#magicjudge 2

[leonemian]

Wait, but also Commander, right? Tomik, Wielder of Law, in the normal pace of play does have the equivalent of "Costs 1 less as long as you control a Planeswalker", but if Tomik is your Commander, this cost reduction applies also to the additional 2 you must pay every time you cast him from the command zone, right?

@magicjudge, sorry to bother you, do I understand the rules correctly?

Why does the new Tomik have affinity for planeswalkers when it can only have the cost reduced by 1 at most? It seems strange to use affinity in this way instead of just saying "Tomik cost 1 less to cast if you control a Planeswalker".

It’s done for flavor.

[magicjudge]

Back for More?

Hi everyone. It's been a long time. I'm not sure how many of you are still around, but I hope it's a fair number given the continued popularity of MaRo's blog.

Anyway, I'm back. I've cleared out the inbox of old questions and it's open and ready for new ones. No promises of how frequently I'll post here, or if I'll be back for long, but with everything going on with Twitter lately, it made me miss this place and all of you.

So hit me with those hot questions, comments, whatever.

-- Charlotte

[farsight-the-char]

@magicjudge

How does this work? Do I get double sized Hydra token or 2 hydra tokens when I cast a (X)-cost Hydra Spell?

[oldtumblhurgoyf]

Is That Supposed to Happen?

Just had a real close game on Arena and it came down to the following board state:

My opponent was at 2 life with Tithe Taker and two 2/2 Soldier creature tokens from Finale of Glory on the field. It was their turn.

I was at 2 life with two 1/1 Devil creature tokens from Tibalt, Rakish Instigator on the field, alongside Tibalt and Nicol Bolas, Dragon God.

My opponent swung in with all three creatures. I blocked the Tithe Taker and one of the Soldier tokens, leaving a 2/2 to swing through at my 2 remaining life. Combat damage happens, my Devils die, and I get to target my opponent with their death triggers, each dealing 1 damage. My opponent goes to 0 while I remain at 2 and win the game.

Why didn’t the two combat damage I took show up at the same time as the damage dealt to the creatures? Shouldn’t it have been done by the time the Devil triggers were up and state based actions should have seen me at 0 life before then, right?

I thought I was dead and was really surprised when I wasn’t. Is this an error with Arena or did I misunderstand the order of what happens here? @magicjudge

[magical-leak]

Tag @magicjudge under this post just to remeber her, she has a long week ahead answering this over and over

SHAMELESSLY STOLEN FROM REDDIT

To answer the inevitable billion and one rules questions:

1. Go to [Gatherer](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Default.aspx) and pull up the text of the land you’re wondering about. 2. Look at the text of the ability you’re wondering about. 3. Is that ability one that produces mana without targeting anything? Then it’s a mana ability and is not removed. Is it anything *other* than producing mana without targeting anything (remember: look for the exact literal word “target”)? Then it’s not a mana ability, and gets removed.

Also, if there are two abilities – one mana, one not-mana – and the mana ability depends on something done by the not-mana ability? Probably not gonna work.

Here are some example abilities:

> As Watery Grave enters the battlefield, you may pay 2 life. If you don’t, Watery Grave enters the battlefield tapped.

This isn’t a mana ability. It gets removed. Watery Grave will always enter untapped. You won’t even get a choice to pay life; it just will be untapped. You can’t have it enter tapped even if you want to.

> {T}: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast a creature spell of the chosen type, and that spell can’t be countered.

(from Cavern of Souls)

This is a mana ability. But it depends on information from a non-mana ability. If Cavern entered the battlefield after Blood Sun, then no creature type was chosen and the mana this produces will not be usable!

> {T}: Add ©© to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast colorless Eldrazi spells or activate abilities of colorless Eldrazi.

(from Eldrazi Temple)

Mana ability. Always works under Blood Sun. Same goes for all the Tron lands.

> Selesnya Sanctuary enters the battlefield tapped. > > When Selesnya Sanctuary enters the battlefield, return a land you control to its owner’s hand.

Two abilities, neither of them mana abilities. Both go away under Blood Sun. Selesnya Sanctuary enters untapped, and you do not bounce a land.

> A card that says to do something when it enters the battlefield, or as it enters the battlefield, or if it would enter the battlefield, or that it enters with some kind of counters on it.

Don’t do that thing. Blood Sun turns it off. Yes, really. That was a fairly recent rules change – it happened in the Ixalan rules update.

*Edit Minor text changes

[jqlgirl]

Deck Talk: Aluren

Hey all, since I wasn’t able to get to any questions over on @magicjudge today, I figured that I would write about the legacy deck I’ve been putting together for tomorrow.

