From: Elaine Ferrao Subject: MM Prerelease FAQ Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 09:56:24 -0700 To: DCIJUDGE-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM -------- _Mercadian Masques(TM)_ Frequently Asked Questions Compiled by Dan Gray TOURNAMENT QUESTIONS Q: What is the K value and rules enforcement level of the prerelease? A: All Mercadian Masques prerelease tournaments will be 16 K and will be run at REL 2. Q: How will extra land be distributed? A: Most tournament organizers will be using the new 5 land swap. Each player may choose up to 5 basic lands to trade in for an equal number of basic lands from the organizer. Both the lands traded in and the lands taken must be recorded on the deck registration sheet, if one is used. Some organizers may choose not to use this option. The method used at your tournament will be announced by the organizer prior to deck registration/construction. Q: What do I do if I open up a foil land? A: Foil lands can be played with just like regular foil cards. Sometimes, receiving a foil land will cause your deck to have more of one type of basic land and less of another. You are not allowed to even out the types of basic land you have, except for using the method of extra land distribution announced by the organizer. NEW MECHANICS Q: What are "Rebel" cards and "Mercenary" cards? A: Rebel and Mercenary are two new creature types associated with a new ability called "recruiting"--some Rebels and Mercenaries have an activated ability that allows you to search your library for another Rebel or Mercenary and put it into play. (Rebels search for Rebels and Mercenaries search for Mercenaries.) Q: For alternative play costs with a condition (such as Land Grant and Deepwood Legate), when does the condition have to be true for me to play the card by paying the alternative cost? A: The condition must be true when you want to play the spell. If it is, you can pay for the spell with the alternative cost. If not, you must pay the mana cost. You can't back up and pay the alternative cost instead of the mana cost if the condition becomes true while the spell is waiting to resolve. Q: Some abilities, such as those of Wishmonger and Flailing Soldier, read, "Any player may play this ability." What does this mean? A: These abilities, nicknamed "all-play" abilities, can be played not only by the controller of the permanent with the ability (like all abilities can be), but also by any player. Such abilities are played just like any other ability: to play them, a player must have priority and must be able to pay all costs, choose targets, and so on. Q: If I play an "all-play" ability of a permanent my opponent controls, who controls the ability? A: You do. Whoever plays an ability and puts it on the stack controls it, even if he or she doesn't control the source that generated it. GENERAL QUESTIONS Q: What's does "becomes blocked" mean (as on Robber Fly)? A: If an ability triggers whenever a creature "is blocked," it triggers once for each creature that blocks it. If an ability triggers whenever a creature *becomes* blocked, however, the ability triggers only once when blockers are declared, no matter how many creatures block it. This means abilities such as those of Alley Grifter, Corrupt Official, Robber Fly, and Saprazzan Heir will trigger only once each combat. CARD-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS Aerial Caravan -------------------- Q: What happens to the removed card if I don't play it by the end of the turn? A: It remains removed from the game. Q: Will the card stay removed from the game if I do play it? A: No. If you play the card, it goes on the stack. When it resolves, it will go wherever that spell would normally go (usually into play or into its owner's graveyard). Barbed Wire -------------------- Q: Can any player play the damage prevention ability? A: No, the activated ability isn't an "all-play" ability, so only Barbed Wire's controller can play it. Black Market -------------------- Q: If Black Market has charge counters on it, do I have to add the mana to my pool? A: Yes. Black Market's ability reads, "add," not "you may add," so the mana will be added to your pool even if you don't want it. Bog Witch -------------------- Q: Is this played as an instant like Dark Ritual is? A: No. Bog Witch's ability produces mana, so it's played by the rules for mana abilities. Bribery -------------------- Q: Who controls the comes-into-play abilities of the creature card I choose? A: You do, because you control the creature when it comes into play. Coastal Piracy, Larceny -------------------- Q: Do I get to draw a card for each 1 damage dealt? A: No. Coastal Piracy's ability triggers each time damage is dealt, not once for each 1 damage dealt. (See Larceny for a similar question.) Common Cause -------------------- Q: What does this ability do? A: As long as every creature currently in play is the same color or is an artifact creature, all nonartifact creatures get +2/+2. As soon a creature is in play whose color is different than the others, the bonus stops working. If a creature is more than one color, the bonus still works as long as one of its colors is the same as one of the colors of every other creature in play. For example, if you and your opponent both control two white creatures, and you control a red and white creature, all five creatures get +2/+2, because all five are white. Q: Is this card really supposed to affect all creatures in play, or just mine? A: All creatures in play must be the same color for its effect to be generated, and *all* creatures get +2/+2 if the effect applies. Conspiracy -------------------- Q: Does this replace the creatures' normal type with the type I chose, or does it add the type I chose to the existing types? A: It replaces all previous types. Once Conspiracy is in play, all creatures you control and all creature cards in your graveyard, hand, and library are only of the type you chose. If Conspiracy leaves play, they'll revert to their previous types. Q: What happens if I choose Legend as the creature type? Do all the creatures and creature cards become subject to the Legend rule? A: All creatures and creature cards will become Legends for as long as Conspiracy remains in play. This means if more than one creature with a particular card name is in play while Conspiracy is in play, all of them except the one that came into play first will be destroyed by the Legend rule. Q: What if Conspiracy changes a Legendary creature's creature type to something other than Legend? A: Creatures