Date: Sun, 3 May 1998 13:49:42 +0100 Subject: [O] May Rulings & Errata From: Paul Barclay May 1998 *Magic(R)* 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) REVERSAL: When a spell or ability moves an enchantment from one permanent to another, the enchantment is not treated as though it were just cast. Only the enchantment's target changes. The enchantment's "comes-into-play" abilities are not replayed; for example, moving Frog Tongue around with Crown of the Ages will not let you draw cards. 2) REVERSAL: Phase abilities are played by the active player but controlled by their source's controller. For example, if Guerrilla Tactics is discarded because of Bottomless Pit's effect, Guerrilla Tactics's second ability triggers. This ruling removes the need for the change to Verdant Force in the December 1997 _Rulings and Errata._ Under the new rule, Verdant Force's phase ability is now played by the active player, but its controller controls the Saproling tokens. 3) REVERSAL: A land's snow-covered status is an attribute, just like color. When a spell or ability requires you to choose a land type, you can choose any land type that doesn't have "Snow-Covered" in its title. Once the choice is made, both snow-covered and non-snow-covered lands of the chosen type are affected (unless the card says otherwise). For example, if you cast Shimmer, you can't choose snow-covered mountains; if you choose mountains, then all mountains are affected, snow-covered or not. 4) To clarify last month's rulings about copy cards, _all_ changes resulting from copying a card (including losses and gains) are changes to the card's base characteristics, not just those copying text. 5) "Card-editing" effects like those of Sleight of Mind, Magical Hack, Deathlace, and so on had some rulings from when they were played as interrupts on permanents. Those rulings are repealed. Such spells and abilities now follow the same rules as others that create permanent effects. If such a spell or ability targets a spell that becomes a permanent, the resulting permanent comes into play with the effect (note that it's still an effect, not a change to the permanent's base characteristics). ERRATA 1) Each Licid should read, "loses all abilities," not "loses this ability." (This change fixes some very strange situations arising when a Shapeshifter or Doppelganger copies a Licid and uses its ability.) Note that the "you may pay __ to end this effect" clause is part of the effect, not a separate ability, so it's unaffected by this change. SPECIFIC CARD RULINGS 1) Dream Halls' ability is a continuous ability, not a replacement or triggered ability. (It's worded like a replacement ability for ease of understanding.) Discarding Guerrilla Tactics to pay for a red spell through your opponent's Dream Halls, for example, does not trigger the Tactics's second ability.