Collected Company(s) & Shaman of the Pack(s)
Asked by Jimmy_Chinchila 7 years ago
Convoluted Elves Stack
Here's the scenario, I will describe as I believe it would work so if any part or sequence is wrong please let me know:
Playing Modern CoCo Elves, I cast Collected Company and select 2 copies of Shaman of the Pack, both of which have an ETB effect that checks game state. Both triggers occur simultaneously and so they both go on the same stack (order irrelevant). Priority passes to opponent who is tapped out, then back to me, and I then tap the 2 Shamans along with a Heritage Druid (using her ability) and a land to cast another Collected Company which goes on the same stack. As it resolves I get another Shaman and a mana-dork elf. The ETB of the most recent Shaman of the Pack goes on the same stack and so when resolution takes place all 3 triggers will have the same state based number of Elves which includes the 4 new Elves. I had 5 to begin with and have added 4 more and so each Shaman trigger deals 9 damage for a total of 27 which is lethal.
Correct? Thanks!!!
Jimmy_Chinchila says... #2
Awesome thank you for that. You know this forum really should be called "Ask Rhadamanthus" lol. But seriously...
March 1, 2017 10:04 p.m.
This is also exactly correct if it's your opponent's turn. If it's your turn then you need to cast the second Collected Company immediately after you put the two Shaman of the Pack triggers on the stack, before your opponent gets priority. If they pass priority back to you on your turn, the first spell or ability on the stack resolves before you can cast another spell or activate an ability.
March 1, 2017 10:12 p.m.
Monomanamaniac says... #4
Technically to pull this combo off you'd need to hold priority after the first 2 triggers go on the stack, or one of those triggers will activate. You don't get another chance to respond to the stack before it starts to resolve if it is your turn.
June 4, 2019 7:43 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #5
Monomanamaniac: Please check the dates when responding to old threads to see whether it's worthwhile to keep the conversation going. The last response in this thread was two years ago (and it says basically the same thing that yours does).
Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #1
Yes, that's the correct result. Unless a spell or ability specifically references some piece of information from before it started resolving, it will get information about the game state at the time it resolves.
You're overcomplicating some of the details in your explanation, however. There's only one stack. It's a game zone, like the battlefield or exile. There's also no such thing as a "state based number". The number of elves on the battlefield is just a normal piece of information about the current game state.
March 1, 2017 9:54 p.m.