Rules Questions, Answered

[thatjudgejosh]

Your friendly local DCI judge is here to answer your Magic rules questions.

If you are confused about anything that comes up in your games or you read on a card, feel free to ask.

[rebmonk]

Can you provide links to the basic rule set and the full rule set?

If I have multiple things happen at the beginning of my upkeep, do they happen simultaneously or can I choose in what order they happen?




So For example can I use followed footsteps first on the rhino and then that copy triggers to make another copy of itself?





I use Venser's top ability to "bounce" puppeteer clique. During the beginning of the end step puppeteer clique enters play. His trigger goes off and I bring someones creature into play under my control. At the end of the end step the creature gets removed from the game. Correct?

- EDIT - So I found the comprehensive rules and am reading them. It says that any "end of turn ability" enters the field or triggers during the end step, then it happens during the next end step. So from this reading, if every turn I use Venser's ability to "bounce" puppeteer clique, then the creatures would never become exiled because he is never on the field before the start of the end step. OR since it says the trigger happens during the next end step, they would simply be exiled during my next end step? Finally, if puppeteer clique died during a turn that i brought a creature back, would I get to keep it and he wouldn't be exiled?

Do cards removed from play retain their counters, if they were tapped or not, and with the new innistrad cards remain flipped or not?

[rebmonk]

Thanks for doing this Josh. This is Jay/Shrek btw. And I know from experience that Josh knows his stuff, so you can definitively trust him.



Does Deathbringer liege's ability trigger off of himself? If I play a white/black card can i tap a creature and then kill it because it goes off both his abilities.



Omg I just re-read Oona She doesn't mill cards, she removes them from the game!!! This girl just got way better.

[thatjudgejosh]

Ok, so let me take these one at a time.

"Can you provide links to the basic rule set and the full rule set?"

You can find the rules here: www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Article.aspx?x=magic/rules

"If I have multiple things happen at the beginning of my upkeep, do they happen simultaneously or can I choose in what order they happen?"

When things happen simultaneously, they all see each other happen, and they all trigger at the same time. HOWEVER, they still go on the Stack in a particular order:
First, the Active Player (the one whose turn it is) puts all of his abilities on the stack. Then, Non-Active players put all their abilities onto the stack in their chosen orders, going around the table clockwise. Once all of these simultaneously triggered events are on the stack, then the active player gets priority, and the game continues as normal, resolving the abilities on the stack in the opposite order they were put on. (So the player to the right of the Active Player will have his triggered abilities resolve first, if he had any.)

"So For example can I use followed footsteps first on the rhino and then that copy triggers to make another copy of itself?"

No. Both Followed Footsteps and the Rhino trigger at the beginning of your upkeep. By the time these triggered abilities resolve and the copies are in play, it's part the beginning of your upkeep, so they don't trigger again until the next turn. You will get three copies next turn though if they all survive.

"I use Venser's top ability to "bounce" puppeteer clique. During the beginning of the end step puppeteer clique enters play. His trigger goes off and I bring someones creature into play under my control. At the end of the end step the creature gets removed from the game. Correct?"

This is an issue of old card templating. "At end of turn" now reads "At the beginning of the end step." Just like the upkeep question, once the beginning of the end step has caused things to happen, it's done triggering for the turn. Clique will return a creature to play, and that creature will be exiled at the beginning of your next end step. This is a good time to mention that reading the oracle text of a card will often clear up confusing issue caused by the text templates of older cards.

[thatjudgejosh]

"Does Deathbringer liege's ability trigger off of himself?"

No. In order for his abilities to trigger, he must be on the battlefield. When you play him, he isn't yet on the battlefield; he's on the stack.

"If I play a white/black card can i tap a creature and then kill it because it goes off both his abilities."

Yes. You may choose to put his second ability onto the stack then his first ability targeting the same creature, if you play a spell that is both black and white. His first ability will resolve, tapping the creature. Then, assuming nothing causes the creature to untap, when his second ability resolves he will destroy that create because it is tapped.

[rebmonk]

so turn 1:
venser bounces puppeteer clique
puppeteer clique comes into play
creature 1 enters the battlefield

turn 2
venser bounces pupeteer clique
puppeteer clique enters battlefield at end of turn
creature 2 enters battlefield
creature 1 gets exiled?

[thatjudgejosh]

That is correct.

[thatjudgejosh]

From discussions last night at the store, it seems like people don't have a full understanding of the way Auras work, so here's the short version:

1) When you cast an Aura, you must choose a target. When the aura comes into play, if that object is still a legal target (i.e., it still exists, doesn't have protection from the aura, and may be the target of spells and abilities) the aura comes into play attached to that target. If that target is not legal, the aura spell will be countered because it has no legal targets.
2) When an Aura is put directly into play WITHOUT being cast, its controller chooses an object it could be attached to, and the aura comes into play attached to that object. This effect does not target, but you still can't attach an Aura with "Enchant a creature you control" to a creature someone else controls.
3) When an Aura changes controllers, it stays attached to the object to which it was originally attached. If that would make the enchanted permanent an illegal choice (maybe because it says "Enchant a creature you control" and the aura's new controller is not the creature's controller) then the aura will be put into the graveyard as a state based action. (It isn't destroyed. It's just put in the graveyard, just like with the Legend Rule.)

Related to this, if an aura you don't control gives creature lifelink to a creature you do control, YOU gain the life. On the other hand, if the aura says "Whenever enchanted creature deals damage, you gain that much life" the AURA'S CONTROLLER will be the one to gain the life.