instant prevent ETB effect?
Asked by Jimmy_Chinchila 8 years ago
If someone casts a Siege Rhino and my response is to cast a Radiant Purge, has the rhino's ETB life gain/loss effect already occurred or does my spell prevent it?
So you can't cast Radiant Purge until the Siege Rhino resolves, so that means the Rhino has entered the battlefield. Then the Rhino's triggered ability will go on the stack. As soon as the ability exists on the stack, it will resolve as abilities exist independently of their source. Now you could cast Radiant Purge to exile the Rhino, but the ETB will still happen and it will drain 3.
May 16, 2015 7:22 p.m.
FALLEN-X-ANGEL says... #3
First of all, this can't happen as explained because Siege Rhino is still on the stack, which means it hasn't entered the battlefield. When you respond with Radiant Purge, You target what's currently on the battlefield, in which case, Siege Rhino isn't on the battlefield.
If Siege Rhino were to enter the battlefield and it's trigger would go onto the stack, you can still respond to it, but the trigger will still resolve and you'll still lose the 3 life and it's controller will still gain the 3 life.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #1
Abilities on the stack exist independently of their sources. When Siege Rhino enters the battlefield, its ability triggers. The ability is put onto the stack before players get priority (it doesn't just resolve immediately). Once you do get priority, you need to actually counter the ability itself; destroying or otherwise removing its source will do nothing to the ability.
May 16, 2015 7:22 p.m. Edited.