Q: Amy Demolishes Nicole’s Aetherworks Marvel. Does Nicole get an energy counter?
A: Yes. Aetherworks Marvel has a leaves-the-battlefield ability, which looks at the game state immediately before the event occurs to see if it should trigger [CR 603.6d]. This is the same reason why, for example, cards like Deathgreeter specify “another” creature in the trigger condition. That exemption is necessary to keep the ability from triggering when Deathgreeter itself dies.
Note: For the same reason, if a player who controls an Aetherworks Marvel plays a second one, then puts one in the graveyard for the legend rule, each one will trigger from this event, and the player will get two energy counters.
Q: Amy exiles a Radiant Flames with Gonti, Lord of Luxury. Can she tap 3 Swamps to cast it, but spend the three black mana as though it were red, white, and blue to have Radiant Flames deal 3 damage to everything?
A: This doesn’t work. Effects that say “as though” only apply to exactly what they say they apply to; everything else will look at the game state normally and not see that an “as though” effect was applied [CR 609.4]. So the game will let her cast Radiant Flames pretending her black mana is whatever color she wants, but when Radiant Flames resolves, the game will see she only spent 1 color of mana on it and have it deal 1 damage.
Q: Amy exiles a card with Gonti, Lord of Luxury‘s ability. If Gonti dies, can Amy still play the card?
A: Yes. Note that the effects that enable Amy to look at and cast the card are part of the same triggered ability that exiled it. This means that once that ability resolves, those effects are in place independent of what happens to Gonti [CR 112.7a]. If Gonti dies, or otherwise leaves the battlefield, Amy can still cast the card.
Note: A similar question with a different answer involves Colfenor’s Plans. In this case, the thing that enables you to look at and play the exiled cards is a separate static ability and not an effect of the triggered ability that exiles them [CR 112.3d]. This means that the effects allowing you to look at and play the cards are only active as long as Colfener’s Plans is on the battlefield. Unlike Gonti, if it leaves play or another player gains control of Colfener’s Plans, you won’t be able to look at the exiled cards anymore. In fact, if Colfener’s Plans leaves the battlefield before its enters the battlefield trigger resolves, you won’t get a chance to look at any of the exiled cards at all.
Note: If Nicole steals Amy’s turn with, for example, Emrakul, the Promised End, she can look at the exiled card. Nicole can’t look at Amy’s sideboard, but she can see all the cards in the game that Amy could see, and exiled cards are still in the game [CR 714.4].
Q: Amy exiles a card with Gonti, Lord of Luxury. She then processes the exiled card while she controls Leyline of the Void. What happens?
A: Wasteland Strangler’s ability wants to put the exiled card into Nicole’s graveyard, which Leyline of the Void replaces with exiling it. The processed card doesn’t change zones, but it becomes a new object that’s just been exiled [CR 406.7]. Having become a new object, it’s no longer the “that card” referenced by Gonti’s ability, so Amy can no longer play it. Having just been exiled by Leyline of the Void, which does not specify that it exiles cards face down, it it turned face up [CR 406.3].
Q: Does Cached Defenses give me 3 triggers with Animation Module? Does Lead by Example give me 2?
A: Cached Defenses puts 3 counters on a single creature, which only matches the trigger condition of Animation Module once, since it looks for “one or more” counters being put on a permanent you control. Lead by Example puts a single counter on two creatures, which matches that trigger condition twice, since it doesn’t use the same “one or more” wording for the creatures the counters are put on.
Q: Amy casts an Endless One while she controls Animation Module. Does Animation Module trigger?
A: Yes. Effects that refer to counters being “placed” on an object refer both to putting counters on that object as it’s entering the battlefield and to having that object enter the battlefield with counters on it [CR 121.6]. Endless One entering with X counters on it falls under the latter case, so Animation Module will trigger.
Note: Animation Module’s trigger references “one or more” counters being placed on a permanent you control. It won’t trigger if you cast an Endless One for X = 0.
