Frequently Asked Questions General Questions "Sleeping" Enchantments Q: Do sleeping enchantments still count as enchantments once they have turned into creatures? A: No. Effects that change the type of a permanent replace the old type with the new one unless the effect says that it still counts as the other type. This is a change from previous Magic® sets, in which the old permanent type persisted unless otherwise specified. Cycling Q: Can I counter cycling with interrupts that counter spells? A: No. Cycling is an ability, not a spell. Echo Q: What happens if I play Binding Grasp, the ability of Legacy's Allure, and so on to steal an opponent's creature with echo? A: The echo cost must be paid the first turn after you gain control of the creature, so you must either pay the cost at that time or sacrifice the creature. Card-Specific Questions Absolute Law, Absolute Grace Q: Do my opponents' creatures gain protection too? A: Yes. All creatures in play gain protection from red or black, respectively. Defensive Formation Q: Can I apply more damage to a creature than its toughness? A: Yes. However, you must still follow the trample rules for assigning damage. See the Urza's Saga rules insert for more information. Humble Q: Do counters on the creature still apply? A: The same rulings as for Humility apply to this card. Counters on the enchanted creature that change its power and/or toughness won't have any effect. Other counters may (for example, magnet counters). Q: Do enchantments and other abilities played on the creature before Humble still apply once Humble is played? A: Enchantments that just modify power and/or toughness, or that use the word "gain" when describing what happens to the creature, won't have any further effect. Other enchantments do, such as Pacifism. Q: Can you play spells and abilities later to increase the creature's power and/or toughness? A: Yes. As always, all spells and abilities played after Humble will adjust the creature's 0/1 power and toughness. However, counters that alter power and toughness will have no effect. Intrepid Hero Q: If I cast Shrink or another such instant to reduce the power of a creature in response to my opponent playing Intrepid Hero's ability, does it save my creature? A: Yes, the creature's power is checked when Intrepid Hero's effect resolves. If the creature's power drops below 4 before resolution, the effect fails. Monk Idealist Q: Can I play Monk Idealist if there are no enchantments in my graveyard? A: Yes. If there are no enchantments in your graveyard, you simply ignore the ability. Monk Realist Q: Can I play Monk Realist if there are no enchantments in play? Do I have to destroy an enchantment? A: You must destroy an enchantment if there is one in play. If there are none, you simply ignore the ability. Opal Acrolith, Opal Archangel, Opal Caryatid, Opal Titan, Opal Gargoyle Q: Can I target an Opal enchantment with Cloudchaser Eagle's or Monk Realist's coming-into-play ability? A: No. When the creature becomes successfully cast, the Opal card "wakes up" and becomes a creature, so it's no longer a valid target. Pariah Q: Can I play this enchantment on my opponent's creature? A: Yes, and "you" still refers to the controller of the enchantment, not the creature. Presence of the Master Q: Does this counter enchantments that come into play from Show and Tell? A: No. Those enchantments are not cast and therefore cannot be countered. Serra Avatar Q: Do Serra Avatar's power and toughness change when my life total changes or are they set when the creature comes into play? A: Its power and toughness continually change to reflect the current life total of its controller. Soul Sculptor Q: Does the creature targeted by Soul Sculptor's ability still count as a creature? A: No. Effects that change the type of a permanent replace the old type with the new one unless the effect says that it still counts as the other type. This is a change from previous Magic sets, in which the old permanent type persisted unless otherwise specified. Q: Do the enchantments do anything? A: No, they are simply enchantments that have no other function. Arcane Laboratory Q: Can this stop mana source spells from being played? A: No spells or abilities can stop mana source spells. However, if a mana source spell is played first, no other spells (other than mana sources) may be played that same turn. Confiscate Q: If I control a local enchantment (like an enchant creature) with this spell, can I choose a new target