Q: Amy activates Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy while her graveyard has 4 cards in it and chooses to discard Fiery Temper. She wants to play Fiery Temper with madness, but she also wants to transform Jace. Can she do both?
A: No. While exiling a discarded madness card was optional in the past, it’s mandatory now [CR 702.34a]. Amy will exile the madness card rather than putting it in her graveyard, which means that Jace will only see 4 cards there when it checks to see if it flips.
Q: Can you stop a madness card with Ulamog’s Nullifier (madness card’s controller owns one other card that’s exiled)?
A: No. Superficially, it seems like that should work, but look at what happens in detail. First, it won’t be possible to let your opponent cast the madness spell and counter it with Ulamog’s Nullifier’s ability, because by that time, the madness spell will be on the stack, so there won’t be two cards in exile for you to return to that player’s graveyard.
It’s also not possible to stop the madness card by casting Ulamog’s Nullifier in response to the madness card and using the ability to put the madness card in its owner’s graveyard. Putting the cards from exile into the graveyard happens on resolution of the ability, but that never happens [CR 608.2d]. That triggered ability targets a spell, so if it gets put on the stack when there’s no spell to target, it just gets removed without anything else happening [CR 603.3d].
Q: Amy discards a Vampire Noble while she controls Falkenrath Gorger. While the noble is exiled, Nicole Just the Winds the gorger. What happens?
A: Before Nicole will get priority to cast Just the Wind, the game will check to see if any triggered abilities are waiting to go on the stack [CR 603.3]. At this time, Vampire Noble has madness 2B, and it was exiled due to this ability. That causes the second half of the madness ability, the triggered ability that lets its controller cast it from exile, to trigger. Once on the stack, this ability will resolve regardless of what happens to its source, even if it loses the ability [CR 112.7a]. When that triggered ability resolves, even though Vampire Noble won’t have madness at all by this point, the game will give Amy the chance to cast Vampire Noble for 2B.
Q: Amy discards Incorrigible Youths while she controls Falkenrath Gorger. How much does Amy pay to cast Incorrigible Youths?
A: This question is a little tricky. Let’s examine the process in detail. As Amy discards Incorrigible Youths, both its instances of madness want to replace that event with her exiling it. As the affected player, Amy will choose which replacement effect to apply first [CR 616.1]. Here’s the trick, though: Whichever one she applies, the other one is still applicable, because madness replaces the event of a person discarding the card, but specifically states that the new event still counts as discarding it [CR 702.34a]. So to cast it for 2R, Amy will need to apply the madness 3RR ability first, then apply the madness 2R ability. The event in the game will start out as [Amy discards Incorrigible Youths], then it will become [Amy discards Incorrigible Youths into the exile zone with its madness 3RR ability], before finally becoming [Amy discards Incorrigible Youths into the exile zone with its madness 2R ability, then attempts to exile it with its madness 3RR ability (which will fail)]. Because it was exiled with the madness 2R ability, the triggered ability that corresponds to that ability will trigger and allow Amy to cast it.
Note: In a real game, the chances of a player specifying which madness ability is exiling the card is practically zero. Fortunately, the chances of this choice mattering are similarly unlikely.
Q: Amy discards Strength of Isolation into exile. Then she points to her Confessor and says “gain 1 life.” After that, Amy tries to cast Strength of Isolation, but her opponent protests that she has missed her chance to do this. How do you rule?
A: Both the madness “you may cast this card” ability and the Confessor’s ability trigger when Strength of Isolation is discarded. Amy controls both triggers, so she is able to order them however she chooses [CR 603.3b]. Amy’s play is perfectly valid.
Q: Amy discards Just the Wind into exile. Then, Nicole asks Amy how many cards she has in hand. After answering, Amy plays a land, then attempts to use Just the Wind to bounce Nicole’s creature. Nicole protests that Amy has missed her chance to do this. How do you rule?
