Does Abyssal Persecutor prevent opponents from countering Dash Hopes when they're at 5 life or less?
Asked by EverythingIsK 8 years ago
Abyssal Persecutor's ability prevents opponents from losing the game. So if I played Dash Hopes, and they are at 5 or less life, I figure that they can't counter the spell because they can't pay the life, because it would cause them to lose the game and they can't lose the game.
It's just that I remember reading that you can't tap Mana Confluence when you're at 1 life because you would lose the game, so I figured it would be treated in that way.
So it means that if I was at 4 life, and I wanted to pay the life to counter the spell (and thus lose the game due to have -1 life), I wouldn't be able?
May 12, 2015 1:13 a.m.
Correct shirkit since you only have 4 life, you cannot pay the 5. Yes you wouldn't lose the game and can go below 0 into the negatives, but negative life is not actually having life.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #1
That's incorrect.
Abyssal Persecutor doesn't prevent players from encountering situations that would normally cause them to lose the game. It just prevents them from losing the game should they encounter one of those situations. An opponent may be at 0 or even negative life if you control Abyssal Persecutor.
Therefore, an opponent with 5 or more life may pay the 5 life to counter your Dashed Hopes. This is true regardless of whether you control Abyssal Persecutor or not. Similarly, you are allowed to pay your last 1 life to activate Mana Confluence's ability. The only condition for life payments is that you must have at least as much life as you are paying; you can't pay more life than you have.
May 11, 2015 11:23 p.m.