Undying Question

Asked by slashx24 13 years ago

Just a quick question about the speed of undying:

If I sacrifice a creature with undying to a birthing pod (or anything with a sac trigger) does the creature come straight back? Or is the action of it returning to the board go on the stack? Does it come back at all (I wasn't sure if sacrificing counts as dying)?

If it does come back, will the creature be on the field in time for me to tutor an illusion or evil twin or something with birthing pod to copy that previously sacrificed creature?

If sacrificing doesn't bring it back, I can still fling it, right?

metalmagic says... Accepted answer #1

Sacrificing a creature that has undying with Birthing Pod works like this:

• You want to activate the effect of Birthing Pod. You first must pay the costs, which in this case are paying mana, tapping Pod, and sacrificing a creature.
• The sacrifice triggers Undying on the creature that was just sent to the grave
• Since triggers that occur while an ability is being put on the stack do not go on the stack until the current ability is actually on it, Birthing Pod's trigger will go on othe stack.
• After that trigger is on, the undying trigger will be placed on the stack above BP's.
• The undying trigger will resolve first, bringing the creature back and any ETB effects will trigger and go on the stack above BP, also (if there are any). They will resolve.
• If nothing else is put on the stack, then Birthing Pod will resolve and you will get the appropriately costed creature. You may indeed get a clone card to copy whatever just came back.

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As for the Fling question, sacrificing is part of a cost of both cards. You cannot sacrifice the same creature (unless it is on the field multiple times, of course) to two different costs. The creature must be on the field when you begin to pay the costs and/or choose targets for your spells/abilities, and since sacrificing it for one cost immediately puts it into the grave before the spell is even put on the stack, you cannot sacrifice it to another card.

I tried to make that as clear and thorough as possible, so sorry if it is still ambiguous, haha.

March 13, 2012 1:07 a.m.

slashx24 says... #2

Thank you. As for Fling I meant that if the Birthing Pod idea did not work, I could fling instead (not after, I meant as though birthing pod was not used). Sorry if that part made no sense.

March 13, 2012 1:16 a.m.

Polaris says... #3

"Dies" is just the new wording for "is put into the graveyard from the battlefield." Any time this happens, it's considered dying. To sac a creature, you move it from the battlefield to the graveyard, so yes, it counts.

And metalmagic is right, except that Birthing Pod's ability is an activated ability, not a triggered ability. This has no effect on how the stack works out, though.

March 13, 2012 1:18 a.m.

metalmagic says... #4

I mistyped. I did not mean to make Pod's ability seem like a triggered ability since I mentioned 'activating' the effect of Birthing Pod, I was just in the process of talking about undying being a triggered ability and didn't proofread. Sorry for the confusion there.

March 13, 2012 2:02 a.m.

riverwolf says... #5

Does this also work with persist???

June 22, 2013 1:03 a.m.