This content was originally included in an issue of Duelist magazine. The original article can be accessed via Internet Archive here.

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Main Magazine Page: The Duelist #19

A Summary of Recent, Significant Rulings

Compiled by Tom Wylie

General Rulings

The following rulings are meant to clarify the rulebook and how the game works in general.

1) Does Cursed Totem prevent me from using a Necrosavant’s ability while the Necrosavant is in the graveyard?

No. Abilities that can be played when the card is not in play, such as pitching Elvish Spirit Guide for mana or putting Necrosavant into play from the graveyard, are not creature abilities, artifact abilities, and so on, because at the time they are played, the cards are not creatures, artifacts, and so forth. Instead, these abilities are creature-card abilities, artifact-card abilities, and so on. Thus, effects such as Gloom’s and Cursed Totem’s do not affect them.

2) If I play Kismet on my opponent, does this cause all of his or her permanents to phase in tapped?

No. When a permanent phases in, all abilities relevant to that permanent coming into play are ignored. For example, Nevinyrral’s Disk doesn’t automatically phase in tapped, Kismet doesn’t affect permanents phasing in, and Zombie Mob’s power and toughness (and its removal of summon cards from the graveyard) are not redetermined each time it phases in.

3) If a 1/1 Maro and an opposing Soldevi Sentry are killed by lethal damage at the same time, can drawing a card due to the Sentry’s regeneration save Maro?

No. If more than one permanent is destroyed at once, such as with Nevinyrral’s Disk, a single effect destroys the permanents. Regenerating a permanent will modify the destroy effect by replacing the destruction of that permanent with the regeneration effect. No other permanents will be affected as a result, even in cases of damage dealing where regenerating one creature raises the toughness of another. In this example, regenerating the Sentry enables Maro’s controller to draw a card, thus raising Maro to 2/2. But because both permanents were destroyed in a single “effect,” Maro is still destroyed. Effects that prevent destruction by means other than regeneration (the effects of Pyramids, for example) follow the same rule.

4) I have a Vaporous Djinn in play, and my opponent has Pendrell Mists in play. What happens if I don’t pay the Djinn’s upkeep? I can’t phase the Djinn out and bury it at the same time.

When multiple upkeep costs of a permanent combine, the consequences of not paying those costs form a series of effects rather than one total effect. These effects occur in the normal order: first the permanent’s own upkeep consequences (if any), and then all others in the order in which the source of the cost came into play. In this example, if you pay the Djinn’s combined upkeep cost, you simply pay {1}{U}{U}. If you don’t pay the cost, you apply the consequences in the usual order. Thus, the Djinn’s own upkeep consequence phases it out, and then the Pendrell Mists’s upkeep consequence does nothing, because the Djinn has already left play. If the upkeep costs themselves are contradictory, then you simply cant pay the combined upkeep cost and must suffer the appropriate consequences.

5) I have Lord of the Pit in play when my opponent plays Pendrell Mists. Does the optional nature of the Mists’s upkeep cost allow me to refuse to pay Lord of the Pit’s upkeep?

No. Multiple upkeep costs of a perma¬ nent combine to form single cost. This means that if any of those upkeep costs are mandatory, then the entire upkeep cost effectively becomes mandatory. Therefore, if Lord of the Pit comes into play when Pendrell Mists is in play, then during upkeep the Lord of the Pit’s controller must sacrifice a creature and pay {1}.

6) If there are two Helm of Awakenings in play, can I cast a 1-point Drain Life by paying only {B}?

Yes. Generic mana costs are those with colorless mana symbols, including {X}. It doesn’t matter whether the type of mana that can be spent paying that cost is specified. Drain Life has an additional cost of {X}, which is a generic mana cost, even though the text on Drain Life says, “Spend only black mana in this way.” Thus, Helm of Awakening can reduce that cost.

Reversals and Other Changes

7) My opponent uses my Zur’s Weirding to make me discard a Sand Golem I just drew. Does the Golem’s ability trigger?

Yes. The controller of a spell or abil¬ ity is the player who plays that spell or ability. This means that a card and its ability can have different controllers. With Zur’s Weirding, the controller of the ability is the player who plays the ability; not necessarily the controller of the card. This also means that abilities of cards out of play (Elvish Spirit Guide, Necrosavant, etc.) have a controller.

8) Do Assembly Workers have the creature type “Assembly Worker,” or are they just named that?

