Sadly this punishes the community more than the individuals. All PPTQs in this area are having to be rescheduled or canceled as there are now no L2s in the area to Judge them. I'm having to step up and try to fill the shoes of my lost mentors, which will be difficult as it was always a time issue and less of a skill one.
We have a plethora of local gaming stores in the south east, each of them thriving with competitive communities. We are likely not going to have any PPTQ events for two seasons.
L1's can judge PPTQs in extraordinary circumstances. This certainly qualifies.
DRay, you don't need to announce your trigger on the stack. Triggers are assumed to have resolved unless something happens to show that they were missed. By not putting your Gnarlid into the GY, you've demonstrated awareness of the trigger the first time the trigger would have an impact on the visible game state.
We don't have a judge at FNM. We only have the TO. He let the players involved in this game decide this ruling since he was busy with customers. Not that he has ever really read through the rule book and fit to make a ruling anyway.
You can check with the Judge Program regional or area coordinator to see if a local judge can stop by your FNM to help with these rulings and have a discussion with the TO. You also can consider getting certified yourself! Let me know if you'd like help finding the right people to talk to.
Policy does not, and cannot, cover every conceivable situation. It's intended to cover the overwhelming majority of situations that come up in actual gameplay while still being simple enough for players to read and judges to enforce. The fact that policy breaks down a super-extreme corner case (on particular card response to one particular combo, with a particular deck in a sufficiently known order that a particular moment is the correct one to respond) is in no way an indicator that the policy is bad.
Moreover, even if the tokens were put in one at different times (see One Dozen Eyes, for instance) they still would not use the stack. Basically, players never get priority or a chance to take actions in between lines of a single spell ((with the rare exception of activating mana abilities (see Mana Leak))
And to your point, a judge would answer that question for you. The judge wouldn't say "don't do that, the Tarmogoyf won't die!" but he or she can answer your question about the rules with no problem.
The judge isn't going to suggest plays that you aren't asking about or anything, but any question where you are saying "based on the information available to me right now, if I do this, what happens?" should be fine.
This is a well-phrased question because the power/toughness of the Tarmogoyf is specified. Tarmogoyf Power/Toughness is derived information (MTR 4.1) in a Competitive REL event. If you don't provide it yourself, the judge can't help you figure it out (since counting card types in yards, including some you might have missed, would be providing strategic advice).
Also, while my play with the Breaching Hippocamp was definitely legal, it occurs to me it probably shouldn't be. There was a limiting factor on my mana generation, but the limiting factor was my cardpool, not anything in the combo. If this had been a modern game, I would have been able to generate a practically, but not technically, unlimited amount of mana through Pestermite, Deceiver Exarch, Clone, Evil Twin, etc.
Is there a way to re-word the combo rule to make illegal combos that would be infinite but for the number of available cards? Would this rules change have unintended consequences?
Untap Arbiter on my turn, reveal Akroan Colossus. Arbiter taps itself. Untap it with Ire for Fleetfeather Sandals. Tap Nykthos for mana to make the Colossus Monstrous. Attack in the air for 20 indestructible trample damage.
The two parts of the combo are "untap Kiora's follower with Ire" and "Untap Nykthos with Follower to pay for Ire." I never untap Kiora with Ire.
Note that the example does NOT say "you may not draw cards with a wizard, then discard them to untap another permanent"
Edit: a similar situation came up a few years back in an earlier DC-5 game. The conclusion was "if there is an N-step infinite combo, you may not complete more than N-1 steps". So you can think of "untap Nykthos, pay for Ire, untap Follower" as three steps of a combo--but I'm still allowed to take two as long as I don't take a third to complete the loop. http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/outside-magic/other-forum-games/442346-dcx-40-hands-up?comment=279
Meteorite kill on the stack: use one floating mana to tap both my Arbiters again.
Feyd's upkeep: Tap Nykthos for 9 mana (two arbiters, Cloudform, Ire, Follower, Hippocamp)
Untap both Arbiters using the 8 mana (still 5 free mana on the Ire). Put in Cranial Archive, pop it, draw a card, put in Clever Impersonator as a copy of Temur War Shaman, make a Manifest.
Feyd can take the rest of his turn.
Edit: but I think I just win here? My Manifest will be Kheru Spellsnatcher to deal with any threat Feyd plays, Feyd has no on-board tricks and his creatures don't represent lethal damage, and next turn I'll flip Islands and Scourge of Fleets to clear the way for a kill.
Put Crackling Triton into play. Attempt to kill you with Triton, then Scaldkin. If you respond, tap my Arbiters again, use my floating mana to untap one and deal the final 2 damage with Meteorite.
Also, while my play with the Breaching Hippocamp was definitely legal, it occurs to me it probably shouldn't be. There was a limiting factor on my mana generation, but the limiting factor was my cardpool, not anything in the combo. If this had been a modern game, I would have been able to generate a practically, but not technically, unlimited amount of mana through Pestermite, Deceiver Exarch, Clone, Evil Twin, etc.
Is there a way to re-word the combo rule to make illegal combos that would be infinite but for the number of available cards? Would this rules change have unintended consequences?
Untap Arbiter on my turn, reveal Akroan Colossus. Arbiter taps itself. Untap it with Ire for Fleetfeather Sandals. Tap Nykthos for mana to make the Colossus Monstrous. Attack in the air for 20 indestructible trample damage.
Edit: never mind. tap Meterorite, reveal my manifest to be Thousand Winds. Return my Pretender and Follower to my hand, along with all your attackers.
Tap Chromanticore with Arbiter. Untap Arbiter with free mana from Ire. Put Stormtide Leviathan into play.
Note that the example does NOT say "you may not draw cards with a wizard, then discard them to untap another permanent"
Edit: a similar situation came up a few years back in an earlier DC-5 game. The conclusion was "if there is an N-step infinite combo, you may not complete more than N-1 steps". So you can think of "untap Nykthos, pay for Ire, untap Follower" as three steps of a combo--but I'm still allowed to take two as long as I don't take a third to complete the loop. http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/outside-magic/other-forum-games/442346-dcx-40-hands-up?comment=279
Feyd's upkeep: Tap Nykthos for 9 mana (two arbiters, Cloudform, Ire, Follower, Hippocamp)
Untap both Arbiters using the 8 mana (still 5 free mana on the Ire). Put in Cranial Archive, pop it, draw a card, put in Clever Impersonator as a copy of Temur War Shaman, make a Manifest.
Feyd can take the rest of his turn.
Edit: but I think I just win here? My Manifest will be Kheru Spellsnatcher to deal with any threat Feyd plays, Feyd has no on-board tricks and his creatures don't represent lethal damage, and next turn I'll flip Islands and Scourge of Fleets to clear the way for a kill.