Can I freely arrange Ophiomancer's and Smothering Abomination's triggers during my upkeep?

Asked by hfvalenz 7 years ago

Can I order the triggers during my upkeep so I can sac the Ophiomancer's black snake token first using Smothering Abomination's first trigger and then, as there would be no snakes, trigger Ophiomancer and get the token back?

I think that Ophiomancer would check if there are any snakes before the trigger from Smothering Abomination even resolves, so as it will see a snake, the Ophiomancer won't trigger and that would be the end of it.

In any case thanks for any answer.

Raging_Squiggle says... Accepted answer #1

Ophiomancer has an intervening "if clause", meaning it checks to see if the condition is true both at the time the ability would trigger and at the time the ability would resolve.

At the beginning of your upkeep, Ophiomancer's ability checks if you control a snake or not. Since you do, its ability never triggers at all. However, Smothering Abomination's ability does trigger and you have to sacrifice a creature.

September 3, 2016 12:26 a.m.

This discussion has been closed