Sinister Concoction + Moonshadow

Asked by capwner 7 months ago

Sinister Concoction + Moonshadow

Discard and mill both permanent cards. Does Moonshadow get 1, 2, or 3 +1/+1 counters?

My understanding is it will be 3 because the multiple costs are paid sequentially and so trigger one at a time during activation, see 601.2h (on casting spells, but the rule about casting abilities says to use the same process)

"The player pays the total cost. First, they pay all costs that don’t involve random elements or moving objects from the library to a public zone, in any order. Then they pay all remaining costs in any order. Partial payments are not allowed. Unpayable costs can’t be paid."

However I was discussing this with a friend and they asked a judge, who said it triggers only once because the 3 cards changing zones are all part of the same cost so happen at the same time. I think this judge is totally wrong, lol. Can anybody else weigh in?

Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #1

You get multiple triggers in this situation. Each one of those costs is a separate action and they get paid separately from each other, the big clue being the "in any order" notes from the rules you found (it's interesting that Sinister Concoction's text puts the mill near the front of the list while the rule seems to say you should do that after everything else).

The times when Moonshadow would only trigger once for multiple things moving would be if those things are truly moving simultaneously. Some common examples include an effect that makes you discard 2 cards, an effect that mills you for 5, an effect that destroys all artifacts, or multiple creatures dying from combat damage (probably the most common example).

February 16, 2026 3:18 p.m. Edited.