Your opponent (and friends) are wrong. The damage is "healed" from the creatures at the same time Mutavault's "until end of turn" effect ends, so the rats survive.
514. Cleanup Step
514.1. First, if the active player's hand contains more cards than his or her maximum hand size (normally seven), he or she discards enough cards to reduce his or her hand size to that number. This turn-based action doesn't use the stack.
514.2. Second, the following actions happen simultaneously: all damage marked on permanents (including phased-out permanents) is removed and all "until end of turn" and "this turn" effects end. This turn-based action doesn't use the stack.
Your creature must already have a +1/+1 counter at the time you start to cast Mutant's Prey. You can't choose your no-counters-yet Hoplite as the target in the first place, so his Heroic will not trigger.
If the proposed shortcut includes the opponent passing priority rather than Stifling his fetch activation, I would call that a legal shortcut. If the opponent wished to Stifle it, he would reject the shortcut.
... leaving the game state in a non-predictable point. That's my point.
What if he has a fetch land in play. Is it a legal shortcut to Vault down to 2 and then crack the fetch? you end up in a legal and predictable board state but you don't the exact game state of the steps in between?
Opponent Stifles that player's fetchland ability. Now what?
ALL steps must be predictable, not only the last board state.
All "return" triggers - Debtors', Reya's, Dawn's, Sheoldred's - say "target creature card". Because they target, Player A must choose a valid target for each of them when they are put on the stack. At this point Angel of Despair is still on the battlefield and is not a valid target for any of those targets.
Even if you have an Angel on the graveyard already, returning it with one of the triggers then sacrificing it won't let you return it again with any other trigger, because moving it from graveyard to the battlefield then back again makes the Angel card be considered a new game object so it won't be found by the remaining targets.
In short, Player A will need a different creature card for each return-from-graveyard trigger, and all those must be already on the graveyard when A's upkeep starts.
So if a 7/7 lifelink gets blocked by a 1/1 you gain 7 life? Shouldn't it stop doing damage once lethal damage is done then go to the next priority?
Creatures don't pull their punches, and nothing says a creature can't receive more damage than its toughness. The 7/7 deals 7 damage to the 1/1 and the player gains 7 life.
Damage is not done as 1 then 1 more then 1 more "until" you "reach" lethal damage. It's not a process you can "stop". It's a single event: the full 7 damage is dealt to the 1/1, at once, so the player gains 7 life.
You only care about assigning less damage if your 7/7 is blocked by more than one creature or has trample, so you can 'distribute' the 7 damage among them (and even then, you can still assign and deal more damage than would be lethal to a creature).
It's not about what either printed version says - but what the Oracle text says. Just click on the autocard links your provided and read what it says there.
Both cards have "At the beginning of your upkeep" now. You can order the trigger however you want, so that both return to your battlefield in the same upkeep.
It doesn't matter what version/printing of Nether Shadow you're running - it works at the beginning of your upkeep because that's what its Oracle text says.
Hi. For example, during my main phase I cast Tamiyo, the Moon Sage, my opponent then responds with Echoing Truth targeting tamiyo. Can I use the +1 or the -2 ability of my planeswalker before she gets returned to my hand by the Echoing Truth?
If your opponent is responding to you casting Tamiyo, that means Tamiyo is still a spell on the stack and can't be targeted by Echoing Turth (and neither you can activate any of her abilities yet).
So to 'bounce' her with Echoing Truth, your opponent must let the Tamiyo spell resolve so Tamiyo can enter the battlefield. After a spell resolves, the active player regains priority so you get the chance to use one of Tamiyo's abilities right away. If you do your opponent may respond to the ability with Echoing Truth, but that won't counter the ability.
Finally, if Tamiyo enters and you pass without using either ability, your opponent may then cast Echoing Truth (without "responding" to anything). As loyalty abilities have sorcery timing, you can't use Tamiyo's ability in response to Echoing Truth.
If I had no lands, 1 creature, and 2 cards in hand, and restore balance was cast through an alternate method like cascade or Fist of Suns, then my opponent had 5 lands, 3 creatures, and 6 cards in hand. He would sacrifice all of his lands and 2 creatures, and 4 cards in his hand are discarded.
If you assign all damage to one creature, only that creature will be dealt damage - not the others, and not the player.
To trample over any number of blockers, you must assign at least lethal damage to each blocker and the remaining damage may be assigned directly to the defending player.
Kavu's ability triggers when it enters the battlefield ( = the old"comes into play"). So first Kavu enters, then the ability triggers and goes to the stack and its target is declared.
Removing the target counters the ability, but does nothing to the Kavu itself, who is already on the battlefield at this point.
i didn't think activated mana abilities went on the stack
Activated Mana Abilities actually don't use the stack. However, neither Whip of Erebos nor Scavenging Ooze have mana abilities. They have regular Activated Abilities that do use the stack.
A mana ability is not defined as one that costs mana, it is one that produces mana (and doesn't target, and is not a loyalty ability).
