Can You Spot the Rules Violation? | MTG Rules Quiz 

The more I look into becoming a magic judge the more I realize i should just become a lawyer, its a lot easier

5:15: Judge! his Dryad Arbor has to be clearly recognizable as a creature at all times!

I like that it's expanded to full simulated games with red herring attempts at rules violations

Big fan of the playing out of the game before we hit a "rules violation". It's a lot easier to understand than trying to explain a big complicated board state. Also, it is a lot more fun!

I always love this "puzzle" approach to the game maybe the channel could make some videos on puzzles like those on magic duels of the planeswalkers(a pre-set complex game state, you need to win or not die in one turn)

Was surprised when the title said 3 rules but the video was 20 mins. Was pleasantly surprised. The absolute better way to see wrong rules, especially the misdirection.

If you're dipping into commander and want some tricky rule situations: * Face down commander dealing commander damage (it's similar to to the Elk situation, but can still be a good fake out) * Whether you are entitled to know that a commander (such as Akroma) played face down from a player's hand is a commander * Getting non-commanders into the command zone via a mutate stack/meld and Leadership Vacuum Mutate also has some fun stuff, such as: * Populating off of a mutate stack where the token is on top * Mutate stack with a Theros God that's not on top and you lose sufficient devotion to make it a creature (you get a permanent with no type) * Mutating on top of a Planeswalker while it's temporarily a creature, then going down to 0 loyalty on it (it does not die and it can't be attacked) * Mutate stack where one of the component creatures has undying/persist and the stack dies (they all come back to the battlefield but as individual creatures with the appropriate counter) * A mutate stack getting turned face down (e.g. by Ixidron) * A mutate stack getting turned face down and one of the component creatures in the stack has morph and you activate that EDIT: One more for good measure: * Turning a face down creature face up (such as via morph) is a special action, so it does not use the stack and cannot be responded to. This means that you can counter a Krosan Grip by turning Voidmage Apprentice face up

3 for 3, though the Thalia/Double Major/Parallel lives almost got me. I do think that a good one of a similar nature would involve the combo of Pir, Doubling Season, and a + loyalty effect of a PW. Pir turns the COST of putting loyalty on a PW into an EFFECT, which would mean Doubling Season will let you double the loyalty gain. Could be either as a false judge call thing to cause a trip-up, or as the correct answer.

I watched the judges tower yt shorts and I played it with my brother and had a BLAST. Thank you!

it would be fun to watch y'all play Judge's Tower against each other 😁

This was a great expansion on the previous one, the simulation overlay with all the false violations was a great addition! Keep it coming :)

If you do another of these, there should be at least one scenario where the rules violation happens in the first few turns, otherwise it becomes a bit formulaic and easy to predict.

These types of videos are so fun to watch. I tried to solve them too and play along with you which makes them even more fun. I don't know anything about commander so I just watched the last part but the other ones were very interesting. At 12:51 which I think was the most difficult to find and explain, I think the best way to explain it is that Parallel lives cares about effects that say "Create x tokens" Double Major does not create a token as an effect. What is does is copy a creature spell so parallel lives doesn't recognize it as a token creating effect. The fact that you eventually end up with a token is a consequence of making the copy but the spell itself (Double Major) is not a token creating effect per se, so parallel lives will not "see" it.

The last scenario wouldnt be even funnier with Ixidron. Because even a face-down commander still deals commander damage.

I love how productive you are at creating new video formats, imho none of them have failed so far. Keep up the very entertaining work!

I love that this is presented as a full game playing out - it genuinely feels like I’m getting better at understanding the deeper mechanical interactions of the game more by following along this way. This does lead me to ask as an open ended question: does becoming a judge make one better at Magic? I would think yes.

Minor, but important correction: Spells do have effects, but it wasn't the kind of effect that triggers Parallel Lives. However this example did make it more clear to me how copied permanent spells and the subsequently created tokens are handled. More of this please!

As always, love the dynamic between Thoralf and Carl! I could watch anything these two put out!