Q: Amy casts Endless One for X = 1 while she controls Animation Module and Hardened Scales. How many times does Animation Module trigger?
A: To see the answer, let’s examine what happens in detail. First, Endless One resolves, which creates a pending event in the game: [Put Endless One onto the battlefield]. Endless One’s replacement effect then modifies this pending event to [Put Endless One onto the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it]. This causes Hardened Scales’ replacement effect to become applicable to this event, so it now happens [CR 616.2]. The event is now [Put Endless One onto the battlefield with 2 +1/+1 counters on it]. Finally, this event happens, and Animation Module triggers. The actual event of Endless One entering the battlefield doesn’t happen multiple times and get changed each time. Rather the replacement effects modify what’s going to happen in the game before it occurs, and the final event happens only after all the applicable replacement effects have modified it. This being the case, there’s only one instance of “counters being placed on a permanent you control” for Animation Module to see, so it only triggers once.
Q: Amy selects the first mode of Verdant Confluence three times to put 6 +1/+1 counters on her Grizzly Bears. How many times does Animation Module trigger?
A: When Verdant Confluence resolves, it will put 2 counters on Grizzly Bears three times because each mode is a separate instruction [CR 700.2d]. Each time matches Animation Module’s trigger condition, so this one spell causes Animation Module to trigger three times.
Q: I heard that if you play an instant and respond to it with another instant, Aetherflux Reservoir will give you 4 life. Can you explain how that works?
A: After you cast an instant, Aetherflux Reservoir’s ability goes on the stack on top of that instant. The amount of life you gain isn’t locked in yet, though [CR 608.2g]. How many spells you’ve cast isn’t counted until that ability resolves, which means you can cast additional spells in response to it, and all of them will be included. Even better, if you do this, the triggers from those spells will still count the original spell, because even though it hasn’t resolved yet, it has been cast, and that’s all Aetherflux Reservoir cares about [CR 601.2i].
Note: This trick doesn’t work with storm spells because although the counting is still done on resolution, storm only counts “spell[s] cast before it this turn” [CR 702.39a].
Q: Nicole has 5 cards exiled with her Bomat Courier. Amy knows one of them is a Grizzly Bears. Can she process that one?
A: This question is more subtle than it seems because of the fact that neither player is allowed to look at the cards while they’re face down [CR 406.3]. This means the players can’t shortcut picking the Grizzly Bears by having Amy look at them all and put the Grizzly Bears into her graveyard. The cards are exiled in sequence, though, so the first, second, third, etc. cards exiled will be known [CR 406.4]. The best way to handle this is to have Amy and Nicole agree on a specific card, then process that one.
Q: Amy’s Kira, Great Glass-Spinner is captured by Nicole’s Consulate. What happens when Amy casts a Giant Growth targeting her own Grizzly Bears (no other spells have been cast this turn)?
A: Both Grizzly Bears’ Kirability and Captured by the Consulate’s abilities trigger when this happens. They are put on the stack in APNAP order [CR 603.3b]. Given that it’s Amy’s turn, Captured by the Consulate’s ability will resolve first and force Amy to change the target of Giant Growth to Kira. This causes Kira’s ability to trigger, since it became the target of Giant Growth. Giant Growth is then countered by Kira’s ability. If for some reason, that ability doesn’t counter Giant Growth, for example, it’s countered, the Grizzly Bears’ ability will still be on the stack waiting to counter Giant Growth too.
Q: Amy casts Harnessed Lightning on Nicole’s Grizzly Bears, saying “Deal 2 damage to bears.” Nicole responds by casting Blossoming Defense on Grizzly Bears. Amy then increases her energy die by 3 and says she doesn’t want to deal any damage to the bear in that case. Is this legal?
A: No. Blossoming Defense gives Grizzly Bears hexproof, which makes it an illegal target for Harnessed Lightning. When Harnessed Lightning tries to resolve and finds all its targets are illegal, it will be countered by the game rules [CR 608.2b].
