IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
1. DO NOT ANSWER RULES QUESTIONS ON THE LIST. PERIOD.
2. OLD RULES POSTS, DIGESTS, AND/OR THE RULES ARCHIVES MAY CONTAIN THE
ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION. SEARCH THEM
FIRST:http://www.magiduel.com,http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MagiNation/
USE KEYWORDS SUCH AS THE CARD TITLE, EFFECT OR POWER NAME, ETC., ENCLOSED
IN
PARENTHESES ("") AND JOINED WITH PLUSES (+) TO FIND TOPICS WITH MULTIPLE
KEYWORDS IN THE GROUP LISTINGS.
3. INCLUDE [RULES] IN THE SUBJECT OF ALL RULES POSTS. IF YOU DO NOT, THE
RULES TEAM CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR MISSED RULES QUESTIONS.
4. FOR THOSE THAT MISSED IT THE FIRST TIME, DO NOT ANSWER RULES QUESTIONS
ON
THE LIST. PERIOD.


RT = Rules Team

IN THIS DIGEST:

ANNOUNCEMENT: Rules Team/Digest Restructuring
1. "Staff". Enough said.
2. Abraxin's Crown and Gilded Cage, simultaneous discard.
3. Sneak Attack questions.
4. Flawed Ring.
5. Gwaeg vs. Rayje's Boots.
6. Dreamburn and Syphon Vortex.
7. Flame Trulb problems.
8. Radiant Springs and Liriel's Cape.
9. T'Kanzam vs. Self-Reference.
10. Emlob's Imaginary Friends..Real enough?
11. Cataclysm, Motash's Staff, Orpus.
12. Cataclysm vs. Fird Favor, Terra Rebirth.
SPECIAL: Gremble Grumbles.

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----------------------------------------
ANNOUNCEMENT:

Beginning with the Rules Digest for the weekend of Oct 4th, 2002, the weekly
schedule will change to Monday instead of Friday.

This is to help accomodate the adequate discussion and decision-making
process of the members of the Rules Team, all of which will be announced in
the next digest.

The new team will take the rulings process in a new direction, but hopefully,
a favorable one. Unlike previous incarnations of the rules team, there will
be the possibility of time set aside for all members to discuss rulings
together in a judicious manner on a weekly basis, and for all to have a say
in the rulings, meaning no ruling will be made unless there is at least an
overall agreement amongst the group, all well-versed in the rules as well as
competitive play and the playtesting process.

This is the largest rules team so far, comprising three members as well as
the RT director, and our goal is to clearly and concisely make and explain
all rulings in a satisfactory and, most importantly, intuitive manner so that
players of all skill levels will be able to quickly and easily develop an
advanced understanding of the game and some of the finer intricacies of its
rules system.

Just bear with us, and if all goes as we hope, the rules will be something
undaunting to everyone, every age.

Best of luck to all involved,

L. "Law" Sterling
Magi-Nation DUEL Rules Team Director


Now, on with the digest, as scheduled.
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Mike (mont1983@...) writes:

1. What about the ruling that you
need an active Magi to play CS from your hand and use its effect.
Does that still hold true?

RT - Yes; you must have an active Magi in order to use the Effect on Climbing
Staff, meaning that Crushing Heat can still stop you from using the Effect to
protect yourself.

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----------------------------------------
Ryan Milbourne (madmax_47@...) writes:

2. If a Vulbor Discards 2 cards from a hand, and Abraxin's Crown And Gilded
Cage are the only cards in your hand which card activates first? The
cage? or Crown? Thanks!

RT - You may choose the order you activate them both, most likely the Cage
then the Crown, so that you are able to draw cards.

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----------------------------------------
Ron Wylie (loadmaster69@...) writes:

3. Sneak Attack reads Until the begining of your next turn, whenever a
Creature attacks or is attacked, you may choose to have either or
both Creatures remove energy equal to their starting energy instead
of their current energy. Energy removed in attacks cannot be reduced
or prevented. Does this mean that spells/powers/effect won't work?
Say a creature with borrow does the borrow not work?

RT - Spells, Powers, and Effects will still work normally, as long as they do
not reduce the amount of energy discarded. Burrow, since Burrow is always
granted by a Spell, Power, or Effect, will not reduce the energy loss.

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----------------------------------------
Zoz (zoz@...) writes:

4. Phlouk states "At the end of your turn, discard energy from Phlouk equal
to the Creature's starting energy. If you don't have enough energy on
Phlouk, discard the Creature from play."

My question lies in what happens when the creature costs more energy than
Phlouk has remaining, but Phlouk has more than zero. I was playing a game
last night and my opponent Ring Tested a Creature with a starting energy of
four. At the end of her turn, Phlouk had three energy left on him. Because
Phlouk didn't have four, my opponent discarded the creature from play, but
did not discard the three energy from Phlouk. I was confused because I took
Phlouk to effectively mean "Remove energy from Phlouk equal to the starting
energy of the Creature that was Ring Tested. If the energy removed was not
equal to the starting energy of the Creature, it is discarded." My opponent
thought Ring Testing effectively meant "... if there is not enough energy on
Phlouk, discard the Creature from play instead."

