What happens if I stifle a nine lives lose the game trigger?

Asked by WhatevWorks 3 years ago

I have a Nine Lives on the battlefield with 8 incarnation counters and someone casts Gut Shot targeting me. Nine Lives gets the ninth incarnation counter and the lose the game trigger goes on the stack, whereupon I Stifle it.

When, if ever, will another lose the game trigger go on the stack? Does the card check how many counters it has as a state-based action, whenever it gets a counter, when the counters tick from 8 to 9, or is it something else entirely?

Gidgetimer says... #1

Nine Lives' fourth ability says "When Nine Lives leaves the battlefield, you lose the game." It will trigger once when it leaves the battlefield. This can be due to it being exiled from it's third ability or from something else entirely like Back to Nature or Coastal Breach. If you Stifle the trigger you will not lose the game and the ability will not trigger again, but you will no longer have a Nine Lives.

July 1, 2020 9 p.m.

WhatevWorks says... #2

Gidgetimer, ah, my bad. What I meant to ask is what would happen if I stifled the exiling trigger.

July 1, 2020 9:36 p.m.

Gidgetimer says... Accepted answer #3

The third ability is what is known as a "state trigger". These abilities trigger when a game state is true. They trigger then wait for the ability to leave the stack (usually via resolving or being countered, but there are other ways). If, once the ability has left the stack, the game state they are looking for is still true, they will trigger again.

In your scenario Nine Lives' third ability will trigger again as soon as the first trigger leaves the stack.

July 1, 2020 9:50 p.m.

Rhadamanthus says... #4

WhatevWorks: An answer to your question has been up for a while. Since there don't seem to be any follow-ups or corrections to be made, I've marked it as the "Accepted answer" so that this topic can move out of the list of unanswered questions. Please remember to take care of this yourself in the future.

July 7, 2020 8:47 a.m.

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