Magic the Gathering: Ask a Judge

[Utilitarian]

So... if I have a Cloudfin Raptor on the board and then play out, say, Captain's Call to put three 1/1 soldier tokens on the battlefield, since they all enter simultaniously does that mean my Raptor gets 3 +1/+1 counters, or does he stop getting additional counters as soon as I place the first one, raising his power and toughness above that of the soldier tokens?

[SilPho]

If you evil twin a stuffy doll, can you then kill it? or does the indestructible still happen.

Short Answer: Both creatures are indestructible.
Long Answer: After you play an Evil Twin, choosing a Stuffy Doll, you now essentially have an exact copy of Stuffy Doll, including the indestructibility. (The exception is the destroy effect).

The reason your Evil Twin can't kill the Stuffy Doll is because indestructibility prevents lethal damage and destroy effects from killing the creature. This differs from Protection, which doesn't defend against 'destroy' (but, in this case, would prevent the targeting).

So... if I have a Cloudfin Raptor on the board and then play out, say, Captain's Call to put three 1/1 soldier tokens on the battlefield, since they all enter simultaniously does that mean my Raptor gets 3 +1/+1 counters, or does he stop getting additional counters as soon as I place the first one, raising his power and toughness above that of the soldier tokens?

Short Answer: The Cloudfin Raptor only gets 1 counter.
Long Answer: When Captain's Call resolves all three 1/1 tokens will entire the battlefield at the same time. This will trigger the Evolve ability of a Cloudfin Raptor three times. However, the Evolve ability contains an intervening if clause, which means it checks the condition when the ability resolves as well.

Disclaimer: Judges tend to make a point not to answer questions about new cards before the official rule postings and FAQs are finalised. It avoids conflicting answers. In this case, however, it's not really a new rule, just a new name for an existing type of effect.

[Under_Score]

Does that sort of effect also apply to Cryptborn Horror? ie, if I have a pyroconvergence on the field and I cast Cryptborn Horror, will it get two additional counters after the pyroconvergence's effect resolves?

[Utilitarian]

Darn, there goes my dream of playing Talrand's Invocation with Parallel Lives into a truly massive Evolve creature -_^

(And thanks for the clarification despite it being an unreleased card)

[SilPho]

Does that sort of effect also apply to Cryptborn Horror? ie, if I have a pyroconvergence on the field and I cast Cryptborn Horror, will it get two additional counters after the pyroconvergence's effect resolves?

Short Answer: You get the extra 2 counters.
Long Answer: Cryptborn Horror's ability isn't a triggered ability with an intervening if clause, it's a replacement effect. Essentially, this means it only checks to see how many counters it needs to place on it when the creature enters the battlefield, not a moment before (and it doesn't use the stack once the creature arrives). If it didn't do this, the Horror would enter the battlefield as a 0/0 and die anyway.

So, a Pyroconvergence triggering off the casting of your Cryptborn Horror spell will resolve and deal the damage before the creature arrives. And, assuming you targeted the player, of course, will grant 2 extra counters to your Horror.

[phlip]

Disclaimer: Judges tend to make a point not to answer questions about new cards before the official rule postings and FAQs are finalised. It avoids conflicting answers. In this case, however, it's not really a new rule, just a new name for an existing type of effect.

It's not the official rules or FAQ, but there is an article on Daily MTG that covers this question (with the same answer).

After the ability has gone on the stack and players have a chance to respond to it, it resolves. If the new creature still has a higher power and/or toughness, you'll put a +1/+1 counter on the evolve creature.

If multiple creatures enter the battlefield at the same time—say, because they're tokens—evolve triggers separately for each, and the triggers resolve one by one.

For example, say an effect puts three 2/2 creatures onto the battlefield while you control Cloudfin Raptor [a 0/1 with Evolve and Flying]. Each of those creatures has a higher power and/or toughness than the Raptor, so evolve triggers three times. When the first trigger resolves, Cloudfin Raptor gets a +1/+1 counter. When the second trigger resolves, Cloudfin Raptor is a 1/2. The second 2/2 creature token no longer has a greater toughness than Cloudfin Raptor, but its power is still greater, so Cloudfin Raptor gets another +1/+1 counter. When the third trigger resolves, that 2/2 creature token has neither a greater power or toughness than the now-2/3 Cloudfin Raptor, so no +1/+1 counter is added.

[DuelLadyS]

So... is it legal to play a spoiler card Wizards gives you prior to the set release? Paul needs to know.

[Lemegeton]

is this a valid move to respond to a supreme verdict. i flash in a snapcaster mage and flashback a golgari charm from the graveyard. pretty sure this is ok just want to double check with you experts

[SilPho]

So... is it legal to play a spoiler card Wizards gives you prior to the set release? Paul needs to know.

According to Paul I do not have the authority to answer that question - I'm not the Rules Manager.

is this a valid move to respond to a supreme verdict. i flash in a snapcaster mage and flashback a golgari charm from the graveyard. pretty sure this is ok just want to double check with you experts

Short Answer: Your creatures will survive.
Long Answer: Supreme Verdict's "Can't be countered" ability doesn't mean you can't prevent the card from doing something, it just stops you from explicitly "countering" it. By using the Golgari Charm to give your creatures Regenerate, they will survive being destroyed. It's worth pointing out here that they will all become tapped as a result (unless they were indestructible or something).

[Kapol]

Alright, while I'm confident I know the answer, I'd like to be sure.

