Why can I interrupt an effect targeting a card im graveyard, but not an discard effect?
Asked by Sqeeze 2 years ago
For example: If my opponent plays Duress , it goes on the Stack. Now I can decide to interrupt and play cards from my hand, but as soon as he looks at my cards and chooses the card to dicard I can't just play the selected card. If my opponent plays Graveyard Trespasser Flip , he first selects the card in my graveyard he wants to exile. Only after that the effect goes on the stack and I can interrupt, by returning said card to my hand for example.
Why, for the one effect it resolves the first half and only goes on the Stack afterwards, but for the other it doesn't?
That makes a whole lot of sense, thank you! Rhadamanthus
February 22, 2022 2:15 p.m.
The underlying reason here has to do with hidden and non-hidden zones. Duress can't target cards in a player's hand because the hand and library are hidden zones. Players and the game itself can't look at them unless a rule or effect lets them (you can look at your own hand, obviously, but opponents and card effects can't unless an effect reveals the cards in your hand). So the choosing a card has to happen during the resolution of the spell, once Duress has started resolving and has revealed the cards in the target player's hand.
February 22, 2022 5:16 p.m.
Never thought about hand cards being a zone and that you can't target cards you don't see. That clears that up pretty good. Thank you very much Polaris!
Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #1
It's because choosing a target for a spell or ability is part of the process of putting it onto the stack in the first place.
In the Graveyard Trespasser Flip example, the target card in a graveyard is chosen when the ability is put onto the stack. It hasn't started resolving yet. People have the opportunity to make responses, and after they're all done with the responses, the ability can start to resolve.
In the Duress example, it only targets the player, not the card. The player is chosen when the spell is put onto the stack, but the card is chosen as part of the spell resolving. Once you let your opponent start looking at your hand, that means the spell has started resolving and no one can make any more responses until it's completely finished.
February 22, 2022 2:01 p.m.