Note: If Nicole had cast a Built to Last instead, the bear would not have hexproof so the Harnessed Lightning would resolve normally. The decision of how much energy to pay is not made until Harnessed Lightning resolves, so Amy is within her rights to change her mind about it based on things that happened after she announced the spell [CR 608.2b].
Q: Nicole controls two Grizzly Bears, each of which is enchanted by one of Amy’s Pacifisms. Amy plays a Cataclysmic Gearhulk. Of course, Amy wants to save the Pacifism that’s attached to the Grizzly Bears that Nicole saves, while Nicole wants to sacrifice the Grizzly Bears that’s enchanted by the Pacifism that Amy saves. What happens?
A: If multiple players are asked to make choices at the same time, those don’t happen simultaneously; rather, the active player chooses first, then the other players in turn order [CR 101.4]. This is often called the APNAP rule. In this case, that means that Amy has to choose which Pacifism she’s going to keep first, then Nicole can choose to save the Grizzly Bears that won’t have a Pacifism attached to it.
Note: Because Cataclysmic Gearhulk only uses the word “chooses” once, the choices are made all at once, rather than individually [CR 608.2e]. In other words, the correct sequence is: Amy chooses all her permanents, then Nicole chooses all her permanents. In particular, it is not: Amy chooses an artifact, then Nicole chooses an artifact, then Amy chooses a creature, then Nicole chooses a creature, and so on.
Q: Amy plays Cataclysmic Gearhulk while her opponent controls a Grizzly Bears that’s enchanted by Amy’s Imprisoned in the Moon. Amy chooses to save a different enchantment and sacrifices Imprisoned in the Moon. What happens?
A: Although the players choose which permanents to keep individually, the sacrificing happens all at once [CR 101.4]. This means that at the time permanents are sacrificed, Grizzly Bears is a land, and is therefore exempted from that process, even though it wasn’t chosen.
Q: Does Dubious Challenge work the way I hope it does if my opponent has a Sigarda, Heron’s Grace out?
A: That depends. Are you hoping to not be able to cast Dubious Challenge at all because there are no legal targets for it? Because that’s what happens. Dubious Challenge targets an opponent, and if you can’t do that, because all your opponents have hexproof, for example, you won’t be able to complete the process of casting it [CR 601.2].
Q: Amy casts Madcap Experiment and reveals 36 cards before finally hitting a Platinum Emperion. What happens?
A: Because the instructions of Madcap Experiment are followed in order, Platinum Emperion will be on the battlefield before Madcap Experiment deals damage to Amy [CR 608.2c]. The static ability of Platinum Emperion doesn’t use the stack or wait until Madcap Experiment is done resolving to apply; it begins as soon as Platinum Emperion is on the battlefield [CR 604.2]. Amy’s life total doesn’t change.
Note: Although it doesn’t have any of its normal results, the damage wasn’t prevented or replaced, so the game still sees that it happened [CR 119.4b]. Bloodthirst and Spinerock Knoll will still be active for Amy’s opponent, and Darien, King of Kjeldor will still give her a pile of tokens.
Q: Amy controls Metallurgic Summonings and plays a Prosperity with X=5. How big is the Construct token?
A: Anywhere except the stack, X has a value of 0 when determining converted mana costs; on the stack, the value is whatever number was picked for it [CR 202.3d]. The token is a 6/6.
Q: Amy starts her turn with a Midnight Oil which has one counter on it. Does she draw a card?
A: Yes. The ability of Midnight Oil is not worded so that the draw is contingent upon removing 2 hour counters (for example, by using wording like “remove two hour counters. If you do, draw a card”). Neither is removing the counters a cost to put the triggered ability on the stack [CR 603.3]. The game will just do as much as is possible every time, which means you can draw the extra card even if Midnight Oil has no counters on it at all [CR 609.3].
