Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 15:29:25 -0800 From: Daniel Gray Subject: March Rules Team Rulings While I haven't gotten the official "go ahead and post" from Beth yet, since the rulings are already up on the WotC web page, I'll go ahead and post them here. Dan Gray Official dcijudge-l Network Representative for Wizards of the Coast, Inc. March 1998 _Magic_ Rulings & Errata A Summary of Recent, Significant Rulings compiled by Beth Moursund GENERAL RULES The following are meant to clarify the rulebook and how the game in general works. 1) An item in February's _Magic(R)_ Rulings & Errata changed effects that turn a permanent into a creature so that those effects set the creature's *base* power and toughness. As an extension to that change, any creature characteristics defined by such an effect are now considered base characteristics of the creature. For example, Chimeric Sphere's first ability now reads "{2}: Until end of turn, Chimeric Sphere is a base 2/1 artifact creature with flying." After the ability is played, the creature's power and toughness (2/1) and flying ability are treated as printed on the card for all timing purposes. Gravity Sphere will cause the animated Chimeric Sphere to lose flying, and playing the Sphere's first ability again after an effect causes it to lose flying won't give it flying again. Similarly, playing the Chimeric Sphere's second ability (which makes it into a creature without flying) after an effect gives it flying won't remove the added flying ability. 2) If you somehow manage to give a protection or landhome ability to an artifact, enchantment, or land, the ability will still function while the permanent isn't a creature. 3) Whenever an effect enables you to change the target of a spell or ability, the new target must be a legal one for the original spell or ability. For example, Rebound can't retarget a "target opponent" spell to its own caster, and Silver Wyvern can't retarget a spell onto a creature that has protection from that spell's color. Note that this is a reversal of an item on the _Stronghold(TM)_ Q&A distributed to judges for the _Stronghold_ Prerelease tournaments. ERRATA 1) Bounty of the Hunt's second ability now reads "Three target creatures get +1/+1 until end of turn. You may choose the same creature for two or more of these targets." (The second sentence overrides the usual rule that prevents picking the same target twice for a multitargeting effect.) This change prevents Bounty of the Hunt's effect from being used with abilities that refer to +1/+1 counters, but also means that Bounty of the Hunt is useful with Humility in play. 2) Heartstone's second sentence should read "This cannot reduce an ability's *total* mana cost to less than 1." Previously, if an activation cost was, say, {1R}, Heartstone couldn't reduce the cost any further. With this errata, the above cost would be reduced to {R}. SPECIFIC CARD RULINGS 1) Hacking a dual land (with Mind Bend or Magical Hack, for example) changes the type of mana it produces. The mana symbols in dual lands' reminder text are just reminders; they don't override the lands' abilities. Unlike other types of permanents, when a permanent "becomes," "is," or "counts as" a basic land type, it gains the base ability of that land. 2) Some rules gurus have pointed out that Fling always deals 0 damage, because the creature sacrificed to pay its cost will be in the graveyard when it resolves (and creatures in the graveyard don't have a power value). Most players, however, interpret the card correctly despite the faulty wording: Fling deals damage equal to the power the creature had when sacrificed. REVERSALS The following reverse earlier rulings. Because these reversals can significantly affect game play and strategy, they'll take effect April 1, 1998. 1) Some cards increase the cost for an action, regardless of whether the action originally had a cost associated with it. For example, Gloom increases the cost of playing white spells and activating white enchantments, and Propaganda increases the cost for a creature to attack. All such costs are paid as part of the action, not as a separate action. In particular, Propaganda's attack costs are paid as attackers are declared. This reverses the earlier ruling stating that attack costs are played as instants in the series at the beginning of attack declaration. It also means Hand to Hand will no longer prevent creatures from attacking while Propaganda is in play. Note, though, that you can use only mana put into your pool during the beginning-of-declaration series to pay for Propaganda's costs. Your mana pool empties (and loss of life from mana burn occurs) before the attack starts, and once you start tapping attackers you can't add mana to your pool until you finish declaring them. 2) All counters with the same name or description are interchangeable. If a card refers to "these" counters, it refers to all counters with the same description. For example, if you use a move a +1/+1 counter from Spike Drone to Tetravus, you can then play Tetravus's ability to turn that counter into a Tetravite token. The Tetravus's ability still won't work on counters with other descriptions, such as -1/-1 counters. - Beth "BethMo" Moursund Magic Rules Manager, Wizards of the Coast