A: Madness is composed of a replacement effect that exiles the card and a triggered ability that allows its controller to cast the spell when it’s exiled this way. Nicole did not acknowledge this trigger before the time when it would have affected the visible game state, and she has taken a game action that she could not have taken with it still on the stack. This is a Missed Trigger for Amy [IPG 2.1]. No penalty for Amy since getting to cast the spell isn’t detrimental, but the additional fix allows the trigger to go on the stack only if her opponent allows it, which doesn’t seem likely.
Note: When madness was first printed, it was actually possible to discard a madness card, play a land, and then use that land to help cast the madness card! Thankfully, this abomination was fixed when madness returned the first time during Time Spiral block.
Note: The triggered ability that allows Amy to cast the spell is also what puts it into her graveyard if she doesn’t. Because this triggered ability was missed, Just the Wind remains exiled.
Note: If Amy had cast an instant rather than playing a land, it would be possible that the madness trigger is still on the stack waiting to resolve. In this case, Amy would be able to play it.
Q: Amy discards Just the Wind with her Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy, but rather than exiling it, she puts it into her graveyard. A short time later, before taking any other game actions, Amy points at Just the Wind, taps an Island, and says “bounce your Grizzly Bears.” Amy’s opponent protests that Amy, by putting the card into her graveyard, has missed her chance to do this. How do you rule?
A: The technically correct play is to exile Just the Wind, then cast it from exile. Putting it in the graveyard could be interpreted as a shortcut for discarding it to exile, electing not to cast it when the madness triggered ability resolves, and then putting it in the graveyard. On the other hand, it’s also possible to interpret Amy’s actions as casting Just the Wind legally, albeit a bit sloppily as far as technical details are concerned (i.e., in a way that players routinely do). As much as I hate to give the cop-out of “use your judgement,” that’s the best answer here. If I believed Amy genuinely realized what was going on and just discarded to the graveyard carelessly, I would let her have it. If I believed that Amy only realized that she could play the card after the fact, I wouldn’t. As a guide recall the following passage from the Out-of-Order Sequencing section in the MTR: “In general, any substantial pause at the end of a completed batch is an indication that all actions have been taken, the sequence is complete and the game has moved to the appropriate point at the end of the sequence” [MTR 4.3]
Note: For more questions about madness and exactly how it works, please see my article here.
Q: In her upkeep, Amy transforms Timber Shredder into Hinterland Logger since a player cast 2 spells last turn. Does this cause the Deathmist Raptor in her graveyard to trigger?
A: No. Although the physical actions of transforming a permanent and turning a face down permanent face up are the same, these are distinct game actions, and one will not trigger things that look for the other.
Note: It’s possible for a Hinterland Logger to trigger Deathmist Raptor, but it would have to be on the battlefield face down first. This can happen, for example, if it’s manifested.
Q: How do double-faced cards work in draft?
A: Ordinarily, it’s against the rules for a player to show cards in a pack to the other drafters. Obviously, double-faced cards make this rule impractical to follow, so it’s suspended in their case. Both faces of a double-faced card may be revealed at any point during a draft. For further information on applying this rule, see this tip by Josh Stansfield.
Q: Is a double-faced card’s transform trigger generally considered detrimental? In other words, should a player get a Warning for missing one of these triggers?
A: In general, the ability that transforms a card into its front face is detrimental, whereas the ability that transforms it into its back face is not. In most cases, this is pretty non-controversial, but there’s a few places where it’s questionable, like Mayor of Avabruck in a deck that’s mostly Humans. Remember that in order to remain consistent, the decision of whether a triggered ability is generally detrimental should not take into account the current game state or strategic concerns.
Q: Amy casts Ulvenwald Hydra on turn 1 before playing any lands by sacrificing two Black Lotuses. What happens?
A: When Ulvenwald Hydra resolves and enters the battlefield, its triggered ability will trigger [CR 603.2]. After that, the game will perform state-based actions and put the hydra in Amy’s graveyard for having 0 toughness [CR 116.5]. Then, the hydra’s triggered ability will go on the stack. It will resolve and allow Amy to get a land even though its source is no longer on the battlefield, and indeed, was never on the battlefield at a time when the ability was on the stack [CR 112.7a].
