Jace + Ad Nauseam + Me Being Bad
Asked by Max_Hammer 1 year ago
If I have Jace, Wielder of Mysteries and I play Ad Nauseam, killing myself through damage, but drawing the last card and triggering Jace's ability, which one happens? I know I can over draw life on most effects, but do I win or lose here? I'm pretty sure it's a no, but either way I'd like to know the rule for knowledge's sake.
Max_Hammer says... #2
Thanks, Delphen7!
I didn't realize there were forums just for rules, oops. Though, now that I looked just to the right of the Forums section, I can see that.
I do have a follow up question: I assume if I activate Jace, then cast Ad Naus at instant speed as a response, I'd still die?
January 18, 2023 9:54 a.m.
Moving this thread over to the rules Q&A section. Note, this section has some added functionality, like the ability to mark an answer as accepted to indicate you do not have any more follow-up questions.
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You would still die if you activate Jace to draw cards then killed yourself with an instant speed Ad Naus.
You lose the game whenever State Based Actions (SBAs) are checked - which happens after every spell resolves (among other times). So you’ll have Ad Naus resolved with Jace’s draw still on the stack, SBAs will be checked between Ad Naus resolving and Jace resolving, the game will see that you have zero or lower life, and you will lose with Jace still on the stack.
One other thing: Jace does not “trigger” - Jace is a replacement effect that changes how the game works, so, instead of drawing from an empty library, you instead win the game. Replacement effects will contain the word “instead”, modify how an object enters the battlefield, start with “as, or say “skip”. “Triggers” will use words like “when”, “whenever”, and “at” - unlike replacement effects, triggered abilities use the stack and have to resolve, so there are a number of different implications of that and I wanted to clarify since you referred to Jace as triggering.
Delphen7 says... Accepted answer #1
You only draw a card if the effect explicitly says draw. Since Ad Nauseam doesn't say draw, you aren't drawing them, and so Jace will not do anything.
121.5: "If an effect moves cards from a player’s library to that player’s hand without using the word “draw,” the player has not drawn those cards. This makes a difference for abilities that trigger on drawing cards and effects that replace card draws, as well as if the player’s library is empty."
As a heads up there is a dedicated rules forum where you can mark answers as correct and get access to lots of people who know the rules and wouldn't look in other places. Caerwyn
January 18, 2023 9:32 a.m.