Interaction between Argentum Armor and Contempt on an attacking creature
Asked by CamraMaan 1 year ago
My opponent has a creature in play that is equipped with Argentum Armor and I have enchanted it with Contempt... when he attacks with this creature, does he get to destroy Contempt before it will bounce Contempt and the creature back to their owners' hands? Or do they get bounced before Contempt is destroyed? Does one of us get to choose the order, or does his turn priority put Argentum's trigger on the stack first, then Contempt, resolving Contempt first...? Thanks for the help!
Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #1
Contempt gets destroyed, then the creature gets bounced at end of combat.
Both Argentum Armor and Contempt trigger at the same time (Contempt's current Oracle text has been updated to say "When enchanted creature attacks..."), and because your opponent is the active player their Armor trigger goes onto the stack first and then your Contempt trigger goes onto the stack on top of it. Contempt's trigger resolves but nothing happens yet because it just creates a delayed trigger to bounce the creature "at end of combat". The Armor's trigger then resolves and destroys Contempt. At end of combat, after damage and everything, the delayed trigger from Contempt will trigger and the creature will be bounced. Contempt won't return to your hand because it's moved to the graveyard.
Even if Contempt was destroyed by something else in response to its trigger going onto the stack, the creature would still get bounced, because removing the source of a triggered ability that is already on the stack doesn't remove the ability from the stack.
The fact that Contempt is no longer enchanting the creature doesn't matter because the bounce trigger just references "that creature" who triggered the ability (the current Oracle text has been simplified to just reference "it"), not a creature specifically currently enchanted by it.
October 20, 2022 5:48 p.m.