Q: Can I use Conspiracy to make all my Eldrazi Scion tokens into Clues and grow my Tireless Tracker whenever I sac one for mana?
A: No. Conspiracy asks you to pick a creature type, but Clue isn’t a creature type; it’s an artifact type [CR 205.3g]. It’s not any more possible to make your Eldrazi Scions into clues with conspiracy than it is to make them into Equipments.
Note: Speaking of conspiracies, Contraption is also an artifact type, and Steamflogger Boss is futureshifted…
Q: Amy has 18 Clue tokens and a Graf Mole when she plays Leyline of Singularity. How much life does she gain?
A: None. While the action performed by the legend rule is often colloquially referred to as “sacrificing” the permanents that don’t remain on the battlefield, this is an abuse of notation [CR 704.5k]. There is no rules term for “putting a permanent into your graveyard as a result of the legend rule,” but in any case, it’s a distinct game action from sacrificing, so Graf Mole won’t trigger here.
Q: Amy has Forest and Fortified Village that she wants to put into play with The Great Aurora. Can she make Fortified Village enter the battlefield untapped?
A: Yes. Fortified Village has a replacement effect that modifies how it enters the battlefield [CR 614.1c]. In order to do this, it must apply before Fortified Village is on the battlefield, that is, while it is still in Amy’s hand [CR 614.4]. The Great Aurora puts all the lands in at the same time, so the Forest is still in Amy’s hand at this time too. She may reveal the Forest to Fortified Village’s ability to make it enter the battlefield untapped.
Q: Amy controls Goldnight Castigator and a planeswalker. Her opponent wants to Lightning Bolt the planeswalker. How many loyalty counters are removed from it as a result?
A: The process of “bolting a planeswalker” is actually achieved by casting the Lightning Bolt targeting the planeswalker’s controller, then redirecting the damage on resolution [CR 306.7]. This redirection is a replacement effect, and so is the Goldnight Castigator’s damage doubling [CR 614.1a]. Amy is the affected player, so she can apply these effects in whatever order she wants [616.1].
Suppose Amy applies the Goldnight Castigator’s effect first. The Lightning Bolt’s 3 damage is doubled, then that six damage is dealt to her planeswalker. If Amy has a good understanding of the rules, she’ll probably apply the planeswalker redirection effect first. This changes the event that will happen in the game from [3 damage to Amy] to [3 damage to Amy’s planeswalker]. This is no longer an event that Goldnight Castigator interacts with, so that effect will not apply [CR 616.1e].
Q: What happens if both players have 13 life when Triskaidekaphobia‘s trigger resolves?
A: Exactly what it says on the card: each player loses the game. If all the players in a game lose at the same time, the game is a draw [CR 104.4a].
Note: If this happens, so long as there is enough time in the round, the match continues since Magic matches are played “first to two” not “best of three” [MTR 2.1]. The player who chose whether to play or draw in the drawn game also gets to make this choice in the next one [MTR 2.2].
Q: Amy wants to discard Nether Shadow to activate Sinister Concoction. Can she discard before she mills so that the card she mills will be above Nether Shadow in her graveyard?
A: Yes. After the total cost to activate this ability is determined, Amy can pay these costs in any order [CR 601.2h]. As long as Amy pays all of that cost, she can discard first, then mill even though that’s not the order they’re written on the card.
Note: This rule only applies to paying costs. Following the instructions of a resolving spell or ability does not have this freedom; these must be performed in the order written [CR 608.2c].
Q: Amy activates Sinister Concoction while she controls The Gitrog Monster. Both the card she discards and the card she mills are lands. Does she get to draw one card or two?
A: Two. Although the order these costs are paid isn’t fixed, they don’t happen all at once [CR 601.2h]. Discarding and milling happen in two distinct game events, not one, so The Gitrog Monster will trigger twice.
