If I play Nevermore, and my opponent is thinking about countering the spell, does he have to declare the counter spell first, or do I have to name the nonland card first?
Cephalid Illusionist's triggered ability would trigger twice; once for Shuko's equip ability (and it would go on the stack above that ability), and once for the Lightning Bolt. Since you can only activate an equip ability whenever you could cast a sorcery, you couldn't get more than two triggers this way unless you responded with an instant or something that has instant speed, such as the Illusionist's other ability (targeting itself). As written though, you'd mill six cards.
As for your second question, Tormod's Crypt has an activated ability, not a static one (or a replacement effect). You can cast a card from your graveyard using flashback; if your opponent responds by activating the Crypt's exile ability, the card you cast isn't affected as it will be on the stack by then. Your opponent would have to exile the cards from your graveyard before you declare that you're casting the spell, and if the spell is an instant or has flash, you could just respond to the ability by casting the spell for its flashback cost anyway.
No, the Proteus Staff's ability would be countered on resolution as it would no longer have a legal target (since the ability targets a creature, in this case your Gilded Drake) after the relevant removal spell or ability resolves.
Hmm... Gravestorm would fit the description, but it feels awkward being in the same block as Morbid, since they do very similar things.
They do, but it would make some degree of sense. This block really seems to want you to put or have things in your graveyard, and gravestorm has a bigger potential benefit than morbid - most morbid abilities on permanents work only once each turn if a creature died that turn, and it usually costs a great deal of mana to cast more than one spell with morbid each turn. Gravestorm's benefit is fairly obvious and potentially far more significant than a morbid ability (imagine casting Brimstone Volley after combat damage is dealt and getting several copies of it, not just a one-time damage boost). The question is whether WotC would do it, since regular storm is far too powerful to be reprinted, and the current block could break gravestorm despite its limitations.
"The humans have even learned from their enemies, discovering new ways to tap into the tempting power of the grave and to cast deathly spells with amplified strength."
It would be cool to see a mechanic where a spell would gain some beneficial characteristic (i.e. storm) if it was cast from the graveyard.
Well, there's always gravestorm. If gravestorm was meant to appear in an actual set (like some but not all "new" concepts introduced in Future Sight), this might well be that set.
I'd rather run Skittles than Liliana in this deck, IMO. Liliana can be useful but takes away from the point of this deck (i.e., it slows it down); it's probably better to just run means of dealing with her (Memoricide, etc).
Of course, if your goal is to make a more control-oriented MBI deck, then by all means run Liliana, but I wouldn't use her in a more aggro deck. I am converting my UB Infect deck to MBI (it was UB for a Dual Color Wars tournament), and the biggest control element I'm running is Curse of Death's Hold (2 maindeck, 2 board).
"Damage not on the stack" refers to combat damage assigned during the combat damage step of the combat phase. Therefore...
1) You can do that but only during the declare blockers step. Damage gets dealt before players get priority in the combat damage step, so unless you activate the ability during the declare blockers step, the Sakura-Tribe Elder won't be around for you to activate its ability. If you activate the ability after declaring the Elder as a blocker, the Raging Goblin won't take any damage. It's still blocked.
2) Lightning Bolt isn't dealing combat damage, so your opponent can sacrifice the Martyr of Sands in response to you casting the Bolt. When all's said and done, the Lightning Bolt will be countered as it no longer has a legal target.
I'm still not quite sure how I feel about these changes. I still feel that they may as well have referred to the "Magic Players Championship" as another incarnation of the Magic Invitational, and let the winner of that event design a card. I like the idea of a FNM championship, though, even if it might take some of the fun out of FNM.
They've now completely pulled the revisions and will have a new update next month.
Hopefully those changes will come with an article explaining the changes, rather than leaving most of the community to figure things out the hard way (though people saw the consequences pretty quickly here).
Hi there. I've been reading the forums for a while but haven't started posting in a while. Been playing since Urza's Saga but was forced to take a long hiatus after Champions of Kamigawa came out (and I was just about to take the Level 1 judge exam. thanks, school! :P). Came back to the game during Scars block but have maintained an interest in it even when I wasn't playing. I love reading the rules discussion here, and I'm hoping to become a rules advisor soon.
Interestingly, today's update didn't fix the unclear wording of this rule, although the way I read it, it doesn't look to me like it's banning all nonproxy cards not issued by judges.
Neither of the bans in Modern surprises me, honestly, particularly Punishing Fire. Still I would've thought they'd ban Grove of the Burnwillows instead; now I wonder if we'll see this deck run Kavu Predator instead. (And no, I didn't read the speculation thread. >_>)
Don't some of the Arena League foils (at least barely) predate Urza's Legacy, though? I know there are a couple Urza's Saga ones (notably Skittering Skirge).
Nevermore
You name the card as Nevermore resolves. If the spell's countered, it doesn't resolve so you don't get to name a card.
As for your second question, Tormod's Crypt has an activated ability, not a static one (or a replacement effect). You can cast a card from your graveyard using flashback; if your opponent responds by activating the Crypt's exile ability, the card you cast isn't affected as it will be on the stack by then. Your opponent would have to exile the cards from your graveyard before you declare that you're casting the spell, and if the spell is an instant or has flash, you could just respond to the ability by casting the spell for its flashback cost anyway.
They do, but it would make some degree of sense. This block really seems to want you to put or have things in your graveyard, and gravestorm has a bigger potential benefit than morbid - most morbid abilities on permanents work only once each turn if a creature died that turn, and it usually costs a great deal of mana to cast more than one spell with morbid each turn. Gravestorm's benefit is fairly obvious and potentially far more significant than a morbid ability (imagine casting Brimstone Volley after combat damage is dealt and getting several copies of it, not just a one-time damage boost). The question is whether WotC would do it, since regular storm is far too powerful to be reprinted, and the current block could break gravestorm despite its limitations.
Well, there's always gravestorm. If gravestorm was meant to appear in an actual set (like some but not all "new" concepts introduced in Future Sight), this might well be that set.
Of course, if your goal is to make a more control-oriented MBI deck, then by all means run Liliana, but I wouldn't use her in a more aggro deck. I am converting my UB Infect deck to MBI (it was UB for a Dual Color Wars tournament), and the biggest control element I'm running is Curse of Death's Hold (2 maindeck, 2 board).
1) You can do that but only during the declare blockers step. Damage gets dealt before players get priority in the combat damage step, so unless you activate the ability during the declare blockers step, the Sakura-Tribe Elder won't be around for you to activate its ability. If you activate the ability after declaring the Elder as a blocker, the Raging Goblin won't take any damage. It's still blocked.
2) Lightning Bolt isn't dealing combat damage, so your opponent can sacrifice the Martyr of Sands in response to you casting the Bolt. When all's said and done, the Lightning Bolt will be countered as it no longer has a legal target.
Hopefully those changes will come with an article explaining the changes, rather than leaving most of the community to figure things out the hard way (though people saw the consequences pretty quickly here).