Does Nimble Obstructionist stop Thing in the Ice from transforming?
Asked by potpanman 6 years ago
If my opponent's Thing in the Ice Flip is on 1 counter and you attempt to cycle a Nimble Obstructionist does it remove the counter and leave the Thing as a 0/4? Does it just stop the counter from being removed? etc etc...?
Thanks!
Rhadamanthus says... #2
If a spell or ability gets countered then none of its effects will happen. Everything after the "Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell..." in the text of Thing in the Ice Flip's ability is part of the ability's effect. If you counter it by cycling Nimble Obstructionist that means no counter is removed and the Thing won't transform.
Neotrup says... Accepted answer #1
When Thing in the Ice Flip's last ability tries to resolve, it attempts to remove a counter (even if there isn't one), then it checks whether it has any counters and if it doesn't, Thing in the Ice Flip transforms. If you counter the ability by cycling Nimble Obstructionist, Summary Dismissal, or Disallow the counter will not be removed and Thing in the Ice Flip will not transform (yet).
If Thing in the Ice Flip has no counters on it (perhaps because it entered the battlefield while a Solemnity was on the battlefield) it will not transform until its ability triggers from its controller casting an instant or sorcery. When the ability resolves it will transform even though there was no counter to remove.
July 31, 2017 1:19 p.m.