Note: This works because the costs to cast a spell are paid in a definite order (even though most people don’t think of it this way since it usually doesn’t matter). In contrast, a cost like sacrifice two lands is paid by choosing two lands, then putting both of them in the graveyard at the same time. Kicked Bog Down will only cause The Gitrog Monster to trigger once.
Q: Nicole counters Amy’s Show and Tell with a delirious Invasive Surgery. She wants to exile all the Show and Tells in Amy’s hand and library, but leave the one she just countered in the graveyard so she can eat it with Deathrite Shaman later. Can she do that?
A: Yes. Invasive Surgery allows its controller to search the graveyard, hand, and library for “any number” of cards with the same name. She can exile any or all of Amy’s Show and Tells.
Note: The answer would be different if Nicole had used Quash to counter Show and Tell. Quash instructs its controller to search for “all cards” with the same name as the countered spell. The hand and library are hidden zones, so Nicole can “fail to find” cards there, since she’s looking for cards that have a certain characteristic (being named “Show and Tell”) [CR 400.2,701.15b]. The graveyard is a public zone, though, so she has to find all the Show and Tells there, including the one that was just countered.
Q: Amy sacrifices a 2/2 Zombie token with Victimize to return two Diregraf Colossuses to the battlefield. She has no other cards in her graveyard. How many +1/+1 counters are placed on each colossus?
A: Diregraf Colossus has a replacement effect that modifies how it enters the battlefield [CR 614.1c]. This effect thus counts how many Zombies are in its controller’s graveyard before it enters. Both colossuses will count themselves and their friend entering at the same time [CR 614.4]. The Zombie token that was sacrificed is also in the graveyard at this point, since state-based actions will not make it vanish until after Victimize has finished resolving [CR 704.3, 704.5d]. Unfortunately, Diregraf Colossus only counts “Zombie cards,” which does not include tokens [CR 108.2].
Q: Amy has a Prismatic Lace, a Verdigris, and two copies of Illusion // Reality in her graveyard when she casts Seasons Past. Given that Amy wants to pick Illusion//Reality, which other cards may she return?
A: To determine whether a split card and another card have different converted mana costs, the game performs what’s called a “negative comparison” [CR 708.6b]. It does this by asking the corresponding positive question (relative comparison) in this case, “do you have the same converted mana cost?”, to each half of the split card. The answer to the negative comparison is no if either half of the associated relative comparison is yes.
In this case, Prismatic Lace has the same converted mana cost as Illusion, so this means the game will get a “no” answer when asking if Prismatic Lace and Illusion//Reality have different converted mana costs, so Amy can’t pick that one. In the same way, she can’t pick Verdigris because it has the same converted mana cost as Reality.
When comparing Illusion//Reality to the other copy in her graveyard, the game looks at both halves of each card. When comparing the Illusion half, the game will see that the other card’s Illusion half has the same CMC, but the Reality half doesn’t, which combines into a “yes, the CMC is the same” answer. Comparing Reality against the other card also results in a “yes, the CMC is the same”; these two answers combine into “no, the CMC’s are not different” and mean that both copies of Illusion//Reality cannot be taken.
Note: If Amy were using All Suns’ Dawn to return things, the answer would be different. All Suns’ Dawn doesn’t ask if each card’s colors are different, but has you pick a card of each color. If you want to pick Illusion//Reality as your blue card, the game will ask both halves for a relative comparison: “are you blue?” and get a yes and a no answer [CR 708.6a]. These are combined into a single “yes,” allowing it to be picked, and allowing either Verdigris or the other Illusion//Reality to be picked for the green card. Likewise, Illusion//Reality can be picked as the green card, allowing Prismatic Lace to be picked as the blue card.
Q: Amy uses Imagecrafter to make her Persistent Nightmare into a Human, then casts Moonmist. What happens?
A: Nothing much. Imagecrafter can’t transform because it isn’t a double-faced card [CR 701.25c]. Persistent Nightmare also can’t transform because its back face is a Sorcery [701.25d].
Q: Can you flash back Ancestral Vision with Snapcaster Mage?
