MTG Salvation

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What you did was a perfectly legal play. Here are some Comprehensive Rules excerpts that are relevant to this:

Quote from 508. Declare Attackers Step »

508.1j Each chosen creature still controlled by the active player becomes an attacking creature. It remains an attacking creature until it’s removed from combat or the combat phase ends, whichever comes first. See rule 506.4.

And also:

511. End of Combat Step

511.1. First, all “at end of combat” abilities trigger and go on the stack. (See rule 603, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”)

511.2. Second, the active player gets priority. Players may cast spells and activate abilities.

511.3. As soon as the end of combat step ends, all creatures and planeswalkers are removed from combat. After the end of combat step ends, the combat phase is over and the postcombat main phase begins (see rule 505).

You'll note that priority is given to players during this step regardless of whether there are any actual triggers that would go on the stack first.

And anyway, there's a point during the Combat Damage Step itself where players receive priority, after damage has been dealt:

510.3. Third, any abilities that triggered on damage being assigned or dealt go on the stack. (See rule 603, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”)

510.4. Fourth, the active player gets priority. Players may cast spells and activate abilities.

All of your opponent's whining can't stand up to the way the rules actually work. =P

1. Yes, because Dimir Charm doesn't go to the graveyard until after it has fully resolved. So, at the time it resolves, Tarmogoyf is destroyed because its power is 2 or less.

2. Because targets are checked for legality upon casting and resolution, Orzhov Charm will fail to destroy Tarmogoyf in this scenario, as its power became 3 the moment that Lightning Bolt went to the graveyard.

1. Yes. New Prahv Guildmage is a creature, and the only restriction of its first ability is "target creature." When a creature's ability is unable to target itself, it will specify as much. See Adarkar Valkyrie, Admonition Angel, Faceless Butcher, etc. for examples of this.

2. A detained permanent remains so until the beginning of your next turn. So, yes, it would remain detained through the rest of your turn, and your opponent's turn right after.

Nope, because combat damage is both assigned and dealt as a turn-based action which doesn't use the stack, before any player receives priority:

510. Combat Damage Step

510.1. First, the active player announces how each attacking creature assigns its combat damage, then the defending player announces how each blocking creature assigns its combat damage. This turnbased action doesn’t use the stack. A player assigns a creature’s combat damage according to the
following rules:

510.2. Second, all combat damage that’s been assigned is dealt simultaneously. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. No player has the chance to cast spells or activate abilities between the time
combat damage is assigned and the time it’s dealt. This is a change from previous rules.

In other words, if a creature with undying and a +1/+1 counter attacks and is blocked, and you want to remove the counter from it, you have to do so before the combat damage step begins. And yes, this means that the creature will assign and deal less damage than it would have with the +1/+1 counter still on it.

So, here's an example:

Player A's Young Wolf with a +1/+1 counter on it attacks.
Player B blocks with Grizzly Bears.

Now, if Player A wants to remove the +1/+1 counter so that Young Wolf's undying will trigger when it dies (Clockspinning is one example that works), he has to do so before the Combat Damage Step. The Declare Blockers Step, after blockers have been declared, is the latest point at which this can be done.

Since Young Wolf has lost its counter by the Combat Damage Step, it's a 1/1 again, and won't be able to deal lethal damage to Player B's Grizzly Bears.

If you tried waiting until after combat damage is assigned and dealt, the lethal damage dealt to Young Wolf will cause it to be destroyed by state-based actions before any player receives priority.

I hope this example clears things up!

You can use whatever you want as a token, as long as it is possible to tell whether the token is tapped or untapped (Edit - It must also be distinguishable from the other cards in play, as ccggenius12 pointed out. So, if you're playing with unsleeved cards, you can't use an unsleeved face-down card. Likewise, if you're playing with sleeves, you can't use cards with identical sleeves as tokens). Wizards of the Coast prints actual token cards as inserts to booster packs, but these token cards are never mandatory -- they're just one possible thing you can use to represent tokens.

No, tokens never exist in your library. If an effect would cause them to be shuffled into your library, they'll cease to exist almost immediately after -- so it's best not to shuffle them into your library in the first place.

Why should the onus be on you to prove this? Can your friend provide proof for his side of the argument? I can assure you he won't find any, since it simply doesn't work that way.

"Players can't gain life this turn." is drastically different from "Players can't gain life this turn, and any life gained earlier this turn is [undone/revoked/negated/etc.]"

