So, I'm looking at the card "Tough as Nails" and I notice it is an IMMEDIATE. My question is two-fold: a) What, if anything is the trigger? and b) If there is no trigger, can I just play it on one of my creatures at any point during my opponents ACTIVATION phase (or another phase of their turn)?
No immediates have a "trigger". Those that imply picking something (for example "prevent [some] damage from a source") are targeted, and require a target in order to play. Others, like the Dwarven Cleric's ability, or Tough as Nails, don't, and you can just play them any time you have an untapped guy and feel like it (including on your own turn if that comes up). With Tough as Nails you'll usually play it in response to an attack, but sometimes it makes sense to just do it if they get greedy by putting 2x Web on your dude or whatever.
So, I'm looking at the card "Tough as Nails" and I notice it is an IMMEDIATE. My question is two-fold: a) What, if anything is the trigger? and b) If there is no trigger, can I just play it on one of my creatures at any point during my opponents ACTIVATION phase (or another phase of their turn)?
No immediates have a "trigger". Those that imply picking something (for example "prevent [some] damage from a source") are targeted, and require a target in order to play. Others, like the Dwarven Cleric's ability, or Tough as Nails, don't, and you can just play them any time you have an untapped guy and feel like it (including on your own turn if that comes up). With Tough as Nails you'll usually play it in response to an attack, but sometimes it makes sense to just do it if they get greedy by putting 2x Web on your dude or whatever.
That is what I was thinking, but it's nice getting others to tell me their thoughts.
Thinking of this can you attack yourself with a low hitting character so you can use it?
I don't have the rulebook on me but unless it says somewhere that you can only attack enemy creatures, probably.
It's also ambiguous at this point just what is or isn't a valid target for damage prevention orders. My ruling has been that you can respond to pretty much any action with an immediate (attempt to prevent damage from whatever the action is, even if it wouldn't do damage to you) but I'm not sure if that's correct. It's right by MTG-logic which usually holds in Dungeon Command, but not always. I've got an email out to someone at WOTC who hopefully will sort it out.
Now the question is, when would this be an advantage?
Therefore if I mage hand a dragon so that I can proceed to kill it, my opponent cannot use flight of bats (coud of bats?) or whatever its called (prevent all damage; shift 5) to get away from the mage hand because there is (as of yet) no damage to allow the ability to trigger. (Then it's tapped, then I start laying down the hurt)
However, tough as nails does not say prevent all damage, and therefore you don't need a damage trigger in order to use it. In general, immediates can be played whenever you want as long as they do not require a trigger/target such as a damage source as in the above example.
Wasn't the PAX east ruling that if the card says prevent all damage, you need a source of damage in order to play the immediate?
Therefore if I mage hand a dragon so that I can proceed to kill it, my opponent cannot use flight of bats (coud of bats?) or whatever its called (prevent all damage; shift 5) to get away from the mage hand because there is (as of yet) no damage to allow the ability to trigger. (Then it's tapped, then I start laying down the hurt)
However, tough as nails does not say prevent all damage, and therefore you don't need a damage trigger in order to use it. In general, immediates can be played whenever you want as long as they do not require a trigger/target such as a damage source as in the above example.
The PAX ruling was complicated. You can't play a prevention card without a source to pick, but the head judge wasn't sure about exactly what had to be true of that source. (For example, does it have to be able to deal damage to the creature playing the card? What if the damage is unpreventable? Etc.) He said he'd check with the designers. So until I hear back from him that's up in the air.
But yes, Tough as Nails doesn't target a particular damage source or anything so you can just play it whenever you like.
Wasn't the PAX east ruling that if the card says prevent all damage, you need a source of damage in order to play the immediate?
Therefore if I mage hand a dragon so that I can proceed to kill it, my opponent cannot use flight of bats (coud of bats?) or whatever its called (prevent all damage; shift 5) to get away from the mage hand because there is (as of yet) no damage to allow the ability to trigger. (Then it's tapped, then I start laying down the hurt)
However, tough as nails does not say prevent all damage, and therefore you don't need a damage trigger in order to use it. In general, immediates can be played whenever you want as long as they do not require a trigger/target such as a damage source as in the above example.
To me it's pretty clear that in order to play an immediate that prevents damage there first has to be a source that actually deals damage. But this has been discussed before and I know Ultiville (amongst others) disagrees with me. That's fine, but another reason that an updated FAQ or Rulebook would be greatly appreciated.
To me it's pretty clear that in order to play an immediate that prevents damage there first has to be a source that actually deals damage. But this has been discussed before and I know Ultiville (amongst others) disagrees with me. That's fine, but another reason that an updated FAQ or Rulebook would be greatly appreciated.
I think it'd be pretty reasonable to make there be some requirements around playing defense cards, but the problem is that RAW there isn't any at all. That means that when I'm running events, I have to decide something or other about when you can and can't play the cards, and I feel like it should be at least sort of supported by the rules. Since there's nothing in the rules that clarifies what a "source" or "damage source" is, I feel like "any object on the stack" is about all I can do. I don't think that's necessarily the ideal situation, and would love a clarification. I think your implied solution is pretty good: something like "a [damage] source is an ability on the stack that, if it resolves, would deal damage to the creature performing the action." I think that's a perfctly reasonable house rule, and would (unless I'm forgetting a corner case) be happy with it as errata. The problem being, if I'm running a sanctioned event (and I like to sanction my events since seeing DC events get officially submited can only help the game) I feel like I need to judge based on RAW as much as possible, and there's nothing in the RAW to support so specific an interpretation, sadly
The other problem is there are a lot of corner cases already, so any clarification needs to make sure you don't have wildly counterintuitive things come up. I like the one you implied overall, though, since it allows for things like Seize the Opportunity vs. a Magic Short Sword attack, and so on. Basically I just look at these things from the perspective of a judge/TO, which means I really need to be able to support my rulings within the contect of official stuff. I think you probably have a pretty good ideal-world interpretation, and one that is pretty reasonable to use in games where the RAW isn't the most important factor.