How does Narset, Enlightened Master's exile ability interact with creatures that are already declared as 'attacking'?
Asked by chronomentro 5 years ago
Playing with a friend, I declared Narset, Enlightened Master and Stormchaser Mage as attackers. Doing so immediately exiled the top 4 cards of my library. 1 of the 4 cards exiled was Polymorphous Rush. So our question is: If I cast Polymorphous Rush in order to change Stormchaser Mage into a copy of Narset, Enlightened Master, would the copy trigger 4 more cards to be exiled? Or would it not trigger because attackers have already been declared? I have a feeling that this isn't going to work out how I thought, but my friend and I searched the web for quite a while and couldn't find any concrete evidence. I mean, Stormchaser Mage was tapped and attacking and then changed to the copy before the declare blockers step. The wording of the card is what was confusing us; "Whenever Narset Enlightened Master attacks, exile the top 4 cards..." So, maybe our question is, whats the difference between declaring attackers, and whenever a creature attacks? Thank you in advance for your help!
This is also why putting a creature "onto the battlefield tapped and attacking" doesn't trigger any "whenever creature attacks" abilities, because "whenever creature attacks" means when it is declared as an attacker, and something put onto the battlefield tapped and attacking isn't declared as an attacker, it's just attacking already.
Also worth noting, if you copy Narset with the Polymorphous Rush, you will have to pick one copy and put the rest in your graveyard as a state-based action, before any other spells or abilities can resolve.
Colgate says... Accepted answer #1
Declaring attackers is what you do during declare attackers step. "Whenever creature attacks..." is triggered ability that triggers, when creature is declared as an attacker. So as you declare your attackers Narset's ability triggers. Still in declare attacker's step after SBA's are checked, but before AP gets priority that trigger is put onto stack. Then that trigger resolves and you exile top 4 cards. After that you can cast Polymorphous Rush and as you can see you are already past the point, where attackers are declared, so it won't trigger.
October 18, 2018 7:51 p.m.