A: No. This is for the same reason that you can’t just cast Ancestral Vision from your hand for free: It doesn’t have a mana cost. This means that when you try to cast it, when the game gets to the part where it needs to know that cost (or the flashback cost, which Snapcaster Mage makes from the mana cost), it gets an error and you can’t proceed [CR 117.6].
Note: Things like cascade, Fist of Suns, and indeed, suspend itself get around the whole “no mana cost” problem by specifying that you pay an alternate cost for the spell. Casting the spell with an alternate cost means the game never has to check the mana cost, so it never finds out that there’s nothing there [CR 117.6a].
Q: Amy casts Ancestral Vision off suspend while Rule of Law is out. Can she then suspend another copy of Ancestral Vision that she drew?
A: No. This isn’t immediately obvious intuitively, even after looking at the reminder text. We have to go to the CR definition of suspend: “Suspend N—[cost]” means “If you could begin to cast this card by putting it onto the stack from your hand, you may pay [cost] and exile it with N time counters on it. This action doesn’t use the stack,” [CR 702.61a]. It isn’t legal for Amy to cast Ancestral Vision from her hand at this point because she’s already cast a spell this turn. Therefore, she can’t suspend it either.
Note: This goes both ways, too. A Vedalken Orrery will let you suspend Ancestral Vision at instant speed. This interaction was well-known during the standard season when suspend debuted, since a popular deck could use Teferi to suspend Aeon Chronicler at end of turn.
Q: If my opponent has the Thopter/sword combo out, can I use Jace’s Scrutiny to shrink the token in response to the sword trigger to keep the Sword of the Meek from coming back?
A: No. Generally speaking, once a triggered ability is on the stack, it will resolve, even if the game state changes in a way such that the thing that made it trigger is no longer true [CR 603.3]. Sword of the Meek doesn’t check the creature’s p/t again when it resolves, so the fact that the power is now different makes no difference.
Note: The card Sigil Captain has a similarly worded trigger with a different answer. The intervening if clause in Sigil Captain’s trigger means that the if condition is checked both when the trigger goes on the stack and when it resolves, and that the check must be passed both times to get the effect [CR 603.4]. Jace’s Scrutiny would stop that trigger from giving +1/+1 counters.
Note: The thopter/sword combo can be stopped by a trick like this, but it needs to be a different card. For example, Dampening Pulse will do the trick because its continuous effect applies as soon as the token enters the battlefield [CR 611.3c]. The game will see the Thopter enter as a 0/1 and Sword of the Meek won’t trigger at all.
Q: Can I activate Kindly Stranger‘s ability, hold priority, then activate it again so it will transform into Demon-Possessed Witch, kill a creature, then transform back into Kindly Stranger?
A: You can double activate the ability the way you described, but you won’t be satisfied with the result. We have a new rule that says if an ability wants to transform a double-faced card, but that permanent has transformed since that ability was put onto the stack, the instruction to transform the double-faced card is ignored [CR 701.25f].
Q: Can I Abrupt Decay a Perfected Form (the back half of Aberrant Researcher)?
A: No. The converted mana cost of a double-faced permanent’s back face is now calculated as though it had the mana cost of its front face [CR 202.3b]. Even though you can’t see it without turning the card over, Perfected Form’s converted mana cost is 4.
Q: What if I Clone a Perfected Form, can I Abrupt Decay that?
A: Yes. Clone isn’t a double-faced card, so its converted mana cost is converted the old-fashioned way: by looking at its mana cost [CR 202.3a]. Except that Perfected Form doesn’t have one. The converted mana cost of this Clone is therefore zero.
Q: If my Perfected Form is enchanted with Pendrell Flux, how much do I have to pay to keep it around?
A: Unfortunately, you can’t keep it around. This is where the rules for this get kind of weird. Perfected Form’s converted mana cost is 4 because there’s a rule that says when you’re determining the converted mana cost of the back face of a double-faced permanent, you calculate it using the front face’s mana cost. There’s no similar provision for determining the mana cost of a double-faced permanent, so Perfected Form just doesn’t have one. Because it doesn’t have a mana cost, paying that cost is an impossible action, and you’re forced to sacrifice it [CR 117.6].
