About triggers abilities that "look back in time"
Asked by Argos 6 years ago
Hi there, I'm having some issues here: Suppose I'm playing a multiplayer game. Im being cursed by another players aura: Curse of Vengeance and I'm at 3 life. Suppose I want to do an ultimate sacrifice by exiling the aura and killing myself with Anguished Unmaking. Does it triggers anyway?
I know that some trigger abilities look back in time after an event (rule 603.10), but in this case the sequence would be: Anguished Unmaking resolves, I go to zero life, game checks for any trigger ability, then state-based actions (SBA) are checked, and I lose the game..
The key question is: triggers abilities that "look back in time" after an effect occurs, do they wait for SBA to check and then look back? Or they look back before any SBA are check (just after finishing some event)?
Sorry for my English, it's not my native language.
Thanks Tyrant-Thanatos. So, apparently trigger abilities that look back in time do not wait for SBAs to check.
In the same frame of the first question: An opponent controls a Cliffhaven Vampire and you want to get rid of it. You have Swords to Plowshares and Fiery Justice.
If Swords to Plowshares is used, the vampire 's ability won't trigger (it doesn't look back in time since it triggers at life gains).
However if Fiery Justice is used (targeting the vampires controler) it would. Am I right? The sequence would be: Fiery Justice resolves: the vampire gets fatal damage (but it is not dead yet) and the opponent gains life, the vampire ability triggers (but it is not put in the stack yet), SBAs are checked and the creature goes to the graveyard, finally the ability is put on the stack.
Thanks in advance!
December 27, 2017 4:01 p.m.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... Accepted answer #3
I believe that is correct, yes. As you noted, because damage doesn't kill a creature "immediately" but rather the next time SBAs are checked, the vampire will have a chance to trigger. The triggered ability won't go onto the stack until after the vampire has died, but since it already triggered it will still go onto the stack.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #1
In your specific example, Curse of Vengeance would not trigger. It only triggers when you lose the game. Not when you have 0 life, when you lose the game, which doesn't happen until SBAs check and say "hey this guy/gal has 0 life, he/she loses the game". So regardless, by the time you actually lose the game, the curse has been exiled.
As for spells and abilities "looking back in time" so far as I'm aware (and I could be very wrong on this), the only time this happens is when a card is looking for information about an object which no longer exists. Fling for example, has to "look back" to find the creature's power.
December 27, 2017 3:13 p.m.