Ninjutsu and general priority

Asked by BolasFucks 4 years ago

EDH

Last night my buddy had 2 fliers attack 2 different players. Neither had a flying creature to block with so they both declared no blockers.

After no blockers were declared, my friend returns the creature attacking player 1 to hand as part of the ninjutsu cost for Yuriko. Then returns the creature attacking player 2 to hand via ninjutsu for Throat Slitter .

Player 2 does not want his creature destroyed by Throat Slitter's combat damage trigger, so before the damage step casts Deflecting Palm targeting Throat Slitter.

With Deflecting Palm on the stack, the attacking player flashes in Spellstutter Sprite and it resolves, but it's ETB has no legal target so it doesn't resolve. Then while holding priority, he goes to ninjutsu in Sakashima's Student , returning Throat Slitter to hand and copying SS which would now be able to counter Deflecting Palm since now X=2 (fairies in play).

We were not sure if this was legal, but we let him do it based off the wording on ninjutsu. It seemed wrong, but the only prerequisite was that the creature being bounced was an unblocked attacker which we believed Throat Slitter still was.

Question 1: Attacking player was able to do one ninjutsu after the other if there were no responses, correct?

Question 2: Was player 2 able to cast Palm after Throat Slitter ETB'd but before damage was dealt?

& the big one!

Was the attacking player allowed to ninjutsu in the student as described? And if so, would this wild interaction have worked as intended?

Thank you for your help!!

Gidgetimer says... Accepted answer #1

Everything works as it happened in your game.

702.48c A ninjutsu ability may be activated only while a creature on the battlefield is unblocked (see rule 509.1h). The creature with ninjutsu is put onto the battlefield unblocked. It will be attacking the same player or planeswalker as the creature that was returned to its owner’s hand.

June 4, 2019 6:04 p.m.

Gidgetimer says... #2

I didn't give citations on the first two questions because you seemed to assume they would work. The reason for each is because steps and phases don't advance until each player passes priority on an empty stack in succession.

June 4, 2019 6:10 p.m.

BolasFucks says... #3

Gidgetimer much appreciated!

June 4, 2019 9:43 p.m.

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