What happens if something is unable to leave the stack?
Asked by Delphen7 1 year ago
Say something got onto the stack, and is for some reason unable to leave it (Can't think of an example, but Panglacial Wurm timing shenanigans come to mind).
A) Is it realistically possible for something to get stuck on the stack?
B) If it did, how would the game handle it?
I mean, it is possible to get a combo stuck. If there is no "may" on the card, it can get to an infinite that actually goes infinite. It's early and my brain is asleep and I can't think of an example right now, but if one thing says "every time a creature comes into play create a treasure" and "every time an artifact comes into play, create a 1/1 creature" and there is no "you may" then it will stall out the game. Most house rules will deal with it somehow, but combos like this often seem like a win for the person using them, but they are not. If you can't stop it in some way, the stack infinitely fills.
I know there area few examples of this kind of interaction, but yeah, can't remember them off the top of my head.
June 16, 2022 7:56 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #3
After each player passes priority in succession, the topmost object on the stack will try to start resolving, and as Gidgetimer described above it will either fizzle or do as much as it can (which could be anywhere from "everything" to "nothing", depending on the circumstances). After that, it will leave the stack. In order to get the kind of problem you're asking about, you'd have to construct a situation where players are somehow either unable to pass priority in succession or unable to get priority. As far as I can tell/imagine, that isn't possible.
Niko9: In the situation you're describing where the game gets into a loop of mandatory actions and no one does anything else to stop it, the game ends in a draw.
Gidgetimer says... Accepted answer #1
It is pretty impossible for something to get "stuck on the stack". When a spell/ability goes to resolve if it is targeted and has no valid targets it is countered by the rules of the game (fizzles). If it is an untargeted spell/ability or still has legal targets it will do as much as it can and then leave the stack. Sometimes "as much as it can" will be nothing.
Without a specific example of what you are thinking would get something stuck, it is really difficult to address how it would be handled.
June 16, 2022 7:19 a.m.