Tolarian Polytechnic

The name played off the awesomely broken Magic card Tolarian Academy. The rest is explained below:

--------

This was originally submitted as an article but for whatever reason it was not published. However, as it was written for the greater benefit of the League, I have decided to post it here. The Rules Digest addresses common rules questions (those that appear time and again) I have answered in #Judges4You over the past few weeks. Whereas the purpose of #Judges4You is to give you the answer to your question, the purpose of Tolarian Polytechnic is twofold: first, to give you an explanation for the ruling you received and second, to give you a firmer grasp of Magic rules in general, using the common questions as springboards for broader concepts. Some, if not many, of the questions presented in Tolarian Polytechnic will seem basic and even remedial to those acquainted with Magic rules. However, their frequent appearance in #Judges4You justifies a greater depth in addressing them. This first installment of the Rules Digest is deliberately repetitive and didactic. Further issues will become progressively more intimate and informal. -------- Sure, that other school in Tolaria gets all the attention, but Tolarian Polytechnic has a long, mostly unheard of, reputation of its own. I am Strovil, a Judge 1 here at Magic-League and de facto Dean of Tolarian Polytechnic. This is the first of our Rules Digests, wherein I explain the rules behind #Judges4You’s most common, as well as most complex, rules questions in accordance with our school motto: Give a man a ruling and he plays for a game; teach a man a ruling and he plays for a lifetime. You might have heard something or other about teaching people to fish but that is just a byproduct of the Tolarian Fishing Conglomerate’s stranglehold on outgoing mail. Enough introductions; let us proceed to the matter at hand. 1) The question that is, perhaps, the most oft asked of recent weeks goes thusly: “My opponent uses Enduring Ideal to get Dovescape. On his next upkeep, does Ideal resolve or does he get birds?” Systematically, the first step is to read the cards’ most recent Oracle wordings on Gatherer, Apprentice, or MWS. Enduring Ideal Sorcery Search your library for an enchantment card and put it into play. Then shuffle your library. Epic (For the rest of the game, you can’t play spells. At the beginning of each of your upkeeps, copy this spell except for its epic ability.) Dovescape Enchantment Whenever a player plays a noncreature spell, counter that spell. That player puts X 1/1 white and blue Bird creature tokens with flying into play, where X is the spell’s converted mana cost. Now, the operative words here are “whenever a player plays a noncreature spell” on Dovescape and either “you can’t play spells” or “copy this spell except for its epic ability” on Enduring Ideal. Dovescape only triggers when a player “plays” a spell. Enduring Ideal states that you cannot play spells and does not specify that you play the copy (because, indeed, you cannot play spells, even copies of them; compare to Isochron Scepter). So, does Dovescape trigger? Does the opponent get birds? No, because the copy of Enduring Ideal created by the Epic ability goes straight onto the stack. Your opponent does not play the copy. This is confirmed in the Comprehensive Rules:
Quote:
502.44b - A player can't play spells once a spell with epic he or she controls resolves, but effects (such as the epic ability itself) can still put copies of spells onto the stack.2) What is probably the next most common question hinges on terminology. “I attack with Isamaru equipped with Jitte and my opponent blocks with Nantuko Husk. He stacks damage and then sacrifices the Husk. Does my Jitte get counters?” Once again, we start with the Oracle wording (this time only the relevant portion): * Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage, put two charge counters on Umezawa’s Jitte. The operative word here is “deals.” In combat, you assign damage to blockers and player and then it goes onto the stack. But combat damage (or any damage) is not dealt until it resolves. So what happens if the other creature is not around when damage resolves? Is the assigned damage still considered dealt? No. From the Comprehensive Rules:
Quote:
310.4c - If a creature that was supposed to receive combat damage is no longer in play or is no longer a creature, the damage assigned to it isn't dealt.So the damage from Isamaru that was assigned to Nantuko Husk is not dealt. Since Umezawa’s Jitte triggers on damage being dealt, it gets no counters. To take it a step further, what if the situation were reversed? What if a Husk with Jitte was blocked by Isamaru and, for whatever reason, sacrificed itself while damage was on the stack? Would the Jitte get counters? The answer is no. Even though the damage has already been assigned and put on the stack, so when it resolves it will still be dealt to the Hound of Konda, the Jitte will not get counters because the triggered ability specifies “whenever the equipped creature deals …” Since the Husk has been sacrificed, the Jitte is no longer equipped and there is no longer an ‘equipped creature’ dealing damage, although the damage is still dealt. 3) Our third case also deals with a difference in terminology and has come up a few times in the past few days. It is, however, very simple. “Can I use Story Circle to prevent damage from Kodama of the North Tree?” * The next time a source of your choice of the chosen color would deal damage to you this turn, prevent that damage. * Kodama of the North Tree can’t be the target of spells or abilities. The issue at hand is: does Story Circle target? The general rule in Magic is that if a spell or effect targets, it will say “target” in the text (the sole major exception are Enchantment – Aura cards, which target when you play them). Story Circle, Shining Shoal, Cytoshape, and other “choose” cards do not target the chosen source. The difficultly arises in part because both Shining Shoal and Cytoshape have a target in addition to the chosen source and because one chooses targets just the same as one chooses sources. Just keep the general rule in mind – unless the spell or ability says target, it does not target. 4) Our fourth question delves deep into the pit of despair known as The Layers. Those of you with heart problems or pregnancy may wish to skip down to the last section. “If I pay U to switch Windreaver’s power and toughness to 3/1 and then pay W to pump his toughness, is he a 3/2?” The relevant text is not on the card but wholly within the rules morass of the P/T layers. Allow me to separate the layers into lines as they are written as a paragraph in the Comprehensive Rules:
