Cancel vs Undying?
Asked by jamboski 11 years ago
Would Cancel still not stop anything with Undying...Geralf's Messenger to come straight back into play with a +1+1 counter on it?
GreatSword says... Accepted answer #2
Yes, it would stop it.
Undying triggers when the creature "dies", which is magic shorthand for "going to the graveyard from the battlefield". The card is going from the stack to the graveyard, so Undying won't trigger.
April 8, 2014 3:40 p.m.
megawurmple says... #3
Being countered is not the same as dying. Dying specifically means moving from the battlefield to the graveyard. When a creature spell is countered, it doesn't ever go to the battlefield; it instead moves straight from the stack to the graveyard. Therefore, the creature doesn't die and undying doesn't trigger.
April 8, 2014 3:41 p.m.
If you use Cancel
the creature with undying never enters the battlefield, therefore undying cannot trigger. Cancel
targets Geralf's Messenger
before it is a creature on the battlefield, so it goes stright to the graveyard without ever being on the battlefield. "Dies" is a shorthand for "put into a graveyard from the battlefield".
702.92a Undying is a triggered ability. "Undying" means "When this permanent is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, if it had no +1/+1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a +1/+1 counter on it."
April 8, 2014 3:42 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #6
It appears there's some confusion. I'll clarify because the question can be interpreted in different ways.
If you Cancel a creature spell, that spell card is put directly into its owner's graveyard. It never becomes a permanent, so it can't die, and undying won't trigger.
If a creature with undying dies, its undying ability triggers. Undying is a triggered ability, not a spell, and the ability doesn't cause anything to be cast, so you can't cast Cancel .
Epochalyptik says... #1
Undying is a triggered ability that puts the creature directly onto the battlefield when it resolves. There are no spells in this case, so Cancel has no legal targets. You would need to use something like Stifle .
April 8, 2014 3:40 p.m.