Convoluted question concerning Priority?
Asked by Bantha1342 6 years ago
I run a Black / Red Commander using Olivia Voldaren as my commander. I ran into a situation last night while playing on which I need some clarification.
It was my opponents turn and I had my Eldrazi Devastator on the battlefield. My opponent had Willbreaker and targeted my Eldrazi Devastator with a an offensive spell thus giving him control of my Eldrazi Devastator unless I could somehow respond. Since I had priority and a chance to respond, I activated the first ability of Olivia Voldaren turning his Willbreaker into a Vampire, then instantly activated her second ability to gain control of Willbreaker. My opponent stated I could not activate both of her abilities simultaneously because I would have to pass priority back to him giving him a chance to respond after I activated her first ability, so he could negate it, thus making the second ability of Olivia useless. Is he correct? I hope this make sense. Thanks in advance for any help.
Wait, I don't know if this would work or not, but could you target a non-vampire creature with Olivia Voldaren's second ability first, then activate the first ability. It could work considering the first ability would go off on the stack first, then the second ability.
But then again, targeting rules might mess that up. Maybe that'd be something to look into?
July 20, 2017 2:15 a.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #4
The target chosen must be a legal target at the time the ability is put on to the stack. If it's not already a vampire creature, it can't be targeted.
Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #1
Your opponent does get a chance to respond to Olivia's ability.
An ability doesn't resolve immediately after it's activated. Everyone gets a chance to make responses first. In your example, you won't be able to use Olivia Voldaren's 2nd activated ability until the 1st one has resolved, because otherwise the Willbreaker won't have been turned into a Vampire yet.
Also, spells and abilities can't be cast/activated simultaneously, and they can't resolve simultaneously. They have to be handled one at a time.
July 19, 2017 8:33 p.m.