Welcome to a special, Regular REL edition of Personal Tutor! While we usually come to you with ways to answer questions at Competitive REL events, we thought that this month would be a great opportunity to see how you'd answer a question that we expect will be coming up at FNMs for the next few months:

Akroma is building her deck during a sealed-deck FNM. She calls you over, points to her Hooded Hydra, and says “So how does ‘Morph’ work?”

We expect that quite a few of you had a chance to answer this very question at your prereleases, and that you'll be answering it a lot more as new players show up at your local store. How do you provide an explanation that:

• Makes sense to an average player who hasn't played with Morph before
  
• Includes the key details that will let players play correctly
  
• Will not overwhelm Akroma with mountains of rules that she won't remember
  

Akroma is counting on you, and so are other judges who will use the best answers provided as a guide to answering this question as we explore the world of Tarkir! Level one judges and judge candidates, please kick off our discussion, level two judges, please wait until Friday, and level three+ judges, please wait until the weekend. We'll discuss our favorite answers, and share our own, next week so you can take it with you to FNM.

I'd tell Akroma that morph is an ability with options.

To cast a card with morph, she could either pay 3(any combination) and play it face down, in which case it is a 2/2 creature, or she can play the regular mana cost to play it face up just like any other card. I'd also give her a morph token at this point, as I keep several of these for just this issue.

Then I'd explain that if she cast it face down, she has the optional ability to flip it face up for it's morph cost. And that when she does that, any triggered abilities that the morph has will go off. I'd also point out that she can pay the morph cost whenever she had priority, but that in the case of it being a creature, she still couldn't attack the turn it came into play unless it had haste.

After this I'd explain that once played, she can look at the card at any time, and at the end of the game she is required to show her opponent any face down morph cards.

Then I'd let her know if she had any other questions to call me back over.

I think the above clarifies all the major points without adding an undue burden on a new player. And is also succinct enough, when spoken, to not confuse Akroma.

Nice to meet you Akroma!

A card with morph gives you the option of casting it face down for 3 colorless mana as a 2/2 creature with no name, subtypes, color, or mana cost. This allows you to hide the true nature of your card from your opponent. Then, any time you could play an instant, you can reveal the front face of a face down creature to show the morph cost to your opponent, pay that cost, and then the creature is turned face up. At that time, it is whatever is printed on the front face of the card. Doing this is a Special Action, like playing a land, and just like playing a land it does not use the stack and your opponent cannot respond to it; the first opportunity your opponent will have to deal with your card after you've begun the process of turning it face up will be after it is already face up.

It is also important to know that any time a face down creature you control would leave the battlefield, either to your hand, library, graveyard, exile, etc. the first thing you need to do is reveal the front face of that card to your opponent. You are doing this to prove to your opponent that your card was legal to play as a face down creature, since only cards with the Morph ability can be played in this manner. Similarly, at the end of any game where you control one or more face down creatures, you need to reveal the front face of those cards to your opponent before you scoop up your cards. Finally, you need to make sure that your face down creatures remain uniquely identifiable to your opponent. This means that, for example, the order in which they entered the battlefield under your control needs to be something your opponent can derive, as well as a question you can answer when asked. I find arranging them on the table in order of left as first entered to right as last entered works just fine.

I realize that is a lot of information. Morph is a pretty complicated mechanic! Do you have any questions about what we just covered or is anything still unclear to you about how morph works?

** Answer questions asked by Akroma at this time. I feel we can reasonably expect her to be vigilant ;) . After any and all questions are answered, proceed to the closing statement below. **

If you have any specific questions that come up during your games, please feel free to call me over and I will be happy to explain further. Have fun!

“Well, Akroma, if a permanent has morph, that means that you can cast it face-down for 3. If you do, it's a 2/2 creature with no name, color, or creature types, and you can turn it face-up at any time by paying its morph cost. And don't forget to reveal it if it leaves the battlefield while it's face down.”

Edited Carl Miller Jr. (Oct. 9, 2014 10:34:28 AM)

So Akroma do you want to know something specific about how Morph works, or do you want to know generally how Morph works?

(After they answer that question I would proceed with answering their question based on their answer. The rest of this post will be based on them just saying it's just a general question)

When you cast a card with Morph you get 2 options.

• The first option is to play it the normal way by paying it's mana cost and then having the card be face up.
  

• The second option is to play it face down for 3 mana (any color). If they played it this way the card would be facedown and would be a 2/2 creature with no name, subtypes, or colors.
  

If you choose to play it face down, you can turn it faceup at any time you could play an instant (or I would say when they have priority, depends on the impression I get from the player about their level of play). Also you are allowed to look at your facedown morph cards at any time. The card will be treated, as the same permanent as, so anything that was attached to/on the card will stay there.

If a Morphed card would change zones other than the stack to the battlefield or the game ends, you will have to reveal the card, so that everyone knows it was in fact a morph card. Also while the Morph cards are in play you have to make sure everyone is aware of witch more that is, in the sense of when they were played.

