Liliana of the Veil and Lightning Bolt
Asked by SquirrelBait05 10 years ago
Regarding priority and the stack, if my opponent casts Liliana of the Veil, and I [Lightning Bolt]] her in response to him ticking her up, does she die, due to Lightning Bolt resolving before her ability does?
It recently happened at a Modern Monday event at my LGS, and I was fairly certain that she should die, then each player discard a card, but my opponent was on the rails about me questioning it, and I was already annoyed at his attitude and didn't want to escalate the issue or tempers, so I let him keep her at 1 loyalty counter.
Sidenote I kind of wish I had, since he kept her in play for the rest of the game. Never back down, unless proven wrong, has become my new motto... :S
Gidgetimer says... Accepted answer #2
Loyalty abilities of Planeswalkers are activated abilities with some other attached restrictions. Activated abilities are always written in the form of "cost: effect" In the case of loyalty abilities the cost is either to add or subtract loyalty counters.
One of the steps to activating an ability is to pay all costs associated with that ability. So to +1 Lily you have to put the loyalty counter on her before the ability will go on the stack. Your lightning bolt would reduce her to 1 in this scenario.
November 14, 2014 10:04 p.m.
SquirrelBait05 says... #3
I never stated that I was correct, just questioning it.
Essentially, the loyalty counter is an additional cost of the activation, and not something that can be responded to, from what I've gathered.
November 14, 2014 10:09 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #4
It is the cost of the activation. It isn't an additional cost since "additional cost" has a game meaning, but yeah you understand why the bolt didn't kill Lily now.
filledelanuit says... #1
You are not correct. The +1 loyalty is a cost and costs cannot be responded to so Lily will already have four counters when Lightning Bolt goes on the stack.
November 14, 2014 8:52 p.m.