Q: Amy casts Altered Ego with X=5 and copies an Apocalypse Hydra. What is Altered Ego’s p/t when it enters the battlefield?
A: As Altered Ego resolves, the game checks to see if there are any replacement effects that need to occur. Altered Ego’s effect applies here and makes it a copy of Apocalypse Hydra and puts 5 counters on it. Then, the game checks for replacement effects again [CR 616.1e]. Altered Ego/Apocalypse Hydra’s new ability now wants to put X counters on it. The value of X is usually the same throughout a card, but in this case, because Altered Ego gained this ability, the value of X is 0 [CR 107.3h]. Altered Ego enters with only 5 counters.
Q: What sets are legal in Standard now?
A: SOI is the first time the new Standard rotation schedule has an effect, so there are some irregularities. With SOI now in, KTK and FRF have rotated out. Eldritch Moon will not see anything rotate out when it’s released, but the next big set will take the place of DTK and ORI when it becomes legal. From then on, all blocks will by default be two sets, and Standard will rotate twice a year. Standard will contain all the sets in the most recent block as well as all the sets in the two blocks that preceded it.
Note: The answer above is actually incomplete. There is an auxiliary set of cards included in decks and other products intended for new players that is also legal in Standard [MTR 6.3]. These cards are marked with the “*16” expansion symbol and are legal for play as long as SOI is legal. Fortunately, this probably won’t come up very often since most of these cards are either printed in other Standard-legal sets or are unplayable for reasons not related to format legality.
Q: Amy casts Reality Smasher, then points to her Eldrazi Mimic and says “trigger.” She then attacks with both creatures. Nicole declares no blocks. Amy says “take 10?”, but Nicole disputes this, saying that because Amy didn’t specify that she was choosing to make Eldrazi Mimic’s p/t equal to Reality Smasher’s, the default should be that she chose not to. How do you rule?
A: A sentence was added to the IPG this time around that applies here. “Similarly, a player demonstrating awareness of an optional trigger with no visible effect is assumed to have made the affirmative choice unless the opponent responds” [IPG 2.1]. There’s no plausible reason that Amy would have pointed out this trigger if she weren’t planning on using it, and this assumption is now codified.
Note: Frivolous judge calls like this one should be discouraged. This may be done by a simple cautionary word or, in the case of repeated or particularly egregious offenders, an Unsporting Conduct penalty.
Q: Amy scries for Serum Visions setting her hand down, then picking both cards at once. Unfortunately, Amy accidentally grabs 3 cards. What is the appropriate infraction, penalty, and fix?
A: Is this LEC? or HCE? The old IPG was rather ambiguous in cases like this, but now we have clear guidance. The new IPG specifies that an infraction is to be considered LEC up until the point where the extra card touches cards in another set, at which point it becomes a HCE [IPG 2.2]. A set is a physically distinct group of cards defined by a game rule or effect. The cards in your hand, each pile when resolving Fact or Fiction, and the seven cards you “look at” when resolving Dig through Time are all examples of sets. In this case, the set in question is the group of cards Amy is looking at when scrying. This set is supposed to contain 2 cards, but instead contains 3 here. The extra card is already part of this set, so the appropriate infraction is HCE, for which Amy will get a Warning.
The fix is the same “super-Thoughtseize” that we’re used to. Amy’s opponent will pick one of the three cards and shuffle it into the random part of Amy’s library.
Q: Amy casts Reach through Mists while she controls Jeskai Ascendancy. She points to ascendancy, says “loot,” and proceeds to draw 2 cards, then discard one. What is the appropriate infraction, penalty, and fix?