So Elvish Mystic, Rootbound Crag and Azorius Signet have activated mana abilities that don't use the stack. Flamekin Brawler and Deathrite Shaman have regular activated abilities that do use the stack.
No, because Cryptborn Horror doesn't have any trigger. It is a static ability that changes how it enters on the battlefield. It enters with the counters already on it, and then Purphoros's ability triggers. So it won't get two extra counters from Purphoros's damage.
Triggered abilities have "when", "whenever" or "at" on them. Without any of those words, it's not a trigger.
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For the two Purphoros, yes, the second Purphoros did enter as a creature so the first Purphoros's ability will trigger for it. The trigger will resolve after either one has died from the legend rule.
And the legend rule removes any of the two, your choice, it doesn't need to be the older one.
The M19 planeswalkers are Ajani, Tezzeret, Liliana, Sarkhan and Vivien. Of those, Tezzeret and Liliana are aligned with Bolas, while Sarkhan and Vivien have reasons to oppose him, so my guess is Ajani is recruiting them.
http://blacklotusproject.com/cards/Ravnica%3A+City+of+Guilds/Overgrown+Tomb/
http://blacklotusproject.com/cards/Guildpact/Steam+Vents/
http://blacklotusproject.com/cards/Dissension/Hallowed+Fountain/
You can look for the others. Most follow those guidelines (I can't understand why Sacred Foundry's prices are so unlike the others')
Notice Modern started in August 2011, and Return to Ravnica was officially announced in April 2012 and released in October 2012.
... leaving the game state in a non-predictable point. That's my point.
I'd run Jilt and Hypersonic Dragon before any of those four.
Opponent Stifles that player's fetchland ability. Now what?
ALL steps must be predictable, not only the last board state.
All "return" triggers - Debtors', Reya's, Dawn's, Sheoldred's - say "target creature card". Because they target, Player A must choose a valid target for each of them when they are put on the stack. At this point Angel of Despair is still on the battlefield and is not a valid target for any of those targets.
Even if you have an Angel on the graveyard already, returning it with one of the triggers then sacrificing it won't let you return it again with any other trigger, because moving it from graveyard to the battlefield then back again makes the Angel card be considered a new game object so it won't be found by the remaining targets.
In short, Player A will need a different creature card for each return-from-graveyard trigger, and all those must be already on the graveyard when A's upkeep starts.
Creatures don't pull their punches, and nothing says a creature can't receive more damage than its toughness. The 7/7 deals 7 damage to the 1/1 and the player gains 7 life.
Damage is not done as 1 then 1 more then 1 more "until" you "reach" lethal damage. It's not a process you can "stop". It's a single event: the full 7 damage is dealt to the 1/1, at once, so the player gains 7 life.
You only care about assigning less damage if your 7/7 is blocked by more than one creature or has trample, so you can 'distribute' the 7 damage among them (and even then, you can still assign and deal more damage than would be lethal to a creature).
Both cards have "At the beginning of your upkeep" now. You can order the trigger however you want, so that both return to your battlefield in the same upkeep.
It doesn't matter what version/printing of Nether Shadow you're running - it works at the beginning of your upkeep because that's what its Oracle text says.
If your opponent is responding to you casting Tamiyo, that means Tamiyo is still a spell on the stack and can't be targeted by Echoing Turth (and neither you can activate any of her abilities yet).
So to 'bounce' her with Echoing Truth, your opponent must let the Tamiyo spell resolve so Tamiyo can enter the battlefield. After a spell resolves, the active player regains priority so you get the chance to use one of Tamiyo's abilities right away. If you do your opponent may respond to the ability with Echoing Truth, but that won't counter the ability.
Finally, if Tamiyo enters and you pass without using either ability, your opponent may then cast Echoing Truth (without "responding" to anything). As loyalty abilities have sorcery timing, you can't use Tamiyo's ability in response to Echoing Truth.
Yes, that's how it works.
To trample over any number of blockers, you must assign at least lethal damage to each blocker and the remaining damage may be assigned directly to the defending player.
Removing the target counters the ability, but does nothing to the Kavu itself, who is already on the battlefield at this point.
Activated Mana Abilities actually don't use the stack. However, neither Whip of Erebos nor Scavenging Ooze have mana abilities. They have regular Activated Abilities that do use the stack.
A mana ability is not defined as one that costs mana, it is one that produces mana (and doesn't target, and is not a loyalty ability).
So Elvish Mystic, Rootbound Crag and Azorius Signet have activated mana abilities that don't use the stack. Flamekin Brawler and Deathrite Shaman have regular activated abilities that do use the stack.
Triggered abilities have "when", "whenever" or "at" on them. Without any of those words, it's not a trigger.
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For the two Purphoros, yes, the second Purphoros did enter as a creature so the first Purphoros's ability will trigger for it. The trigger will resolve after either one has died from the legend rule.
And the legend rule removes any of the two, your choice, it doesn't need to be the older one.