I'm Mike, from The Mana Pool.

I first learned to play around the release of Ice Age (1995-ish) and was strongly involved with playing casually and at local events until early 2020, when I had to back off for obvious reasons. I got back into playing a little bit in 2022 with a few prereleases and casual meet-ups here and there and I still enjoy keeping up with Magic news and new sets.

As a general rule, my deckbuilding is influenced far more than it should be by what I think would be "interesting/fun/funny" instead of what's probably the better choice of cards. The friend who first taught me how to play had a very strong philosophy of "Not every card is good, but pretty much any card can be made good" and the casual groups I spent the most time playing with over the years were always keen on figuring out how to make effective game plans from odd ideas. It was all immensely fun and it's still a big influence on my approach to the game.

I also tend to design and build strictly from my existing collection. If there's a good card for a deck that I don't have in a list, there's a good chance I don't own any, but please suggest it anyway so that maybe I'll remember to go out and find it.

I was a DCI-certified Rules Advisor under older versions of the Magic Judge program and I still keep up with new mechanics and rules changes. I'm the "rules guy" of my casual play group and I like to hang out in the Rules Q&A area here on Tapped Out. If you notice a mistake in one of my responses, don't be shy about pointing it out because above all else, I want whatever question I'm responding to to be answered correctly!

rckclimber777 says... #1

Hey, I have a question about the forums and someone suggested I ask you. I recently started making a Build a deck with me series that goes through my thought process in building EDH decks to both help new players who want to build their own decks, and also for more experienced players to give their own feedback. I walk through the process, but I've refrained from posting the actual deck in the thread due to the no decks rule. Some people are asking for the decks to be in the thread so they can see the final product. Since I'm not technically asking for help, but more serving as a guide, would it be acceptable to post the deck at the end of it?

Also, I'm pretty sure I remember you being super active when I was active years ago. Good to see a familiar face!

May 2, 2024 4:32 p.m.

SageQahnaarin says... #2

Hello Mr. Mike, I noticed that you are really good at answering questions and was wondering if you could answer one for me. I was recently looking at card effects that retrieve exiled cards and stumbled upon [Ring of Ma'ruf]. I was wondering if [Karn the Great Creator] was able to retrieve [Ring of Ma'ruf] after its effect exiles itself "entirely"? I would really appreciate it if you had an answer. I've asked around and no one could give me an answer.

April 6, 2024 3:51 p.m.

Please login to comment

CloudKillerJay: Since it's clear you got a satisfactory answer to your question and there don't seem to be any follow-ups or corrections that need to be made, I marked it as the "Accepted answer" so this topic can move out of the list of unanswered questions. In the future you can take care of this yourself using the "Mark as Answer" button on the response that you feel is the most helpful answer to your question.

May 2, 2024 9:30 a.m.

Yes, that works. In the detailed rules for suspend, "play" means "play it if it's a land and cast it if it's a spell". Since you're casting the spell, Caetus gives it convoke and Kasla will trigger from that. Just in case this is also a question: you don't actually need to tap any creatures for convoke to get a trigger from Kasla. The fact that a spell has the convoke ability is enough.

May 1, 2024 8:39 a.m.

No, Hissing Miasma won't trigger Gonti, Canny Acquisitor. Hissing Miasma doesn't cause any creatures to deal combat damage to anyone. The Miasma, itself, causes a player to lose life.

April 29, 2024 6:12 p.m.

Said on Uncle Istvan...

#4

indieinside: An answer to your question has been up for a while. Since there don't seem to be any follow-ups or corrections that need to be made, I marked it as the "Accepted answer" so this topic can move out of the list of unanswered questions. In the future you can take care of this yourself using the "Mark as Answer" button on the response that you feel is the most helpful answer to your question.

April 29, 2024 5:25 p.m.

Creative thought, but no, this doesn't work. To "cast" something is to move it from wherever it is to the stack, make all the necessary choices, pay all the costs etc. In this example the copy of the "when the last counter is removed, cast this" trigger will resolve first and will cast Search for Tomorrow. However, when the original trigger starts to resolve, the object it's trying to act on (the suspended card in exile) is gone and it won't be able to do anything.

April 29, 2024 5:17 p.m.

No, Hissing Miasma doesn't target. An effect only has a target if it specifically uses the word "target", either in the text on the card or packed into the full rules for a keyword ability (e.g. Equip).

Are these the cards you meant to ask about? I'm just getting a funny feeling since you ask about an "interaction" but they don't seem to have anything to do with each other.

April 29, 2024 5:03 p.m.

Said on New Horizons 3...

