Stifle, Maze of Ith. Some small things.

[Tijnie]

first of, Stifle

Stifle (u)
Instant
Counter Target Activated of Triggered Ability
(mana abilities can't be countered)

I want to know, can I stifle -> Cycling, Madness and/or Flashback??



Errata:  Counter target activated or triggered ability.  (Mana abilities can't be countered.)

An activated ability has a "Cost: Effect" format.  Look for the colon. A triggered ability starts with "when", "whenever", or "at". [Scourge FAQ 2003/05/30]

It can target delayed triggered abilities.  For example, a card that says "Whenever a player cycles a card, you may remove target creature from the game.  If you do, return that creature to play at end of turn." triggers when a player cycles a card and creates a delayed trigger that happens at end of turn.  You can choose to target the "at end of turn" trigger when it is placed on the stack at end of turn. [Scourge FAQ 2003/05/30]

Game actions like the normal card, combat damage, or turning a face-down creature face up cannot be targeted. [Scourge FAQ 2003/05/30]

Cycling, can I stop him from drawing a card, I'm not sure if this is an activated Ability. I is Cost xx,discard:Draw of am I thinking unclear?
If I can Stifle Cycling, then what happens with abilities like; "When you cycle [NAME] you may pay x and [Whatever]" like on decree of justice??. is that countered too since they didn;t cycle the card afterall

Madness, I'm not sure, it does react on a discard ability, but is an alternative cost an ability??

Flashback, see madness....

Maze of Ith
Land
tap, tager attacking creature becomes untapped. This creature neither receives nor deals damage as a result of combat.

small question, If I use my Maze ofter the damage is in the stack what will happen. Will the damage be removed from the stack or can I "cheat" by dealing damage and keep my creature alive/untapped.
second, AFTER damage has been delt (dealed, deals whatever) can I still untap my creature if I would like too do so? Or doesn't it count as an attacking creature anymore?


I feel so newbisch right now, plz tell me I am and make me a better player  

[Jebus]

Stifle can counter any activated ability or triggered ability.

Cycling, is an activated ability.

Abilities that trigger off Cycling trigger as soon as the cycling ability is played, and go on the stack on top of the Cycle before you could even respond.  These triggers will resolve regardless of what happens to the Cycling ability.  However, these triggers can themselves be countered by Stifle.

Madness has a Replacement effect and two triggered abilities.

The replacement effect allows you to remove the card from the game instead of putting it into your graveyard, when you discard it.  If you remove it from the game, the first triggered ability triggers and goes on the stack.  When this triggered ability resolves, that player gets to play the spell for its madness cost from the removed from game zone, until the next time they pass.  If this trigger is countered, then the card remains in the removed from game zone, and they cannot play it.

The Second trigger from madness puts the card into the graveyard if you pass priority without playing the spell.  If you counter this, the card will remain in the removed from game zone, but still cannot be played.

Flashback is neither an activated or triggered ability.

Regarding Maze of Ith, I'm suprised you didn't look at the Oracle text, as you did so when you looked up Stifle.

Here is the Oracle text:

Maze of Ith
Land
: Untap target attacking creature. Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to and dealt by that creature this turn.

If you activate the ability after damage is on the stack, the creature is untapped.  When damage is dealt to and by that creature, it is prevented.

[Grand Inquisitor]

Abilities that trigger off Cycling trigger as soon as the cycling ability is played, and go on the stack on top of the Cycle before you could even respond. These triggers will resolve regardless of what happens to the Cycling ability. However, these triggers can themselves be countered by Stifle.

So this means you can never see the card you draw off a decree of justice before you decide how many soldiers to make, correct?

Also, I was talking with someone (who may be deranged) who said that sometimes on cards where there's a period ("."), you can stifle the effect after the period.  His example was stifleing the search for a card part of spoils of the vault.  I don't know his exact explanation, but does anything close to this exist as a rule in magic?

[Matt]

That period thing is garbage. ALL actvated abilities use a colon (:). ALL triggered abilities use 'when', 'at', or 'whenever'. Spoils uses none of these, so no part of it can be stifled.

[Tijnie]

Great, thank you sir  

correct me if I'm wrong. If I Stifle a Arrogant wurm (played for it's madness cost) it will be removed from the game right?.

[Jebus]

Great, thank you sir  

correct me if I'm wrong. If I Stifle a Arrogant wurm (played for it's madness cost) it will be removed from the game right?.

You would have to Stifle the madness trigger, which is before they ever would get a chance to play the Wurm.  It stays removed from the game, but since they never played the Wurm, they won't have lost three mana.

So this means you can never see the card you draw off a decree of justice before you decide how many soldiers to make, correct?

Correct.  The Cycle trigger will always resovle before the Draw A Card from Cycling.

I would also like to Reiterate that Matt is completely correct about the "Period" thing.

[Tijnie]

allright I completely understand it now. so I can "prevent" the madness to trigger and he'll never even get a chance to pay any madness cost since it is countered... cool  .

thnx dude, you own me  

[DEA]

about the maze of ith thing allowing a creature to untap after dmg is dealt

311 - End of Combat Step
311.1 - All "at end of combat" abilities trigger and go on the stack. (See Rule 410, "Handling Triggered Abilities.") Then the active player gets priority and players may play spells and abilities. [CompRules 2003/10/01]
311.2 - As soon as the end of combat step ends, all creatures are removed from combat. After the end of combat step ends, the combat phase is over and the postcombat main phase begins. [CompRules 2003/10/01]

i guess that means yes, you can have a fresh blocker by activating maze of ith during this time

[Jebus]

about the maze of ith thing allowing a creature to untap after dmg is dealt

311 - End of Combat Step
311.1 - All "at end of combat" abilities trigger and go on the stack. (See Rule 410, "Handling Triggered Abilities.") Then the active player gets priority and players may play spells and abilities. [CompRules 2003/10/01]
311.2 - As soon as the end of combat step ends, all creatures are removed from combat. After the end of combat step ends, the combat phase is over and the postcombat main phase begins. [CompRules 2003/10/01]

i guess that means yes, you can have a fresh blocker by activating maze of ith during this time

I missed that question in my initial reply.  

The creature is an attacking creature until the Combat Phase ends.  So, you can play the Maze ability on it during the Combat Damage step after damage resolves or even during the End of Combat step.