Black Sun's Zenith + Obelisk Spider
Asked by burton84k 6 years ago
If I cast Black Sun's Zenith for 2B and 4 colorless mana with Obelisk Spider on the board, thus killing Obelisk Spider, does the second ability of Obelisk Spider still trigger?
Gidgetimer says... #2
There is one small clarification I would like to make on acbooster's answer that is a bit pedantic, but is applicable in enough cases for the distinction to matter. When the creatures killed as a result of Black Sun's Zenith die, Obelisk Spider's ability will have triggered, but will be still be waiting to go on the stack.
116.2a Triggered abilities can trigger at any time, including while a spell is being cast, an ability is being activated, or a spell or ability is resolving. (See rule 603, Handling Triggered Abilities.) However, nothing actually happens at the time an ability triggers. Each time a player would receive priority, each ability that has triggered but hasnt yet been put on the stack is put on the stack. See rule 116.5.
116.5. Each time a player would get priority, the game first performs all applicable state-based actions as a single event (see rule 704, State-Based Actions), then repeats this process until no state-based actions are performed. Then triggered abilities are put on the stack (see rule 603, Handling Triggered Abilities). These steps repeat in order until no further state-based actions are performed and no abilities trigger. Then the player who would have received priority does so.
The instances that this would matter are if any of your creatures had death abilities and you wanted the death ability to go on the stack first to resolve after the life gain.
acbooster says... Accepted answer #1
It does. A creature only goes to the graveyard for having 0 or less toughness as a state-based action, which happens whenever a player would gain priority. Triggered abilities trigger before that, because of this rule:
603.2a Because they arent cast or activated, triggered abilities can trigger even when it isnt legal to cast spells and activate abilities. Effects that preclude abilities from being activated dont affect them.
So by the time state-based actions are checked, your Obelisk Spider's ability will be on the stack.
November 19, 2017 10:12 a.m.