What is this Deck?

Aluren is a Sultai/BUG creature combo deck that takes its name from its key card, Aluren. (Aluren is an old English word meaning “paradise”.)

So yeah, that’s one hell of a card. They sure don’t make cards like this anymore. But this is legacy, so how do we break the parity that this card provides?

The Combo

Cavern Harpy and Parasitic Strix, in combination with Aluren, provide us with our game-winning combo. The loop goes thusly: With Aluren on the battlefield, you cast Parasitic Strix for free. If you control a black permanent, you’ll drain your opponent for 2 life. This isn’t strictly necessary on the first loop, though. Next, you cast Cavern Harpy for free. When its ETB trigger resolves, you return Parasitic Strix to your hand. You then re-cast Parasitic Strix and drain 2 life, since you now control Cavern Harpy. You then pay 1 life to return Cavern Harpy to your hand, then re-cast it for free and bounce Parasitic Strix. Repeat this loop until your opponent is dead. (The great thing about Aluren is that it lets you cast your 3 CMC creatures for free and as though they had flash, so you can wait to combo out until your opponent starts pointing removal at one of your combo pieces.)

What Else Does it Do?

Don’t worry, Cavern Harpy is a ridiculous value engine that can generate real card advantage even without Aluren on the battlefield. Just combo Cavern Harpy with Baleful Strix to draw cards, or with Shardless Agent for more free spells, or with Trophy Mage to search up more Shardless Agents and Parasitic Strixes. 

Other Cards

These synergies buy you time to find your combo pieces and just grind value, with the deck including cards like Ancestral Vision for Shardless Agent to cascade into. The deck also features the usual suspects of any Sultai/BUG legacy deck, namely Leovold, Deathrite Shaman, Brainstorm, Force of Will, and Abrupt Decay. The mana base is composed entirely of dual lands, fetch lands, and basic lands.

Decklist

I’m just listing my main deck here since the sideboard options are broad and mostly the usual suspects available to these colours in Legacy.

4 Baleful Strix 2 Parasitic Strix 4 Shardless Agent 4 Cavern Harpy 4 Deathrite Shaman 2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest 2 Trophy Mage

4 Aluren 4 Abrupt Decay 4 Brainstorm 4 Force of Will 2 Ancestral Vision

1 Forest 2 Island 2 Swamp 1 Bayou 4 Misty Rainforest 4 Polluted Delta 2 Tropical Island 2 Underground Sea 2 Verdant Catacombs

[ugin]

What does mulligan mean exactly??? I’ve heard my friends use that term and have a lot of arguments about how you do it, but the way that my group has agreed upon is that instead of taking a turn you just sacrifice your entire hand and draw 7 cards, is that the correct way to do it?

Close, actually. At the start of the game, before anyone takes any turns, you can decide to shuffle your hand into your deck and draw a new hand. There are different ways to do it so I'm gonna explain the common ones"Vancouver Mulligan" is where if you want to mulligan, you shuffle all cards from your hand into your deck and draw one less card than you had before. You may repeat this process, and when you decide to keep the hand you have, you get to Scry 1 if you have less than 7 cards in your hand. This rule is used for pretty much all tournament 60-card magic and sometimes commander.The way they used to do it for commander (and a lot of people still do) is called "Partial Paris" where instead of mulling your whole hand, you can choose any number of cards you don't want in your hand and redraw only those cards. The first one is free/friendly, as in you don't draw less cards for mulling, but if you choose to keep mulling you will have to draw one less card. For example, I don't like my starring hand very much, so I decide I get rid of 5 cards. I will then draw 5 cards. I still don't like the 7 I have in my hand, so I would have to start losing cards. If I got rid of 3 cards, I would only redraw 2, or if I got rid of 5 you'd draw 4 (so on and so forth). I use this rule for commander and add on the scry rule cause it's more consistent and fun. If you need any clarification I can try to explain better or you can message me or @magicjudge for more information!

[pepperstrawberry]

leagueofbantcraft replied to your post: magicjudge: I was talking to @flavoracle today,...

A few things to be considered: US holidays mean people aren’t even on the site very much during the last 2 weeks. Also as others have said the previews for Rivals was basically a week, so there wasnt much time for hype to build. For me at least also this block of Ixalan has been only really aesthetically my style. None of the cards scream this is something I want to make a deck out of, so I can’t really contribute. Maybe Dominaria will change that.

As I pointed out on another thread of the post: there are a -lot- of factors to consider. It’s just that all those factors happening at the same time.