According to your friend's logic, Skullcrack would appear to retroactively take away life that was gained. This is absolutely not the case, since it says nothing of the sort.

I'm not sure that there's even anything in the Comprehensive Rules that covers this precisely, because generally people understand that a statement like "[Event] can't happen this turn" is fundamentally different from "[Event] can't happen this turn, and undo any instances of [event] from earlier in the turn." The closest I could find was this, which has to do with prevention effects:

615.4. Prevention effects must exist before the appropriate damage event occurs—they can’t “go back in time” and change something that’s already happened. Spells or abilities that generate these effects are often cast or activated in response to whatever would produce the event and thus resolve before that event would occur.

That's oh-so-close to what you're looking for. Except instead of preventing damage, Skullcrack prevents life gain.

Because the rules work that way, for whatever reason:

406.3. Exiled cards are, by default, kept face up and may be examined by any player at any time. Cards “exiled face down” can’t be examined by any player except when instructions allow it. However, once a player is allowed to look at a card exiled face down, that player may continue to look at that card as long as it remains exiled, even if the instruction allowing the player to do so no longer applies. A card exiled face down has no characteristics, but the spell or ability that exiled it may allow it to be played from exile. Unless that card is being cast face down (see rule 707.4), the card
is turned face up just before the player announces that he or she is playing the card (see rule 601.2).

The Gatherer entry for Bane Alley Broker confirms this:

Once you are allowed to look at a face-down card in exile, you are allowed to look at that card as long as it’s exiled. If you no longer control Bane Alley Broker when its last ability resolves, you can continue to look at the relevant cards in exile to choose one to return.

Edit - I was unaware that this was a recent change, but that actually makes sense, as I don't recall seeing this in the previous version of the CR. Thanks for the heads up, Drifting!

Nothing that Fellix said was wrong. When I was correcting you on how Gisela reads, it was in agreement with what Fellix said on the matter.

As for Hellrider's triggered ability:

Whenever a creature you control attacks, Hellrider deals 1 damage to defending player.

What's there to discuss here? It's a triggered ability whose trigger condition is "whenever a creature you control attacks." If four creatures you control are declared as attackers, then Hellrider's triggered ability triggers four times.

If it was a single trigger that deals damage once, it would be worded something like "Whenever one or more creatures you control attack, Hellrider deals 1 damage to defending player for each creature that attacked." As you can see, that is not the case.

Quote from Surgeslayer »

so since that guy was wrong about the gisela, im not gonna fully trust what he said about the hellrider effect, so can someone else answer please

Conversely, since he wasn't wrong, does that mean you do fully trust what he said?

Drifting probably meant something like Ghostway or Turn to Mist, which doesn't return the exiled creature(s) until the end of the turn. Neither Cloudshift or Momentary Blink will save a creature from a board sweeper, since the creature will return immediately and still be affected by the sweeper.

Powerful in creature based decks
Synergy with drogskol reaver

why didnt wotc make drogskull legendary??

afk killing myself. /throat

Quote from Niart Gunn

A thousand times this. This redesign is really arbitrary and kills the flavour of slivers for me. Why would you even still call these slivers, they don't even work like the old ones.

I think this is quite sad and I don't even play magic anymore.

Heh, I think its sad and I've never played magic

Because it's a strong independent black card that don't need no other color to pay its cc.

Quote from Zeke_787

So my opponent is still very confused on this interpretation.

The reason why he is confused is because Nightveil Spector dosnt explicitly say that for spells that you actually have to pay the mana cost.

It doesn't say that because it doesn't have to.

So is there any where in the comprehensive rules that goes over this or is there any better way to help explain this interpretation.

The rules say that you have to pay the total cost to cast a spell. Nightveil Specter doesn't say anything to override those rules.

601.2. To cast a spell is to take it from where it is (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. Casting a spell follows the steps listed below, in order. If, at any point during the casting of a spell, a player is unable to comply with any of the steps listed below, the casting of the spell is illegal; the game returns to the moment before that spell started to be cast (see rule 717, "Handling Illegal Actions"). Announcements and payments can't be altered after they've been made.

Quote from Waiting in the Weeds

filibuster counter... really??

Are you honestly going to tell me with a straight face that it doesn't add immeasurably to the card's appeal?

Hey look, it's Gaka, a pilot of sufficiently goofy personality.