Magic the Gathering: Ask a Judge

[vxicepickxv]

It'd stop... um... Bramblecrush, I guess? My searches aren't turning up any effects that are just straight-up "destroy target planeswalker" or anything like that, but there are some "destroy target permanent" spells that can target planeswalkers...

There are 3 of them, plus Sorin's ability. Bramblecrush destroys target noncreature perminant(so a 6/6 Gideon would be safe), Desert Twister and Vindicate just say destroy target perminant. Planeswalkers are perminants. Unless the perminant is indestructable, then any ability would destroy them.

[Dibria]

@Dibria
Plainswalkers are not the same as Planeswalkers. Sorry to be picky about it.

That's not picky that's fair, been posting a lot from my iPad recently and the autocorrect for some reason picks up Plainswalker but not the alternative, it also auto capitalises it for some reason.

[dackwards d]

There are actually a few destroy permanent effects, probably not enough for it to usually be worth putting indestructible on a planeswalker but sometimes it will help. If you're using Gideon, for example, when he switches to a creature he stops being vulnerable to damage but becomes vulnerable to kill spells - if you're facing black, that might be necessary. Or if you're facing down Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. His +3 ability is basically "hahahaha oh it's adorable that you think you can have a planeswalker too."

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I shall have to try and find a new way to combat my mate's Flyover deck.

There aren't a lot of green flyers, but there are so many reach creatures. Then there are all the green flyer-hate spells (destroy target flying creature, like Plummet or Pistus Strike, deal X damage to all flyers, like Windstorm or Corrosive Gale) and general permanent destruction like Beast Within or a summoned Terastodon. Or make it bite him in the backside - Bower Passage or Dense Canopy will make your creatures unblockable to his flyers.

[vxicepickxv]

There are actually a few destroy permanent effects, probably not enough for it to usually be worth putting indestructible on a planeswalker but sometimes it will help. If you're using Gideon, for example, when he switches to a creature he stops being vulnerable to damage but becomes vulnerable to kill spells - if you're facing black, that might be necessary. Or if you're facing down Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. His +3 ability is basically "hahahaha oh it's adorable that you think you can have a planeswalker too."

One of my favorite cards against Nicol Bolas is Reknit, because they never see it coming. It's even more fun if you manage to give it shroud(or hexproof) after that.

[JackSlack]

OK. So let's say I have a creature enchanted with both Celestial Mantle and Steel of the Godhead. It therefore has lifelink and Celestial Mantle's unique ability.

Which fires first? Does lifelink go off, and then that life given get doubled by the Mantle, or does the player's life double, THEN gain the life from lifelink?

[tamaness]

I know MTGO has you order the triggers so they go off in whatever order you want. I'm not sure how the paper deals with multiple triggers.

[Jenelmo]

Lifelink isn't a trigger anymore, and happens as you deal damage

[tamaness]

Okay, so Lifelink happens during the combat damage step, and then triggered abilities go off?

[SilPho]

Yes, Lifelink increases your life total at the same time as damage being dealt to other things. It is not a triggered ability itself. Once damage has been dealt, state-based-actions are checked (which destroys any creatures with lethal damage) and any then triggered abilities waiting to go onto the stack are put there.

All of this happens during the "Combat Damage Step". That step starts with damage being dealt and then allows players to act. Kind of like the draw step in that regard.

[Volafortis]

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I shall have to try and find a new way to combat my mate's Flyover deck.

There aren't a lot of green flyers, but there are so many reach creatures. Then there are all the green flyer-hate spells (destroy target flying creature, like Plummet or Pistus Strike, deal X damage to all flyers, like Windstorm or Corrosive Gale) and general permanent destruction like Beast Within or a summoned Terastodon. Or make it bite him in the backside - Bower Passage or Dense Canopy will make your creatures unblockable to his flyers.

It's funny how often I need to make this correction, but Terastodon doesn't work on creatures.

[Graham]

I saw something earlier in the thread that I'm going to stress an FYI.

If you block with a creature, and then sacrifice or flicker that creature, the block still happens, but no damage is dealt between the creatures. We know that.

If the attacking creature has TRAMPLE, then ALL the damage still goes right through to the player. Meaning there is NO good reason to block and sac, or block and flicker. It's a waste of a card or a creature.

Seen this mistake in AVR drafting a couple times already.

[Dracs]

sorry to sound ignorant but what is it meant when you say drafting? I'm really new to card games like this.

