What BethMo said March-April 1999 GENERAL 1) All "search your library for this/these" decisions are made while actually searching, both in 5E and 6E rules. In particular, decide while searching, for Defense of the Heart, how many creatures you're bringing out ... not earlier, on announcement. 2) Anything that says to "sacrifice target something" gets the target chosen on announcement ... instead of having the sacrifice victim picked on resolution. However, the only card that says this in the current Oracle, The Abyss, is apparently due to a mistake ("target" isn't _supposed_ to be combined with 'sacrifice'), and will probably be 'fixed' for 6E Oracle. [Priest of Yawgmoth will _probably_ also be "fixed" to either not be a sacrifice, or not work on artifacts you own but don't control, for 6E, I don't know which.] 3) Changing a permanent's permanent type [land, creature, artifact, enchantment, local enchantment] to another type will wipe out any other permanent types that aren't mentioned in the change. It won't wipe out land type unless the permanent stops being a land; it won't wipe out creature type unless the permanent stops being a creature. It won't stop the permanent being a legend if it was one before. Changing a permanent's _land_ type to a basic land changes its name, type line, and text box; it removes old abilities and old land types ... but doesn't change _permanent_ type at all - if it was a land creature before, it still is one, though it may lose its old abilities. This _will_ remove legendary/ legend status. Changing a permanent's _creature_ type removes other creature types. [Fowl Play, from Unglued.] But doesn't change the -permanent type- ... and doesn't usually change the _name_ of the card, so can't change whether it's a legend. A change that changes a permanent's _name_ can change whether or not it's a legend/legendary; other changes cannot. {Which makes some small amount of sense if you remember that the rules look for duplicate legends _of the same name_...} 4) >Buyback: (A) Just what exactly _is_ Buyback? "The Buyback payment is an optional additional play cost. (The same category as the land sacrifice for Raze, but optional.) The choice of including or not-including Buyback is a choice made while playing the spell, so it is copied by Fork. When a spell played with Buyback resolves, *as the first part of that resolution* it sets up a replacement effect saying to put the card back in your hand instead of in the graveyard. That's what "as part of the spell's effect" in the reminder/rule text means -- the replacement is an effect created during resolution, just like everything else the spell does. This is also why the buyback doesn't do anything if the spell is countered -- the replacement effect hasn't been created yet." 5) This one's complex, so hang on. If a replacement ability replaces a specific action ... such as a destruction, or a draw ... then it replaces it -completely- - things that trigger off the replaced action won't trigger, and only things that trigger off what it was replaced with will. Abundance replaces a draw, specifically; regeneration specifically replaces destruction. However, if a replacement ability replaces _part_ of an action - such as replacing the "goes to the graveyard" part of destruction or discarding - then it doesn't completely replace the action, it just changes part of what happens. And things that trigger off the replaced action _still trigger_. Concrete examples: Yawgmoth's Will replaces "put card into your graveyard this turn". It doesn't specifically replace countering, discarding, destruction, sacrifice, etc. ... so things that trigger off those _still trigger_ even though Yawgmoth's Will makes the card end up out of the game instead. It -does- mess up "is put into your graveyard from play"-triggered stuff. It _does not_ stop opponent's Megrim from triggering, for instance. It _does_ stop your Energy Field from triggering ... because the only thing Energy Field watches for is what YW is replacing. It stops Soul Net from triggering, because that card's current wording is "only when any creature is put into a graveyard from play" and that's what YW is replacing. Serra Avatar's ability also replaces "put card into your graveyard", but not "destroy", "discard", or "counter" specifically; things that trigger off any of those _will_ trigger for a Serra Avatar suffering one of those and being shuffled back in. It -does- stop "put card into your graveyard from play/from your library"-triggered stuff, because it -is- replacing what those watch for - Soul Net, Energy Field, etc. (The _original_ wording for Soul Net, "whenever a creature is destroyed", would have triggered off either of the above; neither one replaces "destroy" specifically.) 