***************************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***************************** General -------- Q: Can I play my Spellshaper's ability if I have no cards in my hand? A: No, just as you could not if you did not have tha mana cost to pay for the ability. The discard is a part of the spell's cost. Q: If I play any of the "instachantments", like Buoyancy, as instants, are they destroyed at the end of turn? A: No. Unlike the ones from the Mirage block, these enchant creatures do not have that clause. They are therefore still enchant creatures and will stay in play until destroyed. Q: Who controls a Monger's ability? A: Whoever played it, regardless of who controls the Monger. Q: If I choose to pay the alternate cost for, say, Ramosian Rally, can my opponent kill my creature in response to prevent me tapping it? A: No he cannot. Costs are paid at the time the spell is announced, or just after. There is no priority given in between, in either case. In the same way your opponent cannot destroy your only plains in response. White ------ Q: Does Arrest stop the enchanted creature from using a mana ability? A: Yes. The rule that made mana abilities special went away when Classic came out. Q: How would I time Ballista Squad's ability to let it deal combat damage and use its ability? A: Make sure combat damage from the Ballista Squad has been loaded onto the Stack. Then, activate its ability in response, possibly allowing it to take out two attackers. Note that this only works if Ballista Squad is blocking, or it somehow manages to attack without tapping. Q: If I play a Charmed Griffin and then, in response to the Griffin's coming into play ability being loaded on the stack, I manage to give the Griffin to my opponent, who gets to play an artifact or enchantment for free? A: You do. The comes-into-play ability comes off the stack and checks *then* to see who controls the Griffin, then it lets the other player(s) play their free Artifact/enchantment. Q: How exactly does Common Cause work? A: Common Cause checks the colour of every non-artifact creature in play. If they all have same colour, every one of them gets the bonus. If even one of them is of a different colour, no-one gets the bonus. Note that if somehow an Artifact Creature gained a colour, Common Cause would disregard it. Q: If my opponent plays Last Breath on my 2/2, and I raise its power to 3, what happens? A: A spell checks its targets twice: on announcement and on resolution. The target must be a legal one at both times of checking, or the spell will be countered for illegal or missing target. In this case, it is the former. Q: How does Moment of Silence work if played in reponse to Relentless Assault? A: Q: As Moonlit Wake says it triggers off creatures going to the graveyard, does it trigger of Sleeping enchantments dying? A: Q: If I have a Noble Purpose in play, and I attack with my Serra Avatar, along with other creatures, and the Avatar takes lethal damage, will I gain the life in time for it to survive? A: All damage is put on the stack at once, unless it is first strike damage. If none of the creatures have first strike, it works like this: All damage is loaded on the stack, and comes off. Any lethally damaged creatures die now. The dealing of damage triggers the Noble Purpose, gaining you life equal to the damage dealt by your creatures. Too late to save the Avatar. However, if even one of your creatures had first strike, its damage would be dealt first, gaining you life first and saving your Avatar. Q: I play a Renounce, but my opponent counters it. What happens to my permanents? A: Nothing much. Renounce calls for the sacrificing of permanents as part of the spell's resolution, not its cost. The spell never resolves, so you never sac the permanents. Q: My opponent casts a Terror on my Task Force, which I counter. Do they get the bonus? A: Yes. The Task Force was still targetted by the spell, as targets for spells are chosen on announcement of the spell. Note that the same goes for abilities and Interdict, for example. Q: My opponent attacks with a Chambered Nautilus, and I use my Trap Runner's ability to block it. Does my opponent get to draw a card? A: Yes. Chambered Nautilus, and other cards that state they trigger when they become blocked, will trigger just fine off Trap Runner. Q: Same scenario as above, but my opponent attacks with an Elvish Beserker. A: In this case, the Beserker does not get the bonus, because the card states it must be blocked by a creature. Trap Runner's ability is not a creature. Q: Can a Trap Runner stop a Phyrexian Colossus on its own? A: Yes. The Trap Runner is not actually blocking the Colossus, but causing it to be blocked. Q: Wishmonger doesn't make sense. How come I activate the ability, but my opponent gets to choose the colour? A: Blue ----- Q: If I reveal a card with cycling when I activate my Aerial Caravan, can I cycle it? A: No. Aerial Caravan says you may *play* the card as though it was in your hand. It does not say you may treat the card as though it was in your hand. Neither can you discard it to a Spellshaper's ability, remove it from the game for Misdirection, or reveal it for Scent of Brine. Q: Can I play Bribery and pull a creature with protection from blue out of my opponent's library? A: Yes. Bribery does not target a creature in play, and creature abilities only work while the creature is in play unless they say otherwise. Q: I attack with my Chambered Nautilus, and my opponent uses Choking Vines to block it. Do I get to draw a card? A: Yes. The Nautilus became blocked, even though no creature was involved. The same goes for Dazzling Beauty and Trap Runner. Q: When does Customs Depot trigger? A: Q: Can I use Diplomatic Escort to counter an enchant creature? The Classic rulebook says that enchant creatures don't target a creature, they enchant it. A: This is true, once the enchant creature is in play. The enchant creature spell targets the creature and can be countered by Diplomatic Escort just fine. Q: Can I use my Circle of Protection: Blue to prevent the loss of two life from Embargo? A: No. Loss of life is different from damage in that it cannot be prevented. Q: It is my upkeep step, and I have an Extravagant Spirit in play. In response to the upkeep cost going on the stack, I cast some random instant. Does this reduce the Spirit's upkeep? A: Yes. The amount of the cost to be paid is checked as the cost comes off the Stack. It could also be increased if you are made to draw cards in response. Q: If I play my Indetured Djinn when my opponent has less than 3 cards in his library, do I win? A: No, but nice try. The card draw for the Indetured Djinn is optional. Q: Can a Misdirection counter a counterspell by redirecting the counter onto itself? A: Yes and no. It can counter a counter, but not that way. A recent ruling stated that a spell can never target itself. However, the Misdirection can redirect the counterspell to the Misdirection itself. The Misdirection is on the top of the stack, and resolves, targetting the counterspell. At this time the Misdirection is still on the Stack, and so is a legal target for the counter. Once that has been chosen, the Misdirection leaves the Stack, and the counter looks for the Misdirection to counter, doesn't find one, and is countered for missing target. Phew. Q: Can I pitch an Island to pay for Misdirection? A: No. An Island is not a blue card, even though it produces blue mana. Land has no colour. Q: Can I play Overtaker's ability on a tapped creature? A: Yes you can. The untapping of the creature is part of the resolution of Overtaker's ability, and if the creature is already untapped this just does nothing visible. If it said "target tapped creature" on Overtaker, then you could not play it on an untapped creature. Q: Does Timid Drake return to my hand if I play a creature via Show and Tell, or if I reanimate a creature? A: Yes. Timid Drake just looks for a creature coming into play. It doesn't care which zone it comes from. Artifacts ---------- Q: If I play a spell during my end phase and pay 1 to trigger the Horn of Plenty, when do I get to draw the card? A: Another case of Waylay disease, I'm afraid. You will draw the card at the beginning of the next end phase, i.e your opponent's. Q: Do I get to look ath the cards I remove from the game with Kyren Archive? A: No. By default, cards are removed from the game face down. Since the Archive makes no mention of revealing the cards, you don't get to see them. Q: How does Monkey Cage interact with Living Death? A: Note that the Cage triggers off creatures coming into play, so as the wording stands, you will get tokens for each creature brought into play.