I built my son an elf deck. Using Ambush Commander he turns his lands into 1/1 creatures that are still lands. Me using torment of hailfire to cause him to loses 3 life unless he sacrifices a nonland permanent. Can he sacrifice the lands since they are creatures? I told him I did not know but allowed it last night.
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-MadMage
... unless he sacrifices a nonland permanent. Can he sacrifice the lands ...?
No.
608.2h If an effect refers to certain characteristics, it checks only for the value of the specified characteristics, regardless of any related ones an object may also have.
Example: An effect that reads “Destroy all black creatures” destroys a white-and-black creature, but one that reads “Destroy all nonblack creatures” doesn’t.
Torment of Hailfire's "sacrifices a nonland permanent" option checks for "permanent" (which needs to be yes) and "land" (which needs to be no). It does not check "creature" or any other type.
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Why bother with mere rulings when so many answers can be found in the Rules?
No, your son shouldn't have been able to sacrifice those lands. "Nonland permanent" means a permanent that's not a land, and these were lands. Something can't both be land and nonland at the same time.
This is a common misconception with such terms, "non[thing]" : it means it's not that thing, not that it's something else besides that thing.
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I'm a former judge (lapsed), who keeps up to date on rules and policy. Keep in mind that judges' answers aren't necessarily more valid than those of people who aren't judges; what matters is we can quote the rules to back up our answers. When in doubt, ask for such quotes.
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-MadMage
[c]Torment of Hailfire[/c] -> Torment of Hailfire
No.
Torment of Hailfire's "sacrifices a nonland permanent" option checks for "permanent" (which needs to be yes) and "land" (which needs to be no). It does not check "creature" or any other type.
This is a common misconception with such terms, "non[thing]" : it means it's not that thing, not that it's something else besides that thing.