If the player casting the Brainstorm has already drawn a card this turn, they will put two cards from their hand on top of their library. If they haven't, they will draw one card, then put two cards from their hand on top of their library.
In my upkeep I activate Bazaar of Baghdad and my opponent controls Spirit of the Labyrinth. Can I dredge twice, since if I replace the first draw with dredge I haven't actually drawn a card?
Along the same lines, can I dredge the first draw and then draw a card for the second draw, since I didn't actually draw the first card...?
I think I know this last one - if I have already drawn a card (say, in my draw step), I cannot dredge any subsequent draws I would have on that turn because there is no draw to apply the replacement effect to?
The player not responsible for the missed trigger NEVER gets a warning for FTMGS under the current rules.
I know. The OP was asking how it would have been ruled at the time (which would have been warnings for both in that case) - my post is split into two sections for this reason.
Depending on when this was caught, it's going to be different. If as soon as you drew a card your opponent called a judge, you are going to resolve the default option and sacrifice all your creatures, then you would get a warning for Missed Trigger. If it was later in the turn, your opponent would also get one for Failure to Maintain Game State.
Under the current policy, you will get a warning for Missed Trigger, then you will sacrifice all your creatures - EDIT: your opponent gets some input on the timing of how this happens. Here's the relevant sections from the IPG:
The controller of a missed triggered ability receives a Warning only if the triggered ability is usually considered
detrimental for the controlling player.
...
If the triggered ability specifies a default action associated with a choice made by the controller (usually "If you
don't ..." or "... unless"), resolve it choosing the default option. If the triggered ability is a delayed triggered ability
that changes the zone of an object, resolve it. For these two types of abilities, the opponent chooses whether to
resolve the ability the next time a player would get priority or when a player would get priority at the start of the
next phase. These abilities do not expire and should be remedied no matter how much time has passed since they
should have triggered.
Being able to pay a cost "if able" is different to having a restriction placed on attacking. You are able to pay a cost if you are able to pay the cost, e.g. to sacrifice a creature, you must control at least one creature, and to pay 2 you would have to have two mana in your mana pool. When an effect like Sphere of Safety is applied, the attacking restriction means that the creature is unable to attack, and so isn't affected by Gideon's "must attack if able" ability. The fact that it would be able to attack if you paid for the Sphere's ability isn't relevant.
Being face down doesn't remove the characteristic of being a commander. In fact, Ixidron is explicitly mentioned in the comprehensive rules:
903.3. Each deck has a legendary creature card designated as its commander. This designation is not a
characteristic of the object represented by the card; rather, it is an attribute of the card itself. The
card retains this designation even when it changes zones. Example: A commander that’s been turned face down (due to Ixidron’s effect, for example)
is still a commander. A commander that’s copying another card (due to Cytoshape’s effect,
for example) is still a commander. A permanent that’s copying a commander (such as a
Body Double, for example, copying a commander in a player’s graveyard) is not a
commander
This also means that if you're dealt damage by the face down commander, it still counts towards the "being dealt 21 damage by a single commander" rule.
The attacking player is the active player, so they receive priority first in each of the combat steps. Each player has to pass priority with nothing on the stack before the game moves to the next step. So if you want to activate Rubblebelt Maaka or cast Titan's Strength before your creatures deal damage, you have up until the declare blockers step to do so. After both of these resolve (or while they are still on the stack even) your opponent will have the chance to cast Doom Blade on one of your attacking creatures.
If you both just pass priority in the declare blockers step, you will go straight to the combat damage step and won't have a chance to play any spells or activate abilities before combat damage is dealt.
Here's the rule from the comprehensive rules detailing the combat phase:
506. Combat Phase
506.1. The combat phase has five steps, which proceed in order: beginning of combat, declare attackers,
declare blockers, combat damage, and end of combat. The declare blockers and combat damage
steps are skipped if no creatures are declared as attackers or put onto the battlefield attacking (see
rule 508.4). There are two combat damage steps if any attacking or blocking creature has first strike
(see rule 702.7) or double strike (see rule 702.4).