This is a fantastic addition and follow-up to the previous video. The lead-up really helps to contextualize the rules more and the rules chosen this time are a little more tricky and fun to look into. Definitely enjoyed this a lot!

Carl and Thoralf's energy and chemistry together is great

Always fun to watch the judge vids!

Fantastic demonstration of how easy it could be to miss a call or make an illegal play by accident. Love the content!

This is always a good way to check on rules. I see similar things happening at my LGS and i walk away from these knowing just a bit more and can reference why it doesnt work!

The second one got me. I assumed i knew what parallel lives did. What specific wording, good job on not falling for that.

This is an awesome format of video! Very interesting to watch. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this!

I really like that you guys covered stolen commanders because i've been trying to figure that out myself too and i could'nt even with the comprehensive rules

Can I just say- Carl, I love your outfits. I think if you wanted to do an interesting off-topic or perhaps april fools day video it would be fun to see you show off some of your favorite clothes and talk about where you got them from.

This format for the show is SO much better than before. This was so much fun, and informative! I almost got got with the parallel lives interaction with Thalia myself. Please continue doing this show like this!

This was a really fun way to format the video. For some tricky rules stuff there's always the interaction between Opalescence and Humility depending on the order they come into play.

Another good one would be Sylvan Library + Abundance. You can choose for each of the 3 draws if land or nonland and can keep them without paying life, as they were not "drawn", so they dont count for the Library Trigger to pay

As a computer science graduate and software engineer who's almost never played magic, my favorite part of watching the game is the stack. I genuinely don't find it confusing at all. I love videos like this that show case some interesting aspects of resolving down a stack.

I love the editing on this video. I would just recommend presenting the stack more like MTGA does to better see what's going on with that first Double Major. And ya got me with the Thalia! I thought it would double that token.

I sincerely am so hyped with the variety of content on the channel. Cannot wait to see more from y’all! 💙

*Plays a Volcanic Island* Me: …… *Has the correct Goblin Shaman token for Fable* Me: Oh damn! That’s nice! That’s really rare!

This was straight up amazing. So much fun trying to guess along with all the red herrings.

I’m already subbed. I cant sub any further! 😂

Love this format and love you guys, thank you for the videos, they always brighten my mood!

This really makes me want to see you two play Judge's Tower, I feel like it would be a lot of fun and would feel more spontaneous :D

The Thalia, Double Major and Parallel Lives interaction is not something I was aware of at all! Thats cool!

This video was amazing, it was not only entertaining, it also help me understand more of the rules and it was overall a perfect video. Please I would love to see more content like this.

Very cool format about MtG rulings. It's very interesting to learn these rulings and interactions, hope for more content like that. Good job to the team 👍

This was very cool. Seems like it probably took a lot of work! It's much appreciated!

Very interesting rules/judge training in this video!

Excellent video, I appreciate this content since it shows very weird interactions and how the rules work.

These videos are so much fun to play along with.

The commander damage one was the only one I got out of all the vids from this series I watched, also beating an oponnent with his own commander damage is kinda hilarious

In the third scenario, Carl consistently refers to commander damage from Jhoira as "commander damage from me" ("me" referring to himself) and commander damage from Aesi as "commander damage from yourself" ("yourself" referring to Thoralf). While not technically a rules violation it is incorrect as commander damage is tied to the individual card and not the owner of the card, this is important in the case of partner commanders whose instances of commander damage would be tracked separately.

Great expansion of the original idea! I love the simulated games, whether they start from scratch or midgame. Playing a few scripted turns with some difficult and quickly overlooked interactions is a very nice and welcome Addition. I really like that and would love to see more of this. :)

the dualcaster mage combo works, but you have to play double major first then in response play the dualcaster, which enters while double major is still on the stack and can then copy it

This is some of the most original MtG content I've seen ever, if I wasn't already subscribed with notifications I would right now.

Very much enjoyed this! Thank you for making it!

This is such a great series I wanna see more like this! Gimmie some crazy state based effects

I like playing out a full game to see several potential rules violations like you did hear. Most the rules probably wouldn’t warrant a full video on their own but by bringing it altogether it was a lot more interesting.

