Three T4 questions

[Sgt. Pepper]

This came up in a Type 4 game recently: can you use the ability of Metathran Aerostat to put itself back into after you've dumped any other creatures onto the field?

I thought you could because you just put a whole bunch of triggers onto the stack, return the Aerostat after the first trigger resolves, then put it back into play when the last (or first, dEpending on your point of view) trigger resolves.

Second question: is Cyling a activated ability which you can counter with a Azorious Guildmage? Do things like Decree of Silence (when you cycle it to counter a spell) still trigger?

Third question: I attack with a Force of Nature (or any creature with trample) and my opponent blocks with a Crimson Hellkite. Before damage is put on the stack I use a Devouring Light to remove the Hellkite from the game. How much damage do I do?

[LordHomerCat]

Cycling is activated, the ability on the Decrees ("When you cylce Decree of ~, do ~) is a triggered ability (it triggers when you cycle the card).  You can counter the card draw but not the other effect with Azor GM.

With trample: You just have to assign lethal to the blocker, then anything else you can assign to the player if you so choose.  So, 0 is lethal to the blockers left, so 8 goes to the face.

[Harlequin]

In reguards to your first question.  basically yes. To do it you stack the effect twice (or more). Lets say you have a DSC in your hand.  First you declare that you put the abilit on the stack with X = 4.  Then you stack the effect again with X = 11.  Now you have:

Put an 11 cc creature into play and return ~This~
Put a 4 cc creature into play and return ~This~

Because it doesn't say "A card named," you can use this trick. The 'new' Metathran Aerostat that came into play is not the same thing as ~this~ described in either ability.  The Zone change causes the "then return ~this~ to your hand" to not find ~this~ even though technically the card is in play.



To elaborate on the Cycleing.  When you cycle a card like Decree two things go on the stack before any player gets priority.  First the "Draw a card - as a result of cycling a card" goes on the stack, then immediatly above that, a triggered ability goes on the stack that says "Counter Target Spell", or "Make a million Soldiers" etc etc.  So preforming the trigger is independant of drawing the card.  It would take 2 stifles to stop the cycle and result completely. 

In the case of the guildmage, she can only target the activated card draw, but this does not in turn counter the trigger.... as stated above.

[Mr. Type 4]

I think you're right about the Areostat, which makes it INSANE.  It can even use this loop to dodge targeted removal as long as you have something to put into play.  I need to buy one of those.

Azorius Guildmage will quickly test your Magic IQas to which abilites are triggered vs Static.  BTW, Entwine is static.  Guildmage can quickly get amazing if left unchecked for a few turns.  Whoever wrote that review of Dissension that said Guildmage was the best T4 card in the set is right.

[Sgt. Pepper]

Thanks for answering my questions guys.

New problem that came up: I attack with my DSC, my opponent plays Humble (creature becomes 0/1 and loses all abilities) and block with a 4/4. Does my DSC die? Does it go the graveyard?

[Mr. Nightmare]

New problem that came up: I attack with my DSC, my opponent plays Humble (creature becomes 0/1 and loses all abilities) and block with a 4/4. Does my DSC die? Does it go the graveyard?

Yes, yes, and it stays there.

[Nefarias]

Humble makes it loses all abilities, including both the indestructibility and "shuffle" clause. Therefore, the DSC dies and stays in your yard. Cytoshaping a Colossus into something else and then killing it also does this.

I'd like to elaborate on the whole triggered/activated thing a bit too, as it's actually really easy yet one of the most confused rules ever. A triggered ability always starts with either "At", "Whenever", or "When." It literally happens when something "triggers" the event. Note that older cards' written texts may contains triggers that don't start with these words due to bad templating.

Activated abilities are anything that using the punctuation symbol the colon ( : ). They are written COST: EFFECT. If it has that symbol, it's an activated ability (again, older cards may be poorly templated). Looking at cycling, the actual wording for he keyword Cycling is---4UU, discard this card: Draw a card. The cost was paying the mana and discarding the card. The effect was drawing a card.

Conversely, there are some static abilities that seem like activated abilities, but upon closer inspection, do not contain the tell-tale colon. Mr. T mentioned Entwine, and another example is Morph. Morph is written "Morph 2WW," not "Morph: 2WW." Furthermore, nowhere in the rules text of Morph is there a colon. It isn't a trigger, either, as it doesn't begin with at, whenever, or when. Playing a Morph is just playing a creatue spell, and flipping a morph is a static ability that does not use the stack.