Q: Amy controls Padeem, Consul of Innovation, and there are no artifacts in play. Does she get to draw a card?
A: No. She does not control “the artifact with the highest converted mana cost.” She can’t control something that doesn’t exist.
Note: This is a different case from if she controlled an artifact which had no mana cost, in which she would get to draw a card (assuming no opponent controls a higher CMC artifact). This is because even without a mana cost, things like Darksteel Citadel and Lotus Bloom have a converted mana cost, which is defined by the CR to be 0 [CR 202.3a].
Q: Amy controls Panharmonicon and Hedron Crab. When she plays a Seat of the Synod, how many triggers does she get?
A: Two. Panharmonicon says “If an artifact or creature entering the battlefield causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger…” Seat of the Synod is an artifact. It entered the battlefield and caused a triggered ability of a permanent Amy controls to trigger. Therefore, the ability of Panharmonicon applies.
Q: Amy controls Panharmonicon and Eidolon of Blossoms. When she plays a Nylea, how many triggers does she get (she controls no other green permanents)?
A: One. After Nylea enters the battlefield, Eidolon of Blossoms’ ability triggers [CR 603.2]. Nylea has a continuous effect that applies as soon as it enters the battlefield, so it won’t be a creature at this point [CR 611.3c]. As such, Panharmonicon’s ability will not affect this event since a “creature” isn’t causing this ability to trigger.
Q: Amy casts Beck while she controls a Panharmonicon. She then plays a Grizzly Bears. How many cards does she draw?
A: Only one. Panharmonicon’s ability specifies that it only applies to “a triggered ability of a permanent you control.” The triggered ability from Beck is not from a permanent, so it isn’t doubled by Panharmonicon.
Note: Conspiracies also aren’t permanents because they’re in the command zone, not the battlefield [CR 110.1]. Therefore, Panharmonicon also won’t double the triggers from something like Secret Summoning.
Q: Amy casts Paradoxical Outcome targeting her Chittering Host. How many cards does she draw?
A: Paradoxical outcome looks at the number of “cards” that were returned to your hand. Such effects count both halves of a melded card separately, so Amy will draw two cards [CR 712.4e].
Note: Effects that want to know the number of objects that changed zones, such as Fumigate, will only count a meld pair as one object [CR 712.4e].
Q: Can I use Cavern of Souls to make all my Vehicles uncounterable?
A: No. Cavern of Souls asks you to pick a creature type, but Vehicle is not a creature type; it’s an artifact type [CR 205.3g]. This is the same reason why you can’t use Cavern of Souls to make your equipment uncounterable.
Q: Amy taps a Grizzly Bears to crew a Sky Skiff. In response, Nicole uses Vedalken Orrery to flash in a Revoke Privileges on the Grizzly Bears. What happens?
A: Nothing special. Revoke Privileges’ ability that prevents Grizzly Bears from crewing Vehicles means that it can’t be tapped to activate a Vehicle’s crew ability [CR 702.121c]. Since this has already happened, the Revoke Privileges’ prohibition won’t do anything.
Q: Can you cast Karn’s Touch on Aradara Express? If so, could you tap the Hype Train to have it crew itself? What would its characteristics be after that happened?
A: First, Karn’s Touch specifies that it targets a “noncreature artifact,” so as long as it isn’t already animated somehow, Aradara Express is a legal target for it. Further, the CR definition of the crew ability does not say to tap “other creatures” or include some other wording that would prevent a Vehicle from crewing itself, so that part is fine, too [CR 702.121a].
After this has happened, the game follows a specific procedure for determining the characteristics of a permanent [CR 613.1]. First you start with the printed characteristics (8/6), then you apply any applicable continuous effects (Like from Karn’s touch, which wants to make it a 5/5). Note that neither the crew ability nor Karn’s Touch try to give Aradara Express creature types, so after this happens, it will be an Artifact Creature – Vehicle that’s 5/5.