Quote:
418.5a - The values of an object's characteristics are determined by starting with the actual object, then applying continuous effects in a series of layers in the following order: (1) copy effects; (2) control-changing effects; (3) text-changing effects; (4) type-, subtype-, and supertype-changing effects; (5) all other continuous effects, except those that change power and/or toughness; and (6) power- and/or toughness-changing effects. Inside each layer from 1 through 5, apply effects from characteristic-setting abilities first, then all other effects. Inside layer 6, apply effects in a series of sublayers in the following order: (6a) effects from characteristic-setting abilities; (6b) all other effects not specifically applied in 6c, 6d, or 6e; (6c) changes from counters; (6d) effects from static abilities that modify power and/or toughness but don't set power and/or toughness to a specific number or value; and (6e) effects that switch a creature's power and toughness.We shall mainly deal with layer 6 and its 5 sublayers (traditional models hold that Hell has only 9 layers; apparently our deepest two were unknown even to stalwart Dante and Virgil). When you apply continuous effects to a creature’s power and toughness, you apply them in the appropriate layers. Timestamps only apply if two or more effects apply in the same layer. Since modifying P/T and switching P/T are separate layers, we need not concern ourselves with timestamps; no matter the order, the result would be the same. Despite that, we will look at this in order to aid learning. Windreaver is naturally a 1/3 creature. Our questioner said he spent U to switch its P/T. Since this is the only effect, we can simply apply it in the appropriate layer to the natural 1/3 and we find that Windreaver is now a 3/1. Then he spends W to give Windreaver +0/+1. What happens? Whenever you go to the layers, you start with the natural values and apply effects in order. So we take Windreaver as a 1/3 and move down the list until we apply the switch and the +0/+1. Windreaver’s +0/+1 ability applies in layer 6d. It is a static ability that modifies P/T without setting it to a specific number. So now Windreaver is a 1/4 creature. We continue on to 6e where P/T switches occur. So our 1/4 Windreaver now becomes a 4/1. Notice that no matter which ability is played first and last, they will always be applied in the same order and you will always end up with a 4/1 Windreaver. 5) And with that we leave behind common rules questions and come to my favorite part of being a judge: difficult, complex, corner-case rules questions. The first is the product of a reject rare draft, one of my favorite formats. “I use Mizzium Transreliquat to copy Panoptic Mirror and imprint Spinal Embrace. Then I copy Isochron Scepter. Can I play Spinal Embrace off the Scepter?” This requires looking through the rules for copying and for imprint. The most essential bit we learn from the copy rules is that a copy of a permanent has the activated abilities of that permanent.
Quote:
503.2 - When copying an object, the copy acquires the copiable values of the original object's characteristics (name, mana cost, color, type, supertype, subtype, expansion symbol, rules text, power, and toughness)So when Mizzium Transreliquat copies Panoptic Mirror, it gains the Mirror’s imprint ability. * Imprint — X, T: You may remove an instant or sorcery card with converted mana cost X in your hand from the game. (That card is imprinted on this artifact.) So what happens when you then copy Isochron Scepter? Does the imprinted card remain imprinted?
Quote:
502.34a - Imprint is an activated or triggered ability, written "Imprint - [text]," where "[text]" is a triggered or activated ability. Cards that are in the removed-from-the-game zone because they were removed from the game by an imprint ability are imprinted on the source of that ability. 502.34.Ruling.1 - If a permanent with imprint phases out and back in, it's still the same permanent, so any cards imprinted on it remain imprinted on it.Now, we know that the imprint ability was copied and could be used, so 502.34a just confirms that the card is imprinted on the source of the ability (the Mizzium Transreliquat). From Ruling 1 (a rule clarification made by Wizards’ Rules Team), it can be inferred that the card remains imprinted on Mizzium Transreliquat even though it is copying a different card because it is still the same permanent. In fact, it would remain imprinted even if the Transreliquat copied a card that did not have imprint because remaining imprinted on a card is not dependent on it having the imprint ability. So we know that Spinal Embrace is still imprinted on the Transreliquat when it copies Isochron Scepter. But can you play it with Isochron Scepter’s ability? * Imprint — When Isochron Scepter comes into play, you may remove an instant card with converted mana cost 2 or less in your hand from the game. (The removed card is imprinted on this artifact.) 2, T: You may copy the imprinted instant card. If you do, you may play the copy without paying its mana cost. Looking at the imprint ability’s restriction of “converted mana cost 2 or less” may sway you towards no but let us look at the Comprehensive Rules.
Quote:
502.34b - The phrase "imprinted [type] card" means the card of that type that's imprinted on the permanent. If a permanent has more than one card of that type imprinted on it, each of those cards is an "imprinted [type] card." 502.34.Ruling.4 - If a permanent gains an ability that refers to an imprinted [type] card, it refers to any cards of that type that are currently imprinted. It does not mean that you get to imprint something new at that time.Isochron Scepter refers to the “imprinted instant card.” Spinal Embrace is an instant. Ruling 4 says that an ability that refers to an imprinted [type] card refers to any cards of that type currently imprinted on the card. Since Isochron Scepter refers to an imprinted instant card, and Spinal Embrace is an instant card, and Spinal Embrace is imprinted on the Mizzium Transreliquat copy of Isochron Scepter, then the ability works! Isochron Scepter only cares about the converted mana cost of the instant when you trigger its imprint ability upon coming into play. After that, because of the imprint rules, Isochron Scepter only cares if the imprinted card is an instant. It no longer looks at the converted mana cost of the card. Is this four card combo going to break games? No. But it could easily break your head if it ever came up in your reject rare draft. As your esteemed academic was writing, another whopper of a rule came by #Judges4You. Unfortunately, you will have to wait until next time to hear the tale.