Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 08:35:50 +0100 From: Paul Barclay Subject: [O] NetRep Reply 555 ======================================================================= NetRep Reply number 555 to the Magic: the Gathering List ======================================================================= This reply covers the digests: MTG-L Digest - 30 Jun 2000 to 1 Jul 2000 (#2000-207) MTG-L Digest - 1 Jul 2000 to 2 Jul 2000 (#2000-208) MTG-L Digest - 2 Jul 2000 to 3 Jul 2000 (#2000-209) MTG-L Digest - 3 Jul 2000 to 4 Jul 2000 (#2000-210) MTG-L Digest - 4 Jul 2000 to 5 Jul 2000 (#2000-211) Older replies may be found at: http://www.second-hand.demon.co.uk ftp://ftp.magic.asuka.net http://www.yavapaiopen.com http://www.en.magic.asuka.net http://www.wizards.com/dci/judge/judgelistarchive.asp LONG ANSWERS: ======================================================================= [Ron Rabaut, asking about damage prevention] >I designed a deck that uses damage prevention creatures like the Sanctum >Custodian in combination with Reveille Squads. My question is: Upon my >opponent's declaration of Combat Phase, can I tap all of my damage >prevention creatures to prevent damage to myself then untap them during the >Declare Attackers step (assuming he has attacking creatures) using my >non-tapped Reveille Squad, then using them to block, then tap them again to >prevent even more damage? Yes. You can even wait to see what creatures your opponent attacks with, then tap the creatures in response to the triggered ability of each Reveille Squad. ----- [Talon, asking about Royal Assassins] > An opponent of mine had a creature with instill energy on it and I had a >royal assassin untapped and available. Can my opponent attack with that >creature and untap it thusly making my assassins 'tap to destroy tapped >creature' virtually useless against it??? Well, if your opponent waits, then she can respond to the Assassin's ability and that ability will be countered. > Or if my opponent opts to use the >instill energy do I get a chance to put the assassins ability on the stack >and resolve it before my opponents creature becomes untapped??? That's correct. ----- [Alex Howes, asking about Wooden Spheres] > The fifth Edition Wooden sphere, Iron Star, Ivory >Cup, Crystal rod, and throne of bone say that you can gain 1 life >whenever a certain color spell is played. It says you may only do this >once on the fifth. On the sixth edition versions of these cards it dose >not say that the ability can only be played once. Is there errata on >them? No. The 6E versions of these cards don't need this wording - they have a triggered ability, and therefore only trigger once per spell, so you can't gain more than 1 life per spell from each of them. ----- [Marco Viggiano, asking about prereleases] >in last expansion pre-release tournament (Prophecy) those who attended >(myself included) received 1 MM 75 card pack and 2 Prophecy Booster, in >next pre-release (Invasion correct me please if i'm wrong) what are going >to play with? 1 Invasion Tournament Pack and 2 Invasion boosters (note: the Prophecy prereleases should normally have used 3, not 2 Prophecy boosters). ----- [Matthew Sach, asking about two Blinding Angels] >The relevant part of Blinding Angel reads: "Whenever Blinding Angel deals >combat damage to a player, that player skips his or her next combat phase." >The important part, as I see it, is "next". > >At the point where they set up a delayed ability, could it be interpreted as >them both seeing the "next" combat phase as the one they are to skip? No. They don't look for any combat phases. They just each force you to skip your next one that would happen, not the next one that's schedules at the time the ability resolves. For example, if you played Relentless Assault during your first Main Phase, then you'd skip that combat phase, and then your normal combat phase (with two Angels). >As a backup to this argument that I presented to them, I used Necropotence >and Fasting. While Necropotence means you skip your draw step, it is still >possible to use Fasting to skip that same draw step before Necropotence >makes you do so, without having the skipping happen for the next turns >after Necro leaves play (where is the number of times you used Fasting's >ability with Necro in play). Correct. But it is also possible to use Necropotence to skip the draw step, and this will mean that you'll skip an additional draw step when Necropotence leaves play. ----- [Heldrik Lynch, asking some questions] >1.- My opponent declares his attack with a Mogg Fanatic and a Mogg >Flunkies, I in response cast Sword to Plowshares targetting the Fanatic, >and declare no blockers. Do I receive the 3 damage from the Flunkies? Or is >the attack ('cause of the Flunkies ability) void/null? You let the creatures attack, so you're still taking damage from the Flunkies. >2.