Evoke and "removed from game"
Asked by SeditiousCanary 13 years ago
Can I evoke an thersnipe, put the sacrifice trigger on the stack, then Momentary Blink the thersnipe to avoid the sacrifice, and have the thersnipe come back again?
Can I evoke an thersnipe with an Astral Slide in play, cycle a card, target thersnipe to avoid the sacrifice, and have the thersnipe come back at end of turn?
BrightGreenLine says... #2
Yes, you may. Evoke represents two abilities: A static ability in your hand that lets you cast it for alternate costs, and a triggered ability when the creature enters the battlefield. You can respond to the Evoke trigger while the creature is still on the battlefield, so you can use activated abilities and cast instants.
If you Momentary Blink an AEthersnipe , the Snipe that returns to the battlefield is a completely new creature that has no relation to its previous existence. Since it wasn't evoked when it entered the battlefield this second time (it was put there by Momentary Blink), it won't create a new sacrifice trigger. The old sacrifice trigger will do nothing, because it was only going to force you to sacrifice the old snipe.
Astral Slide works the same way; Cycling is an activated ability and doesn't have any inherent timing restrictions, so with the Evoke sacrifice trigger you will cycle, causing Slide to trigger, and then you'll exile your creature, draw a card, then attempt to sacrifice the creature that doesn't exist.
August 29, 2011 2:28 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #3
702.72a Evoke represents two abilities: a static ability that functions in any zone from which the card with evoke can be cast and a triggered ability that functions on the battlefield. "Evoke [cost]" means "You may cast this card by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost" and "When this permanent enters the battlefield, if its evoke cost was paid, its controller sacrifices it." Paying a card's evoke cost follows the rules for paying alternative costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2eg.
That is the rules quote for evoke.
Since the sacrifice is connected to a triggered ability, it goes onto the stack when AEthersnipe enters the battlefield after being evoked. You then cast Momentary Blink targeting Aethersnipe. When it resolves, Aethersnipe will be blinked, returning to the battlefield as a new permanent. Its ETB bounce ability will be put onto the stack.
Note the following Oracle ruling on Momentary Blink:
When Momentary Blink resolves, the creature is exiled, then immediately returned to the battlefield. The game sees the returning card as a different permanent from the one that left the battlefield. Any counters, Auras, and so on are removed. Any spells or abilities targeting the creature no longer target it.
This is because any time a permanent enters the battlefield, it has no memory of its past existences as a permanent. It is treated as though it were entirely new. Any abilities connected to that card from previous times on the field are no longer connected to it.
August 29, 2011 4:03 p.m.
SeditiousCanary says... #4
Thanks. This is how I thought it worked, and wanted to be sure.
SeditiousCanary says... #1
AEthersnipe , sorry...
August 29, 2011 1:55 p.m.