The comprehensive rulebook entry for Trample doesn't answer this question.
Trample isn't worded is "If you deal lethal damage then you MAY deal excess damage to the player" as it is in the reminder text.
702.19b The controller of an attacking creature with trample first assigns damage to the creature(s) blocking it. Once all those blocking creatures are assigned lethal damage, any remaining damage is assigned as its controller chooses among those blocking creatures and the player or planeswalker the creature is attacking. When checking for assigned lethal damage, take into account damage already marked on the creature and damage from other creatures that’s being assigned during the same combat damage step, but not any abilities or effects that might change the amount of damage that’s actually dealt. The attacking creature’s controller need not assign lethal damage to all those blocking creatures but in that case can’t assign any damage to the player or planeswalker it’s attacking.
As a result the game cannot proceed until an explicit choice about damage assignment is made, which favors the forgetful attacking player in this scenario.
I think the following wording captures the printed intention perfectly while allowing Stifle shenanigans.
Lotus Vale
Land
When ~ ETB, sacrifice it unless you sacrifice two untapped lands. While this ability is on the stack, mana abilities of ~ cannot be played.
T: Add 3 mana of any colour to your mana pool.
A variant of this wording would also work for Interdict, which would get considerably better with its original functionality restored.
716.2a At any point in the game, the player with priority may suggest a shortcut by describing a sequence of game choices, for all players, that may be legally taken based on the current game state and the predictable results of the sequence of choices. This sequence may be a non-repetitive series of choices, a loop that repeats a specified number of times, multiple loops, or nested loops, and may even cross multiple turns. It can’t include conditional actions, where the outcome of a game event determines the next action a player takes. The ending point of this sequence must be a place where a player has priority, though it need not be the player proposing the shortcut.
emphasis mine
OK thanks. I don't think the first bolding is relevant but I see your point if "outcome of a game event" means the order of a library. Bummer!
However, given that interpretation, I don't follow how this can be true:
Suppose I had some combo engine assembled that allowed me to Scry 2+ (the actual number doesn't matter as long as it isn't 1). Now mathematically, my ability to swap the order of two adjacent cards means that I will eventually be able to stack the deck any way that I would wish. Am I allowed to loop this?
Yes.
A player with the ability to scry 2 or more infinitely may shortcut this action by rearranging her library in any way she likes, but she must do so quickly. Players are not required to know the mathematics or technical steps behind this. August 2013.
The magicjudges link you provided no longer covers this ruling.
I don't know what the ruling is now, but my gut says that the answer is no, this is not an acceptable shortcut, because the intermediate steps are undefined. Someone might be able to answer with a modern ruling.
As a further related question, the old Chance EncounterFrentic Efreet combo. (Activate Efreet, hold priority, activate again, and repeat - you then flip X coins, letting you put counters on Chance Encounter).
Is it slow play to activate that ability 100 times in a row now? Flipping 100 coins progresses the gamestate in a nondeterministic manner, but logistically it takes a considerable amount of time to perform.
I think people are assessing Karlov under the same assumptions we made when (mis)assessing Tarmogoyf.
Back then people said "7/8 for 1G is busted, but it's too much work to make it happen". They didn't consider the scenario that by turn 3 Goyf was often a 1G 3/4 with no effort, or a 4/5 with just a little effort.
And it was the 'just a little effort' side of Goyf that made the card so strong that it is a Modern format pillar and is at least viable in Legacy.
Karlov in Soul Sisters is the 7/8 or 8/9 version of Goyf. Karlov in an Abzan Attrition Legacy port, however, which runs DRS and (maybe) one or two Soul Warden effects might just be a reliable 2 mana 4/4.
2 mana for a 4/4 in hatebear colours is definitely playable in Legacy.
They aren't talking about a physical contract. The contract was the reserved list and their promise to never reprint cards on it. MaRo often talks about the loss of trust involved with breaking such a promise; fear of losing that trust is the entirety of the reason why they have not removed the Reserved List.
