Resolving the delayed trigger of Lifeline

Asked by LordMortus 5 years ago

Does the trigger from a Lifeline check the condition of the battlefield when a creature dies, at the end of the turn or both?

Even after reading rule 603.4 "When the trigger event occurs, the ability checks whether the stated condition is true ... If the ability triggers, it checks the stated condition again as it resolves"; I'm a little confused.

Example: I control a Vampire Hexmage and there is a Birds of Paradise on the field as well. I sacrifice the Vampire Hexmage to remove a Planeswalker. Assuming nothing else happens, the Lifeline trigger will see the Birds of Paradise and put it's own trigger on the stack for EoT.
Now let's suppose the Birds of Paradise is destroyed, Lifeline trigger sees no creature but is still on the stack for EoT (?).
During the same turn, I cast Llanowar Elves and proceed to EoT. When both triggers from Lifeline resolve, do they now see a creature and put both creatures that died back on the field or just the Vampire Hexmage?

Afterthought: If the Llanowar Elves is destroyed, will no creature be returned as the now 3 triggers resolve seeing no creatures on the field?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Kogarashi says... Accepted answer #1

Lifeline works like this for your examples:

You sacrifice your Vampire Hexmage. Lifeline triggers upon the creature's death and goes on the stack. When it resolves (not at the end of turn), the trigger checks if there's still a creature on the battlefield at that point. In this case you have Birds of Paradise, so the ability sets up an "at end of turn" effect for Vampire Hexmage that will return it.

Then Birds of Paradise is destroyed. Lifeline triggers again and the ability goes on the stack. Since you said there are no other creatures (yours or your opponents'), then the ability resolves and sees no other creatures, so the "at end of turn" effect is not set up for Birds of Paradise.

End of turn arrives. The end of turn effect for Vampire Hexmage returns it to the battlefield. No end of turn effect was created for Birds of Paradise, so they stay dead. The presence of Llanowar Elves doesn't matter (so if they're destroyed, you'll get another Lifeline trigger that won't see other creatures, but it won't invalidate the existing EOT effects).

It would be different if, say, the Birds of Paradise were destroyed before the trigger for Vampire Hexmage resolved (no creatures, no end of turn effect for Hexmage), or if you somehow cast Llanowar Elves before either Lifeline trigger resolved, like with flash (at which point the resolving triggers would see the Elves and create the end of turn effects appropriately).

August 15, 2018 6:29 p.m.

Kogarashi says... #2

Also due to the wording of the "at end of turn" effects (phrasing taken from the Lifeline card rulings), these would be delayed triggered abilities that trigger at the beginning of the end step. The "return the first card to the battlefield" trigger doesn't check if there's another creature on the battlefield, only Lifeline's initial "whenever a creature dies" trigger does.

August 15, 2018 6:35 p.m.

LordMortus says... #3

Thank very much :)

That clears the card up for me.

August 15, 2018 8:38 p.m.

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