Which of these is correct? Or if neither are, please let me know what
happens when Phlouk has some energy at the end of the turn, but not enough to
cover the Ring Test's requirement.

RT - The events of Ring Testing occur sequentially, as long as the Ring
Tested Creature is in play; first, the energy is discarded, then, if it was
not enough, the Creature is also discarded. If there is no Ring Tested
Creature remaining in play, there is nothing to check against, and so you do
not have to pay anything.

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lightforge56 (lightforge56@...) writes:

5. If I were to play a Rajye's Boots, that would not allow other players
to play creatures outside of thier own region. But what if my
opponent plays a Gwaeg? Would this still allow my opponent to still
play Bograth and Core still?

RT - Yes; due to rules regarding specificity vs. generality, just as Hrada's
Tainted victims could still play cards of their region, Bograth and Core Magi
could still play Bograth and Core cards.

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----------------------------------------
Brandon (brandont@...) writes:

6. Ok, with the Unlim wording "Choose any one creature in play. Discard
X energy from the chosen creature. Add X energy to your magi." it is
clear that you can dreamburn a magi essentially for 4e. Now, looking
at the demo version (which I'm told is the clarification we should go
by) which says "Choose any one creature in play. Move X energy from
that creature to your magi." we can see that you can still use
dreamburn to discard energy from the magi, but can you gain the
energy back (minus 4), like you could with the unlimited wording? An
explanation either way would be helpful as well.

Secondly, with spells like Ambush, Storm Cloud, Syphon Vortex,
Brushfire, Thunderquake, etc. can you use Dreamburn to hit magi with
these spells if there are no creatures in play?

RT - The only requirement for Dreamburn is that energy be discarded from only
one Creature by a Spell; since part of the move mechanic is energy discard,
you could legally Dreamburn Syphon Vortex to the opposing Magi and move X
energy (or all they have, whichever is less)from that Magi to yours.

As for the other Spells:

Ambush - Legal, and discards energy equal to the Magi's starting energy.
Storm Cloud - Legal, reducing the opposing Magi to one energy.
Brushfire - Legal, discarding two energy from the Magi.
Thunderquake - Legal as long as you do not try to split the Quake amongst
multiple Magi.

Dreamburn will work with any Spell or Power that can discard energy from only
one Creature or Magi, and only if the Spell or Power has one Creature or Magi
to affect. For instance, if there was only one opposing Creature in play, you
may Dreamburn a Fire Chogo's Power and discard energy from the opposing Magi,
because the Power would discard energy from only one Creature, but in a
multiplayer game you could not Dreamburn Maelstrom, even if an opponent only
has one Creature, while all opposing players have a Magi active, because
Maelstrom would discard energy from more than a single Magi in that case.
This is not a case of Dreamburn "looking into the future", and even if all
but one of the victims of a global affect cannot be affected, you cannot
Dreamburn if there would be multiple targets.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------
Usagi (poohgoth@...) writes:

7. Flame trulb's ability reads "Add one energy to FT for every C or BR
creature
in play, which ever is less." I thought it meant that if there were no BR
creatures and 3 C, that it would have 2 (3 possibly if it can check itself),
my friend thought 5." What's correct?

RT - The Effect does not trigger until the Trulb is in play, and so the Trulb
would count itself. The Effect adds energy equal to the least number of
Creatures in play, so if the were only Cald Creatures in play, it would get
+1E, because it's one Bograth Creature, and the reverse would be true if all
other Creatures in play were Bograth (it would give +1E since there's only
one Cald Creature in play). Most likely, it will only ever get more than one
energy if you have other Flame Trulbs already in play.

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----------------------------------------
urthforce1 (urthforce1@...) writes:

8. Player A is playing Paradwyn and they have 4 creatures with dreamwarp
in play. The players plays

Radiant Spring - Paradwyn Spell

Cost: 1
Until the end of the turn, all Creatures with the Effect "Dreamwarp"
may Dreamwarp for up to an addition five energy.

and

Liriel's Cape - Paradwyn Relic

Cost: 2
Effect - Dazzle: All of your Creatures with the Effect "Dreamwarp"
have an additional three starting energy while they are in play.
Power - Mass Heal: Discard Liriel's Cape from play. If there is at
least one opposing Creature, restore all Creatures with less than
their starting energy to their starting energy.

My question is, how does this resolve? The person who has played
this, says that when you discard the cape, the Creatures in play with
Dreamwarp receive an additional eight energy. Is this correct?

RT - The Creatures would gain no energy above their starting. First, since
Liriel's Cape is discarded from play before the energy is added, it's not in
play to grant the +3 bonus to starting energy. Second, Radiant Spring only
applies to Dreamwarping Creatures when you play them; it does not increase
the starting energy of Creatures with Dreamwarp by five unless you actually
played them that turn and warped them up by five.

