About timing of triggered abilities and valid targets
Asked by Harnellas 6 years ago
So, the boardstate in question:
I control Reyhan, Last of the Abzan, Skullbriar, the Walking Grave with some +1/+1 counters on him, and another creature enchanted with an opponent's Song of the Dryads.
Another opponent casts cyclonic rift. I choose to place Skullbriar in the command zone, which should trigger Reyhan's ability, allowing me to place +1/+1 counters on another creature.
Since my third creature isn't bounced by the rift due to him being a land at the time, and the fact that he becomes a creature at what appears to be the same time that Reyhan's ability triggers, is it a valid target to receive the +1/+1 counters? Or is it an invalid target since it's not yet a creature when the ability would go on the stack?
So triggers never go on the stack until an ability/spell is completely resolved?
This isn't the first time I've had to lawyer up because of Reyhan, Last of the Abzan, but I think this simple rule will make a lot of resolutions clearer.
July 8, 2017 3:50 p.m.
Triggers require their conditions to be met at the time of their triggering (so if a creature is destroyed during the first part of a spell resolving it won't see things happening later during the resolution), but don't get put on the stack until a player would receive priority, this means they don't target until that time.
For example, if you control a Soul Warden and cast Phyrexian Rebirth, the Soul Warden will be destroyed before the token enters and you won't gain any life.
On the other hand, if you control Reyhan, Last of the Abzan (who is your commander) and Conjurer's Closet, you can target Reyhan with the triggered ability, choose to put him in the command zone, triggering his ability, then return him to the battlefield. When you do, he will be a valid target for his ability.
July 8, 2017 5:30 p.m.
@Neotrup If I'm not mistaken, your example doesn't work due to the fact that sending Reyhan to the Command Zone is a replacement effect, therefore it never goes to Exile from Conjurer's Closet and will not return from Exile because it was never there. (603.6. Trigger events that involve objects changing zones are called zone-change triggers. Many abilities with zone-change triggers attempt to do something to that object after it changes zones. During resolution, these abilities look for the object in the zone that it moved to...) Because returning the Commander to the Command zone is a replacement effect, the Command zone is the first zone it moved to.
July 8, 2017 6:12 p.m.
603.6 does not apply here, because it deals specifically with abilities that trigger off of, and subsequently try to find, an object that changed zones. However, even if it did apply, it does check the first zone the object went to (in this case the command zone), not the first zone the object tried to be sent to (in this case the exile zone). Conjurer's Closet exiles a creature then attempts to return that card from whatever zone it when to. It will fail if the creature was a token, both because a token cannot change zones again, and because the token is not a card. Conjurer's Closet will never fail to return a nontoken creature it exiles, because nothing can cause that creature to change zones after the ability exiles it but before the ability returns it, because it does both during a single ability resolution.
Neotrup says... Accepted answer #1
The ability doesn't go on the stack until after Cyclonic Rift has fully resolved, so Song of the Dryads is back in your mutual opponent's hand, so your other creature is a valid target for the ability.
July 8, 2017 1:46 p.m.