for it? A: No. The permanent's target, if it has one, stays the same. Q: What happens if I take control of a permanent that targets me and says "target opponent"? A: If the permanent targets you (such as Black Vise) then it continues to affect you; the target was "locked in" on casting, and it doesn't matter whether you're still an opponent. (In the same way, "destroy that creature at end of turn" effects still work even if the permanent stops being a creature before then.) If an ability of the permanent targets an opponent, then the permanent's controller chooses a new target each time the ability is played. Curfew Q: Who chooses what creature to unsummon first? A: The active player chooses first. Exhaustion Q: When will the creatures and lands untap? Ever? A: They skip only the next untap phase. After that they'll untap as normal. Fog Bank Q: What happens when Fog Bank blocks a creature with trample? A: All the damage will be applied to the defending player, since none can be dealt to Fog Bank. Lingering Mirage Q: When Lingering Mirage turns a land into island, what can the land do? A: It loses all previous abilities and gains the ability to be tapped for blue mana, just like any other island. Power Taint Q: Who does what when, exactly? A: Power Taint is played on another enchantment, usually an opponent's. During the upkeep of the other enchantment's controller, that player must pay o2 or lose 2 life. The player can choose to pay the mana cost at any time during upkeep, however. Rewind Q: When do the lands untap? A: They untap when the spell resolves. Somnophore Q: Can Somnophore "lock down" more than one creature? A: Yes. It'll tap and keep tapped a new creature each time it deals damage, if there's a creature to target. Q: Can you choose the same creature more than once? A: Yes-in fact, you have to if the defending player controls no other creatures. Stern Proctor Q: Can you play Stern Proctor if there are no artifacts or enchantments in play? A: Yes. If there are no legal targets for the Proctor's ability, simply ignore it. Tolarian Winds Q: Does Tolarian Winds count as one of the cards I discard? A: No. When Tolarian Winds resolves, it is no longer part of your hand. Veil of Birds, Veiled Serpent, Veiled Apparition, Veiled Sentry, Veiled Crocodile Q: Can I Disenchant a Veiled enchantment? A: No. When the spell becomes successfully cast, the Veiled enchantment "wakes up" and is no longer a valid target for Disenchant. Lurking Evil Q: Can I "wake up" Lurking Evil if I have no life or am at negative life? A: Yes. In that case, you simply pay 0 life to play the enchantment's ability. Oppression Q: What if a player casts a spell when he or she doesn't have any more cards in hand? A: The ability of Oppression is ignored. Persecute Q: Can I choose "colorless" or "artifact" as a color? A: No. There are only five color words: white, blue, black, red, and green. Q: Are lands discarded? A: No, since lands are colorless cards and "colorless" cannot be chosen. Spined Fluke Q: What happens if there aren't any other creatures in play when I play Spined Fluke? A: You must sacrifice Spined Fluke to satisfy its coming-into-play ability. Tainted Æther Q: What happens when a creature comes into play and there are no lands or other creatures for its controller to sacrifice? A: If there aren't any lands or other creatures in play, the creature's controller sacrifices the creature that just came into play to satisfy Tainted Æther's ability. Victimize Q: If Victimize is countered, do I still have to sacrifice a creature? A: No, the sacrifice is part of the spell's effect, which doesn't take place if the spell is countered. Q: Can I bring back the creature I just sacrificed? A: No, you choose the targets before putting the creature into the graveyard. Destructive Urge Q: If the damaged player controls no lands, what happens? A: The ability of the enchanted creature is ignored. Fire Ants Q: If I play Spirit Link on Fire Ants, how much life do I gain when the Ants's ability is played? A: Spirit Link's controller gains 1 life for each creature that is dealt damage by Fire Ants. Goblin Lackey Q: What is a "Goblin card" exactly? A: Any card that reads "Summon Goblin" in its summon line or whose first line of rules text says that it "counts as a Goblin." Goblin Offensive Q: Do the token creatures count as Goblins? A: Yes. A token's name also defines its creature type. Rain of Salt Q: Can I destroy fewer than two lands? A: No. You must choose exactly