Q: Amy plays an Opal Avenger while she has 10 life. After it becomes a creature, she taps it to crew a Sky Skiff, then uses Cytoshape to make Sky Skiff a copy of Opal Avenger. What will Sky Skiff’s characteristics become?
A: In layer 1, Cytoshape’s copy effect changes Sky Skiff’s characteristics to Opal Avenger’s [CR 613.1a]. Continuous effects acting on Opal Avenger aren’t copied, so Sky Skiff will be a white enchantment with no subtypes and Opal Avenger’s ability [CR 706.2]. In layer 4, Sky Skiff’s crew ability will make Sky Skiff an artifact creature [CR 613.1d]. Effects that make something into an artifact creature do not overwrite the permanent’s existing types, so Sky Skiff will still be an enchantment, even though the crew ability does not use the phrase “in addition to its other types” [CR 205.1b]. At this point, all the applicable continuous effects have applied to Sky Skiff, but there’s a problem. Sky Skiff is a creature, but it doesn’t have a power and toughness (its printed power and toughness having been overwritten by the copy effect in layer 1). This being the case, its p/t is evaluated to be 0/0 by the game, and it’s put into Amy’s graveyard [CR 208.5]. Its state trigger will have triggered because Amy has 10 life, but by this point, it’s too late because Sky Skiff is already in the graveyard.
Q: Amy wants to cast a Far // Away fused, but her opponent controls Brisela, Voice of Nightmares. Can she?
A: Yes. This is a change from previous rules, which held that both halves of a fused split card must be legally castable for the fused spell to be cast. Now, when casting a fused split spell, only the characteristics of the combined spell are checked for legality [CR 708.2b]. Because Far//Away’s converted mana cost is 5, it can still be cast under Brisela [CR 708.2].
Note: Suppose Nicole controlled a Meddling Mage for which the named card is Far. Amy still may not cast Far//Away fused because that spell will have both names of its two constituent spells [CR 708.7]. Therefore, the fused spell will have the chosen name, and hence, can’t be cast.
Q: Amy taps a Veteran Motorist to crew a Smuggler’s Copter. Does Nicole have a chance to Complete Disregard Smuggler’s Copter before it gets too big?
A: No. Abilities that trigger “when [this creature] crews a Vehicle” trigger when that creature is tapped to pay the cost to activate a Vehicle’s crew ability [CR 702.121b]. Therefore, this ability will go on the stack on top of the crew ability that caused it to trigger [CR 603.3]. The effect that gives Smuggler’s Copter +1/+1 will be created before Smuggler’s Copter becomes a creature and will start to apply as soon as it becomes applicable (i.e., as soon as the Vehicle becomes a creature) [CR 208.3a]. Smuggler’s Copter will never be a 3/3 creature; it will be 4/4 right away, so Nicole will never have the chance to cast Complete Disregard.
Q: Amy’s Banisher Priest is exiling a Clone, and Nicole’s Banisher Priest is exiling a Grizzly Bears. If Amy plays Day of Judgment, can she Clone Nicole’s Grizzly Bears?
A: No. Because both Banisher Priests died at the same time, their respective one-shot effects that bring back the creatures they exiled also take place at the same time [CR 610.3c]. This is not strictly a change from previous rules, but the rule cited is new this time around and was added as a clarification. Clone has a replacement effect which applies immediately before Clone enters the battlefield [CR 614.4]. Because Clone and Grizzly Bears are entering the battlefield at the same time, Grizzly Bears won’t yet be on the battlefield for Clone to copy, so this doesn’t work.
Q: Is Chandra, Pyrogenius in standard?
A: Yes. “Planeswalker Decks contain ten (10) cards that, while not appearing in expansion Booster Packs, are considered part of the expansion released concurrent with those Planeswalker Decks. These cards contain the same expansion symbol as cards from that expansion and are legal for play in the Standard format” [MTR 6.3].
