Tokens, death triggers and replacement effects.
Asked by krikkitelder 11 years ago
I have a two part question, the first is do human or cleric tokens respectively 'die' to satisfy the triggered ability on cards like Xathrid Necromancer and Rotlung Reanimator .
If the tokens do trigger this effect then would I be right in thinking that they would also trigger Athreos, God of Passage 's replacement effect, and would instead be 'returned to the hand' if a player chose not to pay 3 life (and then proceed to be removed from the game as a state-based effect).
krikkitelder says... #2
Ah ok, that makes the whole thing a lot less bad than I was fearing.
April 28, 2014 8:21 a.m.
When a token dies, it gets put into the graveyard. Effects that trigger when creatures die will trigger for these. The tokens will then cease to exist the next time state based actions are checked (just before a player gains priority). They do trigger the ability of Athreos. You choose a target opponent. That player may pay 3 life, but regardless of whether or not they do, you do not get the token back. It does not return to your hand before ceasing to exist because it ceases to exist before Athreos's trigger even gets put on the stack.
There are no replacement effects involved here. Note that Athreos has a triggered ability, not a replacement effect. Triggered abilities always include "when," "whenever," or "at," as Athreos's does. If Athreos's ability was a static ability which created a replacement effect it would use the word "instead" (and would not be able to target, because replacement effects never target).
TL;DR: Yes to question 1, Sort of but it is rarely useful to question 2.
April 28, 2014 8:22 a.m.
Kingofsouls says... #4
So, if I can reopen this, does a Token death trigger Toshiro Umezawa?
July 2, 2015 11:32 p.m.
It is always best to create a new thread rather than reopening one this old, so that it is visible in the "new" queue. Posted here, only people subscribed to the question will see this post.
To answer your question, yes. Creature tokens are creatures, and they die and get put into the graveyard just like any other creature, so anything which cares about them dying will trigger normally. Very shortly after the token leaves the battlefield (the next time state-based actions happen), the token will cease to exist, but it does go to the graveyard first.
GJTanner87 says... Accepted answer #1
Tokens do "die" before ceasing to exist so will trigger abilities that trigger when a creature dies like the ones above.
Athreos, God of Passage ability is a triggered ability not a replacement effect, so when the token dies it will trigger the ability, be removed from the game, the ability will then go on the stack and when it resolves your opponent may choose to pay 3 if they so wish.
April 28, 2014 8:16 a.m.