6) " "This turn" is a synonym for "until end of turn." It's used in places where the editors feel that "until" would cause confusion, particularly in place of "cannot do foo until end of turn" (which some players try to read as meaning that once you get to the end of the turn it gets a special opportunity to do foo)." (So Yawgmoth's Will's effects both wear off at the same time; the remove- from-play effect of Disintegrate doesn't last after "until end of turn" stuff has worn off; Indestructible Aura doesn't do anything to damage dealt to the creature in the short time after until-end-of-turn effects wear off, but before the turn ends; etc.) 7) If a permanent with Echo comes under your control _during your upkeep_, you do not check, do not and cannot pay, and do not have to sacrifice the permanent _this turn_. You'll check the Echo upkeep cost during your _next_ upkeep [5E] / will load it on the stack at the beginning of your _next_ upkeep step [6E]. You may end this upkeep without having to deal with the Echo cost; treat it as if the reminder text about "_next_ turn" worked that way. (This is a REVERSAL of something bethmo said in November or so. Sorry about that; it's caused a bit of confusion lately, and this reversed answer came to light in the fallout of that.) 8) If you're choosing a card from your own hand, and you're not paying a cost this way, under 5E rules you choose on resolution, not on announcement. It _is_ "hidden information" - not to you, but to -opponent-. The Rulings file leaves this out, I believe accidentally, from T.4.6 in the General Rulings... [Under 6E, of course, this will be a choice on resolution, since it's not target choice, mode choice, or how-to-pay-a-cost choice.] 9a) A subtle one: The recent Ruling on enchantments that describe what they are local to says they won't _have their effect_ if what they are sitting on doesn't match their description. ["Enchanted noncreature artifact is <" won't do anything while sitting on an artifact creature.] And that they will ignore their own effect to see if what they are attached to matches their description. (So Animate Artifact doesn't go into a Loop from making what it sits on into an artifact creature.) They do _not_ suspend their -targetting- checks, however; if they have their effect, and their effect _makes_ what they sit on an _illegal target_, they will fall off; the original wording for Earthbind, for instance - "Enchant Flying Creature / Enchanted creature loses flying and..." would make it fall off. It will have its effect ... since it ignores its effect to see whether it sits on an appropriate permanent ... but that effect will make its permanent an _illegal target_ ... so it will fall off. Same problem with a hypothetical enchantment that says "Play only on a green creature. / Enchanted creature is black" - it ignores its own effect when checking to see if its effect _works_, but not when checking to see if it's _on a legal target_ ... and falls off immediately. [Don't worry if you don't follow this - as I said, it's a subtle difference and not likely to come up in ordinary questions. Note that there is now a difference between "a legal _target for_ a local enchantment to sit on" and "the _description of what the enchantment will affect_"...] 9b) " "Enchanted < <" works the same as "As long as enchanted permanent is a <, it <." So the dependency rules will force this to be applied after anything that changes whether or not it's a <." (It can't be "applied after itself", of course ... so if its _own_ effect, <, changes whether it's a <, the recent Ruling says "ignore this effect when seeing whether it's a < or not".) 10) "Still counts as a land" does not grant the type "land" if it's not already present. Similarly, other "still counts as" text doesn't _grant_ the quality where it didn't exist. For example: An Ashnod's Transmogranted Treefolk Village is just an artifact creature, permanently; when its own effect wears off it's a 1/1 artifact creature [0/0, because it has no power/toughness, translated to "0", +1/+1 from the counter]. Using its own ability again doesn't turn it into a _land_ artifact creature in this case, since it wasn't a land to start with. A Clone of a Copy Artifact of an artifact creature [yes, you may do this; copy cards copy "deeply enough" for _other copy cards_ to think they're the "original"] does count as an enchantment; Copy Artifact says "also counts as an enchantment" [1998 Rulings, copy-card mass Errata/Card Rulings file], not "still counts as an enchantment" [Oracle text, now overwritten by Errata]. SPECIFIC CARDS 1) Oracle's correct on Glyph of Destruction, for 5E at least - "at end of combat" is when the Wall gets destroyed. 2) Oracle is correct on Serrated Arrows' wording: "sacrifice". Anthologies is _not_ correct with "destroy". You cannot regenerate the Arrows if they are a creature. 