When does Heartless Hidetsugu check for a life total?
Asked by Max_Hammer 1 year ago
Let's say my opponent is at 8 life. If I have the aforementioned Heartless Hidetsugu and tap him, holding priority, and then, to use a card relevant to most metas, Rhystic Lightning them. They take 4 damage, going down to 4, but does Heartless Hidetsugu's ability then deal 4 damage or 2?
TLDR; Does he check life total upon activation or upon resolve?
If the answer to above question is upon activation, can I double tap an opponent by activating Heartless Hidetsugu, untapping him via Patriar's Seal or some equivalent ability, tap him again, and deal their life half their life total twice (assuming they're at an even life total)?
Gidgetimer says... Accepted answer #1
It is determined when the spell resolves. The result of a spell or ability is called an "effect" and if it uses information from the game it is determined when the effect is applied.
608.2h If an effect requires information from the game (such as the number of creatures on the battlefield), the answer is determined only once, when the effect is applied. If the effect requires information from a specific object, including the source of the ability itself, the effect uses the current information of that object if it’s in the public zone it was expected to be in; if it’s no longer in that zone, or if the effect has moved it from a public zone to a hidden zone, the effect uses the object’s last known information. See rule 113.7a. If an ability states that an object does something, it’s the object as it exists—or as it most recently existed—that does it, not the ability.
March 20, 2023 7:46 a.m.