I played from Revised through the Urza block (before the introduction of "the stack") and I just want to make sure my understanding of the stack is correct. Once neither player wishes to add anything to the stack, everything typically resolves in reverse order, with the most recently played spells/abilities resolving first and the initial one resolving last. So for example, let's say my opponent casts Lightning Bolt and I have two life points. I have Academy Rector and Masticore in play on my side. I respond by using Masticore to deal 2 damage to Academy Rector, sending it to the graveyard. I then use the triggered ability on Academy Rector to search my library and play Worship. Assuming things stop there, would that result in me having 1 life point instead of dying?
Protection does four things, and only those four things, which you can remember by DEBT:
can't be Damage by X
can't be Enchanted/equipped by X
can't be Blocked by X
can't be Targeted by X
If it tries to do one or more of those things, protection will work against it.
Yes. Protection doesn't work in the graveyard, and of the three cards, only the first two even do something protection would help against (targeting).
Shows how important it is to pay attention to wording, "target creature" vs "top creature" could potentially make a very big difference. Got it. Also, instinctively I know that a creature with Protection from White would still be destroyed by Wrath of God but all abilities and effects that don't specifically target a creature are also immune to protection from a color. Similarly, you can sacrifice a creature that has Protection from Black except for those rare instances where the card/ability says "Sacrifice target creature"...
OK, that helps clear it up. What about black spells that bring creatures back from the graveyard that DON'T attach to the card, like Victimize, Recurring Nightmare, and Shallow Grave, those WOULD succeed in bringing back a creature from the graveyard that had protection from black, is that correct? Whereas a card like Coffin Queen would NOT succeed in bringing back Spirit of the Night because it remains "attached" to the creature when the creature has become a permanent and it's a black creature ability, is that also true?
Thank you. OK, yeah, cards like Shard Phoenix too obviously keep their ability whilst in the graveyard. So why then isn't the protection from black ability/feature active when in the graveyard? Is it because, like Hexproof, the protection from black ability/feature is only applicable when the card is a permanent?
From what I understand, creatures in the graveyard lose all abilities, so you could initially play Animate Dead to animate Spirit of the Night. But as soon as you did, the Animate Dead enchantment would "bounce" off Spirit of the Night due to it's protection from black and both cards would end up in the graveyard, is that correct?
So you can typically only attack with a creature that has been under your control continuously since your most recent turn began. So if you sacrificed a creature to Recurring Nightmare during your upkeep, while still in the Begin phase, you are past the point at which your turn "began" so the creature that was brought back from the graveyard would have summoning sickness, is that correct?
With Erratic Portal and Ball Lightning in play on your side, you can use Erratic Portal to return Ball Lightning to your hand at the end of the second Main Phase but only if it has not been killed by combat damage, is that correct?
So, you can cast one of those spells with the floating mana but only in your Upkeep and only if something allows you to cast it at that time. Otherwise, you cannot do what you want to do.
So while you can create mana with your lands before they are phased out by Taniwha's trigger, you have to spend that mana during upkeep or you lose it.
OK, so since Jokulhaups and Armageddon are sorcery spells, they can't be cast during my Upkeep... meaning that under normal circumstances if I wanted to destroy all lands while my own were phased out, I'd need to wait until the Main phase and I'd have to have some non-land mana to be able to cast something like Jokulhaups or Armageddon?
With Taniwha in play, do your lands phase out at the beginning of the Untap step or the Upkeep step? The general rules suggest that phasing in/out happens during the Untap step, but the card says Upkeep step. If lands phase out during the Untap step, you'd have to use mana from a non-land source later in your turn to cast something like Jokulhaups or Armageddon. If the land phases out at the beginning of your Upkeep, could you, during your Upkeep, tap some land for mana, have the lands phase out and then use the mana in your mana pool to cast Jokulhaups or Armageddon?
I never really played cards such as Goblin King or Crusade. I would assume that, like abilities, these bonuses stack. So if you had two Goblin Kings in play all other goblins would get +2/+2 (except the Goblin Kings which would each get +1/+1). Same idea for Crusade, right, if two were in play, all white creatures would get +2/+2?
Since Deranged Hermit comes in with Haste with Sneak Attack in play, I would assume the four squirrel tokens come in with haste as well, is that correct?
Ahh, OK, I jumped to conclusions thinking the portcullis would open and let in creatures if there were less than two in play. I guess my interpretation would make it ridiculously overpowered if the controller only let his/her creatures through, lol.
I DID mean 2 damage, my mistake. I made the correction to my original post, thank you.
Excellent, thank you!!!
Shows how important it is to pay attention to wording, "target creature" vs "top creature" could potentially make a very big difference. Got it. Also, instinctively I know that a creature with Protection from White would still be destroyed by Wrath of God but all abilities and effects that don't specifically target a creature are also immune to protection from a color. Similarly, you can sacrifice a creature that has Protection from Black except for those rare instances where the card/ability says "Sacrifice target creature"...