A: Because the Jeskai Ascendancy trigger was supposed to resolve first, the correct sequence is to draw, discard, then draw for Reach through Mists. Therefore the infraction happened at the point where Amy drew her second card. This is a case of a card moving from one private set to another, so Amy gets a Warning for a Hidden Card Error [IPG 2.3]. The discard can be undone as a simple backup to return the game state to the point where the error occurred. Since a card was prematurely put into a set (the hand) before another action (discarding) was supposed to be done on that set, the additional remedy is for Amy to reveal her hand, then let her opponent pick which of those cards is the one that was accidentally drawn. This card is set aside while Amy performs the appropriate actions to get to the point where it is supposed to be in her hand.
Q: After Amy finishes resolving Collected Company, Amy’s opponent remarks, “That was a pretty good six.” Amy frowns, reads the Collected Company in her graveyard, then calls a judge. Amy tells you that she thought Collected Company would let her see seven cards like Dig through Time, and resolved it with an extra card. What do you do?
A: Amy looked at too many cards for Collected Company. This is a Hidden Card Error, since only she got to see those cards. We can perform a simple backup to get us to the point where the error occurred. This is performed by taking the bottom 5 cards of Amy’s library in conjunction with the two creatures Amy put into play and reforming the set of cards Amy chose from. Amy’s opponent will choose one of these cards to be treated as the excess card; this one will be shuffled into Amy’s deck. Then, Amy can resolve Collected Company correctly.
Q: Amy flips over the top 6 cards from her library when resolving Pieces of the Puzzle. Her opponent can’t say for sure which card is the extra one. What do you do?
A: This isn’t a HCE because the cards are revealed (not hidden) [IPG 2.3]. It also isn’t LEC, since the cards are a part of a distinct set [IPG 2.2]. This leaves just GRV for the appropriate infraction. Back up through the illegal action (revealing an extra card) by shuffling a random card from the six back into Amy’s library.
Q: Amy mulligans, and her opponent declares that she will keep. After drawing her new hand of 6, Amy looks at the top card of her deck, says “nope,” and mulligans again. Amy’s opponent says that she can’t mulligan after she scries, whereas Amy contends that she already had made up her mind that she was mulliganing when she looked at her top card, and was just checking to see if she “would have got there.” What do you do?
A: Amy’s opponent is correct in saying that you can’t mulligan after your beginning of game scry. This rule prevents players from deferring their decision of whether to keep or mulligan until after looking at the card they will scry into. For this reason, our assumption is that a player who looks at the top card of her library after mulliganing intends to keep unless they clearly indicate the contrary, for example, by verbally declaring a mulligan or by looking at more than one card. Amy’s actions to the contrary are thus against the rules. In the latest IPG, the new Mulligan Procedure Error handles this and other errors made during the mulligan process. Amy will get a Warning and will be forced to mulligan again.
Note: The new MPE does not apply in cases where no advantage can be gained, for example a player declaring a mulligan before an opponent who is supposed to decide first makes this choice.
Q: Amy mulligans to seven. What is the appropriate infraction, penalty, and fix?
A: This is another example of a Mulligan Procedure Error. Amy will get a Warning. One possible remedy is for Amy to mulligan again (going to 5). However, there is another way to remedy this situation that also mitigates the advantage Amy can gain from this mistake. Amy may allow her opponent to choose one card from her hand to be shuffled back into her deck. Amy gets her choice as to which of these will apply.
Note: Cases like this were handled in old versions of the IPG by an infraction called Improper Drawing at Start of Game. In addition to handling what would now be considered Mulligan Procedure Errors, this infraction handled cases where a player on the play accidentally drew a card on the first turn. Mulligan Procedure Errors can only happen before the game starts. Drawing on the first turn is now handled the same way as a player drawing extra cards at any other time: as a Hidden Card Error.
Q: Amy casts Entomb and looks for her Grave Titan. After flipping through her entire library a couple times, she checks her sideboard and discovers that there are 16 cards there, including Grave Titan. A count reveals that Amy’s main deck started with 59 cards. When you ask how this could have happened, the players agree that Nicole Swords to Plowshares‘d the Grave Titan in game 1, and propose that, since it was the only card that was exiled, Amy probably put it in with her sideboard while shuffling for game 2 by mistake. What is the appropriate infraction, penalty, and fix?
