How does Scorpion God interact with Skullclamp on a 1/1 creature

Asked by paintballnsk 6 years ago

Hello,

Let's say I have The Scorpion God and Skullclamp, and a 1/1 creature I want to sacrifice. Can I put Skullclamp on it, and in response put -1/-1 counter on the creature with Scorpion God's ability and still get draws for both?

The question really is, is -1/-1 death of a creature a state based action that resolves after the stack, or does it kill the creature during the stack resolution, and thus make the skullclamp have no valid target?

Thanks!

hyperlocke says... Accepted answer #1

Creatures that have toughness 0 or less die as a state based action.

• You activate the equip ability of Skullclamp, targetting a 1/1 creature.
• The ability resolves, Skullclamp becomes attached to the creature, making it a 2/0.
• Before you get priority again, SBAs are checked. The game sees a creature with toughness 0 and puts it into your graveyard.

or

• You activate the equip ability of Skullclamp, targetting a 1/1 creature.
• In response, you activate The Scorpion God's ability.
• This resolve, putting a -1/-1 counter on the creature and making it a 0/0.
• SBAs are checked, the creature dies.
• Skullclamp's equip ability has no legal target and is removed from the stack.

tl;dr: As long as you try to do this with a X/1 creature, you get to draw cards for only one triggered ability. To draw 3 cards, you need at least an X/2 creature.

August 9, 2017 4:02 p.m.