What would happen with Hidetsugu's Second Rite if my opponent has a Dragon's Claw out on the battlefield?
Asked by 1337_Nerd 8 years ago
If I were to cast Hidetsugu's Second Rite while my opponent has a Dragon's Claw on the battlefield, what would happen if my opponent has 10 life? Would I have to cast it while they were at 9 life to be able to kill them?
Raging_Squiggle says... Accepted answer #2
Hidetsugu's Second Rite has an intervening "if" clause, meaning that it checks again that the conditions are met upon resolving. The condition is that the opponent is at 10 life. You may cast Hidetsugu's Second Rite even if the opponent does not have 10 life, it just will not do anything.
If the opponent is at 10 life when you cast Hidetsugu's Second Rite, their Dragon's Claw will trigger and go on the stack above your red spell. It will resolve, your opponent will be at 11 life now. When Hidetsugu's Second Rite resolves, it checks again to see if the target opponent still has 10 life. Since he does not, the spell does nothing.
If the opponent is at 9 life and you cast Hidetsugu's Second Rite, the Dragon's Claw will trigger and go on the stack above your red spell. When the ability resolves, the opponent will now be at 10 life. When Hidetsugu's Second Rite resolves, it checks on resolution if the condition is met. Since the opponent is now at 10 life, the spell will deal 10 damage to him/her.
February 4, 2016 2:28 p.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #3
Also, here is a gatherer ruling for Hidetsugu's Second Rite:
6/1/2005 Since the player's life total is checked only as the spell resolves, you can cast Hidetsugu's Second Rite targeting any player, regardless of life total. If the player isn't at 10 life as Hidetsugu's Second Rite begins resolving, it does nothing and finishes resolving. Note that since having 10 life is not a targeting restriction, the spell won't actually be countered for having an illegal target; it just won't do anything.
February 4, 2016 2:32 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #4
@Raging_Squiggle: Intervening "if" clauses only appear in the text of triggered abilities, and they indicate a trigger checking a condition twice (once at the time it would trigger, and again as it would start to resolve). This is just a normal case of an effect checking a condition as it resolves to determine its results.
February 4, 2016 3:18 p.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #5
Yeah I re-read the comp rules real quick for that and realized such thing.
February 4, 2016 3:22 p.m.
It sounds like this question has been pretty well answered, but I do want to add one more thing: Dragon's Claw is a MAY ability, your opponent can simply choose to stay at 9 life upon your cast of Hidetsugu's Second Rite and then once again, it will resolve and do nothing.
merrowMania says... #1
The aspect of the target necessary to cast the Second Rite is that the target is a player. The wording makes it so that the card only has an effect if, when it resolves, the targeted player has ten life. If you cast it on your opponent at nine life (so then he/she goes to ten), you kill them. If you cast it when he/she is at ten, you just tapped four lands and discarded a card to your opponent of eleven life.
February 4, 2016 2:23 p.m.