Contrary to certain rulings about Mishra’s Factory and Assembly Workers, simply making a land into a creature does not create a creature type for that land. For example, suppose Living Lands is in play (all forests are 1/1 creatures). If An-Zerrin Ruins is played (creatures of a chosen creature type do not untap), choosing “forest” as the creature type would not prevent forests from untapping.

9) What happens if I tap and sacrifice my Strip Mine enchanted with Kudzu?

Previously it was ruled that if Kudzu is on a land that is sacrificed and tapped at the same time (as in this example), then Kudzu s ability would rescue Kudzu from being buried. This exception to the rules has been repealed; Kudzu must be in play when the effect of its ability resolves in order for it to move to another land. Therefore, Kudzu would be buried when Strip Mine is sacrificed.

10) Suppose a Sengir Vampire damages an animated artifact, which is later de-animated, and then destroyed. Will the Vampire get a +1/+1 counter?

No. Sengir Vampire’s ability triggers when a creature it has damaged is put into a graveyard; it does not trigger whenever it damages a creature. Thus, Sengir Vampire does not get a counter when a noncreature permanent is put into its owner’s graveyard, even if that permanent was a creature at some point earlier in the turn when the Vampire damaged it.

11) When cards return to play from an Oubliette or Tawnos’s Coffin, do they return to play tapped, or do they return to play and then become tapped?

They return to play tapped. Thus, abilities that trigger on permanents become tapped, such as Betrayal’s, will not trigger.

Errata

The following rulings involve card and rulebook errata, or at least reading cards slightly differently.

12) In Fifth Edition, all cantrips were changed to “draw a card at the beginning of the next turn,” rather than “at the beginning of the next turn’s upkeep.” Do the cantrips that weren’t reprinted have this change?

Yes. All cantrips have this change.

13) Shouldn’t Dance of the Dead have errata to match the wording on Necromancy and the Fifth Edition Animate Dead?

Yes. Dance of the Dead has the following changes as errata: Its card type is now “enchantment,” and its text reads, “When you play Dance of the Dead, choose target creature card in any graveyard. When Dance of the Dead comes into play, put that creature into play, tapped, and Dance of the Dead becomes a creature enchantment that targets the creature. Enchanted creature gets +1/+1, and does not untap during its controller s untap phase. At the end of his or her upkeep, its controller may pay an additional {1}{B} to untap it. If Dance of the Dead leaves play, bury the creature.”

Specific Interpretations

14) If I pump my Vampire Bats twice and then play Celestial Dawn, can I pump them with white mana later this turn?

Yes. Once the Dawn is in play, the Bats’ ability just limits the amount of {W} you can spend on the ability; the amount of {B} you already spent is irrelevant.

15) Suppose I play Lichenthrope’s upkeep ability when it has no counters on it. In response, I play my Cinder Giant’s upkeep ability, so Lichenthrope gets two -1/-1 counters before its upkeep resolves. Does one of these counters get removed?

Yes. When the upkeep effect resolves, there will be counters on Lichenthrope, so one wall be removed.

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Continuity FAQ

Compiled by Pete Venters and Scott Hungerford

Welcome to a new section in which the Continuity department answers some of those perplexing story questions. We encourage you to email us at <duelist@wizards.com> and we’ll pick the most frequently asked questions to answer (as well as the occasional oddity). Unfortunately, we cannot respond directly to your questions due to time restrictions, so keep watching this space.

Where can I get maps of Dominia?

Dominia is a multiverse, a series of dimensional planes that are constantly moving. Because of this, any map would merely be a snap shot, and in the next moment the multiverse would have changed. Maps of individual planes, however, are possible. Dominaria is currently our most detailed plane, and maps of the Domains and Jamuraa appear in the 1997 and 1998 Workman wall calendars. The globe of Dominaria is still in development in Continuity, but no, the globe’s not for production, it’s our personal reference tool.

Who are Urza and Mishra?

Urza and Mishra were brothers and the key opponents in the Brothers’ War as seen in Antiquities. They were not wizards, but master artificers, skilled in the creation of artifacts. Their war wrecked the continent of Terisiare, destroyed another island (Argoth), and caused climatic shifts sufficient to start an ice age.

Who won the Brothers’ War, Urza or Mishra?

Scholars disagree on the fate of Urza, but they all agree that Mishra died.

What is the backstory for Fifth Edition?

There is no backstory for Fifth Edition, as the cards in main editions are selected for matters of game balance, card mechanics, and tournament play. The Fifth Edition card set offers glimpses into many periods of Dominian history.