Can I react to a State based action?

Asked by BossColten 5 years ago

Scenario: I have Etrata, the Silencer on my field and I cast a Clone and have it enter as a copy of Etrata. Now a state-based action will say okay you have two legends, sac one. Could I then bounce the original Etrata back to my hand before I have to sacrifice one?

Caerwyn says... Accepted answer #1

You cannot, as State-based actions do not use the stack, and thus can't be responded to. (Rule 704.1).

Also, you do not sacrifice a creature due to the Legend Rule--you choose one of that Legend and the rest go to the graveyard. The result is similar--you're picking permanents to send to your graveyard, but there's very different implications. The Legend Rule, for example, won't trigger Bloodbriar, and you can't use Assault Suit to circumvent the Legend Rule (Rule 704.5j).


Rule 704.1: State-based actions are game actions that happen automatically whenever certain conditions (listed below) are met. State-based actions don’t use the stack.

Rule 704.5j If a player controls two or more legendary permanents with the same name, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners’ graveyards. This is called the “legend rule.”

November 10, 2018 11:36 p.m. Edited.

DemonDragonJ says... #2

I have my own question: before the legend rule was changed, if a player played a legendary land with the same name as a legendary land controlled by another player, could that player tap their land for mana before the legend rule put both cards into their owner's graveyards?

November 12, 2018 9:14 p.m.

Gidgetimer says... #3

Nope, State based actions are checked and performed before each time a player would receive priority and you can only activate mana abilities when you have priority, or when a spell or ability asks for a mana payment during casting/activation/resolution.

November 12, 2018 9:28 p.m.

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