Destructive Force + Mazirek. Will it work?

Asked by FenrisBurgess 5 years ago

So say you play a Destructive Force , but you have a Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest .

Since Destructive Force doesn't have a 'then':

• Would the damage and sacrifices happen at the same time?
• Would the sacrifices happen first, and therefore grant the counters before the damage?

metalmagic says... Accepted answer #1

In short, if none of your creatures have greater than 5 toughness prior to resolving Destructive Force , they will all die. This would make no difference if it had a "then" clause, or even if it were on a separate line of text. Here's the in-depth explanation:

Official rule by Wizards: 8/15/2010 - First the player whose turn it is chooses five lands to sacrifice, then each other player in turn order does the same, then all chosen lands are sacrificed at the same time. After that, Destructive Force deals 5 damage to each creature.

Nothing can happen in between sacrificing the lands and dealing the 5 damage, because nothing can interrupt a spell that has already begun resolving. As Destructive Force resolves, state-based actions will be checked before the active player (presumably you) receives priority again and before triggers are put on the stack, and all creatures that have damage equal to or greater than their toughness marked on them will die. After that, you will place triggers from Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest onto the stack for each land sacrificed. This does not matter if it lived or not, as it was in play as the lands were sacrificed - which is when Mazirek's ability was actually triggered, although the triggers don't go onto the stack until this point. If anything you controlled is still alive when the triggers start resolving, those creatures will get the counters.

I may have broken it down a bit more than necessary, but I hope that is intelligible and answers your questions!

March 30, 2019 2:35 a.m.