Devotion...
Asked by UpperDeckerTaco 12 years ago
When a card being cast out of your hand says something like Gray Merchant of Asphodel , does that devotion only count for your devotion on the board, or does it count for Gray Merchant of Asphodel as well?
the way Gray Merchant of Asphodel
s ability works is, you cast gray merchant, it resolves and hits the battlefield. When he enters play his ability triggers and goes on the stack and players have a chance to respond to it. Assuming nothing is played his triggered ability will resolve and as the spell resolves that's when it counts your total number of devotion. So if the only thing you had on the board was Gary then your devotion would be 2.
It's important to remember that his ability is triggered. I've seen lots of people play under then assumption that it's just something that happens as he enters and don't realize you can respond to his ability triggering. For example, if you have nothing on the board and cast a Gray Merchant of Asphodel and in response to it's ability going on the stack I were to Hero's Downfall your gray merchant. Then my downfall would resolve first killing the merchant, then when the merchants ability resolved, since you now have nothing on the board it'll see that your devotion is 0 and you'll drain no life and gain no life. Like I said it's just something important to keep in mind, ETB triggered abilities like his can just be confusing sometimes because people naturally assume it happens as the creature enters and forget that it triggers and uses the stack.
kmcree says... #1
It counts Gary as well. The text says "when he enters the battlefield". So, once he enters, it then checks your devotion. At this point in time, he is already on the battlefield, so he counts towards your devotion.
March 10, 2014 7:24 p.m.