Can I boost Murderous Redcap's Power before its triggered ability resolves?

Asked by Reichhardt 9 years ago

I'm specifically considering an interaction between Murderous Redcap as it enters the battlefield and an Unspeakable Symbol already on the battlefield.

What I'd like to do is activate the Unspeakable Symbol to pump up the Redcap before its own triggered ability resolves.

Follow-up question: if I can do this, and I then sacrifice the Redcap to, say, Ashnod's Altar , will it set up a repeating loop allowing me to generate arbitrarily large amounts of mana, as well as dealing arbitrarily large amounts of damage with the Redcap? I appreciate that the 'Pay 3 life' cost of the Symbol's activated ability will constitute a practical limit unless I have something like three Blood Artist s in play as well.

GreatSword says... Accepted answer #1

Yes you may. Unless otherwise determined (like an X spell, Fireball ), effects like Murderous Redcap 's figure out their value when they resolve. You may somehow pump up the goblin before it's trigger resolves to increase the damage.

Yes, this works the way you want. The +1/+1 and -1/-1 counter will cancel each other out as a state-based action, and you'll be able to repeatedly sac the goblin, because of the lack of -1/-1 counter.

October 1, 2014 1:43 a.m.