- My opponent has Masticore in play. I have a 1/1 creature in play. At >the beginning of his upkeep he taps 2 lands to use the Masticore ability to >do 1 damage to my creature, then he says he doesn't discard a card, and the >Masticore dies. Is this legal? Yes. >3.- Does Powder Keg with 0 counters on it, destroys tokens? A Forced March >with the X cost being 0 does? does both destroys animated lands? Yes, yes and yes. >4.- I have a plain with black border, no expansion symbol, the art features >a field of Sunflowers by Ron Spears, the copyright is 1997... does anyone >knows where this lands come from? It's a promotional land, one of the Asia Pacific (APAC) lands. ----- [Bob Terrell, complaining at the high cost of Angels] >> 4WW for it would have been okay. > >Agreed. > >Note to Wizards: analyze your casting costs when stuff gets complicated. I'm >surprised no one there thought of this. Blinding Angel is an above-average Angel. The five Voices are below- average Angels. R&D takes very great care when costing spells (and abilities). ----- [Johan Sonck, asking about Chains of Mephistopheles] >If a player would draw a card except the first one of his or her draw >step, that player discards a card from his or her hand instead. If the >player discards a card, he or she draws a card. If the player doesn't >discard a card, he or she puts the top card of his or her library into >his or her graveyard. > >I had a really hard time explaining to someone why this card didn't >create a infinite loop. Now, could someone explain it to me? Replacement effects will never replace the same event more than once. ----- [Glenn, asking about DCI judge certification] >I am hoping to go for my level I certification soon. Can anyone out there >point out what exactly what is covered within the exam (i.e. do I need to have >the entire Penalty Guideline's memorized?) You need to look at http://www.wizards.com/dci/judge for the full list of requirements for each level. You need to have a good knowledge of the penalty guidelines, but you never have to have them completely memorised. ----- [Stuart Kahler, talking about judging] >If you have a good sense of fairness and strongly understand the basic >rules of Magic, you should pass the level 1 exam. Go through the Netrep >replies from Paul Barclay for the past few months and make sure you >understand all the questions in it that don't involve copy cards. The >DCI is not looking for people who _are_ good judges, they are looking >for people who _will be_ good judges. Well said. Although, of course we'll accept people who are good judges already, too. ----- [Michel Meijer, asking about Wildfire] >A short question: I play Wildfire, opponent has 3 lands. What happens >exactly? He tries to sacrifice 4 lands, but can't, so he sacrifices as many as possible (3 in this case). ----- [Greg Janson, asking about Stangg and Single Elimiation] >When Stangg comes into play, put a 3/4 red and green Stangg-Twin creature >token into play. >When Stangg leaves play, remove Stangg-Twin from the game. >When Stangg-Twin leaves play, sacrifice Stangg. > >Based on this wording, it seems to me like if you play a second Stangg, you >will get to keep his twin in play. Am I wrong and if so, what am I missing? You're correct. Stangg is badly worded. This needs to be made more clear. I'll ask. >Playing in single elimination rounds (top8, etc.) after swiss. These rounds >are untimed. After three games the score is 1 win 1 loss 1 draw. Do we play >another full game or do some sort of life-total first-blood shenanigans? Another full game. In Single Elimitation with time limits, if the match ends at 1-1-1 or 2-2-1 before the time runs out, then you play another game. Carry on playing more games until there is a difference in the number of games won by the two players or you decide to call 30 minutes left in the round, and move to timed rounds). In Swiss, if the match finishes at 1-1-1, then the match is over and is a draw. ----- [David Sachs, talking about expansions] >in the latest (August 2000) Topdeck, the code name for the 2001 full >expansion is revealed as "Argon". > >As I am sure everyone knows, ARGON is Greek for "does nothing"; this is why >Argon is element 18, The first of the noble gases discovered. Well, the expansion before that is named "Apocalypse", so I don't think we need to worry about the name "Argon", do we. Paul. - ------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Paul Barclay -- paul@second-hand.demon.co.uk -- Phone: 07939 081819 - - DCI Level 3 judge ---- http://www.second-hand.demon.co.uk/index.htm - - Official MTG-L Network Representative for Wizards of the Coast, Inc -