Does this Bloodline Necromancer combo work?
Asked by slim_chanc3 6 years ago
My format is EDH. Applicable board state as follow: 1) Goblin Bombardment is on the battlefield. 2) Bloodline Necromancer in hand. I cast Bloodline Necromancer from my hand. It resolves and enters the battlefield. It's triggered ability is put onto the stack. In response I sacrifice my Bloodline Necromancer with Goblin Bombardment and add "Goblin Bombardment deals 1 damage to target creature or player." to the top of the stack. Then the stack resolves. First the damage then the ETB trigger from the Bloodline Necromancer that I elect to target the Bloodline Necromancer in my graveyard. As Bloodline Necromancer enters the battlefield the cycle repeats from the point of the initial spell resolving. This cycles 1 damage at a time until all enemies have been taken to 0 life total.
No. You need to choose a target for Bloodline Necromancer's ability when that ability is put on the stack, not when it resolves, at which point the Necromancer isn't in the graveyard and so isn't a valid target for the ability.
November 9, 2017 4:51 p.m.
Monomanamaniac says... #3
I think it would go infinite if you had 2 necromancers. Kill one of them with the bombardment, then cast the second and sac him upon entry, his ability would go off still, bringing the other from the graveyard to be killed at it enters the battlefield, then repeat infinitely. Just make sure it's sacrificed as part of coming into play so that it'll be there when the other hits
November 9, 2017 7:33 p.m.
slim_chanc3 says... #5
I like the direction Monomanamaniac went. Could I target Clone or some other Shapeshifter/changeling with Bloodline Necromancer? All creature types right?
November 9, 2017 9:43 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #6
The shapeshifter creature type doesn't have any special rules meaning on its own. Only the actual Changeling ability grants all creature types. A Clone card in a graveyard is just a shapeshifter.
November 9, 2017 11:09 p.m.
Ashes of the Fallen naming Vampire, Bloodline Necromancer, Body Double, and Goblin Bombardment would let you loop for infinite damage. Alternatively Bloodline Necromancer, Ashnod's Altar, and Inalla, Archmage Ritualist, either in the command zone or on the battlefield, would let you loop to produce infinite colorless mana and hasted creature tokens, with fewer cards, so there's that.
Rhadamanthus says... #1
Unfortunately this doesn't work. If a triggered ability has targets then you need to choose them at the time it's first put onto the stack. In your example the Bloodline Necromancer isn't in the graveyard at the time you have to choose a target for its ability (and you don't have an opportunity to make a response in-between the Necromancer entering the battlefield and the ability triggering).
If you can find something else for the Necromancer to target that can keep the loop rolling then you can make this work, but the Necromancer can't do it by itself.
Just in case it's relevant: if you're wondering why this doesn't work the same way as some Sharuum the Hegemon combos you may have heard of, it's because many of those loops rely on the specific ways state-based actions (SBAs) and triggered abilities work differently from one another. SBAs like the Legend Rule are processed right before each time a player would get priority, and a triggered ability that triggers is put onto the stack right at the next time a player would get priority. This is why a Sharuum killed by the Legend Rule can target herself with her own triggered ability.
November 9, 2017 4:48 p.m.