A: Due to an error on her part, Amy has been playing with an illegal deck. Ordinarily a Deck/Decklist Problem carries a Game Loss, but there’s an applicable downgrade to a Warning here (a deck is missing cards, and these cards can be located) [IPG 3.5]. Because the missing card is in her sideboard, Amy can’t just pick which card goes back into her deck. That could easily lead to abuse. Instead one of the 16 cards is selected at random, and this card is shuffled back into Amy’s deck.
Note: Because players can look at their sideboards during a game, there is no problem with showing the affected player which card is being shuffled in. There is no provision that supports showing that player’s opponent, so don’t pick the card in a public way.
Q: Amy’s match was randomly selected for a deck check. You head toward her table, but when you get there, you see that even though the head judge hasn’t started the round yet, Amy and her opponent have both drawn and kept their opening hands. What do you do?
A: Deck check someone else. In the past, the practice was to go ahead with the deck check, make sure to keep the hands separate, and re-present. The decision has now been made that this is too much hassle and too much of a chance for something to go wrong [MTR 2.8]. Hit a different table and maybe try to target these players for a mid-round deck check.
Note: Pregame procedures, such as deciding who plays first and resolving mulligans and scries, may be performed before the round clock starts [MTR 2.3].
Note: The MTR specifies that a “full deck check” should not be performed in these conditions. On the other hand, a full deck check isn’t necessary in cases where it is known that one player will get a Game Loss, for example from handing in a 59 card decklist. Such errors should always be corrected at the start of the round after they were discovered for consistency [IPG 3.5]. In a case like this, stop the match and deliver the bad news, then enlist the player’s help (away from the table) to correct the decklist. The resultant Game Loss will stop the current game and put the players into game 2. Note that in the case of Game Losses given after the start of the match, the use of sideboards is permitted in subsequent games [IPG 1.1].
Q: Amy plays a Mountain, then taps out to cast Koth of the Hammer. Amy then activates the +1 ability of Koth, untaps a Mountain, and attacks. At this point, Nicole calls a judge and says that Amy can’t attack with this Mountain because it’s the one she played this turn. Amy, adamantly denies this and claims that she animated a different Mountain. What do you do?
A: The difficulty of a judge’s role is, in my opinion, most exemplified in cases like this. The players have differing stories, and there’s no hope of solid evidence for favoring one story over another. It’s relatively certain that Amy meant to play this correctly, but there’s no way to know that she did, rather than carelessly untapping a Mountain and realizing there was a difference only after her opponent pointed it out. This situation came up at a recent GP, and sparked some discussion from the high-level judges about how it should be handled. The [O]fficial guidance is that when two identical permanents are on the battlefield and there are non-visual differences between them, if a player needs to know which is which, he needs to ask for clarification. This follows the philosophy in the Missed Trigger policy which stipulates that a player who needs to know whether a trigger is on the stack cannot just assume his opponent missed it; he needs to ask for clarification [IPG 2.1]. For more about the application or philosophy behind this ruling, please see the article here.
Note: This lemma applies only in cases where the permanents are visually indistinguishable. For example, if one of Amy’s Mountains was foil, and this is the one she played and later tried to activate, she would be out of luck.
Note: The ease of confusion and potential high stakes in cases like this are one reason why effects of this type on recently printed cards typically grant the affected permanent haste. See, for example, the awaken mechanic.
Q: What level am I now?
A: Unless you were an L4 or L5, you’re the same level that you used to be. However your responsibilities may have changed. For a detailed breakdown of the changes, see the announcement here. As for an overview:
- Minor changes in the requirements for L1, L2, and L3, no more L4 or L5.
- Several roles such as GP head judge, Regional Coordinator, and Program Coordination have become “advanced roles” that a judge may fill. Judges are appointed to an advanced role for 18 months, with appointments occurring every 6 months for a third of the seats.
- Certain skills requiring specialized knowledge, including L2 testing, GP team leading, and L3 panel leading have become additional “certifications” that interested judges can earn. Details for how to achieve these certifications is coming soon.