Jace's Archivist vs sorcery speed
Asked by DrukenReaps 5 years ago
So I'm pretty sure I messed this up. My friend was going to Corrupted Conscience my Mairsil, the Pretender which had a Jace's Archivist caged. I used the archivist ability to get rid of his hand when he went to cast the Corrupted Conscience. Is that something I can do? I'm fairly sure I screwed up which completely changes the outcome of that game....
And if I did screw up is there a point where I can use the archivist to stop a sorcery?
Like many activated abilities, Jace's Archivist can be activated at instant speed. But instant speed does not mean you can play a card whenever you wish--you can only play instant speed cards whenever you have priority.
As the active player on his turn, your opponent has priority. You have to wait until they pass priority before you can play anything. There are a couple of times where they've passed priority--the most important being when they cast a spell and when they declare they are done with a given step or phase.
So, here's how it works for your above example:
Your opponent enters their first main phase; they have priority, you cannot activate Jace's Archivist as you lack priority. As such, they are free to cast their Corrupted Conscience before you would be afforded the opportunity to empty their hand with Jace's Archivist.
But what happens once he casts Corrupted Conscience? Once a card is cast, it goes on the stack, which is a zone distinct from your hand. You can activate Jace's Archivist, but Corrupted Conscience is no longer in your opponent's hand, and therefore will not be discarded (though the remainder of your opponent's hand shall be). As such, you cannot use Jace's Archivist to stop a sorcery that has already been cast.
Boza says... #1
Yes, you can do that. Neither Mairsil, nor Jace's Archivist have any timing restrictions on their abilities, so you can do them any time you could cast an instant.
However, you are mistaken if you think that would disrupt the casting of Corrupted Conscience in any way. By the time you are able to respond to the spell, the spell would be already on the stack and would be unaffected by Jace's Archivist's ability.
If you want to get rid of your opponents spell before they cast a powerful sorcery with Archivist, you have to be proactive - use the ability during their upkeep or draw phase.
May 3, 2018 10:48 a.m.