Both players receive priority during the beginning of combat step, which is the point where you can cast Spinal Embrace before declaring attackers.
You're right - it doesn't work that way. Creatures with trample can assign lethal damage to all blockers, and can then assign any remaining damage to the defending player or planeswalker. Being indestructible doesn't change the meaning of lethal damage - you need to damage equal to the creature's toughness minus any damage already marked on that creature, or if the attacking creature has deathtouch then one damage is considered lethal.
No, he would not. Bridge from Below has a triggered ability which checks that it is still in the graveyard when the ability resolves:
Whenever a nontoken creature is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, if Bridge from Below is in your graveyard, put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield.
So, if you have exiled the Bridges along with the rest of his graveyard, he won't get any zombies.
While there may be more casual players in the world (read: any player who has stopped, or never bothered, playing standard constructed in favour of kitchen table magic), they do not buy nearly as much product as those who play standard events regularly.
This is incorrect - although any one individual probably doesn't buy as much product (on average) as a player who regularly attends tournaments, the number of casual players far outweigh the number of tournament players, hence they are a much larger part of the market for Wizards in terms of product sales. Also, most tournament-going players don't buy much in the way of packs outside of draft and sealed tournaments in my experience - they are far more likely to buy singles.
You can Searing Spear one of his creatures before he declares attackers (in the Beginning of Combat step). If you allow him to declare attackers before casting Searing Spear, you aren't going to be able to stop the battalion trigger this combat.
Can a creature fight itself? 701.10c seems to indicate it can, but 701.10a says "another" and "two" creatures.
701.10. Fight
701.10a A spell or ability may instruct a creature to fight another creature or it may instruct two creatures to fight each other. Each of those creatures deals damage equal to its power to the other creature.
701.10b If a creature instructed to fight is no longer on the battlefield or is no longer a creature, no damage is dealt. If a creature is an illegal target for a resolving spell or ability that instructs it to fight, no damage is dealt.
701.10c If a creature fights itself, it deals damage equal to its power to itself twice.
701.10d The damage dealt when a creature fights isn't combat damage.
Prereleases are not supposed to require a deck registration and deck swap. The point is to have fun - the added benefit of not requiring decklists is that you can change your deck in between rounds so that you can play with more of the cards (if you want to).
I know. The OP was asking how it would have been ruled at the time (which would have been warnings for both in that case) - my post is split into two sections for this reason.
Depending on when this was caught, it's going to be different. If as soon as you drew a card your opponent called a judge, you are going to resolve the default option and sacrifice all your creatures, then you would get a warning for Missed Trigger. If it was later in the turn, your opponent would also get one for Failure to Maintain Game State.
Under the current policy, you will get a warning for Missed Trigger, then you will sacrifice all your creatures - EDIT: your opponent gets some input on the timing of how this happens. Here's the relevant sections from the IPG:
Unlike drawing cards, Dredge N doesn't mean "Dredge 1 N times", so all the cards are put into the graveyard at the same time.
This also means that if you're dealt damage by the face down commander, it still counts towards the "being dealt 21 damage by a single commander" rule.
If you both just pass priority in the declare blockers step, you will go straight to the combat damage step and won't have a chance to play any spells or activate abilities before combat damage is dealt.
Both players receive priority during the beginning of combat step, which is the point where you can cast Spinal Embrace before declaring attackers.
So, if you have exiled the Bridges along with the rest of his graveyard, he won't get any zombies.
This is incorrect - although any one individual probably doesn't buy as much product (on average) as a player who regularly attends tournaments, the number of casual players far outweigh the number of tournament players, hence they are a much larger part of the market for Wizards in terms of product sales. Also, most tournament-going players don't buy much in the way of packs outside of draft and sealed tournaments in my experience - they are far more likely to buy singles.