Like I said.....that is NOT a contract. A contract is something written up as a legal document, and then signed by 2 or more parties, and also signed by at least 1 witness. There have been several people on this site that claim that there is a CONTRACT.....What we have here is nothing more than a handshake at the coffee local coffee shop....actually we don't even have that..... People need to educate themselves as to what is and what is not a contract.
I expect there are non-disclosed contracts involved.
I strongly suspect that part of Hasbro buying WotC was a signed undertaking to the former owners of WotC not to break the Reserve List promise.
I like the idea of adding a green splash, Firespout is a much more budget alternative to something like Anger of the Gods and less red intense and splashable than others of its ilk. Hornet Nest is probably the only other card I would run in that case.
The snow theme isn't that important to me - none of those creatures have any strong incentive to run. Rimefeather Owl is likely the best one, and he dies to removal. I feel like I can do better after I've drawn 6 cards off Skred.
Firespout and Anger of the Gods are about the same (monetary) cost.
They should just reprint the entire Reserved List as non-tournament legal cards, which is completely allowed under the Official Reprint Policy (the document that controls the Reserve List).
Wizards would not be breaking any promise in either letter or spirit if tomorrow, they mailed every DCI member a playset of Revised duals with silver borders.
Just because it's much better than an existing bad card doesn't make it good.
Terra Stomper utterly and totally outclasses Force of Nature but manages to be a ten cent card.
Now Mizzik's Mastery isn't necessarily bad - it's one of two new cards I'd deem fringe Legacy playable - but I do not expect it to break any formats at all. Including Standard or Modern, were it later to be reprinted into those formats.
I feel Karlov is best in a soul sisters style of deck.
He's also kinda silly with Deathrite Shaman.
Even if exiling a creature from the yard is irrelevant to the gamestate, 2 life is not irrelevant and adding a Karlov trigger to the mix is huge. DRS also helps cast Karlov in the first place.
Edit: Don't think Magus will get there. Brainstorm into Reforge the Soul isn't seeing play and it's easier to protect.
It says that someone playing him or watching him had a suspicion and alerted the Judges. They deck-checked him later on and found that some of the cards were counterfeit.
The wording is a bit different to that. I think the DQed player may have told people before the event that they had fakes, and then one of the people they told reported them to judges.
A judge isn't going to DQ for this unless they are pretty certain that the person knew the cards were fake, and I'd be surprised if the person admitted to it even when caught with fakes.
I expect the DCI will issue a very, very long ban for this player.
The time that foil mythics are best to sell is when redemption demand most exceeds supply. So after drafting (mostly) finishes for the set but before redemption demand dries up.
Often crap mythic foils hit their highest value 3-6 months after rotation, but this is not always the case.
I don't think it will get there, but Karlov has the potential to be extremely big for a 2 drop.
I think the card is at least high enough quality that it could have seen play in Modern were it legal there. Don't think it will quite make it in Legacy but it should be tried if a shell can be found.
Magic is hugely pay-to-win and I don;t see how anyone could argue otherwise.
A highly skilled and knowledgeable player (good enough to often make day 2 in GPs) with $20 to spend on a deck will be a massive underdog to a less experienced player with 4 of every card.
They are explicitly allowed to print non-tournament legal versions of the cards which would solve most of the issues while adhering to both the letter and the spirit of the Official Reprint Policy.
If Wizards don't do it, criminals will - and counterfeiters threaten the game's present sales, not just its past.
Trample isn't worded is "If you deal lethal damage then you MAY deal excess damage to the player" as it is in the reminder text.
702.19b The controller of an attacking creature with trample first assigns damage to the creature(s) blocking it. Once all those blocking creatures are assigned lethal damage, any remaining damage is assigned as its controller chooses among those blocking creatures and the player or planeswalker the creature is attacking. When checking for assigned lethal damage, take into account damage already marked on the creature and damage from other creatures that’s being assigned during the same combat damage step, but not any abilities or effects that might change the amount of damage that’s actually dealt. The attacking creature’s controller need not assign lethal damage to all those blocking creatures but in that case can’t assign any damage to the player or planeswalker it’s attacking.
