Pharika, God of Affliction, Strength from the Fallen and Strength from the Fallen triggers.

Asked by TheWoogaknight 9 years ago

My friend has asked me a rather confusing question which I thought I would be able to answer. I can not apparently.

Example:

My friend has Lotleth Troll on the field and is declaring combat, attacking with the troll. He wants to get the most out of his Strength from the Fallen as he has 10 creatures in his graveyard. Say he activates the ability, passes priority, and then activates it again a total of 10 times without the opponent doing ANYTHING in response each time. (targeting a different creature each time.) What exactly will happen with the Strength from the Fallen trigger when the spider tokens enter?

OR could he simply pass priority after each activation (the opponent does nothing for this situation) and he lets it resolve getting the token/trigger, then just activating the ability again. (all before the declaring blockers phase.)

Thank you in advance.

TheWoogaknight says... #1

I don't know why I put Strength from the Fallen in the title twice, sorry for that.

June 10, 2014 1:51 p.m.

GreatSword says... Accepted answer #2

The second way would be much better. This is because the value of X from Strength from the Fallen (and other effects like it) is determined when the trigger resolves.

If he did it the first way, by the time all the triggers resolve there won't be any creatures left in his graveyard.

The second way he'll get +9/+9, and then +8/+8, etc.

June 10, 2014 1:55 p.m.

GreatSword says... #3

Also just a reminder to always check a card's Gatherer entry for frequently-asked rulings on the card. Most of the time you can find the answer you're looking for (and more) there, like this one:

• The value of X is determined when the ability resolves.

June 10, 2014 2:01 p.m.

megawurmple says... #4

Quick nitpick here: in the first scenario, if he activates the ability of Pharika, then passes priority and the opponent doesn't do anything, the ability will resolve automatically, which is the same as you described in the second scenario. In order to achieve the effect I assume you want from that scenario (all the abilities are on the stack at once), he would have to activate Pharika's ability 10 times without passing priority to the opponent.

June 10, 2014 2:46 p.m.