3) If you exchange an artifact in play for a Scrapheap in the graveyard with Goblin Welder, the Scrapheap will _not_ trigger, in either 5E or 6E rules. Things entering play don't trigger off things leaving play at the same time, in other words. (Things _leaving_ play can trigger off things _entering_ play at the same time, in 5th Edition ... but this will go Away for 6th Edition.) 4) If several creatures come into play at the same time, an Intruder Alarm in play will trigger once for each of them, rather than just once. [Allowing you to get several mana out of a Manabirds when Deranged Hermit makes its Squirrels, for instance, in 5E... and allowing instants to be used between successive untappings in 6th Edition.] It says "any creature", rather than "any creature_s_". 5) is waiting on a rules-team decision; it turned out there _wasn't_ an actual answer yet. It will appear shortly in another post. I hope.] 6) Only Gilded Drake's "payment" is targetted; if you can't pick a legal target, the rest of the comes-into-play cost doesn't "fizzle", and you _do_ have to sacrifice the Drake. This will get reworded for 6E... 7) Several cards that formerly set aside cards now remove them from the game instead, and didn't quite get Updated to follow the old "who may look at set aside cards?" rulings. Bethmo's given answers for the ones she knows about: this is how they _should get_ played, until 6E Oracle is available [in which they _should_ be Fixed, we hope]. a) Duplicity: 5E Oracle wording is fine. The cards are face down while set aside; you may _not_ look at them. b) Gustha's Scepter: Play it for now as you-can't-look-at-the-cards - they are face down. [They may reword it, but bethmo says "the card still works if it makes you play Concentration and have to remember which card was where".] c) Knowledge Vault: The cards are face down. d) Memory Jar: The cards are face down. [This card was written under the current templates.] You may _not_ look at them. If your deck is going to have more than one Jar go off in a turn, it's your responsibility to remember which hand went with which Jar ... _and_ to make sure _opponent_ knows they have to remember which hand of _theirs_ goes with each hand of _yours_. e) Scroll Rack: While set aside, the cards are face-down. You do get to look at them while putting them on top of your library; Bethmo says the "in any order" implicitly lets you look at them while ordering them. [Which applies to other situations also, by the way. A quick search through Oracle 5E didn't reveal any problem situations using that phrase.] f) Three Wishes says you can play a card; bethmo says that means you can look at the cards, and that anything that lets you 'choose' a card, choose the _order_ of cards, or play a card, when they are removed from the game, lets you look at the cards. So its own "reminder" text is accurate - you can look at the cards at any time if you want to play one, then decide not to play one. 8) Power Artifact can affect any ability of an artifact that has a cost to play, _not_ just activated abilities. So under 5E rules it -can- help with upkeep costs, including Echo and Cumulative Upkeep; under 6th Edition rules upkeep costs will be treated differently [payment, or bad consequence, will both be part of the -resolution-, no longer costs], so it won't apply to them there. Bethmo says there's a short enough time left for 5E rules to not need to Fix this. 9) "Grindstone: both cards are moved as a single action (and the library's owner gets to look at the two cards and decide what order to stack them in the graveyard). If one of the cards is a Serra Avatar, the other card still goes to the graveyard, regardless of the order they appeared in the library." [Also applies to Millstone and, extended, to Altar of Dementia and other mill-more-than-one-card effects.] 10) Oracle wording for Ashnod's Transmogrant is not misprinted: it turns the creature _into_ an artifact creature (permanently) ... so _removes_ types land or enchantment in the process. They've decided not to go to the extra trouble of adding "This still counts as a land or enchantment if it was before", in other words. (Under 6E rules, abilities of permanents that make mana will be mana abilities, whether or not they are lands. So a Transmogranted land creature would stop being a land, but would still tap for mana as a mana ability.) SPECIFIC 6E ANSWERS 0) First off, there's at least one section of the 6E Full Rulebook that was still being written as of the first week in April. They wish this wasn't so, but it is. So any site you see that purports to already have "the full and complete 6E rules, _in advance_, worship us!" is probably misleading you... or misled, themselves. As of April 7th, anyway. 