Paying and Responding to Hero of Leina Tower's heroic ability
Asked by Renaud 9 years ago
If I understand correctly:
I trigger heroic, pass priority.
My opponent pass priority.
I pay 5 for X, give it 5 counters, and my opponent doesn't have time to ping it for 1 damage any more?
Absinthman says... #2
Yes, you understand that correctly. The payment happens during the heroic ability's resolution, and noone is allowed to do anything until the resolution is finished. If your opponent wants to ping it, he or she must do so instead of passing priority back to you.
November 25, 2014 4:53 p.m.
smash10101 says... #3
You do have to announce a value for X when it triggers though, so they know how much you intend to pay before they have to respond.
November 25, 2014 4:54 p.m.
Absinthman says... #4
@smash10101: That is incorrect. See the entry on Hero of Leina Tower's Gatherer page.
You decide the value of X and choose whether to pay X as the heroic ability resolves.
November 25, 2014 4:59 p.m.
Absinthman says... #5
@smash10101: What you say is true for activated abilities with X in their cost because setting the X value is necessary to determine the cost you have to pay in order to put them onto the stack. Triggered abilities work differently - they're put onto the stack automatically and X is determined during their resolution.
November 25, 2014 5:02 p.m.
What happens if I intend to use Kiora's Follower's ability to pay for X?
Would they get another change to respond, or would I simply be unable to use him since I passed priority once, and the effect is already resolving?
November 25, 2014 5:05 p.m.
Absinthman says... #7
If you pass and your opponent passes back, the ability will start resolving and you can't activate Kiora's Follower during the resolution for the same reasons your opponent can't ping it. You can use Kiora's Follower before the ability starts resolving, though. You could put one mana into your mana pool and untap that land in response to the trigger. But that kind of gives away that you intend to pay, and your opponent might be more inclined to ping.
smash10101 says... Accepted answer #1
That is correct.
November 25, 2014 4:51 p.m.