As a result the game cannot proceed until an explicit choice about damage assignment is made, which favors the forgetful attacking player in this scenario.
I think the following wording captures the printed intention perfectly while allowing Stifle shenanigans.
Lotus Vale
Land
When ~ ETB, sacrifice it unless you sacrifice two untapped lands. While this ability is on the stack, mana abilities of ~ cannot be played.
T: Add 3 mana of any colour to your mana pool.
A variant of this wording would also work for Interdict, which would get considerably better with its original functionality restored.
The magicjudges link you provided no longer covers this ruling.
I don't know what the ruling is now, but my gut says that the answer is no, this is not an acceptable shortcut, because the intermediate steps are undefined. Someone might be able to answer with a modern ruling.
As a further related question, the old Chance Encounter Frentic Efreet combo. (Activate Efreet, hold priority, activate again, and repeat - you then flip X coins, letting you put counters on Chance Encounter).
Is it slow play to activate that ability 100 times in a row now? Flipping 100 coins progresses the gamestate in a nondeterministic manner, but logistically it takes a considerable amount of time to perform.
Back then people said "7/8 for 1G is busted, but it's too much work to make it happen". They didn't consider the scenario that by turn 3 Goyf was often a 1G 3/4 with no effort, or a 4/5 with just a little effort.
And it was the 'just a little effort' side of Goyf that made the card so strong that it is a Modern format pillar and is at least viable in Legacy.
Karlov in Soul Sisters is the 7/8 or 8/9 version of Goyf. Karlov in an Abzan Attrition Legacy port, however, which runs DRS and (maybe) one or two Soul Warden effects might just be a reliable 2 mana 4/4.
2 mana for a 4/4 in hatebear colours is definitely playable in Legacy.
I expect there are non-disclosed contracts involved.
I strongly suspect that part of Hasbro buying WotC was a signed undertaking to the former owners of WotC not to break the Reserve List promise.
Firespout and Anger of the Gods are about the same (monetary) cost.
Wizards would not be breaking any promise in either letter or spirit if tomorrow, they mailed every DCI member a playset of Revised duals with silver borders.
Just because it's much better than an existing bad card doesn't make it good.
Terra Stomper utterly and totally outclasses Force of Nature but manages to be a ten cent card.
Now Mizzik's Mastery isn't necessarily bad - it's one of two new cards I'd deem fringe Legacy playable - but I do not expect it to break any formats at all. Including Standard or Modern, were it later to be reprinted into those formats.
He's also kinda silly with Deathrite Shaman.
Even if exiling a creature from the yard is irrelevant to the gamestate, 2 life is not irrelevant and adding a Karlov trigger to the mix is huge. DRS also helps cast Karlov in the first place.
Edit: Don't think Magus will get there. Brainstorm into Reforge the Soul isn't seeing play and it's easier to protect.
The wording is a bit different to that. I think the DQed player may have told people before the event that they had fakes, and then one of the people they told reported them to judges.
A judge isn't going to DQ for this unless they are pretty certain that the person knew the cards were fake, and I'd be surprised if the person admitted to it even when caught with fakes.
I expect the DCI will issue a very, very long ban for this player.
The time that foil mythics are best to sell is when redemption demand most exceeds supply. So after drafting (mostly) finishes for the set but before redemption demand dries up.
Often crap mythic foils hit their highest value 3-6 months after rotation, but this is not always the case.
I think the card is at least high enough quality that it could have seen play in Modern were it legal there. Don't think it will quite make it in Legacy but it should be tried if a shell can be found.
Other cards might interfere with this (for instance if the creature had vigilance).
Edit: Beaten to the punch, as always.
A highly skilled and knowledgeable player (good enough to often make day 2 in GPs) with $20 to spend on a deck will be a massive underdog to a less experienced player with 4 of every card.
Limited is the exception.
If Wizards don't do it, criminals will - and counterfeiters threaten the game's present sales, not just its past.