What happens when I have Grave Betrayal and Lifeline out... at the same time?
Asked by MindAblaze 12 years ago
...and someone resolves a sweeper? Do I get all the creatures or just theirs.
MindAblaze says... #2
Ok, so I need to remember on delayed triggered events they check to trigger AND they check on resolution. If the clause is not met at either time nothing happens.
In this case I thought that because I controlled a creature upon resolution (from Grave Betrayal ) that I might get them back, but my gut was sensing that since all the creatures died there weren't any on the battlefield to trigger Lifeline in the first place.
Thanks again!
August 2, 2013 10:49 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #3
The double-check isn't for delayed trigger events, it's just for intervening-if clauses. Delayed triggers and intervening-ifs are two different things, and Lifeline 's ability just happens to use both of them.
Lifeline checks the condition when the main ability would trigger (when a creature dies), and if the condition isn't true then it doesn't even get put onto the stack. If it does get put onto the stack it checks again right before it starts resolving, and if the condition isn't true it does nothing. If the condition is still true at that time, it will do what it says and create a delayed trigger (the part of the text that includes "at the beginning of the next end step"). The text of the ability doesn't say to check the condition again for this delayed trigger, so you don't.
Lifeline has always been a weird card that causes confusion. When it was first released, the printed text didn't actually work!
August 2, 2013 11 a.m.
MindAblaze says... #4
Oooooohhh. Ok. Lol I was reading the card and not making sense of it (obviously because it doesn't make any itself) and gatherers rulings didn't say too much that was helpful. Good old. Well thank you sir, you're a gentleman and a scholar.
Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #1
The full correct Oracle text of Lifeline is "Whenever a creature dies, if another creature is on the battlefield, return the first card to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step." It has an intervening-if clause, so it checks if there are other creatures on the battlefield both at the time it would trigger and as it starts to resolve. It won't return anything to the battlefield if all creatures die from a sweeper because there won't be any creatures on the battlefield when it starts to resolve. Only Grave Betrayal will apply in this case.
Let's say one creature does survive (Darksteel Myr or something similar). You control all the delayed triggers created by Grave Betrayal and Lifeline , so when they trigger at the same time at the beginning of the next end step you can decide which order to put them onto the stack. If you put all the Grave Betrayal triggers on top, they'll resolve first and you get to take the creatures from your opponents' graveyards. Lifeline will then return the creatures that went to your graveyard.
August 2, 2013 10:37 a.m.