Subject: NetRep reply #297 Date: Thu, 8 Jan 1998 13:05:59 +1100 (EST) From: Beth Moursund NetRep Reply to MTG-L #297 -------------------------- Older replies may be found at http://wilma.che.utexas.edu/~devjoe/sda/ and at http://www.dreamriders.com/. Follow-ups: ----------- Official word: the banned/restricted listings in the latest Duelist are wrong. The correct version is the one which was released over the net, and can be found on the Wizards web site. In particular, Squandered Resources and Frenetic Efreet are not banned. Counters on Assembly Workers: ----------------------------- Dan Gray has just posted his rulings for the current counters-vs-animated-creatures (such as Assembly Workers) situation to the judge's list, so I'm going to chime in with mine. Everyone agrees that the rules for continuous effects are currently in chaos; thus, until we get some answers from the Powers That Be, each judge is unfortunately left to choose whatever rulings make the most sense to him/her. Players will have to check with the Head Judge at each individual tournament to find out how the cards will be ruled that day. Dan Gray, for those who don't know, is currently the only Level IV judge in the U.S. who's not a WotC employee. He's also the de facto NetRep for the judge's list (Jeff Donais is still the official NetRep there, but hasn't been posting). His interpretation is that, counters are applied to the completely raw base card, not the base power/toughness; therefore, they have no effect on any card which has no power/toughness in its base state. This is as valid an interpretation in the current environment as any other; however, it's a radical change from the existing body of rules before the chaos hit. I hate increasing the chaos factor, but I will not be using that interpretation in my own rulings unless/until the Rules Group officially supports it. At any tournament I'm Head Judging, I will continue to apply the pre-chaos rulings and precedents about the counters, applying the modifiers to the base power/toughness of the creature even if the card is only a creature due to a continuous effect. I spoke with the head of the Magic team at WotC yesterday about how critical this mess has gotten and the urgent need for a fix; I believe that he understands the need for rapid resolution, but if anyone else wishes to add their cries for help, I suggest custserv@wizards.com and/or dci@wizards.com. If any of the rules gurus out there have a favorite version of how continuous effects should be evaluated that they'd like to promote, you can send them directly to me, and I'll make sure they're looked at by someone on the Rules Group. Please start with a brief statement of what major features of the pre-chaos rulings are preserved/changed in your version. - Beth Moursund (bethmo@wizards.com) Official Magic: The Gathering mailing list Network Representative for Wizards of the Coast, Inc.