1) When making choices in 6E, target choices, mode choices, and how-to-pay-a- cost choices are made on announcement; all others are made on resolution. You make the ones done on resolution as you come to them in the text, unless some later clause modifies the meaning of an earlier one). So you'll pick the lands to untap for Time Spiral -after- looking at your new hand, for instance. 2) Combat damage in 6E will, when it is _dealt_, look back at what its source looks like _now_ to see what color, etc., it is; if the source isn't in play any longer, it will check to see what it looked like as it left play. So if you attack with a Craw Wurm, and opponent has a Circle: Green ... and the combat damage goes on the stack ... and in response you Thoughtlace the Craw Wurm ... opponent won't be able, after the Thoughtlace resolves, to use the Circle against the Craw Wurm as a source ... and any shield opponent had already _created_ against the Craw Wurm would fail, since the Craw Wurm won't _be_ a green source of damage when the damage hits. It'll be a blue source, by then. The _amount_ of combat damage will be fixed when it gets put on the stack, however; it won't care what the power of the creature is when the damage resolves ... only about how much damage the creature dealt when the damage was announced. Also, once the combat damage is placed on the stack, it won't care -after- that whether the creature it's hitting is still in combat; if the creature's still in play when the combat damage to it resolves, it will get damaged, regardless of whether it left combat _after_ the damage was announced or not. [It had to be in combat when the damage was _announced_, or else the damage couldn't have been aimed at it to start with. It doesn't still have to be in combat when the damage lands - it just has to be in play and be the "same creature".] 3) If a spell or ability produces a delayed ability when it resolves ... that delayed ability _does not_ immediately go on the stack. Instead, it "hangs around", in no particular location, until the specified time ... and _then_ produces the delayed ability on the stack. [For instance, Thicket Basilisk, if blocked, doesn't put a "Destroy this creature at end of combat" ability on the stack at the start of declare-blockers step. Instead, you note that later a "Destroy this creature" ability goes on the stack; at the beginning of end of combat, the ability is loaded onto the stack, just as if it had triggered at end of combat.] If you've played the Microprose Magic game, think of the orange "legacy cards" some spells or abilities produce, and you'll get it exactly right. 4) Connected with 4), if an effect says to do, on resolution, "If this, then do A to do B" [Second Chance, etc.]... then this creates an ability placed immediately on the stack after resolution, just as if it triggered during the resolution. The cost of the ability is A and the effect will be B when it resolves. You'll be able to respond to this "secondary" Do A to Do B ability just as to any ordinary triggered ability. 5) "Retroactive" damage-prevention/redirection is going Away for 6th Edition; the concept of having a special set of rules for just three cards apparently got to be Too Much. Reverse Damage, Reverse Polarity, and Simulacrum will simply affect one instance of damage, and not all the damage done so far this turn. 6) For 6th Edition: Effects of spells or activated or triggered abilities that say they affect permanents directly will affect only what's there when they resolve. "2,Tap: All creatures get +2/+2 as long as < is tapped" will only affect what's there when the ability resolves. Static effects [5E "continuous effects"] of permanents will affect what's there as long as the permanent's around; a simple "All creatures get +2/+2 as long as < is tapped" ability would grant it to all creatures the whole time < was tapped. If a spell or ability is _meant_ to have an effect on things that appear later, it will be phrased to affect the game, or change conditions, rather than to directly affect permanents; instead of "Creatures deal no combat damage this turn", for instance, it might be "Prevent all combat damage dealt by creatures this turn". [Yes, this may be a bit confusing, and Not The Way You Learned It Earlier. They're trying to get away from the Subtle Differences, like that between "Until end of turn, do this" and "Do this until end of turn".] 7) Elvish Spirit Guide's ability won't be an ability of a permanent ... so won't be played as a mana ability in 6E. It'll be an ordinary instant. 8) >Regeneration shield vs. "and cannot regenerate this turn", damage- >prevention shields versus Lava Burst's "this damage cannot be prevented". The >shield doesn't do anything, of course... but: does _trying_ to do this "use up" >the shield ... or does the shield ignore such damage/destroy effects _totally_ >and sit there waiting for something it _is_ allowed to replace? [I feel it's >the latter, but am Not Sure.] "It doesn't use up the shield. The shield just sees it as a non-applicable event, and doesn't try to apply, any more than it would apply to "draw a card"." 