prevents untapping of any card with a power > 2. Gaea's
>leige has a power of */* where * is the number of forests the controller
>has when defending and the number the enemy has when attacking. If Gaea's
>leige becomes tapped, can it be untapped?... If the power 0/0 or 10/10?
>
>Gaea's leige turns any land card into a forest. Will a tranquility card
>change them back? How about a consecrate land?
>
>Can a guardian angel spell be cast just to spend unwanted mana and avoid
>mana burn?...

Well, if it were 0/0, it'd be dead. As it happens, we've reworded that
card to say that it's controller's forests at all times except attack,
which is what we meant. Such dweeb-heads we be sometimes.

What Gaea's Leige does to lands isn't an Enchantment. You can't
tranquility or Consecrate them back. :(

Guardian Angel, unfortunately, requires damage from which to protect you
before it can be used, although it's not clear from the card.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1993 14:04:46 -0800 (PST)
From: Dave Howell <snark@fungusaur.wizards.com>

Somebody said:
>
>FARMSTEAD       [Enchant Land]      (R) {WWW}
>Target land's controller gains 1 life each upkeep if {WW} is spent.
>Target land still generates mana as usual.
>
>You will note that Farmstead is clearly an enchantment class card.
>
>Now the relevant rules section on Enchantments (p17-18):
>
>                                    ... Some enchantments have a
>     cost listed before the effect; this is the cost to use. An
>     enchantment with a cost may only be used and paid
>     for by the controller (usually the caster). If the
>     enchantment has no cost, it is constantly in effect.
>     An enchantment may be used more than once each
>     turn, and is never tapped.

It's a booby trap. "have a cost listed *before*the*effect*." That's
symbol: This is a cool thing. These enchantments, and only these, are
multiple use. Farmstead is NOT worded that way, and is only once per turn.

Don't you love how we entertain you by hiding answers to rules in
amazingly subtle and tricky ways, sometimes so tricky that even we don't
know the right answer? Neat, eh?

:p

As to Channel, well, gosh. I've looked them both over, and it looks to me
like yet another of those spells that makes Word of Command a "Summon
Argument" spell. If Richard said players can kill people by playing
channel, then so be it. I hate Word of Command.

Snark,
Cyberdude

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 18 Dec 93 14:47:34 -0800
From: Dave Howell <snark>

**Snark's comments in stars.

Fast Effects and Instants can be used during any player's turn and are
allowed
in response to any event, action, or phase ending.

                Are you sure about the "phase ending" part?

**That is correct.

Balance:
  White Warded creatures can avoid this spell's effects, but non-warded
    creatures must be removed first.  You cannot chose warded creatures to
    remove first. [Snark]

                This smells really bad to me.  In Snark's re-write of the
                protection rules (in the FAQ) it says that a white-warded
                creature cannot be *damaged* or *targeted* by white spells.
                Balance neither damages the creature, nor does it
specifically
                target the creature.  Plain and simple, I think this is
                wrong.  If this *is* to be the "correct" interpretation,
                I would be happier if the FAQ definition of protection
                were re-written so that it doesn't conflict with this.
                Sorry, Snark, I am very grateful for everything you've done
                to clear up these tricky issues, but I think you've painted
                yourself into a corner here.

**I think you're right. Can I deny I said this? Did I? Yuck. I probably
did. I probably said it before the new rules were finalized. Balance
works, wards won't help.

Armageddon:
  Consecrated Land can avoid this spell.

                This stinks too.  Armageddon is another spell *like*

**Right. Armageddon will work on warded creatures.

 + The Doppleganger of an artifact creature can be Shattered or
Disenchanted.
  Whenever it changes creatures, it "resets" and loses any tokens or other
    gains it made as the creature it was originally copying.

                This seems *really* bizarre to me - it's still a blue
creature.
                So it's a Blue, Artifact Creature?  strange, but I guess
so.

**Strange but true. Colorlessness and artifactivity are not necessarily
co-requirements.


                It'd be nice to put a resolution in for the issue of
                "what if my opponent casts Death Ward on the creature
                 I sacrifice?"  Ummm, what is that resolution, btw?

**Answer: you can't, it's illegal.

Resurrection:
  Resurrected creatures cannot be tapped to attack or use a special effect
    on the turn in which they come into play.

                This doesn't solve the issue of the Serra Angel.  Since
                the resurrection card only refers to "tapping", I would
                say that the Angel *could* attack on the turn she is
                resurrected...

**I would say you're right.

Serra Angel:
  Will be removed from next printing because "it is out of character for
the
    color". (rumor which many claim is false)

                That's a silly reason.  In my opinion, it's the single
                best creature in the game; if that's a reason to take
                it out, oh well.  Wonder what the next best creature is,
                and whether it will then get dropped too.  They better
                be putting more creatures in to make up for this, otherwise
                we won't have any left!  "out of character for the color"
                Ha!  I don't agree with that!

**Well, it IS out of character. It's big and good at attacking. Being good
at attacking is out of character for White, especially with the double
jeopardy non-tap power. However, I refuse to speculate on whether or not
it will be seen in further
 releases.

Wrath of God:
  White Warded creatures can avoid this spell.

                This stinks; see above comments on Balance/White Ward.

**Agreed. No longer true under Ward rules.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Date: Sat, 18 Dec 93 14:52:34 -0800
From: Dave Howell <snark>

>1. Is "desert" a basic land type for purposes of Magical Hack, etc...?

No.

>2. Island of Wak-Wak

(I don't have the datafile handy. Ask me again tomorrow. :)

>3. Aladdin's Lamp
>  Is the casting cost 10?

Yup.

>5. Ali from Cairo
> While in play, does this card really make a player immune to death?

That does indeed appar to be the affect, yes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 30 Dec 93 16:19:06 -0800
From: Dave Howell <snark>
Subject: Ruhk Egg

The post you've all been waiting for: The Official Policy On The Ruhk Egg.

It's definitely not what it's supposed to be. The intent of the card is to only
make Ruhks if the card goes to the graveyard from play. Discarding it
from your hand isn't supposed to do anything.

Under most conditions, this difference is rather small. However, using the
wording on the card, a really dull but rather effective "all Ruhk Egg" deck
can be assembled, assuming you can somehow get your hands on that
many Eggs.

If you're playing Arabian cards, please check with your opponent on
how they play Eggs. Again, Wizards of the Coast and Richard Garfield
strongly urge you to play it as if it said "...goes to the graveyard *from
play*..." If your opponent plays it as written, and is not willing to change,
then you might want to decline to play them, if you choose.

If you find out they're playing the card as written after you start, and
especially if they're playing with lots, they are technically within
their rights. I suggest you request to null the game. If you're playing
for ante, the polite thing to do would be to let them keep it, and never
play them again, but we'll understand if you take the card back.

Tournament organizers and league coordinators: Make sure to either
declare how the Egg works or disallow it from play, if you're using
Arabian Nights.

Yes, we're all very sorry the little thingy got loose, and we'll try not to do
it again.

Dave "Snark" Howell
Cyberspace Liaison, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------