two lands. You may choose a land you control, if you like. In fact, you must if you can't satisfy the requirement with opponents' lands. Shower of Sparks Q: Does there have to be a creature in play when I play the spell? A: Yes, you must fulfill all of the spell's targeting requirements in order to play it. Q: If the target creature is removed from play before Shower of Sparks resolves, will the spell still deal 1 damage to the target player or does it fizzle? A: The damage is still dealt. A spell fizzles only when all of its targets are removed or made illegal. Sulfuric Vapors Q: If Sulfuric Vapors is in play and I deal 3 damage with Incinerate to a target, then Healing Salve is played to prevent 3 damage, how much damage is successfully dealt? A: The net damage is 1. Sulfuric Vapors adds the additional damage before damage-prevention abilities are played. A spell or ability deals damage when it is played, and any relevant effects trigger at that time. After all damage-prevention effects have resolved, any remaining damage is considered successfully dealt. At that time, effects that trigger on successfully dealt damage occur. Abundance Q: What does "choose land or nonland" mean? Doesn't that cover everything? A: It means you must choose one of two possible types of card: land or nonland. Once you have chosen one or the other, reveal cards until a card of the chosen kind is revealed. So if you chose land, you would reveal cards until you reach a land card. If you chose nonland, reveal cards until you reach the first one that isn't a land. Blanchwood Armor Q: Does the +X/+X bonus lock in when I play the enchantment? A: No. The bonus continually changes to reflect the number of forests you currently control. Carpet of Flowers Q: Can I use this ability more than once a turn? A: No. It is a phase ability, so you can use it only once during each of your main phases. Q: Is this ability played as a mana source? A: No. Phase abilities follow the rules for instants. Fertile Ground Q: When do I choose what color of additional mana the enchanted land produces? A: Each time you tap the land for mana, you choose the color of the additional mana. Q: If there's a Mana Flare in play when I tap a land enchanted with Fertile Ground, what color is the extra mana from the Mana Flare? A: It's the color of the land's normal mana. This is just like Wild Growth on a mountain when Mana Flare is in play: you get RRG, not RGG. Treefolk Seedlings Q: Does Treefolk Seedlings's toughness lock in when I bring it into play? A: No. The creature's toughness continually changes to reflect the number of forests you currently control. War Dance Q: What can I do with the +X/+X counters? Can a Spike move them around? A: There are no counters once you play the enchantment's ability. The counters on War Dance determine the size of the bonus conferred when the enchantment is sacrificed; that bonus lasts until the end of the turn. Chimeric Staff Q: Can I keep "pumping" the Chimeric Staff? Say I pay 3 to make it a 3/3 creature; if I later pay 2 more, will it be a 5/5? A: No. Each time you play Chimeric Staff's ability, this resets its power and toughness. If you paid 2 to play the ability when it was already a 3/3 creature, you'd turn it into a 2/2 creature. Lifeline Q: For the creature to return to play, does there have to be a creature still in play at the end of the turn? A: No. There needs to be another creature in play only when the creature was put to the graveyard, triggering Lifeline's ability. Once triggered, the effect will resolve at the appropriate time (the end of the turn), even if there aren't any creatures in play. Q: If Lifeline is removed from play before the end of the turn, does the creature still come back? A: Yes. The effect is locked in once the ability has triggered. Metrognome Q: If Metrognome is destroyed or sacrificed, do I get the Gnome tokens? A: No. The tokens are only granted if Metrognome is discarded from your hand. Once the card is in play, that ability does nothing. Mobile Fort Q: Can I play Mobile Fort's ability three times to give it +15/-5 all at once? A: No. You can use the ability only once each turn. Purging Scythe Q: Can I use Purging Scythe to destroy all creatures in play by playing its ability over and over? A: No. This is a phase ability, so it can be used only once during each of your upkeep phases. © 2009 Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a division of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved.