Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 15:51:26 -0700 From: Beth Moursund Subject: [O] Official Rulings for 6/1/97 General Rulings The following rules are meant to clarify the rulebook, and how the game in general works: 1) 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 these abilities are played, the cards are not creatures, artifacts, and so forth. They are "creature card abilities," "artifact card abilities" and so on. Thus, effects such as Gloom and Cursed Totem do not affect them. 2) 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 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 these permanents" 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 in which regenerating one creature raises the toughness of another. For example, suppose a Soldevi Sentry and a 1/1 Maro deal combat damage to each other, causing both to be destroyed by lethal damage. Regenerating the Sentry allows 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 (e.g., that of Pyramids) follow the same rule. 4) 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. For example, suppose Vaporous Djinn (pay UU or it phases out) comes into play when Pendrell Mists (each creature gains an upkeep cost of 1) is already in play. If you pay the combined upkeep cost, you simply pay 1UU. 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 can't pay the combined upkeep cost, and suffer the appropriate consequences. 5) Multiple upkeep costs of a permanent combine to form single cost. This means that if any of those upkeep costs are mandatory, then the entire upkeep cost effectively becomes mandatory. For example, if Lord of the Pit comes into play when Pendrell Mists is in play, then the Lord of the Pit's controller must sacrifice a creature and pay 1 when paying the upkeep cost. 6) 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. For example, Drain Life has an additional cost of X, which is a generic mana cost, even though the text says "Spend only black mana in this way." GENERAL RULINGS 1) The controller of a spell or ability is the player who plays that spell or ability. This means that a card and its ability can have different controllers. Zur's Weirding is an example - the controller of the ability is the player who plays it, not necessarily the controller of the card. It also means that abilities of cards out of play (Elvish Spirit Guide, Necrosavant, etc.) have a controller. 2) 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. 3) Previously it was ruled that if Kudzu is on a land that is sacrificed and tapped at the same time (using Strip Mine to destroy a land, for 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. 4) Sengir Vampire's ability triggers when a creature it has damaged is put into a graveyard, rather than triggering 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. 5) Cards that return from an Oubliette or Tawnos's Coffin return to play tapped, rather than returning to play and then becoming tapped. ERRATA The following rulings involve card and rulebook errata, or at least reading cards slightly differently: 1) All cantrips that appeared prior to Fifth Edition have the following change as errata: "Draw a card at the beginning of the next turn's upkeep" now reads, "Draw a card at the beginning of the next turn." 2) 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 1B to untap it. If Dance of the Dead leaves play, bury the creature." This errata mirrors the wording used on Necromancy and the Fifth Edition Animate Dead. SPECIFIC CARD RULINGS 1) If Celestial Dawn modifies a card such as Vampire Bats or Dragon Whelp when that card's ability has already been used, colored mana spent toward its limit does not count toward the modified limit. For example, suppose you control a Vampire Bats. You pay B during your main phase, making the Bats 1/1. You then play Celestial Dawn. Because the Bats's activation cost has been modified, you may now spend up to WW, making the Bats 3/1. 2) If Lichenthrope doesn't have any -1/-1 counters when you play its upkeep ability, but is damaged (and thus gets one or more -1/-1 counters) before the upkeep effect resolves, you still remove one of those counters. In other words, you are not required to choose one of its -1/-1 counters when you play the ability. 3) On Forbidden Crypt's first ability, "if you cannot" refers to putting the target card in your hand, not just being able to target a card. Thus, if you target the card but an ability somehow removes it from the graveyard before you put it into your hand, then you lose the game. 4) Just as with other abilities that enable you to put permanents into play, Eureka doesn't enable you to play permanents illegally. For example, it doesn't enable you to play Enfeeblement on a White Knight. 5) The Fifth Edition version of Cloak of Confusion does not have errata; it can be played on creatures you do not control. In this respect, it functions differently than the Ice Age card of the same name. 6) The Fifth Edition version of Elkin Bottle does not have errata; it now buries the card if you don't play it rather than removing it from the game. In this respect, it functions differently than the Ice Age card of the same name.