These scenarios are fun. Love the content.

9:45: I would have called a judge at the prevention of the damage of Stomp. The first line of Text says "Damage Cant be prevented this turn" which resolves first before the damage of stomp resolves. Which means Damage from stomp couldnt have been prevented by Burrenton Forge-Tender.

I'd LOVE to see some "Win this turn" puzzles on here XD This really reminded me of those, and I'm a sucker for puzzles like that.

Very cool, more of this. And as other mention, and you agree on, it would be cool to see you solve magic puzzle board states. And do a “pause the video now, if you want to compete with us” before starting each puzzle.

the easiest way to remember commander damage is to think of it like "commander damage is a property of the cardboard." No matter what happens to the object, if it gets polymorphed, turned into a copy of someone else's commander, flipped face-down, taken control of, etc, as long as that piece of cardboard is attacking, it deals your commander's commander damage. Likewise, if you make a copy of it, or play clone as a copy of it, those copies of it aren't the same piece of cardboard, so they don't do commander damage.

I really liked this format. Much more interesting, and I learned something new.

I love this series, I really hope you guys keep doing it. If I could make a suggestion, I'd say look at draw replacement effects like Underrealm Lich combined with cards like Sylvan Library. Oh, and have each player play a draw replacement effect to bring layers into it!

Wow you incorporated feedback so well! Really impressed!

here's a tricky interaction. on the field is Toren, fist of angels who has a ability that creates a 1/1 human with training when you cast a creature spell. I play Kyler, Sigardian Emissary who get a +1/+1 counter when a human enter the field. due to it being a cast trigger Kyler wouldn't see the human the Toren create and just won't gain a +1/+1 counter, but you could say it does within the context of the next Rules Violation video. and due to the fact that both are new cards this might slip up Thoralf anyway, I like this video and hope you make more in the future

Awesome concept and i like the production quality with the digital battlefield.

Love the video! Hope you make more of this type.

I got all of these more or less, although you guys explained exactly how it works better than i could have

The "a transformed commander is still your commander" actually won me a game recently, i was playing a +1/+1 counters deck and put one in my commander, then it was hit with a the enchantment that transforms it into a 0/1 insect with indestructible, which made my commander actually BETTER cuz People could not deal with it, i proliferated a whole bunch and Just one shotted the table one at a time

Great video! And massive kudos. I knew the 3rd one, would have probably checked online for the first one, but I'm still not sure I understand the second one :p

Shouldn't the Treachery'd Aesi have had summmoning sickness and thus not been able to attack? 16:57 302.6. A creature’s activated ability with the tap symbol or the untap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since their most recent turn began. A creature can’t attack unless it has been under its controller’s control continuously since their most recent turn began. This rule is informally called the “summoning sickness” rule.

I had a feeling the commander game would be about commander damage. Great way to understand that the card is the commander, not what's written on it.

Any of the shenanigans with Krark-Clan Ironworks (or wall of roots and chord of calling and probably lots of other things) and the specifics of timing for casting and paying for spells might be fun things to explore

If you ever do another episode, I'd love to see some tricky morph stuff! For example, you can protect your creatures with gift of doom without giving your opponents priority to respond in any way, also making it an unreactable death touch combat trick when blocking (provided there are no triggered abilities from cards like secret plans). Double sided cards can exist on the battlefield face down but only if they enter the battlefield face down: they cannot be turned face down once they're on the battlefield, not even by stuff like ixidron. Yedora can return manifested instants/sorceries as face down forests upon their death, even though they're no longer creatures in the graveyard. Also works with other stuff, like lands that have been made into creatures. A card turned face down with yedora can be turned face up with morph despite it having lost all abilities, while a morphed creature on the field with an ability removing enchantment attached - like Kenrith's transformation - cannot be turned face up this way. Forgetting to show your face down cards to the opponent at the end of the game is a rules infraction, since it is necessary to prove you didn't cheat by morphing cards without morph. All morphed creatures must be distinguishable in some form, like having them in the order of them entering the battlefield on the board. You also cannot freely change the order or placement of morphed creatures on the field for this reason. As a bonus, Sefris of the hidden ways not triggering from a boardwipe since its ability is not a death trigger but a creature entering the graveyard trigger could make for a nice scenario

Really loved this new format, what a step up !

