Killing a creature before ghostway?
Asked by candiedpineapple 9 years ago
Alright rules people, I have a question that I THOUGHT I knew the answer to, but we'll see.
I was playing a game of EDH and an opponent had Aurelia, the Warleader set up with some angels to kill me. I had a lot of tokens to sac to Viscera Seer and shoot with Goblin Sharpshooter, so I shot Aurelia, the Warleader for 3 damage and before the 3rd damage connected, he used Ghostway.
If I were to sac another token and sharpshoot another damage in response to him playing Ghostway, would that kill Aurelia, the Warleader before she left the battlefield?
Epochalyptik says... #2
This is an example of a case when exact declarations are important.
If your opponent cast Ghostway after some of the damage had been dealt, but before only the last instance of Goblin Sharpshooter's activated ability resolved, then you would only need one extra activation in response to Ghostway to kill Aurelia, the Warleader.
If you stacked up all the abilities, then your opponent used Ghostway before any of the damage was dealt, then you would still need the full number of activations to get there.
Also, note that Aurelia, the Warleader is a 3/4. You'll need to hit it four times with the ping ability to kill it.
December 16, 2014 6:04 p.m.
I believe that the typical communication convention would assume that you're letting each sharpshooter trigger resolve before you move on to the next trigger.
December 16, 2014 6:27 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #4
That's the problem, though. It can't really be assumed. That's why rulings on this kind of question in Competitive+ REL always come down to exactly what was said and exactly how the shortcutting was structured.
December 16, 2014 6:30 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #5
@trowie: Damage does not reduce toughness. An Aurelia, the Warleader with 3 damage marked on it is still a 3/4. It doesn't become a 3/1.
December 16, 2014 9:41 p.m.
candiedpineapple says... #6
Right, I declared each instance of damage dealt with the sharp shooter, and so after I declared the fourth damage from the sharpshooter, he used ghostway. Then I sacced another creature and declared ANOTHER fourth damage after the ghostway, which sounds like the appropriate action based on what you guys were saying?
December 17, 2014 2:15 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #7
That's still not a clear enough explanation.
Did you activate Goblin Sharpshooter's ability and let it resolve before activating a second instance of the ability, or did you announce the abilities in a way that would leave three instances on the stack at once?
December 17, 2014 2:19 p.m.
candiedpineapple says... #8
I let each ability resolve before activating another one, so that my viscera seer's ability could resolve after each token sacrifice.
December 17, 2014 2:23 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #9
In that case, your fifth instance of Goblin Sharpshooter's ability would resolve before Ghostway, killing Aurelia, the Warleader.
trowie says... #1
going by what u said the stack would go
Goblin Sharpshooter trigger Ghostway then Goblin Sharpshooter trigger 3 times
so you would deal 1 damg to Aurelia, the Warleader then Ghostway would take it off the battlefield then the other triggers would not have a target and be countered by game rules.
if the 3 damg had gone on the stack and resolved so Aurelia, the Warleader was on 3/1 then he tryed to play Ghostway after it had allready taken the 3 damg then you could ping it off with Goblin Sharpshooter b4 Ghostway takes it off the battlefield.
hope this help =)
December 16, 2014 5:57 p.m.