Can I exile what I discard?
Asked by thegigibeast 9 years ago
I have 2 Simian Spirit Guide in my hands, then I play Faithless Looting. I chose to dicard them, but while it is on the stack, I exile them from my hand to add 2 
. Am I wrong?
As soon as you choose which cards to discard, they are put directly in the graveyard. When a spell starts resolving, it resolves in its entirety before anyone gets a chance to do anything. So you draw 2 cards, then discard 2. After drawing 2, you don't get a chance to play any abilities or spells until after you discard.
April 7, 2015 7:39 a.m.
And even if a spell wasn't resolving, once you discard a card it's no longer in your hand, so you can't exile it from your hand when it's not there.
April 7, 2015 7:49 a.m.
Basically, the one of the only thing that can occur during this time is replacement effects, as you need to have priority for activating abilities and casting spells.
For example, if you have 2 Stinkweed Imp in your grave, you can replace the draws from looting with dredges from both imps, dredge yourself for 2x5 cards, then discard the very same imps you just put in your hand.
Anything that requires you to use the stack (such as activating the ability of SSG) is off-limits.
April 7, 2015 8:13 a.m.
thegigibeast says... #5
Thanks guyz, it was only s question crossing my head!
BlueScope says... Accepted answer #1
You are wrong. While a spell resolves, you handle all of it's effects before any player (or anything else) can interact. That means, if at the time Faithless Looting resolves, you have 2 Spirit Guides in your hand, you will draw two cards, then discard two cards (which may be the Spirit Guides). Until you finish discarding them, you cannot do anything useful, and the earliest point where you could exile the Spirit Guides for mana from your hand - granted that you didn't discard them - is after Faithless Looting finished resolving.
April 7, 2015 7:10 a.m.