that have "Legend" printed on them are considered legendary even if their type changes. Therefore, even if Conspiracy's effect changes a creature's type from Legend to something else, the creature is still subject to the Legend rule. Cornered Market -------------------- Q: Do cards on the stack count as "in play" for purposes of this ability? A: No. "In play" and the stack are two separate zones in *Magic*(R). If a spell you want to play has the same name as a spell on the stack, Cornered Market's effect won't prevent you from playing it. Q: Will this ability prevent cards from being put into play by effects such as Show and Tell's? A: No. Cornered Market's ability prevents only playing spells or nonbasic lands that share a name with something in play. It can't stop cards from being put into play directly. Crooked Scales -------------------- Q: How does this ability work? A: After picking targets, you flip a coin. If you win, destroy the opponent's creature. If you lose, you have two choices: you can destroy your creature or you pay three mana and flip the coin to try again. You can keep repeating this process until you either win a flip (and destroy the opponent's creature) or decide to destroy your creature. Crumbling Sanctuary -------------------- Q: What if I'm dealt damage while I don't have any cards in my library? A: Crumbling Sanctuary is a replacement effect-it replaces each 1 damage with removing from the game a card from the player's library. If you can't remove enough cards because your library becomes empty, the Sanctuary won't replace those points of damage, and the damage will be dealt to you normally. Eye of Ramos, Heart of Ramos, Horn of Ramos, Skull of Ramos, Tooth of Ramos -------------------- Q: Can I tap one of these artifacts for mana and then sacrifice it for one more mana while it's tapped? A: Yes. Under _Classic(TM)_ rules, an artifact's abilities don't "turn off" while it's tapped, so you can play the artifact's second activated ability even if it's tapped. Instigator -------------------- Q: What happens if one of my opponent's creatures can't attack for some reason? A: Nothing. The ability doesn't specify any penalty not attacking. Larceny -------------------- Q: Does the player dealt damage discard a card for each 1 damage dealt? A: No. Larceny's ability triggers once each time damage is dealt, not once for each 1 damage dealt. (See Coastal Piracy for a similar question.) Ley Line -------------------- Q: If I control it, who chooses the target creature during my opponents' upkeeps? A: Because the ability reads, "that player may," the active player (the player whose turn it is) controls the ability. This means he or she chooses the target. Mercadian Atlas -------------------- Q: What if play a spell or ability such as Rampant Growth that puts a land into play? Do I still get to draw at end of turn? A: Yes. Mercadian Atlas only refers to you laying playing lands during your main phase in the usual way. If an effect puts a land into play, you still haven't "played a land," and can draw for the Atlas at end of turn. Mercadia's Downfall -------------------- Q: How does this spell work? A: When Mercadia's Downfall resolves, only creatures attacking at that time get the bonus. This means if the spell resolves before the declare attackers step or after the end of combat step, it has no effect, because no creatures are attacking at those times. It also means creatures that become attackers later on (because of Relentless Assault's effect, for example) don't get the bonus. Moment of Silence -------------------- Q: What if an effect like Relentless Assault's gives the target player another combat phase? Does Moment of Silence's make the player skip that one, too? A: No. Moment of Silence's effect makes the target player skip only his or her next combat phase, not any additional ones. Renounce -------------------- Q: When do I choose how many permanents to sacrifice to this? A: You choose when Renounce resolves. Saprazzan Raider -------------------- Q: If I block it, will the Raider deal its combat damage before returning to its owner's hand? A: No. The ability triggers as soon as you declare blockers, so the Raider will be returned to its owner's hand before the combat damage step. Territorial Dispute -------------------- Q: Does this stop lands from coming into play altogether? A: No, it only stops players from playing lands normally during their main phases. Lands put into play by effects such as Rampant Growth's will come into play normally. Thieves' Auction -------------------- Q: Once all permanents are set aside, how do players choose them? A: Beginning with the active player and proceeding in turn order, each player chooses the permanent he or she wants and puts it into play, tapped. Q: Does this just affect me and one opponent or all players? A: Although it isn't written with multiplayer games in mind, it does affect everyone. Q: What happens to local enchantments? A: If you choose a local enchantment, you put it into play enchanting a permanent of your choice it can legally enchant. If the enchantment has nothing to enchant, it remains removed from the game. Later on during the resolution of Thieves' Auction, a player can choose that enchantment again. If it still can't enchant anything, it remains removed from the game. If there's a point at which the only permanents left are local enchantments with nothing to enchant, they remain removed from the game permanently, and the Auction finishes resolving. Trap Runner -------------------- Q: What happens if I play its ability on a creature with trample? A: A creature with "blocked" by Trap Runner's ability is treated as though it had been blocked by a 0/0 creature. If the "blocked" creature has trample, therefore, the attacking player can assign all the trample damage to the defending player. Two-Headed Dragon -------------------- Q: The last sentence of its third ability reads, "It may block one additional creature." What does "it" refer to? A: "It" refers to the Dragon. War Cadence, War Tax -------------------- Q: When can I pay the cost to attack or block? A: War Cadence generates a "blocking cost," which can be paid only as blockers are declared. Similarly, War Tax generates an "attack cost," which can be paid only as attackers are declared. Basically, they both work just like Propaganda (except their effects apply to their controller). All trademarks are property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. (c)1999 Wizards. # # # Elaine Ferrao DCI Policy Administrator elaine@wizards.com