Playing a bit with Elementalist these days. Once we started using glyphs, a few questions came up. Posting glyphs for reference:
Elemental Glyphs
The Elementalist has four Glyphs: Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. When he casts a spell or reveals an enchantment, he activates all inactive Glyphs that match a school on that spell. Enchantments only activate Glyphs when they’re revealed, not when cast. Example: If the Elementalist casts Volcano, which is both Earth and Fire, then he would activate both of those Glyphs, if inactive. If the Elementalist casts Beam of Frost, which is Air or Water, he would pick one of those Glyphs to activate, if possible.
When active, each Glyph can be deactivated for a special ability:
Air — Once per round, when a creature you control makes an attack, you may pay 1 mana. If you do, deactivate this Glyph to gain +4 on that attack’s effect roll.
Earth — Once per round, when a creature you control is attacked, you may pay 1 mana. If you do, deactivate this Glyph and that creature gains Armor +2 for that attack.
Fire — Once per round, when a creature you control makes an attack, you may pay 1 mana. If you do, deactivate this Glyph and that attack rolls 2 additional dice.
Water — Once per round, during the Upkeep Phase, you may pay 1 mana. If you do, you may deactivate this Glyph and heal 2 damage from your Mage.
Timing
Can Fire/Air Glyphs be used on the same attack spell that are used to activate the specific glyph?
Example: With inactive Fire Glyph, Element declares Firestream on enemy mage. For attack spells, you go through steps 1-4 of casting a spell (Declare, Pay, Counter, Resolve). After the Resolve step, the actual attack begins and we go through the attack steps 1-8. The card is discarded once the attack sequence is over.
In this sequence, when do glyphs get activated? And where is the window for declaring the use of a glyph on an attack?
Similarly, at what point do we have the window to use the Armor+2 from Earth Glyph? Can we wait until dice are rolled and make the choice based on results?
Boosting Attacks
Fire and Air Glyph both boost attacks, but to what extend? Since it is not Ranged+X, can I use Fire Glyph on zone attacks like Voltaic Discharge to roll 2 extra dice against all creatures in zone? Or will it only work against one? Or not at all?
What of sweeping and double strike attacks?