Defense of the Heart Vs. Sac outlet ruling

Asked by htffan951852 4 years ago

Say that my opponent has a Defense of the Heart and I end my turn with Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and 5 zombie tokens on my side of the board. As to not discard at the end of my turn, can I sac 4 zombies during my opponent's upkeep and not trigger the Defense of the Heart search?

Denial048 says... #1

Defense of the Heart checks on trigger and resolution, so best play for you is to sacrifice creatures in response to the Heart trigger.

If you sacrifice the creatures during your end step, you will still need to discard to 7 cards during the cleanup step.

June 15, 2019 11:44 p.m.

Kogarashi says... Accepted answer #2

To clarify why it works, Defense of the Heart has an "intervening if" clause. It checks at the beginning of its controller's upkeep if one of their opponents has three or more creatures, and triggers if at least one does.

Then, when the trigger goes to resolve, it checks a second time. If no opponents control 3+ creatures when it checks on resolution, it will fail to resolve. It's important to note that in multiplayer, it doesn't have to be the same opponent in both checks.

This is why dropping to below 40 life before Felidar Sovereign 's trigger resolves results in you not actually winning the game yet.

June 16, 2019 12:28 p.m.

Caerwyn says... #3

In the future, please remember to hit the green "Mark as Answer" button to indicate your question has been resolved and you no longer have any follow-ups. Since this question has been answered for a couple of days, I have gone ahead and marked a response on your behalf.

June 21, 2019 12:17 a.m.

Please login to comment