Though, on a sidenote: I am sad that RIX was so rushed into... like, sure, some folks (such as yourself) didn’t have that much interest, but it’s still looking like a super fun set (watching the LRR PPR as I type this: Ruben Bresler v Kathleen De Vere)... but it feels like they really are just trying to steam roll through into Dominaria. I mean, sure, it should be a very solid shift and potentially an Iconic set (proper iconic, not Iconic Masters Iconic... to borrow a ‘jim-ism’) set for the celebration of the 25 anniversery.

Still annoys me how they kinda let RIX get stuck in the middle between UNstable and Dom... But then, *shrugs* I don’t mind it either? Just wish there was a bit more room to breathe between sets (even if one of those sets was a supplement)

[advanced-procrastination]

K so since tumblr keeps crashing, lets try it this way:

Im the one who sent the ask about Jarad/Savra to @commandtower-solring-go. Thank you everybody who responded, especially @magicjudge. I have a followup question (two actually):

1) savra's first ability all happens at the "same time" correct? So once it resolves and I choose to use it, i pay 2 life and all opponents sac with no opportunity to respond in between, correct? They can't let me lose 2 life, then counter the sac before it happens?

2) After each ability resolves, priority goes around in case anybody wants to respond to the thing that just happened, right? So if they had a creature with "whenever an opponent takes damage, blah blah blah" after my savra first ability resolves, i lose 2 life, they sac, then they can let that trigger go on the stack?

I just made my first EDH deck (Jarad is my commander) and I've never played a deck with so many interactions so I'm trying to make sure I understand the stack

[sacraliel]

I’ve seen the complaints about the lack of decklists on toombeleer, so here’s mine with a deck-tech.

My favorite commander is Zada, Hedron Grinder, who I fell in love with since she was first spoiled. I have had this deck since the beginning, and I have almost completely foiled it out. It regularly proves itself in any pod, and it has a unique ability to fit into any competitive level besides cEDH (100 card legacy).

I’ll start with the main strategy. This deck starts its first few turns playing lands, dropping inexpensive token generators, and ramping with cards like Curse of Opulence and Ruby Medallion.

Then it moves to Stage 2, where it dumps things like Siege-Gang Commander, Emrakul’s Hatcher, or Kenko, Mob Boss. It sets up a piece of protection (Champion’s Helm, Mask of Avacyn) and then lies in wait. The combo is ready as soon as I have a combination of cantrips like Expedite and mass mana generation, like Inner Fire. The exact moment I decide to go off depends on which versions of which effects I have, coupled with how many tokens I control.

In Stage 3, I have the components I need, and cast Zada. I cast my cantrips and my mana spells, and draw enough of my deck and make enough mana to pump my token army enough to kill everyone. It’s a spectacular affair, one that I never grow tired of, and one that my opponents always laugh when they see it.

The deck is made up of 15 card subgroups, as seen in my decklist.

I have 13 token generating cards, ranging from creatures to spells. The important part of the spell is token to mana efficiency, as I need to be able to cast the spells before I have a ton of mana available. Cards that create goblins are relatively important, as I need a reliable amount to be able to cast Brightstone Ritual effectively, but I still prioritize efficiency over other effects.

I also have 12 cantrips, along with Skullclamp, to encompass my card draw. While cards like Aleatory, Chaotic Strike, and Panic are hard to use, they are quite good when I am able to sit and wait for someone else to attack, and draw cards in response. Others, like Crimson Wisps and Fiery Gambit work amazingly, with Fiery Gambit pulling both chariots as a mass mana spell and cantrip. (I know for a fact that this interaction works, please take any qualms you have with it to @magicjudge , rather than discussing judge calls with me)

I have 8 pump spells, and to be honest, I probably don’t even need to run that many, but it is helpful to be able to cast them without any cantrips available. The pump spells are chosen by how much pump on one spell it gives, with X spells given highest priority because of their ability to utilize my 100s of many I can generate. Blazing Shoal is a good Zada card in it’s own right, but it and Overblaze also serve the double purpose of being a splice target for Desperate Ritual. This allows me to add the mana generating effect to a spell targeting Zada, making me 3 red mana per creature I control. (Again, I know this interaction works, please consult either the aforementioned Magic Judge, or @sarkhan-volkswagen for further questions).

10 mass mana ramp spells allow me to puke out cantrips and pump spells at an alarming rate, with Kari Zev’s Expertise being helpful because of its ability to make half my deck free. Don’t be afraid to use these early on if they don’t make a ton of mana just yet, Stage 1 and Stage 2 need them more than Stage 3.

