Morphing Containment Priest after Boldwyr Heavyweights trigger choices
Asked by MESS1802 5 years ago
Say I have a manifested Containment Priest on the battlefield, then cast Boldwyr Heavyweights. Since morphing is a special action (and thus doesn’t use the stack), and each creature my opponents search for enter the battlefield simultaneously, can I wait for them to declare the creature they’re fetching to morph my Containment Priest to screw them over?
I feel like I’m missing something that makes this not work, but I wanted to ask just in case. Thanks in advance!
Ok, that makes sense.
So when I cast Boldwyr Heavyweights, do I have to declare my morphing of Containment Priest before my opponents choose whether or not they even want to search for a creature, or vice versa?
December 19, 2018 11:21 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #3
You don't have to do it when you first cast the Heavyweights. Like Kogarashi said, your opponents make their decisions as the triggered ability is resolving, which would be after the Heavyweights have entered the battlefield. Your last chance to morph Containment Priest in a way that could affect your opponents' choices is when the trigger is still on the stack, waiting for players to either respond or pass. If you pass and then your opponents also pass, the trigger will start resolving and it's too late.
December 20, 2018 10:47 a.m. Edited.
Gidgetimer says... #4
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Kogarashi says... Accepted answer #1
You can only turn a manifested creature face-up when you have priority, so you can't wait until creatures are chosen before you turn Containment Priest over.
The way it works is that Boldwyr Heavyweights enters the battlefield, triggering its ETB ability. That goes on the stack, and all players receive priority in turn. If you choose not to turn Containment Priest face-up, then the Heavyweights' trigger starts resolving. No player receives priority during the resolution of a spell or ability, so you can't turn Containment Priest face-up during the resolution, when the opponents choose their creatures and place them on the battlefield. Once the ability has resolved, everyone receives priority again and you can turn your Priest over, but at this point it's too late to use its ability.
So if you want to actually stymie everyone's creature choices, you're going to have to turn Containment Priest over before the Heavyweights trigger starts resolving, when you don't know what they'll choose (and they can change their choices based on seeing your Containment Priest.
Relevant rule: 701.33b Any time you have priority, you may turn a manifested permanent you control face up. This is a special action that doesn’t use the stack (see rule 115.2b). To do this, show all players that the card representing that permanent is a creature card and what that card’s mana cost is, pay that cost, then turn the permanent face up. The effect defining its characteristics while it was face down ends, and it regains its normal characteristics. (If the card representing that permanent isn’t a creature card or it doesn’t have a mana cost, it can’t be turned face up this way.)
December 19, 2018 11:12 p.m.