Can I mill out an opponent from a card draw?

Asked by tllegion01 9 years ago

I am thinking about putting together a more competitive mill deck and in my local meta i face a lot of blue decks with scry and draw. To ask my question more efficiently, if my opponent scrys his card to the top and then cast a sorcery or an instant to draw, can i hit him with a Thought Scour to mill that card first, or would they draw first before they mill?

samk125 says... Accepted answer #1

If the scry effect and draw effect are on different cards, then you would be able to mill that card before they draw it.

Example:

• Opponent plays a card and scry's something to the top, then that player plays Divination or some other draw spell. You can respond to that Divination by playing an Instant mill spell Thought Scour. Their Divination goes onto the stack, then your response Thought Scour goes on top. If they do not try to counter it, Thought Scour resolves first and mills their scry-d card before they draw it.

July 21, 2015 1:02 p.m.

JWiley129 says... #2

So what's going on is your opponent scryed a card to the top, let's say with a scryland Temple of Deceit. They then cast a card that will draw them that card, say Serum Visions. Before the Serum Visions resolves, you would gain priority. Then you can cast Thought Scour targeting them, so the stack looks like:

1. Your Thought Scour

2. Their Serum Visions

On the stack, spells and abilities resolve "first in, last out". So the spell/ability on top will resolve first, assuming your opponent has no responses. So your Thought Scour would resolve, putting the top two cards of your opponent's deck into their graveyard (one of which is the card they scryed) and you would draw a card. Then Serum Visions would resolve, no longer drawing them the card they scryed.

July 21, 2015 1:03 p.m.

Gidgetimer says... #3

Might as well put the cards out there that you can not mill between the scry and draw so that you can see the distinction they are making.

• Preordain or Foresee you can not mill them between the scry and the draw. It happens during the resolution of a single spell so there is no time to respond.

• Augury Owl then Deep Analysis you could respond to the draw spell after the scry with a mill spell.

July 21, 2015 1:42 p.m.