| Canadian Nationals - HJ Report |
Collin Jackson
Canadian Nationals took place at the Empire Landmark hotel and conference
center in Vancouver, B.C. Seventy of the best Canadian players showed up
after being invited on ranking, pro points, through a meatgrinder or
Regional Championship, or by being on the previous year's national team.
The staff for the event included Elaine Ferrao (tournament manager), Scott
Larabee (scorekeeper), Chris Page (Level 3), Mauro Bongiovanni (2), Duncan
McGregor (2), Jason Ness (2), Mark Richardson (2), Mike MacPhee (2), and
Michael MacKinnon (2). I was the head judge.
Because of the small size of the event, we neglected to use the senior-
judge system that often characterizes premiere events. Instead, I took a
more direct approach to dealing with the judge staff. This allowed me
plenty of opportunities to observe the rules questions and situations that
really made my judges think:
Q: When do you determine the cost for Extravagant Spirit's ability?
A: When the ability resolves. It's a good idea to play out the cards in
your hand during your upkeep to reduce the ability's cost.
Q: If you Disenchant a Planar Void, what happens?
A: The Planar Void is put into the graveyard and its ability triggers. Then
the Disenchant is put into the graveyard. Then, the Planar Void card in the
graveyard is removed from the game.
Q: What happens if you Seal of Cleansing a Planar Void?
A: The Seal of Cleansing is put into its owner's graveyard when the ability
is activated. The Planar Void ability triggers and goes on the stack on top
of the Seal of Cleansing ability. The Planar Void ability removes the Seal
from the game, and then the Seal ability resolves and destroys the Planar
Void. The Planar Void ability triggers and when it resolves, the Planar
Void card in the graveyard is removed from the game.
Q: During his opponent's combat, a player taps out and then plays Flowstone
Slide, a sorcery. How do you resolve this situation?
A: The player should receive a warning for misrepresentation of the Flowstone
Slide. The mana remains in his pool, and he will most likely receive mana
burn. If he had played the Slide and then tapped lands to pay for it, then he
would get to take those mana abilities back.
Q: Zerapa Minotaur is enchanted with Flaming Sword. What happens when the
Minotaur's ability is activated?
A: The ability removes all instances of first strike, including the first
strike granted by the Sword. However, if you were to play the Sword after the
Minotaur's ability resolved earlier in the turn, the Minotaur would regain
first strike for that turn.
Q: Due to sticky sleeves or whatever, a player sees the next card in his deck
when trying to draw a card. How do you resolve this situation?
A: Give the player a warning for looking at extra cards. Show the extra card
to both players, then put it back into place. There's an important reason that
we don't shuffle the card back into the player's deck: we don't want players
to intentionally look at extra cards and say nothing (if they like what
they're about to draw) or call over a judge to shuffle (if they want a
different card on top of their deck).
Q: A land is enchanted with Living Terrain and then Jorael, Empress of Beasts
is activated. Is the land 3/3 or 5/6?
A: The land is 3/3. Apply the two effects to the land in timestamp order.
Q: What happens if the damage dealt by Vicious Hunger is prevented?
A: The controller of Vicious Hunger still gains 2 life.
Q: How the heck does Keldon Berserkers work?
A: When you declare the Berserkers as an attacker, they check to see if you
control no untapped lands. If you don't, then the ability triggers and will go
on the stack when you gain priority. When the ability resolves, it checks again
to see if you control no untapped lands. If you still don't, then the
Berserkers gets the bonus.
Q: A player accidentally tapped a land by bumping it. Should he take mana burn?
A: No; we try not to penalize the players for being clumsy. But if you think he
just screwed up and overtapped his mana, make him take the burn.
Q: A player plays Silverglade Elemental, searches his deck for a forest, and puts
it into play tapped. Then he says, "Go." Should he take mana burn?
A: Clearly he made a mistake. Yes, he should take mana burn.
Q: A player activates War Tax, and the Tax is Disenchanted in response. Will the
War Tax ability still affect attacking creatures this turn?
A: Yes.
Q: A player draws eight cards at start of game. What should you do?
A: Give the player a warning and make him or her mulligan down to six. Q: A player gets his cards signed by an artist at the event, but the signature is
in metallic ink. The metallic ink sticks to the back of the player's other cards,
causing them to be marked and sticky. What should you do?
A: Tell the player to find some sleeves and put them on his cards.
Q: A Laccolith Grunt is blocked by Lightning Hounds. Who wins?
A: The Grunt does. You can use the Grunt ability to take out the Hounds before
first strike damage is dealt.
Q: A player says "Go," then changes his mind and taps a mountain to play Inflame
during his end of turn step. Is this acceptable?
A: No. By saying "Go," the player is trying to end his turn by passing priority
in the end of turn step. He can't change his mind, at least not at an event of
this caliber.
Q: One player attacks, and the other activates a Rebel search ability to get a
Reveille Squad as a blocker. Does the Squad untap the defending player's
creatures?
A: No. The Squad wasn't in play when attackers were declared.
Q: One player attackings with a Thieving Magpie, but the defending player has a
Crumbling Sanctuary. Does the Magpie controller get to draw a card?
A: Negative. The Sanctuary prevents the damage and replaces it with something
else, so the Magpie hasn't actually dealt combat damage.
Q: Masticore A attacks and Masticore B blocks. If Masticore A pings Masticore
B four times in response to combat damage, will Masticore B have to regenerate
once or twice to survive?
A: Twice. Regeneration removes Masticore B from combat, but the combat damage
on the stack will still hit Masticore B regardless of whether Masticore B is
still in combat.
Q: Can I tap an already-tapped land with Rishadan Port, just to get rid of mana?
A: Yes.
Q: Can I use Parallax Wave on an animated Ghitu Encampment?
A: Sure. The Encampment will come back as a tapped land when the Wave leaves
play.
Q: A player has a Yawgmoth's Bargain in play. He untaps and forgets to skip his
draw step, drawing a card. What should you do?
A: Force the player to pay one life for the card he just drew.
Q: A player has a Phyrexian Tower and an Academy Rector in play, but he hasn't
actually sacced the Rector to get Yawgmoth's Bargain yet. But he pays a life
and draws a card off his deck. What should you do?
A: Sorry, that's drawing extra cards. Game loss.
Q: Can Misdirection be used to counter Misdirection?
A: Yes. Misdirection has a single target: the spell which is to be retargeted.
(The choice of what to change the target to is made when the Misdirection
resolves.) In order to use Misdirection to counter Misdirection, make the
original Misdirection target the new Misdirection. The original Misdirection's
target will be illegal when it tries to resolve.
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