***************************Mercadian Masques FAQ***************************** Written by Chris "Dual" Lansdell and Laurie Cheers. Version 1, 17/10/99. Please direct any questions to ccgheaven@angelfire.com. ***************************Mercadian Masques FAQ***************************** Black ------ Q: If my Alley Grifters becomes blocked, can I return it to my hand in response to its ability going on the stack and still have the ability work? A: Yes. Once an ability has gone on the Stack, removing the source will not remove the ability. Q: If I play Conspiracy, calling Legend as the creature type, will all duplicate creatures I control be destroyed because of the duplicate legend rule? A: Not all, only the ones with the latest timestamp. If all your creatures with the same name came into play at the same time, they will all be buried. If you're going to do this, Donate it to the opponent... Q: If I call Mercenary or Rebel for Conspiracy, can I hunt through my library for any creature with Cateran Overlord? A: Yes, providing the creature meets the mana cost restriction. Conspiracy is one of those rare cards that affects creature cards in the library. Q: If my Deathgazer dies in combat, is the creature it blocks killed anyway? A: Yes. Deathgazer sets up a delayed effect that triggers at the time the Deathgazer blocks or becomes blocked, but does not go off until then end of combat. Q: Can I sacrifice 2 black creatures to my Delraich if that's all I have? A: No, no more than you could pay 4B if that's all you had. If you're going to pay the alternate cost, you must pay all of it or none of it. Q: Can I sacrifice, say, a Hibernation Sliver and two Sarcomancy tokens to play my Delraich? A: Yes. The Sliver is a black creature, it is also a blue creature. Tokens only have a colour if stated on the card that produced them, and Sarcomancy states its tokens are black. Q: If my opponent has no creatures in his graveyard, can I still play my Enslaved Horror? A: Yes. The return effect is optional, not a cost to play the Horror. If there are no creatures in your opponent's graveyard, they just don't get one. Q: If I play an Enslaved Horror, and in response to its comes into play trigger my opponent gets control over it, do I get to return a creature card from my graveyard? A: Yes. The ability checks who the "other players" are when it comes off the stack, and one of them is you when it does so. Rather an expensive Raise Dead though. Q: Can I use Haunted Crossroads' ability to return a creature with Protection from Black to the top of my library? A: Yes. Protection from X only works while the card is in play, like all other creature abilities, unless otherwise stated. Q: If I play a Turnabout and tap all my opponent's creatures, then use Instigator to make them attack, what happens? A: Nothing really. There is not "if they cannot..." clause on Instigator, so they just sit there. Q: Does Insubordination affect creatures that just came into play? A: Yes. Insubordination makes no distinction about summoning sickness, so the damage goes off just fine. Q: Do I have to return my Nether Spirit to play? A: No. The return is optional. Q: If I have Putrefaction in play, and my opponent plays Constant Mists, the only card in his hand, with buyback, does he have to discard it? A: No. When Putrefaction's effect triggers, the Constant Mists is still on the Stack, and has not yet returned to your opponent's hand. Q: If I use Trap Runner's ability to block a Quagmire Lamprey, does the Runner get a -1/-1 counter? A: No. The Lamprey's ability triggers when it is blocked by a creature, whereas the Trap Runner is blocking it with an ability. A subtle difference, but a difference nonetheless. Q: When do creatures that have been tagged by the Silent Assassin's ability die? A: After all lethally damaged creatures have been put n the graveyard at the end of the combat phase. Q: When can Silent Assassin's ability be played? A: Only after the declare blockers and declare attackers steps. Before that there are no attacking or blocking creatures. Q: If my opponent attempts to Capsize my Skulking Fugitive, and I counter it, does the Fugitive still die? A: Yes. It has still been the target of a spell, as targets are chosen on announcement. Best to save the counter. Red ----- Q: Does Blood Hound suffer from "Waylay disease"? If it is damaged in my end phase, when are the counters removed? A: It does indeed suffer from Waylay disease, in an even worse way, in that the counters are only removed in *your* end phase. You can use the beefy Hound to block and attack before he returns to normal. Q: I play Blood Oath, calling creatures. My opponent reveals, amongst other cards, a Manticore. Does the Manticore count as a creature card? A: Yes. Artifact creatures are both artifact cards and creature cards. Q: If my opponent taps his Prodigal Sorcerer to deal one damage to my Crag Saurian, and I use my Dominating Licid to gain control of the Sorcerer, who keeps the Saurian? A: You do. When the point of damage comes off the stack, the Saurian's ability triggers, and looks to see who did the damage, and who controls the thing that did the damage. That is now you, so you control the Saurian. Q: Can I play Lunge if there are no creatures in play? A: No. Lunge requires 2 targets: a creature and a player. Both must be present to play the spell. Q: Isn't Squee, Goblin Nabob broken? Can't I play a spellshaper ability during my upkeep and keep returning Squee to my hand? A: Afraid not. Effects that trigger at the beginning of your upkeep only trigger once, when all beginning of upkeep triggers go on the stack right at the start of the upkeep step. Any others wait for the next beginning of your upkeep. Q: I have a Territorial Dispute in play. Can I play Harrow? A: Yes. Playing a land only refers to that special, once-per-turn action of placing a land from your hand into play. Harrow actually puts lands into play, it doesn't play them. Green ------ Q: Can I play Bifurcate on a Clone to fetch another Clone? A: No. When a Clone copies a card, it copies all apsects of the card, including its name. You will end up searching for whatever you cloned. Q: Can I play Bifurcate on a sleeping enchantment or Treetop Village? A: No. These are not creature cards, but enchantment/land cards. They are not legal targets for Bifurcate. Q: My opponent plays Caller of the Hunt. Can I counter the spell after I know what creature type he is going to call? A: No. The only choices that are made on announcement of a spell are targets and modes, neither of which apply to Caller of the Hunt. Q: If I turn 3 of my opponent's lands into forests with Deepwood Elder, can he tap them for G? A: Yes. Any card named "Forest" has the ability to tap for G. Q: Can my opponent choose my creatures for the +1/+1 counter from Erithizon? A: Yes. In fact, if you are the only one with creatures, your opponent must choose one of your creatures. Q: I have a Pangosaur in play, and I play a Silverglade Elemental. Do I have to sacrifice my Pangosaur? A: No. Silverglade Elemental's ability puts a land into play, and Pangosaur only cares about playing lands. See Territorial Dispute. Q: Can I remove my opponent's creature from combat by using my Rushwood Herbalist to regenerate it? A: No. Rushwood Herbalist puts a regeneration shield on a creature. This is not the same as regenerating the creature. Only if the shield is used up and the creature actually regenerates is it removed from combat, tapped, etc. Q: With Spidersilk Armor in play, can my ground creature block a Treetop Ranger? A: Yes. Spidersilk Armor states that creatures block as though they had flying, meaning that any creature which is only blocked by fliers will be blocked by them. Q: I have Vernal Equinox in play. Can I play Enchant Creature spells as instants? A: Enchant creature spells are not the same as enchantment spells, so they cannot be played as instants. ***************************Mercadian Masques FAQ***************************** Written by Chris "Dual" Lansdell and Laurie Cheers. Version 1, 17/10/99. Please direct any questions to ccgheaven@angelfire.com. ***************************Mercadian Masques FAQ*****************************