Does all of that make sense? (Assuming they say yes, and don't just start asking a question)
Do you have any other questions? (Assuming they don't)
If you have any additional questions please feel free to ask.

EDIT: I edited it to be more like how I would respond to a player. This might not be how I respond to the person, because there are a bunch of things I could take into account when talking to them (age, play experience, general feeling of how comfortable with the setting/situation, ext.).

Edited DJ Andrucyk (Oct. 9, 2014 02:02:50 PM)

Well, instead of casting it normally, you can cast it face down for 3 mana to hide what it really is. When you do this it's just a 2/2 colorless creature with no other characteristics or abilities. You can use one of these (*get from the table or pull from a pocket the “Morph” overlay*) to remind you what it looks like when it's face down. You can look at your own face down Morphs whenever you want.

Any time you'd be able to cast an instant or activate an ability, you can pay the Morph cost and turn it face up, then do whatever the abilities say to do when you turn it face up (not every Morph creature has abilities like this). Your opponent can't interrupt you from turning it face up once you say you're doing it, but they can respond to any “turn face up” abilities it has.

One last important thing to remember is that when a face down creature leaves the battlefield or when the game ends, you have to show your opponent what it really was to prove you made a legal play. If you come up with any other specific questions, be sure to let me know and I'll help you out.

Hi folks!

Since Personal Tutor isn't in its usual location location this month, I'm poking my head in to touch on the types of answers we are looking for. PT is about communication and education. When you submit a PT answer, it should include the approximate text you would provide to the player, not only an explanation of the topics you would cover. (Although it is also valuable to talk about why you would mention or leave out some specific detail.)

For example, we are looking for something like:

“Lightning Bolt doesn't destroy the creature. It only deals 3 damage, then the game determine whether that damage is lethal after the spell resolves.”

As opposed to only:

I'd explain how Bolt deals damage, but SBAs actually destroys the creature.

Try to formulate a specific thing you might actually say to a player. Make it educational, but keep it concise. The point is not to match the answer we will give at the end. The point is to think about the way you are communicating and how you utilize your opportunities to teach players about the game.

I would say that you can either play the creature normally, by paying it's mana cost OR you can pay 3 mana of any color and put it face down. You don't show it to your opponent.

Then, at any time during your turn or any time you could respond (if they don't understand priority) you can pay the morph cost and flip it up. An opponent cannot respond to this ability, but they can respond to any triggers it may or may not have. This is not an activated ability.

And lastly, if you do morph it, remember to show it to your opponent if it leaves play.

Here's what I explained about Morph during the PreRelease before the event started:

Morph basicly does 2 things with a card:
1) It gives you the option to play the card face down for 3 colorless mana and that's great in a multi color set as you can get color screw the first turns.
2) For the morph cost, whenever you have priority, you can turn it face up for it's full effect, an opponent can not respond to this action as it does not use the stack.
PS) Please at the end of the game or when a face down card leaves the battlefield, reveal it to your opponent, this to counter somebody trying to win with a face down forest for example!

These are the 2 things I would focus on for a new player. You could go into further details how an unblocked morph could be turned face up at the right time and moment and all that but that's in my opinion overload for a new player. If a newer player would ask “I get morph but I don't see how this is so good as people tell me” than yeah I would go into all that.

I even don't think you need to mention the specific rules about a triggering morph that goes face up as that is mostly very logical for somebody who gets the basic.

“Well, Akroma. Morph creatures like your Hooded Hydra are special! You can play a creature with morph face down on the table instead of face up like a normal creature. While your Hydra is face down it's just a plain 2/2 creature but your opponent doesn't know what it really is! If you want to play a morph creature like your Hooded Hydra face down, just pay 3 of any mana and put it down on the table from your hand like this. When you're ready to flip it over and turn your little 2/2 into that big mythic Hydra, all you have to do is pay that 3GG morph cost at anytime.”

“If you have more questions about morph even during the game, just call for me and I'll come help you. Good luck.”

Edited Eric Paré (Oct. 10, 2014 10:19:21 AM)

Step 1: Find a morph overlay.
Step 2: “For a creature with morph, you can play it for its mana cost, just like normal, or you can play it facedown for 3 mana, so your opponent doesn't know what it is. As long as it's face down, it looks like this {give the overlay card to the player}, and only its controller can look at the other side of it. Anytime you want, you can pay the morph cost {point out cost} and flip it face up, and your opponent can't respond to that. At the end of the game, or if a morph card would leave the battlefield, be sure to show what it was to your opponent so they know the facedown card you played really had morph.”
Step 3: Any questions?

By the way, which Akroma is this that doesn't know how morph works, the one from Onslaught block that had lots of morph cards in it or the one from Time Spiral block that actually has morph itself? :P

Edited David Elden (Oct. 10, 2014 10:26:14 PM)