Note: Although the MTR sections for other constructed formats do not specifically call out these cards’ legality the way the above quote does for Standard, the gatherer card database lists these cards for Block, Modern, Legacy, and Vintage formats also.
Q: Nicole has the emblem for Dovin Baan. During Amy’s turn, she forgets about this and untaps all her permanents, then draws for her draw step before Nicole has a chance to point out the error. What do you do?
A: Amy has committed a Game Rule Violation by ignoring the ability of Dovin Baan’s emblem, and gets a Warning. No partial fix applies, but because the error was caught right away, backing up is the more appealing option for fixing it [IPG 2.5]. This would be accomplished by returning a random card from Amy’s hand to the top of her library, re-tapping the permanents that were tapped at the start of the turn, and proceeding from this point. It’s unfortunate that Amy now has access to information (her top card) that she should not have when making the decision of what to untap, but this is the result of following the procedure described in the IPG, and it should not be changed based on which player benefits strategically from the error [IPG 1.2].
Note: If Nicole had not caught this mistake in a reasonable amount of time, she too would bear responsibility for this error and resulting damage to the game state. The appropriate infraction for Nicole in this case would be a Game Rule Violation also, based on the following quote from the IPG: “If the judge believes that both players were responsible for a Game Rule Violation, such as due to the existence of replacement effects or a player taking action based on another players instruction, both players receive a Game Play Error — Game Rule Violation” [IPG 2.5].
Q: Amy has a Bomat Courier that’s exiled five cards. In the process of untapping it, she accidentally flips over one of those cards. What do you do?
A: This is pretty uncontrovertially a case of Looking at Extra Cards. The fix for this though, as prescribed by the IPG, is to “Shuffle any previously unknown cards into the random portion of the deck” [IPG 2.2]. This is the by-the-book fix, but in my opinion losing a card from the pile due to the error seems excessively punitive, especially given the potential alternative. Shuffling all the exiled cards into Amy’s library and re-exiling that many cards gets the game state to exactly what it was before the error with virtually no potential for abuse by the player who committed the error. In my opinion, this is a clear case where the policy is not doing what it’s supposed to do, which makes it a good time to ask the head judge for a deviation.
Q: Amy uses Liquimetal Coating to make her Saheeli Rai an artifact. She then demonstrates the loop of using Saheeli’s -2 to copy itself, putting the original Saheeli in the graveyard due to the planeswalker rule, then having her Altar of the Brood mill Nicole. She says “I’ll mill you a million times.” Unfortunately, Nicole has an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn in her deck. What happens?
A: Amy has demonstrated a set of actions which can be repeated indefinitely, so we use the shortcut rules to determine the outcome instead of having to physically perform the loop [CR 719.1b]. The shortcut Amy proposed was legal; that is, it consisted of actions all players could legally take, specified a finite number of iterations and expected end state, and didn’t include any conditional actions where the next action for a player to take depended on what had happened so far [CR 719.2a]. However, unbeknownst to Amy, performing the loop she described the number of times she proposed will not lead to the game state she suggested. Once this is determined to be the case, continuing to execute the loop, unable to specify both a final game state and a finite number of times the loop must be executed to achieve this state, is Slow Play [IPG 3.3]. To avoid this, she must advance the game from the point where the game state diverged from what she proposed by making a choice that does not continue the loop [CR 719.3].
Note: It is mathematically certain that continuing to execute this loop will eventually lead to a state where all of Nicole’s cards are in her graveyard except her Emrakul(s). Amy may want to modify her shortcut so that this is the end state. Nicole may allow this, as the shortcut rules are relatively informal [CR 719.1a]. On the other hand, if she doesn’t want to, she doesn’t have to, since Amy’s inability to state a finite number of iterations of the loop that will certainly lead to this game state precludes this from being a legal shortcut.
