Clarification on the Draw/Upkeep step?
Asked by WalzY 11 years ago
So, I was thinking that the first step on a person's turn is "Upkeep" where you untap your lands and respond to upkeep triggers. I have a few questions.
1) Do you untap your lands (so you have access to mana + instants/flash from your hand) before you respond to 'beginning of upkeep' triggers?
For example, last night I had a Soul Tithe placed on my opponent's Murmuring Phantasm . He said that before the upkeep trigger, after he untapped, and before he drew a card, he used Launch Party to sacrifice his enchanted Phantasm and kill one of my creatures, thus avoiding the payment of the Soul Tithe cost and getting value out of the situation. I called the judge, who was old and dithering about and clearly didn't really know what to say, I just said "okay sure" as I think he's right in that he can do the actions as performed, though he wasn't 100% sure either. I wasn't going to kick up a stink as I was just enjoying the draft, and ended up winning the first Dragon's Maze booster draft of our local club anyway (my first FNM win!) but I'm very curious about getting rules knowledge right in my head. If someone can clarify whether what happened there was right that'd be great.
2) When is the first "priority" given to either player. Untap->Upkeep->Draw. I guess it's upkeep? or...?
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #2
In your case, your opponent's play was perfectly legal. Note that Soul Tithe 's triggered ability would still be on the stack, and your opponent would still be prompted to pay for it. However, nothing would happen, regardless of your opponent's choice, because the enchanted creature would no longer be on the battlefield.
May 4, 2013 3:49 p.m.
Here is a breakdown of all the steps and how they happen. There are also cards that can allow players to skip their Upkeep step like Eon Hub . I've had this happen to me before and Epoc is 100% correct (first time I too had a judge called to double check.)
Epochalyptik says... #1
Untap is a separate step. It is the first step in every turn, and no player gets priority during the untap step.
Then comes upkeep. All abilities that triggered since the beginning of your turn are now put onto the stack.
May 4, 2013 3:48 p.m.