The final important section is my protection. Cards like Chaos Warp and Word of Seizing allow my mono-red deck to deal with troublesome enchantments like Propaganda and Ghostly Prison. Don’t use these cards for anything else, because they are the only things you have that can beat them with this combo-focused shell. Skullcrack and Insult // Injury are included because of their ability to force someone to play their fog before I waste mana in a pump spell and attack. This way, they play it in response, and I know to just play a Thought Vessel and wait another round. Otherworldly Outburst allows me to not concede to board wipes, but if you think they have an instant-speed wipe, make sure you leave a land untapped, otherwise they will wait for your mana pool to empty.

The rest of the deck is fairly straightforward, with man-lands and things like Kher Keep to help generate more bodies for cantrips, and generic red ramp cards to help in Stage 1.

This has long been my favorite deck to play, build, and win with, and I hope this deck-tech and list has inspired you to either build your own Zada list, or make a deck-tech of your own favorite deck to add to Tubbular.

Remember to grind your hedrons,

@sacraliel

[magicjudge]

Hey @magicjudge, I was wondering if Teferi, Time Raveler is supposed to shut down Chandra, Acolyte of Flame's -2 ability. On arena, I was unable to cast a spell off her -2 and was wondering if that was a feature or a bug, thanks!

That’s the correct interaction.

Chandra’s -2 ability instructs you to cast the spell as part of the resolution of her loyalty ability. Since that’s not a time you could normally cast a sorcery, i.e. the stack isn’t empty in your main phase, Teferi’s static ability prevents you from casting the spell and so Chandra’s ability does nothing.

[doombladez]

Reply with 5 things that make you happy + send this to the last 10 people in your notes!

1. Bats. Bats man. They're incredible. 2. Spoiler season. Specifically Amonkhet's, it's shaping up to be my favorite set since Innistrad. 3. My girlfriend @dieingrose4. The Magic community, especially the judges for the game and the group on here, in particular @magicjudge @flavoracle and @bace-jeleren are always incredible. 5. @artofryanyee, the illustrator of my favorite Magic art, Endless Ranks of the Dead. I'm just gonna tag people for this:@dieingrose @disciple114 @reddurcs @turnaboutkid @mrkltpzyxm

[oldtumblhurgoyf]

Hello I am sorry to bother you but LGS have been having a heated discussion over the rules changes to split cards. Cards like Void Winnower, Sanctum Prelate and Brisela actually prevent casting based on casting costs. I believe in the case of Sanctum Prelate if it is set at 4 then Fire//Ice could not be cast since its total CMC is 4 it is not legal to be case while other say it needs to be set to 2. I think I am right based on rule 601.3, 708.6 and 708.6a could I be wrong?

You are correct.

Fire // Ice now has a CMC of 4 everywhere except the stack. So yeah, Sanctum Prelate set to 4 means Fire // Ice can’t be cast. Setting it to 2 won’t have any effect on Fire // Ice because when you determine whether or not it is legal to cast, from your hand (or any zone except the stack for that matter), it has a CMC of 4. The CMC isn’t 2 until you’ve moved (half) the spell onto the stack, and at that point you’ve already determined it is legal to cast.

@magicjudge has a great break down of the new rules change here. And I’m happy to answer rules questions but she’s definitely a better resource in that department, as is @sarkhan-volkswagen.

There’s also an official statement from Eli who succeeded in making this change happen at Wizards. Particularly at the bottom there’s a short list of interactions that don’t work. Kind of odd to me that they didn’t include an example like this there, especially considering Void Winnower and Brisela will overlap in Standard with the split cards under these rules.

[oldtumblhurgoyf]

Some good observations in the notes as well. Abilities that trigger from something being turned face up still use the stack and can be responded to.

Morph being a special action is intended so you cant respond to them paying a morph cost and shock the thing while it's still a face down 2/2

I still recommend searching for morph on magicjudge's blog. She has a ton of content there especially from Tarkir block.

I had a question about morphs and you seem to know a lot so I thought I'd ask - If they don't use the stack does that mean that none of the effect of flipping a morph can be respinded to? Thanks.

Essentially yes. It's a special action. But for rules questions and more deets on how morph works, I would check out @magicjudge

[simic-initiate]

All hail.

Back for More?

Hi everyone. It's been a long time. I'm not sure how many of you are still around, but I hope it's a fair number given the continued popularity of MaRo's blog.

Anyway, I'm back. I've cleared out the inbox of old questions and it's open and ready for new ones. No promises of how frequently I'll post here, or if I'll be back for long, but with everything going on with Twitter lately, it made me miss this place and all of you.

So hit me with those hot questions, comments, whatever.

-- Charlotte