Let's say I have a Wolfir Silverheart bonded with a Silverblade Paladin. In hand I have a Restoration Angel. And on the battlefield I have another creature. Could I, after First Strike damage step is finished, flash in the Restoration Angel, bounce the Silverheart, and Rebound it with the third creature for the primary damage step?

[phlip]

Yes, you could. The Silverblade Paladin would then not do damage in the normal combat damage step (as it no longer has double strike), the Silverheart obviously wouldn't do damage (as it's a new creature that isn't attacking), and the third creature would get +4/+4 in time for the normal combat damage step (so if it's going to do damage then, it will have 4 more power).

(Also, to nitpick: This isn't after the first-strike damage step is finished... but rather during the first-strike damage step, but after first-strike damage has been dealt. The way most steps work is that you perform any turn-based actions at the start of the step, and then you get priority after that, so if you want to cast a spell between first-strike damage and normal damage, you're casting it in the first-strike damage step. It's the same as, like, when playing a combat trick after blockers but before damage, you're casting it in the Declare Blockers step. Ultimately this distinction mostly only matters for pedants and/or MTGO.)

[River_Annarchy]

In response to a fling, would a player be able to use various cards and creature abilities to draw more cards to get a second mana leak into his hand or would the stack end after the first mana leak is dealt with?

[guidance]

How does redirect work with an overloaded cyclonic rift? Since you replace the word target with each, how does redirect, well redirect it?

[phlip]

In response to a fling, would a player be able to use various cards and creature abilities to draw more cards to get a second mana leak into his hand or would the stack end after the first mana leak is dealt with?

You can cast as many things in response to another thing as you want. So if your opponent casts Fling, you can cast Mana Leak in response, have it be paid for, and then cast some card draw spell (Think Twice or Thought Scour or some such) to get another Mana Leak, and then cast that, all before the Fling resolves. It's only when both players choose not to cast anything and pass priority that the top effect on the stack resolves, and then all players need to pass priority again before the next thing on the stack resolves (or we move on to the next step, if the stack is empty).

How does redirect work with an overloaded Cyclonic Rift? Since you replace the word target with each, how does redirect, well redirect it?

Because of the way Overload works, an overloaded spell doesn't have any targets... so Redirect would do nothing to it.

[vxicepickxv]

I have a question about how specific alternate costs work in relation to converted mana cost. If a spell has an X as an alternate cost(Devil's play with flashback/Entreat the Angels with miracle), while the spell is being cast through an alternate cost is the(or each) X defined as part of the converted mana cost?

To make it easier to read if X =2 for miracle is the converted mana cost of a miracled entreat be 7 (4+WWW) or just 3 (WWW)? Is the converted mana cost of devil's play 3 (2)R or just 1 (R)?

If I'm reading 107.3a/107.3c properly, the converted mana cost would be a total of 7, because it is a spell on the stack with X being a mana user defined value, however because it is an alternate cost being paid, and not a casting cost, I could be completely wrong.

[SilPho]

You're correct. An Entreat the Angels cast as a Miracle with X=2 will cost 4 mana but have a converted mana cost on the stack of 7.

Similarly, a Devil's Play cast via Flashback by using 4 red mana will have X=1 and a converted mana cost on the stack of 2.

[Lemegeton]

so i have been working on a new graveyard deck and been having good results. was thinking about putting in Garruk Relentless and have some questions.

when his loyalty goes to 2 or 1 will he transform automatically as a state based effect or do i need priority to flip him.
and when he does flip does he still have the same loyalty counters or does it reset to 3???

[Kapol]

He has the same loyalty counters he flipped with, I know that for sure. And I'm fairly confident that the flip is a state-based effect. If I'm wrong I'm sure someone will correct me.

[SilPho]

The flip is a state-triggered ability, but that's a minor technicality. Point is you will not need priority to flip him, just someone needs priority for the trigger to go onto the stack (also, it's not optional).

Just one point I wanted to make: If you were to remove all counters from him in one go, the state-based action would kill him off before the ability triggered.

[Lemegeton]

The flip is a state-triggered ability, but that's a minor technicality. Point is you will not need priority to flip him, just someone needs priority for the trigger to go onto the stack (also, it's not optional).

Just one point I wanted to make: If you were to remove all counters from him in one go, the state-based action would kill him off before the ability triggered.

yeah i understand that last bit. thanks guys

[Under_Score]

So, I thought I knew how this worked, but my friend said something that made me doubt it, so I'd like a bit of an explanation. With Extort, you can't pay the mana to use the ability as you cast the creature with extort, right?

[Kapol]

I'm pretty sure you can't. Extort doesn't trigger unless the spell with extort is on the board if I'm not mistaken.

[Utilitarian]

So, I thought I knew how this worked, but my friend said something that made me doubt it, so I'd like a bit of an explanation. With Extort, you can't pay the mana to use the ability as you cast the creature with extort, right?

Extort triggers when you cast the spell, not when it resolves. Because the spell hasn't resolved yet, the thing you're casting isn't on the board yet, and thus you can't use its Extort.

(On the plus side, this means you can still Extort off of spells that get countered... I think?)

[osieorb18]

If you cast Shahrazad, then in the subgame you cast a Wish or Research to get Shahrazad off of the stack in the main game, what happens in the main game when the subgame is over?

[Utilitarian]

If you cast Shahrazad and then ask a judge anything about it they punch you and destroy your Shahrazad to make sure nobody ever asks another question about that card -_-