Help with the stack and multiple Spell Pierce
Asked by Grimaldii 12 years ago
Okay, say my friend casts a spell, any spell, and he has 2 mana untapped and I have 2 Spell Pierce in hand. Can I cast one, thereby causing him to tap his remaining mana, and leaving him totally open to a second one going on the stack? or would his spell resolve before I could do that?
MagnorCriol says... #2
No, that works. You have to be clear and precise about what's happening on the stack, though. Priority passes around each time something resolves off the stack. So your friend casts a spell, priority passes, you cast Spell Pierce . He pays 2 as part of its resolution. Then once it resolves, priority passes around again, and you can do it again.
The trick you're going to run into is that most of the time, people just use shortcuts and just assume that things on the stack resolve once the first counterspell has been tossed out - it's pretty uncommon for things to actually be added to the stack before it gets empty again. You're going to have to be clear about "Okay, in response to your Lightning Bolt , I cast Spell Pierce ." And then when he pays, say "Alright, after that resolves, I cast a second Spell Pierce ." He's probably going to be already assuming the Bolt resolved at that point, so make sure you don't wait for long enough that he feels like the stack is empty.
Your friend likely won't be happy, since it might feel to him like it's some shenanigans. But it is perfectly legal.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #1
Players must pass priority before anything on the stack resolves. The stack resolves one object at a time. Therefore, you may cast one Spell Pierce , allow it to resolve, and then cast a second Spell Pierce before the original spell can resolve.
March 25, 2013 2:49 p.m.