Persist/Undying vs. Annihilator/Other multi-sacrifices

Asked by electromancer 8 years ago

Can I sacrifice a creature with persist/undying ( Puppeteer Clique or Butcher Ghoul) more than once to meet the requirement of sacrificing multiple creatures/permanents?

For example, someone casts Barter in Blood and I would like to sacrifice Butcher Ghoul twice to meet that card's requirement without sacrificing any other creatures.

Additionally, does the following ruling for 'Annihilator' prevent a sacrificed creature with persist/undying from blocking?:

Annihilator abilities trigger and resolve during the declare attackers step. The defending player chooses and sacrifices the required number of permanents before he or she declares blockers. Any creatures sacrificed this way won't be able to block.

Gidgetimer says... #1

When you have to sacrifice multiple things to satisfy a single spell or ability you will not be able to use a single undying/persist creature more than once. Once a spell or ability begins resolving no players receive priority until all effects of the spell/ability have happened. Undying and persist are triggered abilities. Triggered abilities are put on the stack the next time a player would receive priority after their trigger event occurs. As such they will not resolve until the ability forcing the sacrifice has resolved.

The annihilator ruling is saying that the creature will be sacrificed during the declare attackers step and as such would not normally be on the battlefield during the declare blockers step to be declared as a blocker. Undying/persist creatures will come back during declare attackers though and will be able to block.

November 12, 2015 7:03 p.m.

Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #2

No.

First, when you're asked to pay a cost, you must pay the cost in full. Partial payments are not allowed.

Second, undying and persist are triggered abilities. They need to use the stack. They won't be put onto the stack until the next time a player receives priority, which means they definitely won't be resolving while you're paying the cost in the middle of casting, activating, or resolving something.


The "rule" you cited for annihilator is just a clarification that annihilator triggers and resolves during the declare attackers step because it's an on-attack ability. It's not a formal rule. If the creature you sacrifice has persist or undying, then it will return to the battlefield during the declare attackers step and could be declared as a blocker during the declare blockers step. Note that it will be treated as a new permanent, so it won't technically be the same creature you sacrificed (even though it's the same physical card).

November 12, 2015 7:03 p.m.

This discussion has been closed