When can a Consecrated Sphinx controller casts Pongify to stop my Nekusar?
Asked by eirvandelden 3 years ago
During a EDH match, we had the following board state: Player A (me) has Nekusar, the Mindrazer enchanted with Curiosity Player B has a Consecrated Sphinx and Pongify in hand
I just cast my Nekusar+Curiosity and pass the turn to player B. Player B wants to use my Curiosity triggers to draw his deck into a solution (hindsight…). I was low on cards, so I wanted to draw as many cards as possible He finds what he wants and wants to draw his last two for the least amount of damage, by casting Pongify on Nekusar after drawing the second-to-last card (but not yet the last), so he won't get damage for the last card AND I could not get a card for the last damage.
My question: when could he play Pongify ? And what would be the "optimal" time to do so?
Pongify is an instant, so it can be cast whenever he gets priority. I won't go into a full explanation of priority here, but essentially it defines when you can do things, and priority is passed around the table in turn order whenever something happens (someone casts a spell, a spell resolves, an ability triggers, etc.). Pongify can't be cast between individual cards drawn by Consecrated Sphinx, because they are drawn by the same trigger, but as you'll see, their general idea can still work.
Nekusar, the Mindrazer , Curiosity , and Consecrated Sphinx all work by triggered abilities, so priority goes around the table whenever one triggers and also whenever one resolves to deal damage or draw cards. The ideal time to cast Pongify is after Consecrated Sphinx or Curosity's draw trigger goes on the stack, because then Nekusar won't be in play when the Sphinx trigger resolves and player B draws two cards.
Here's how it will loop on the stack. Pongify can be cast after any of these steps, but remember that any triggers already on the stack will still resolve after Pongify takes out Nekusar:
- Opponent draws their normal card for the turn
- Nekusar triggers
- Nekusar's trigger resolves and deals 1 damage
- Curiosity triggers
- Curiosity's trigger resolves and you draw
- Sphinx triggers
- Sphinx's trigger resolves and player B draws two
- Nekusar triggers twice, continuing the loop
- First Nekusar trigger resolves for 1 damage
- Curiosity triggers
- Curiosity resolves, you draw
- Sphinx triggers
- Sphinx resolves, player B may draw two
- Nekusar triggers twice, continuing the loop
Because of the order the triggers happen in, and because the loop happens for each damage Nekusar deals (leaving one Nekusar trigger on the stack each time), half the damage will be "banked" in a pile of Nekusar triggers. This means that while they can only prevent the last two damage with Pongify, if they do so (breaking the loop) they'll take the last half of their damage from that pile of triggers at the end. However, Nekusar and Curiosity won't be in play any more so you won't get to draw any more cards, leaving Player B having drawn roughly twice as many cards as you.
For example, say the loop happens 10 times before Player B responds to their Sphinx trigger with Pongify. Nekusar/Curiosity will draw you 10 cards/deal them 10 damage, while Consecrated Sphinx will draw them 18 cards, plus a last two after Pongify. They'll have drawn 21 cards (including their normal draw for turn) so far this turn. Once the loop breaks, 9 remaining Nekusar triggers will resolve, so they'll take 19 damage total for their 21 cards, while you've drawn 10 cards.
A final note here is that Curiosity and Sphinx both have "may" abilities, so either player can break the loop by choosing not to draw cards when one of their triggers resolves (you'll still resolve all the leftover Nekusar triggers though, which will trigger Curiosity if they're still in play. Someone will have to choose not to draw for all of their triggers to fully break the loop without removing Curiosity).
February 4, 2021 10:53 a.m.
A small clarification to my other comment: when an ability triggers, it will go on the stack before they can cast Pongify. However, it will resolve after Pongify does because of that.
February 4, 2021 10:57 a.m.
eirvandelden says... #4
Thank you for the very complete answer, especially mentioning when what triggers resolve was very useful!
Neotrup says... #1
Assuming Pongify was in the last pair of cards (so their library will be empty), both are drawn, and triggers are placed on the stack from Nekusar, the Mindrazer to deal damage. They can at that point cast Pongify , but will still take both damage. You will not draw any cards as Curiosity is not around to trigger. Optimally, they have a bunch more damage to take, as they're drawing two cards to your one, and letting Nekusar, the Mindrazer 's triggers build up, hoping to remove Curiosity before the damage goes through (so they can actually get twice as many cards as you).
If Pongify is in a pair above the top card (that is, when they draw two cards it leaves 1 card alone in library), then they won't be able to draw that last card with Consecrated Sphinx without losing the game. Consecrated Sphinx lets you draw 2 cards or 0, not 1.
February 4, 2021 10:48 a.m.