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----------------------------------------
user376649 (user376649@...) writes:

9. After an opposing creature uses a power, T'kanzam may use an 'Exact
Copy' of that power, 'Paying all costs'.

Now, does the 'Paying all costs' mean that T'kanzam could copy a self-
referential card like Giant Parathin, which discards itself?

Or, does the 'Exact Copy' bit mean that T'kanzam's power would still
read 'Discard Giant Parathin to...ect..' ?

RT - Whenever a card copies a Power or Effect, all self-references in the
Power or Effect change to the name of the card copying it; this means that
T'kanzam's Interchange would read "discard T'Kanzam from play", etc.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------
chupstr2k1 (chupstr2k1@...) writes:

10. so if i have emlob and no creatures in play, can i play darkness and
discard three other creatures in play from emlob's text?

RT - No; Imaginary Friends does not create Imaginary Creatures, it simply
adds +3 to the total of Creatures or Bograth Creatures you have in play
whenever one of your cards checks for the total.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------
Doug (vampiresthemasquerade@...) writes:

11. Player A has 2 tunnel hyren and orpus in play with
D'Jarvish and Motash's staff.

Player B plays cataclysm.

Can player A use Um...No to protect orpus AND use
orpus to save motash's staff?

RT - Even if you did not use Um...NO!, you could discard the energy from
Orpus to save the Staff from the Cataclysm; when a Creature is discarded from
play, it does not lose its energy total until it actually enters an out of
play area, when the rules for card memory make the Creature "forget" its old
energy total.

Also, there has been some controversy on the ruling regarding D'Jarvish,
Motash's Staff, and burrowed/illusionary Creatures vs. Cataclysm. Some
believe that the Staff would be discarded from play before the Creatures were
returned and therefore no energy could be gained; here is the actual order of
events in this scenario:

1. Cataclysm is played and resolved, discarding all non-Magi cards from play.
2. Before anything happens, all of D'Jarvish's burrowed/illusionary Creatures
are changed from being discarded from play to being returned to their owner's
hand.
3. Everything begins to leave play, whether discarded or 'bouncing'; because
Motash's Staff is still in play when the burrowed/illusionary Creatures are
told to 'bounce' back to hand, its Effect is triggered and their energy
totals are added to D'Jarvish (contrary to popular belief, the energy is not
added when the Creature reaches the hand, but when it's scheduled to and
actually begins the trip; otherwise, once it reached the hand, it would have
no energy total to add back because it forgets what it was).
4. The burrowed/illusionary Creatures D'Jarvish had are put into his hand at
the same time the rest of the non-Magi cards in play are placed in the
discard pile.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------
lostinap (lostinap@...) writes:

12. Does Furok Guardian's Terra Rebirth save another creature if Cataclysm is

played? Would Fird stone work? Could 3 Furok Guardians save each other in
event of cataclysm?

RT - Fird Favor triggers when Furoks are scheduled to be affected, but before
they actually are; it could intercede and protect your Furoks from Cataclysm,
though it would be swept away.

Multiple Furok Guardians could save each other from a Cataclysm; they would
be Reborn at the end of the turn at full energy once again.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------
Gremble Grumbles

The previous ruling on the hand discard of Gremble's Power being a cost is
reversed, because it was accidentally mistemplated to not be stated clearly
as a cost, and so you may use it with an empty hand. However, we will almost
assuredly repair the problem if Gremble is reprinted.

Additionally, the rulings on whether or not you can affect an out of play
area without cards are upheld; whether or not the out of play area exists is
irrelevant, whenever a card refers to affecting the "hand, deck, or discard
pile", it refers to them as if they have cards there. If they don't, the card
cannot affect it, if it were trying to actively do so (but it can still check
an empty area to see if something is or is not there), because it's not
trying to affect the "zone", but the cards stored in that "zone".

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
1. DO NOT ANSWER RULES QUESTIONS ON THE LIST. PERIOD.
2. OLD RULES POSTS, DIGESTS, AND/OR THE RULES ARCHIVES MAY CONTAIN THE
ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION. SEARCH THEM
FIRST:http://www.magiduel.com,http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MagiNation/
USE KEYWORDS SUCH AS THE CARD TITLE, EFFECT OR POWER NAME, ETC., ENCLOSED
IN
PARENTHESES ("") AND JOINED WITH PLUSES (+) TO FIND TOPICS WITH MULTIPLE
KEYWORDS IN THE GROUP LISTINGS.
3. INCLUDE [RULES] IN THE SUBJECT OF ALL RULES POSTS. IF YOU DO NOT, THE
RULES TEAM CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR MISSED RULES QUESTIONS.
4. FOR THOSE THAT MISSED IT THE FIRST TIME, DO NOT ANSWER RULES QUESTIONS
ON
THE LIST. PERIOD.













[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]