Note: Amy’s loop didn’t explicitly describe the final game state, a necessary condition of an acceptable shortcut. The implication is clear enough, though, that she expects the final game state to be the same as the current state except with all of the cards in Nicole’s library put into her graveyard. It’s legal for Amy to propose a loop that continues past the minimum number of iterations necessary to get to this game state since the loop is still legal to perform and increasing the number of iterations makes the loop no longer to execute, given that the shortcut allows the players to skip directly to the end result.
Note: Just because Nicole claims she has an Emrakul in her deck, this doesn’t mean Amy has to believe her. Indeed players at Competitive REL are allowed to lie about cards their opponents can’t normally see [MTR 4.1]. Even if Amy saw the Emrakul previously, it’s possible that Nicole has drawn it or sideboarded it out. Amy is therefore within her rights to continue to execute the loop until the Emrakul is milled. After that, though, she must advance the game by taking an action not involved in the loop.
Note: Suppose that rather than Emrakul, Nicole has Progenitus in her library. Since Progenitus only shuffles itself back into its owners library rather than the whole graveyard, each mill is guaranteed to either reduce the number of cards in Nicole’s library or leave it the same. On the other hand, because Progenitus could hypothetically be shuffled to the top of its owner’s library every time it’s shuffled in, no finite number of iterations of the loop can guarantee a final state of [Progenitus in your library, everything else in your graveyard]. Because of this, even though this situation feels much different from the one originally presented, the way it’s handled is exactly the same.
Q: Amy says “Go to combat,” and Nicole says, “no response.” Amy then says “tap this creature to crew my Aradara Express and attack with it.” Nicole calls a judge and protests that Amy has missed her opportunity to crew the Vehicle and can’t attack with it. How do you rule?
A: Nicole is right. The shortcut “go to combat” (or equivalent) means “I’m offering to pass priority until I have passed priority to you in the Beginning of Combat step.” [MTR 4.2]. Nicole accepted this shortcut, so now she has priority in the Beginning of Combat step. After she passes, the game will progress to the Declare Attackers step, by which point it is too late to animate.
Q: Amy attacks with some creatures and Nicole says “Go to blocks?” Amy answers “no response.” Nicole then says “tap this creature to crew my Aradara Express and block with it.” Amy calls a judge and protests that Nicole has missed her opportunity to crew the Vehicle and can’t block with it. How do you rule?
A: Unlike the previous situation, this one is entirely legal. To see why, let’s examine the technical procedure that these shortcuts skip through. In order to move to the part of the game where blockers are declared, Amy must pass priority, then Nicole must pass priority [CR 116.4]. Nicole’s request to move to blockers, then, is functionally equivalent to a request for Amy to pass priority, since Nicole will be the last player to pass priority before blockers are declared. She therefore may crew a Vehicle during this time and block with it. For more information on situations like this, as well as the reasons for the difference, refer to this article by Kevin Deprez.
Q: Amy plays a masterwork Aether Vial and passes. Later, Nicole plays a Pithing Needle and points at Amy’s vial. A few turns later, Amy plays a Darksteel Æther Vial. She says that because this card’s name is “Æther Vial” rather than “Aether Vial,” she should be able to activate its ability. What do you think?
A: The “Æ” ligature, named “ash,” has been a mainstay of Magic since Legends, when it appeared in (the flavor text of) Ærathi Berserker. Unfortunately, computers today aren’t any better friends with ash than they were back then, so Wizards is discontinuing its use in favor of “Ae.” As part of this, all the cards whose name included this grapheme have been modified in the Oracle reference. Thus, Æther Vial’s Oracle name is Aether Vial, so it gets stopped by the same Pithing Needle.
Q: Amy plays a Ambitious Aetherborn, but forgets to fabricate. The players don’t notice until two turns later. What do you do?