[Jenelmo]

Taken from WOTC own Website:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Resources.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/resources/formats-sanctioned#limited

What is Booster Draft?

Have a group of friends who want to enjoy playing a format together? Booster Draft is exactly the format you're looking for! Instead of just opening your cards and building a deck, you and the other players at the table (four to eight total) have to draft the cards for your decks.

At the start of a Booster Draft, each player opens a booster pack and picks the card he or she wants from it. (You can't see the cards that the other players draft.) Then each player passes the rest of the pack to his or her left. You pick up the pack that was passed to you, select a card, and pass the rest to your left. This process continues until all the cards have been drafted. Next, each player opens a second pack, but this time, you pass the pack to your right. After all those cards are drafted, you open the third pack and pass to the left again.


Once all the packs have been drafted, players build decks from the cards they selected, adding as many basic lands (Plains, Islands, Swamps, Mountains, and Forests) to their decks as they like. Each deck must have at least 40 cards.

Each pair of players then plays a match, which consists of the best two out of three games. In the next round, the winners play against other winners (and the losers against the losers, if you like). The player who wins all three rounds—or all three matches—is the winner. It's a great way to spend a few hours with your buddies.

[Dracs]

Sounds good, thanks for clearing that up for me.

[Under_Score]

This sounds like something that was probably asked before, but if a creature has an ability, and you give that creature protection from its own color, does that mean it can't use the ability on itself?

[Geoff_B]

Ooh I asked that question! I believe the answer was it can still use its ability.

[SilPho]

Generally it's not a problem, but it will be if the ability says 'Target'.

Stillmoon Cavalier, for example, can use any of its own abilities because they don't do anything Protection would prevent.

Eight-and-a-half Tails on the other hand could not use its first ability on itself twice.

[Under_Score]

Alright, thanks. That makes sense. And yeah, it sounds like something that would come up often enough, I just happened to think of it and didn't remember seeing it asked.

[vxicepickxv]

OK. So let's say I have a creature enchanted with both Celestial Mantle and Steel of the Godhead. It therefore has lifelink and Celestial Mantle's unique ability.

Which fires first? Does lifelink go off, and then that life given get doubled by the Mantle, or does the player's life double, THEN gain the life from lifelink?

As stated, lifelink goes off with the damage, but if you had armadillo cloak on the creature, then you would have to stack the triggers in the order of your choice. I would stack the Mantle first, so it's on the bottom. Then you would gain life from the cloak, then double your life total.

[CompletelyUnsure]

I have an EDH question, based off a real experienced. Do colors mentioned by word in the text count as color identity. For example, does Angel's Tomb (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/ ... eid=240059) count of a white card?

[SilPho]

The Color Identity (or "Colour" if you prefer) is only determined by the mana symbols on the card, nothing else. (But ignore any reminder text, Trinisphere is not a black card )

Angel's Tomb is simply a colourless card.

[tamaness]

I thought color was determined by the colors in the casting cost of the card, unless the text states otherwise (E.G "This card is white in addition to its other colors").

Is Bump in the Night Black/Red because it's got a red activated ability?

[dackwards d]

I thought color was determined by the colors in the casting cost of the card, unless the text states otherwise (E.G "This card is white in addition to its other colors").

Yeah, Bump is just black. EDH complicates the colour thing a little though. The cards are still their normal colour but may have a different 'Colour Identity' based on any other mana symbols on the card. When you're building an EDH deck you can only include mana symbols that are the same colour as your commander, or colourless. For example if your commander was just black Bump would be disallowed (as it has red mana in it's activated ability), and Avatar of Discord (which costs three red/black hybrid mana) wouldn't be legal because even though it can be cast purely on black it still has red mana in it's casting cost. If the commander was both red and black both would be allowed.

[tamaness]

Ok, so "color identity," being the combined colors of all mana symbols on the card shouldn't be used interchangeably with "color," the color of the card based solely on the color of mana in its casting cost, as they are two different concepts?

[dackwards d]

Meh, I just reused the term colour identity because it was used before, I've never heard it actually called that before. It might be the 'official' term, but I don't think it's important. When it comes to deck creation you only need to consider one and when it comes to actual game play you only need to consider the other, so it doesn't really matter. If someone said "I'm making a mono-black commander deck, it's a shame Bump is off colour because it's totally OP" it's pretty clear what they mean.