Rules Questions

Leman_Russ

1. Can I play an XX card for X as 0?
2. If a creature has one ability that says to tap it, and another seperate ability that says sacrifice it, can i do both?
3. If i get the chance to chose a colour of protection, can i chose Colourless?
4. If I run out of cards to draw, do i instantly lose, or do i wait until the end of the turn?

sionnach

1. Yep

2. Yep, an example is coretapper, tap him to put a charge counter on an artifact then sacrifice him the same turn to put another 2 on.

3. No, you have to choose one of the five colours

4. You will lose when you are required to draw a card, can't, and then a player receives priority. So if you don't have any cards left as you enter your draw phase, you're going to lose the game before your main phase afaik

Leman_Russ

Ok, a few more quick questons:
1. If a card like Ivory Cup says "When a player plays a white spell, you may pay 1. If you, gain 1 life" Does that mean if someone plays "Holy Day", i could tap 5 lands to gain 5 life?

2. If I get into an endless cycle, generating infinate mana, and I have myr Matrix on the field, when I pick a number to stop at (as per the rules) could I pick something stupid like 5,000,000 and generate 1,000,000 2/2 Myr Tokens?

Ivan

1. Not sure what Holy Days does. Cant really answer the question.
2. When there would be an infinite cycle, as this, then you pick an arbitrarily high number. 5,000,000; 9 billion, 57 trillion. Whatever. So the answer to your question is, yes.

Leman_Russ

Ok, thanks for the help.

Just one more question though.

If you were a Judge at any DCI Tournie, and I got to an infinate mana lockdown and made a million Myr Tokens, would you kick me out the tournie (from a judges veiw, not your sorry loseing ass!)

Ivan

No, you wouldnt be kicked out of the tournament. They would write 1,000,000 Myr tokens on a sheet of paper. Its within the rules, so they have to oblige you. Period.

Leman_Russ

Ah thanks Ivan, you are da man!

Just 1 more Question (Yes I am a Whiny git):
When I destroy an opponents Pithing Needle, can i play the abilities again?

Will post more questions soon (yay!)

Ivan

Rather than referring to the card by name, if you could post the text on the card, I could figure out what the rules for it are. I dont know every card off hand, especially the newer ones and dont really have the patience to look for the card text.

sionnach

Pithing Needle
Artifact
Wording :

As Pithing Needle comes into play, name a card.

Activated abilities of the named card can't be played unless they're mana abilities.

While the needle is in play it blocks controllers of the named permanent from using its ability. When it leaves play it no longer affects the board and the abilities can be played again.

this is how i interpret it, correct me if i'm wrong

Leman_Russ

Thanks Sionnach.
Just one more question, this time from my friend.

He says that the Comp Rules state that Creatures cannot use an activated ability with "Tap" in it the turn it comes out, but then says that Mana Abilities are exempt.

He also says that Non-Creature Artifacts, enchantments and lands can all tap the turn they come out.

Is this true?

Ivan

Well, lets see, where to start.
Creatures cannot use an activated ability with "Tap" in it, the turn it comes into play, this INCLUDES mana abilities. The Haste ability is the exception.

Enchantments dont tap (older ones used to but no longer)
Non-creature artifacts and lands can all tap the turn they come into play, for any ability or effect, unless it says otherwise, on the card.

This changes if they are turned into creatures.

Hopes this helps.

nobellium

I put a token into play. Can I attack the same turn??
My reasoning is that since it was not summoned, doesn't have summoning sickness.

Secondly, my friend has a samurai in play, that says whoever has most cards in hand gets control of that card. After my draw step, I have more cards in hand so I take control of the samurai.Can I attack same turn???

Tnx.

Leman_Russ

nobellium wrote:

I put a token into play. Can I attack the same turn??
My reasoning is that since it was not summoned, doesn't have summoning sickness.

From reading the Comp rules, i beleve they can, as the entery on tokens only explains the name/type situation, says that it isn't a card, and the outside play zone = poof rules.

As for the second question, I'm not too sure.

Ivan

Tokens cant attack the turn they come into play. A token is nothing, but it represents a creature. That creature is summoned by the spell you cast. Therefore it suffers from summoning sickness.

A creature must undergo an upkeep step, in your control, before you can attack with it. If it keeps changing control at your draw step then it misses the upkeep step for that turn. Therefore it cant attack. However I'd check the exact wording for samurai, its unsual that he wouldnt change controller during the upkeep or untap step.

Hope that helps.

Skyclad

1. If a card like Ivory Cup says "When a player plays a white spell, you may pay 1. If you, gain 1 life" Does that mean if someone plays "Holy Day", i could tap 5 lands to gain 5 life?

No. Whenever you play the holy day, the Ivory cup triggers and goes on the stack once. As the effect resolves, you may pay 1 (once). If so, you gain 1 life. Note also it does go on the stack, so your opponent could respond to it, but if he does, he has to do so before you choose to pay the mana to gain the life.

If you were a Judge at any DCI Tournie, and I got to an infinate mana lockdown and made a million Myr Tokens, would you kick me out the tournie (from a judges veiw, not your sorry loseing ass!)
Absolutely not!!! Pulling off infinite mana tricks in sanctioned competitions is perfectly acceptable, and IMO (as tournament organiser for this years nationals and 4 time national team member!) to be commended The rules dictate exactly what happens - you pick any number you choose, and perform your mana generation (or other infinite loop) that many times. Thats all there is to it!

I put a token into play. Can I attack the same turn??
My reasoning is that since it was not summoned, doesn't have summoning sickness.
No. Summoning sickness isnt really related to a creature being summoned - its just a leftover name from alpha when there were no token creatures or anything.

To be exact, for a creature to not be summoning sick, it has to have been in play since the start of your turn as a permanent. So, say for example you cast a Genju of the spires (an enchant mountain with the ability 2: enchanted mountain becomes a 6/1 red spirit creature until end of turn) on a mountain you played the previous turn. If you activate it, it would not be summoning sick. If however you cast it on a mountain you played on your current turn, it would be summoning sick.

so basically, if the permanent (card, token etc) has been in play since the start of your turn, you can perform actions that involve tapping it. Otherwise you cant.

Secondly, my friend has a samurai in play, that says whoever has most cards in hand gets control of that card. After my draw step, I have more cards in hand so I take control of the samurai.Can I attack same turn???

Not sure exactly what card you are referring to here, but most cards that involve a change of ownership like that check only during your upkeep. Read the card to check. If you do gain control of it during your upkeep, as mentioned above you wont have controlled it since the start of your turn, so wont be able to attack.