Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 16:47:18 +0100 From: Paul Barclay Subject: [O] NetRep Reply 526 ======================================================================= NetRep Reply number 526 to the Magic: the Gathering List ======================================================================= This reply covers the digests: MTG-L Digest - 19 Mar 2000 to 20 Mar 2000 (#2000-83) MTG-L Digest - 20 Mar 2000 to 21 Mar 2000 (#2000-84) MTG-L Digest - 21 Mar 2000 to 22 Mar 2000 (#2000-85) MTG-L Digest - 22 Mar 2000 to 23 Mar 2000 (#2000-86) MTG-L Digest - 23 Mar 2000 to 24 Mar 2000 (#2000-87) MTG-L Digest - 24 Mar 2000 to 25 Mar 2000 (#2000-88) Older replies may be found at: http://www.second-hand.demon.co.uk ftp://ftp.magic.asuka.net http://yavapai.ccgnews.com http://www.en.magic.asuka.net SHORT ANSWERS: ======================================================================= ** Battle Royale gives several suggestions for multiplayer rules. However, there are no official multiplayer rules, mainly because there are no official multiplayer tournaments. ** Classic, Urza's Sage, Legacy and Destiny, Mercadian Masques and Nemesis are Standard (Type 2) legal. ** If you find an error in WotC's website, you can e-mail webmaster@wizards.com to get it fixed. ** Abilities are _not_ dependent on their source at all (well, the source must obviously be in play when you play the ability, but other than that...). Destroying the source will not affect the ability at all. LONG ANSWERS: ======================================================================= [Charles Bienvenue, asking about responding to abilities] >My friend tap my arena can i use is ability in fast effect You can _respond_ to your friend's tapping of your Arena by using its ability. >I used arena and i choose my baron sengir .... do the sengir get +2/+2 for >killing the creature Yes, it will. The Baron dealt damage to the creature, and the creature died, so the Baron's ability will trigger. ----- [Kathie Richardson, writing about the MIE] >Currently, there is a ladder series being set up, and a Sealed Deck League >is in the works. Visit the Team MtG homepage at >http://teammtg.virtualave.net/ for more info regarding online play. This >site has a message board for any questions you might have. And it's all >free! Kathy, while this advert is relevant (telling people about a useful resource is definitely on-topic), it is not written in a way that makes it clear that it is an advert. This is bad, and certainly contravenes all sorts of rules about advertising in public media. If you want to tell people about something like this, a much less conversational style is needed. The paragraph I quoted above is great - the paragraphs I snipped are not so good. ----- [Bob Terrell, asking about protection] >I have a couple ideas about what "protection" could do, and based on one >response, I think they might work. I'd like to see stuff like this put into >real Magic cards. What do you think? > >Protection from a creature type (a Mercenary with Pro: Rebels) There's nothing rules-wise stopping this from happening (R&D may not like the idea, as it could be confusing). >Protection on non-creature permanents (A Pro: White No Mercy?) Again, nothing rules-wise against this, although this is unlikely to happen on an actual card. >Protection on non-permanents (A Pro: Blue Shock) This is never going to happen. Look at Scragnoth and similar cards to see how we do "protection from counterspells". It's generally "X cannot be countered". >Protection from card types (Pro: Instants) Slightly harder to justify rules-wise, but there's nothing theoretically stopping it. As you said, Protection from Artifacts already exists, and "Protection from Deserts" has been suggested for Desert Nomads in the past. ----- [Santeri Inka, asking some questions] >1. A friend Boey played Counterspell as an Instant to counter an >Artifact Creature. Although all the others disagreed with that, they decided >to allow it until an answer came from higher authorities than us on MTG. :) If he was countering the spell as it was being cast, then yes, that's legal. If he was trying to counterspell the permanent in play, no, that's not legal. >2. Can Trap Runner block creatures with flying? No. It doesn't have flying. However, it can use its ability to make the creature become blocked. ----- [Santeri Inka, asking about Trample] >Hi, thanks for replying to my question. Another bit cropped up today, where >my friends insisted that Trap Runner could _only_ block _unblockable_ >creatures. I was using its ability to block a Rushwood Elemental (if I am >not mistaken--it had trample). I believe Trap Runner can block any single >creature without taking damage as long as you tap it correctly. Who's >right? You'll still take all the damage, as it has Trample, and the total toughness of all the creatures blocking it is 0. >Also, I would like to know, if a creature without trample is blocked (say a >Wind Sprite 4/4 is blocked by a Scryb Sprite 1/1), does the rest of the >damage (3 points) go to the defending player? Or is that only when the Wind >Sprite has trample? Only if the Wind Sprite has Trample - that's what Trample _does_. ----- [Chris Whitcomb, asking about Saproling Burst] >If I were to remove the last fade counter from the SB, >would I be able to sacrifice the last Sap token to an >effect before it and its buddies die from zero >toughness? No. Death from 0 toughness is a State-Based Effect. The other 6 Saproling tokens will die when the counter is removed. The 7th token will die as soon as it comes into play. ----- [Ron Rabaut, asking about the Silver Rule] >I have a Seal of Cleansing in play. My opponent has a Seal of Removal in >play. He attempts to use his removal, I respond with my cleansing. Will >that stop the removal's effects? No. You can't respond by using your Seal of Cleansing on the Seal of Removal, as the Seal of Removal is in the graveyard - it was sacrificed when its ability was activated. Even if you could respond, it would have no effect on the Seal of Removal's ability. Once an ability has been put onto the Stack, doing anything to its source will not do anything to the ability. >If not, does this mean that any ability of any permanent that is activated >will eventually resolve no matter what (assuming the ability has legal >targets upon resolution)? That's correct. The only way to stop an ability from resolving is to counter it. ----- [Damon Rippie, asking about control] >Removing a zirilan of the claw in response to using its ability will not >stop the dragon from being removed from the game, because the ability is >independent of the zirilan being in play. Right? Correct. >However, with control permanents such as coffin queen, seasinger, >Merieke ri Berit, Rubaniana Soulsinger, Rootwater Matriarch, etc the >controlled creature is dependant on some condition that the control >permanent is in. But if the control permanent is removed in response >to playing its ability the ability won't ever "see" the control >permanent and will allow you to control the controlled creature without >the restrictions the control permanent placed on it. Right? No. There's a rule that states that if an effect's duration ends before the effect begins, then the effect never happens at all. This is specifically to cover the case you mentioned. >On the other hand, when I checked the current wording for coffin queen, >I noticed that it didn't have "as long as" after the ability. Also, >Rootwater Matriarch doesn't mention anything about untapping or >removal. So would not my reasoning still apply to those creatures? Coffin Queen is a special case - if you remove the Queen before its ability resolves, then the creature will come into play and stay in play. Rootwater Matriarch says "Gain control of target creature as long as it is enchanted." So, its duration is dependent on the creature being enchanted, not on the Matriarch still being in play. Paul. - ------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Paul Barclay -- paul@second-hand.demon.co.uk -- Mobile: 0958-980180 - - DCI Level 3 judge ---- http://www.second-hand.demon.co.uk/index.htm - - Official MTG-L Network Representative for Wizards of the Coast, Inc -