Perplexing Chimera stack behaviour
Asked by phepa 6 years ago
Lets say, i have Perplexing Chimera on board and opponent casts Terastodon.So 1. Terastodon spell go on the stack, then 2. i choose to trigger Perplexing Chimera ability, so it also go on the stack, then 3. opponent plays Lightning Bolt and targets my Perplexing Chimera. How this is going to resolve.
My thought is: 1. Lightning Bolt resolves and do 3 damege to Perplexing Chimera so its been dealt lethal damage, then the Perplexing Chimera triggered ability resolve and i gain control of Terastodon and opponent gain control of Perplexing Chimera, then Terastodon enters battlefield under my control and Terastodon will trigger ability because he entered battlefield under my control. Then the Perplexing Chimera die because of lethal damge ?
Is that right or when Lightning Bolt resolves it checks for state based actions and Perplexing Chimera die before her triggered ability going to resolve ? I thought that triggered ability goes on stack independently on its source ?
Thanks a lot
Ok thanks a lot. So if someone instead of the Lightning Bolt plays Counterspell on Terastodon he gets countered, so Perplexing Chimera trigger also wont resolve because there is no longer a target for exchange at the opponents site, right ?
January 5, 2018 7:32 a.m.
Perplexing Chimera always triggers when an opponent casts a spell, you don't "choose to trigger it." The "may" in it's ability refers to when the ability resolves, your opponent doesn't know whether you intend to make the swap until you actually decide to make it, at which point it's too late to stop. These situations could still play out very much the same, as your opponent can assume you intend to make the swap. Your opponent could also allow the swap to happen before casting counterspell, in which case the keep the Chimera.
Boza says... #1
There are State-based actions checks (automatic maintenance the game does often) any time a player would receive priority. These SBAs check for important things like creatures being dealt lethal damage actually dying. In this case, after Bolt resolves, Chimera will be dead before its trigger starts resolving.
An exchange of any form in Magic cannot happen if two players don't actually exchange something. So, since Chimera is dead by the time Chimera's trigger resolves in your situation, you do not perform the exchange and Terrastodon enters the battlefield under your opponents control.
P.S. All the above holds, but a sidenote - Chimera triggers from Lightning Bolt too. You can exchange it for LB and change the targets so Chimera lives, but when its previous exchange trigger resolves, it will once again do nothing, since your opponent controls chimera and you still cannot perform the exchange.
January 5, 2018 7:05 a.m. Edited.