Can I have upkeep abilities trigger the way I want them?
Asked by TheBanlist 8 years ago
Hey, team
My question is like I stated above: can I have my own upkeep abilities that trigger at the "beginning of upkeep" in the order I want them to. I know I saw that a certain interaction with one player controlling a Concerted Effort and Akroma, Angel of Wrath and the opponent controlled Dominus of Fealty. I also saw that the triggers did not work in favor of the concerted effort fellow. My question, I think, is a little different. I was just double checking that upkeep ability triggers can be ordered to best tickle your fancy sort of like choosing Caged Sun to trigger before Mana Reflection.
The exact situation that I am asking is as follows: I have a Nyx Weaver and Starfield of Nyx on board. Can I choose the weaver to trigger first, mill my two cards, then grab whatever gets milled with the starfield?
At the beginning of your upkeep, any abilities that trigger go on the stack. At this point, whoever controls the trigger decides what order it goes on the stack in, starting with the active player (use the APNAP acronym, meaning active player, non active player to decide which players triggers go on the stack first.) Keep in mind triggers will resolve in the opposite order you place them on the stack, and any other players will also trigger first due to their triggers having been placed on the stack above yours.
To get the triggers to resolve the way you want them to, you'll need to put Starfield of Nyx's trigger onto the stack first so that it resolves after Nyx Weaver's.
February 1, 2016 6:15 p.m. Edited.
Raging_Squiggle says... #4
To repeat something BlueScope said as it's important to how you want to try to stack your triggers:
any abilities going onto the stack that require one or more targets must have all targets chosen as the ability goes on the stack, not as it resolves. so if you intend to try to return an enchantment to play through Starfield of Nyx, that was milled via Nyx Weaver, you cannot do that because it won't be in the graveyard at the time targets must be chosen.
BlueScope says... #1
Basically, whenever multiple things trigger at the same time, their controller chooses in which order they're put on the stack (and they will resolve in the opposite order). If multiple players control abilities that trigger at the same time, the active player puts their abilities on the stack first, followed by all non-active players in turn order.
To get what you want with your example cards, you'd have to have Starfield trigger first for it to resolve last (as the stack resolves last in, first out). Your problem would be that Starfield requires you choosing a target when you put the ability on the stack, so even if you order the abilities in the right order, the cards you might want to return to your hand won't be able as a target, as they're not yet in the graveyard.
February 1, 2016 6:14 p.m.