Love the energy here! You guys and Anika are great!

Keep having fun! Best part of your content.

This channel is something else. Great content guys!

Liked the changes here, some fun interactions and the red herrings were good additions.

This was a great video, love the concept!

Love all the content! Keep it up with the creative stuff

This was such a great video idea, a ton of fun!

Idk how but all this channels content is just so likeable, I think it's just that these guys are literally all sweethearts

I will call a judge at 15:39. I think I see a Fiery Islet being tapped for mana casting the Insurrection, but there is no life paid for that.

Excellent idea and format!

I would also like to note that if you were able to pick up your deck, and no one would bat an eye at it, then there is a slight of hand technique called dealling secounds. Basically say you dont want you apponent to know what is on top of your deck, because you know it is really good, and the opponent uses a card that makes you discard the top x cards of your library, then you could just pick up your deck and deal the card under it into the graveyard keeping the card you want on top. But this is all fixed because of the idea, or even a rule, that picking up your deck when you dont need to is sus.

I did have a couple isues back then, having a Daretti, Scrap savant being attacked with something that killed it, i did use liquidmetal coating to turn it onto an artifact planeswalker and then using a welding jar to regenerate it. Othertime, i did have a gideon Blackblade on board and did cast a spark double as a copy of it being a creature (it should get both +1/+1 and a loyalty counter) but on that moment we didnt know if what would happen to spark double at end of turn if it stayed as a crature and was able to activate its loyalty habilities, this is aplicable to several gideons.

The best part for Parallel Lives is to look at the oracle text It especially talk about "created token" Spell Permanent copies that resolve don't "create token", they become token

I definitelt like this format much more than the previous one.

at 17:00 the legendary aesi attacks despite being summoning sick. the aesi was taken control of this turn and helm of the host only gives the token haste

Awesome to have the game before the rule violation, makes you wonder and think a lot about every rule.

That was awesome! Well played!

This was a really fun format for the video

With cards just in standard. Make one player play Luxior, giada's gift + lilliana of the veil + Ratadrabik of Urborg + Jaxis, the troublemaker. *The trick is remembering the Ratadrabik created lilies are zombies and 2/2s if they are animated a second time but can still use their walker abilities. So the p/t of a token lilly is 2/2 + number of loyalty and has vigilance. Maybe the play is to attack and tap, specifically call out that its power is higher than expected. See if they remember vigilance. The other player plays Ob Nixilis, the adversary + Errant, Street Artist + Edgar's Awakening + brass knuckles + twinferno. Just to add some confusion to the play. Lots of tokens and doubling to keep track of and honestly fun cards to play with.

I dont know if its too much but having actually two players doing all the steps and the "judge" trying to spot when they do something wrong feels like an interesting way to do this

Got 2/3, parallel lives one was tricky, hadnt seen that before and totally missed it. Makes sense after its explained though

Loved this! Humility + an x spell hydra would be good

You know what I was thinking would trip me up with imposing sovereign? Sleeper agent. I feel like there's some good potential shenanigans with that card.

Last time made it too easy to know when the rules violation happened This time was really well done

I stopped playing back in Mirage/Saga because of a bad Judge call on my three turn kill deck. In their defence it was weird. They sent it off to WoTC for a ruling. It came back in my favour but was already too late. Turn 1: Swamp Dark Ritual, Sleeper Agent, Treacherous Link (on Sleeper Agent) Turn 2: Plains, Flesh Reaver Turn 3: Land, Pariah (on Sleeper Agent), Attack with Flesh Reaver.

I like the cardigan. Also, this channel got me into the minutiae of magic, so appreciate it.

This was interesting, the parallel lives and double major interaction totally would have gotten me. I think if you also played some Judge Tower could be very fun, as it is more interactive. It’s such a cool if rare game variant.

I could watch this all day!