A: This is clearly a case of Missed Trigger with no Warning because it isn’t generally detrimental to do either of the things fabricate lets you do. The fix is where it gets interesting. Fabricate specifies a default action associated with a choice made by its controller. In the past, cases where such triggers were missed were handled by resolving the trigger by picking the default action, no matter how long ago the ability should have triggered. A recent IPG change made with fabricate in mind now gives the opponent the choice of whether to have this happen or simply proceed in the game with no additional remedy [IPG 2.1].
Q: Nicole steals Amy’s turn with Emrakul, the Promised End. On that turn, Nicole instructs Amy to cast a Grizzly Bears, but both players forget to record the lifegain from Amy’s Aetherflux Reservoir. Amy realizes this during Nicole’s next draw step. What do you do?
A: Because of a recent IPG change, this is now a Missed Trigger for Nicole. Ordinarily, the player who controls a permanent bears the full responsibility for remembering that permanent’s triggered abilities. Controlling another player now passes this responsibility along. Since Nicole is controlling Amy, Nicole must now remember all triggered abilities in the game, both her own and Amy’s [IPG 2.1]. Because Amy gaining 1 life is usually considered detrimental to Nicole, this Missed Trigger will result in a Warning for Nicole. Because it was caught within a turn of when the error was committed, Nicole’s opponent will be given the choice of whether to put this triggered ability onto the stack now or skip the trigger.
Q: Amy casts a Preordain, but, mistakenly thinking of Ponder, picks up the top 3 cards of her library. Due to having previously activated Sensei’s Divining Top, Amy already knew what the top three cards of her library were when she cast Preordain. What do you do?
A: By adding a third card to the set she was scrying with, Amy has committed an error that cannot be resolved using only publically available information. She will get a Warning for Hidden Card Error. For the fix, Amy’s opponent will choose one of the 3 cards, which will be treated as the extra card. Because Amy previously knew the identity of the card that was illegally moved, the extra card is put on top of Amy’s library rather than being shuffled in, as it would have been under previous rules [IPG 2.3].
Note: If this card had been known to both players (for instance, if it were put into that position by a Unexpectedly Absent), the error would not be a Hidden Card Error, since it could be corrected using only publically available information. In this case, Amy would receive a GRV and the appropriate card would be put back.
Q: Amy activates Sensei’s Divining Top, but the fourth card sticks to the other three when she is picking them up. Due to a prior activation of Sensei’s Divining Top, Amy knew what the top two cards of her library were before the current activation. What do you do?
A: This question seems similar to the last one, but there is an important difference that changes the infraction. Because the extra card was added to the set not intentionally, but as the result of a dexterity error, this is not HCE, but Looking at Extra Cards [IPG 2.3]. Accordingly, the remedy will be the remedy for LEC, i.e., a random card from among the four that Amy picked up will be shuffled into the unknown portion of Amy’s library [IPG 2.2].
Q: While swooping for a deck check, you observe Amy pile shuffling her deck. After she finishes, she does two riffle shuffles, then starts another pile shuffle. What do you do?
A: No doubt the most talked-about change in the updated policy documents is the new line in the MTR that limits players to one pile shuffle for each time the deck is randomized [MTR 3.9]. Although it’s the most publicized change, it really isn’t a very big one. Multiple pile shuffles aren’t in themselves cause for a Slow Play (although if you think the player is taking longer than is reasonable to shuffle, that is cause for an SP) [IPG 3.3]. In fact, like re-sideboarding after presenting, there’s no specific rule in the IPG that multiple pile shuffling violates. Nor is there a “Tournament Rule Violation” that acts as a “catch-all” to handle cases like this, the way there is for Game Rule Violations.
Especially as players are getting used to this change, it’s important to take a lighter approach to induce the desired change in behavior. A simple reminder that multiple pile shuffles are against the rules should suffice in pretty much every reasonable to anticipate circumstance. On the rare occasion you encounter someone who wants to “fight for my rights” and pile shuffle once per randomization, remind the player that Slow Play is still a thing, and that intentionally playing slow to take advantage of the clock is still a DQ.