#7

This topic has been moved to the Modern discussion forum.

April 29, 2024 4:54 p.m.

The change to regeneration was part of the 6th Edition rules update in 1999 (so yeah, 25 years ago). It was part of the streamlining of the timing system from using batches, series and damage prevention / regeneration windows to only using the stack instead. Using the stack for damage prevention and regeneration effects meant they had to be in-place before the damage / destruction event actually happened instead of being applied afterward. Making prevention / regeneration work this way also meant they could use rules already established for replacement effects instead of having to use their own separate rules, which streamlined the rules further.

April 29, 2024 9:55 a.m. Edited.

Those abilities don't have anything written into their targeting requirements that restricts them to "nonland permanents" or "permanents you control", so yes, you can target an opponent's lands with them. This could be useful for locking up Counterspell mana that you don't want to deal with during your second main phase, but pretty much any other kind of Instant-speed thing they could do during your second main could also be done in response to these triggers during combat, so the general usefulness there could be limited.

It's better to start a new topic for a new question rather than append it to a resolved topic, especially if they aren't related. It makes it easier for people with a similar question to find later and makes it easier for people with answers to notice the new activity (I got a notification because I posted here, but otherwise people might not look at all since the thread is marked as resolved).

April 29, 2024 9:46 a.m.

You're right, Tetsuko's ability would no longer apply. If something refers to a creature's power or toughness and doesn't specifically say "base power" or "base toughness" then it's talking about the creature's total power/toughness including any modifiers.

April 24, 2024 4:15 p.m.

ThyArtist1809: An answer to your question has been up for a while. Since there don't seem to be any follow-ups or corrections that need to be made, I marked it as the "Accepted answer" so this topic can move out of the list of unanswered questions. In the future you can take care of this yourself using the "Mark as Answer" button on the response that you feel is the most helpful answer to your question.

April 23, 2024 8:48 a.m.

Your opponent gets to choose the result, so they will probably choose for you to take damage.

The official current text for Spike Weaver's last ability has been updated to say "Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn" to make it clear that it's a damage prevention effect. If multiple replacement and/or prevention effects are trying to modify how an event affects a player or object, then the affected player or controller of the affected object decides which one to apply first. The unused replacement/prevention effects might still be able to apply to the modified event or they might not. Since your opponent is the one about to be dealt damage, they're the "affected player" in this example.

April 22, 2024 8:52 a.m.

Grimnix: An answer to your question has been up for a while. Since there don't seem to be any follow-ups or corrections that need to be made, I marked it as the "Accepted answer" so this topic can move out of the list of unanswered questions. In the future you can take care of this yourself using the "Mark as Answer" button on the response that you feel is the most helpful answer to your question.

I try to avoid marking my own responses when I do this, but in this case it was the only option.

April 19, 2024 6:07 p.m.

Said on None...

#14

Grenade55: An answer to your question has been up for a while. Since there don't seem to be any follow-ups or corrections that need to be made, I marked it as the "Accepted answer" so this topic can move out of the list of unanswered questions. In the future you can take care of this yourself using the "Mark as Answer" button on the response that you feel is the most helpful answer to your question.

April 19, 2024 6:06 p.m.

Yes, that's the correct interpretation of what the "it's still a land" language will do here. You would have an artifact creature (that isn't a land).

205.1b Some effects change an object’s card type, supertype, or subtype but specify that the object retains a prior card type, supertype, or subtype. In such cases, all the object’s prior card types, supertypes, and subtypes are retained. This rule applies to effects that use the phrase “in addition to its types” or that state that something is “still a [type, supertype, or subtype].” Some effects state that an object becomes an “artifact creature”; these effects also allow the object to retain all of its prior card types and subtypes. Some effects state that an object becomes a “[creature type or types] artifact creature”; these effects also allow the object to retain all of its prior card types and subtypes other than creature types, but replace any existing creature types.

April 18, 2024 4:41 p.m.

Yes, this works. When you create a copy of an activated ability with Verrak, Illusionist's Bracers or something similar, you aren't "activating" that ability again, just making a copy of it, so any restrictions in the original ability about exactly when or how many times it can be activated won't interfere.

April 16, 2024 5:54 p.m.

Yes the myriad tokens in the Vihaan-Cybermen example will be created. A resolving spell/ability will do as much as it can and skip any impossible parts. The tokens will be created tapped, since there's no problem with doing that part, they just won't be attacking since they aren't creatures. They will still get exiled at the end of combat so you'll need to get creative if you want to make use of them.

April 15, 2024 8:20 a.m.

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Finished Decks 106
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Playing since Ice Age
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Joined 13 years