9) 6E wordings will say "at end of turn" instead of "at end of any turn". If such an applied effect isn't given a duration ["this turn", for instance, or "until your next upkeep"] ... phasing out and in again _will not_ remove it, and the affected permanent will get affected at the end of the first turn it _is_ in play, if it's phasing out and in to try to avoid this fate. [Leaving play for anywhere other than phasing out will wipe away such an effect, of course.] In particular, Sneak Attack-ed creatures won't be able to avoid their fate just by phasing out and in again once. 10) Damage-redirection abilities that are targetted will _not_ create "targetted shields"; the ability will simply check the target when it resolves, and create the shield. When the appropriate damage lands, the shield will redirect it to the new location without checking whether that new place is still a legal -target-. If the new location is no longer -there- at the time, the damage won't go anywhere, the shield will get used, and the damage will still be where it was... but if the target is now illegal for what the ability _was_ checking for, the damage will still move. Damage-redirection that puts the damage back in the same location will cause you to still need to use any other damage shield for that location that applies; if an en-Kor has a shield redirecting 1 damage to itself, and another redirecting 1 damage to a White Knight, then using the first shield means it then has to use the second shield too... because the damage didn't go anywhere and the second shield _can_ still affect it. So "redirect to itself" will be fairly Useless in 6E [and they may reword the en-Kor to be "to _another_ creature you control"]. Note that Furnace of Rath's effect will -also- be a shield ... and you'll choose the order of shields that affect damage, and the Furnace will only affect any given damage once in an event that's dealing damage. Not, as in 5E, "once each time the damage is redirected". (Thinking of these shields as 'being on a specific creature or player', rather than as 'affecting damage dealt to a specific creature or player', turns out to be somewhat misleading...) 11) The template "At the time you play <, do <" for additional costs of spells will be shortlived - it conflicts with the "At this time do that" template for triggered abilities in 6E. They're going to replace it [as far as they know right now] with "As you play <, do <". [Yes, this will still produce all the FAQs about "play" that the other one does. I still have no idea why one FAQ about "bury", only asked by new players, killed it off irredeemably ... while multiple FAQs about "play", asked by _all levels of_ players each time "play" is used on a card anywhere, doesn't convince them to stop overloading the word with multiple context-sensitive meanings. I'll keep letting them know each time it happens, and _maybe_ someday they'll be Enlightened...] 12) In 6E, "search a library for such-and-such card / card type" is going to get a Rule saying "these are _always_ optional". [Brian Neal, thou art _vindicated_. (Private reference...)] This is partly to make things easier on tournament judges; this means you -don't- have to call the judge over to make sure they're telling the truth if opponent says they don't retrieve a such-and-such card from their library. Even if you have such a card _in_ your [or opponent's] library, you need not find it. In particular, you may choose to remove _fewer than_ all copies of a card from a _library_ when you Lobotomize/Splinter/Eradicate/etc someone, whether it's yourself or someone else. [You'll still have to get all the copies in hand and in the graveyard though.] OTHER 1) Non-Magic: When you "discard" to pay a Pokemon's retreat cost, you remove energy cards attached to the Pokemon - you "discard from play", in other words. At least that's how the people who play the game _at WotC_ play. 2) And a non-Bethmo answer: Elaine Ferrao of the DCI says that Portal basic lands and Unglued basic lands should both be legal to use in sanctioned tournaments; that the flat banning of Unglued was missing an 'except for the basic lands' clause, essentially. She also says "gold or silver border == out" isn't a Good Enough indicator; her suggestion is that "legal back, legal corners, legal name, black or white border" should cover what cards are legal. [Alpha cards and (International) Collector's Edition cards have the wrong corners; (I)CE and Pro Tour cards have the wrong back; Portal cards that aren't yet in a Magic expansion have the wrong _name_; Unglued and Pro Tour and (I)CE cards have the wrong border color.]