Kalastria Highborn and sacrificing

Asked by slashx24 13 years ago

Kalastria Highborn reads:Whenever Kalastria Highborn or another Vampire you control dies, you may pay B. If you do, target player loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.

If I have three creatures on the board, I can sacrifice them to play Demon of Death's Gate. If I have 3 creatures and one of them is kalatria-highborn, since Kalatria highborn and two other creatures are going to the graveyard, am I right in assuming that I can tap three B mana, to gain 6 life and force my opponent to lose 6 life as I cast Demon of Death's Gate? (This essentially means that the opponent loses 6 life, I sac three creatures, and I get my 9/9 flying trample demon on the board.) What does the ruling on sacrifice say about this? Is this legal?

GoblinsInc says... Accepted answer #1

Kalastria Highborn reads:Whenever Kalastria Highborn or another Vampire you control dies, you may pay B. If you do, target player loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.

If I have three creatures on the board, I can sacrifice them to play Demon of Death's Gate. If I have 3 creatures and one of them is kalatria-highborn, since Kalatria highborn and two other creatures are going to the graveyard, am I right in assuming that I can tap three B mana,

I assume you mean 3 swamps to make 3 B mana.

to gain 6 life and force my opponent to lose 6 life as I cast Demon of Death's Gate?

Yes, since they die simultaneously here her ability triggers 3 times. as each one resolves, you may pay B and have target player lose 2 life and you gain 2. for a total of 6 life.

(This essentially means that the opponent loses 6 life, I sac three creatures, and I get my 9/9 flying trample demon on the board.) What does the ruling on sacrifice say about this? Is this legal?

This is legal. It triggers thrice because they die at the same time, and for each trigger you have the option to pay the cost.

March 15, 2012 6:18 p.m.

bcurran says... #2

Permanents "see" each other enter/leave the battlefield if they are entering/leaving at the same time. Just as a Wrath of God killing your 3 vampires would cause Kalastria Highborn to trigger 3 times, sacrificing those creatures will also give you three triggers.

The abilities will not be put onto the stack until a player would next receive priority, in this case, after you finish casting Demon of Death's Gate. Then the Highborn triggers will go on the stack on top of the Demon spell. You will pay the 6 life long before those triggers resolve, which may open you up to a lethal Lightning Bolt in response.

March 15, 2012 6:19 p.m.

slashx24 says... #3

Thanks for the responses. I played this last night, and was questioned on whether I could activate this as it was being sent to the graveyard. I argued that it could since it was a rule printed on the card, in response to the other guy mentioning the sacrificing rules in regards to regeneration as though it meant that an ability couldn't be played as it was dying.

Also, I just don't think I'd ever play this when at 10 or less life, for the reason you stated yourself, bcurran. It's usually a turn 2 (with 3 1-drops meaning I still lose the life) or turn 3 kind of thing with Kalastria, or just never happens.

March 15, 2012 6:42 p.m.

GoblinsInc says... #4

Note you don't actually activate the ability. It triggers when the trigger condition is met, and goes on the stack at the next possible time.

March 15, 2012 7:27 p.m.