Priority and the Stack
Priority and the stack are two of the most important aspects of the rules of Magic. Practically every action in the game involves them, either directly or indirectly. However, there are a number of players, both new and old, that do not understand the subtleties of these two things. In this article, I will try to explain the stack and the priority system, starting with very simple rules and then moving on to more complex rules. I think the problem is that there are so many rules that it can sometimes be overwhelming. If players can understand the basics, the exceptions and peculiarities become much easier to pick up.
What is the stack?
The stack is how the game of Magic decides and regulates when spells and abilities resolve (meaning, do their effect, such as a Lightning Bolt dealing its 3 damage). The name comes from the actual stacking of the cards on the table. In fact, this is a good way to keep track of what order things are happening and I encourage you to do it whenever things start getting complicated. Let’s go through some examples and see how this thing works.
Example #1: Player A has Flying Men and a Forest in play and a Giant Growth in his hand. Player B has a Mountain in play and a Lightning Bolt in his hand. Player B would very much like to kill Flying Men. So, Player B plays his Lightning Bolt, targeting Flying Men. Player A doesn’t like this very much, so he plays Giant Growth “in response”, targeting Flying Men, hoping that he will save them. What happens?
Ok, let’s take this one step at a time. Whenever a player plays a spell, that card goes on top of the stack. So, when Player B plays his Lightning Bolt, it goes on top of the stack (which was empty). The stack therefore looks like this:
Top of stack
Lightning Bolt
Bottom of stack
Lightning Bolt has to sit there for a moment because a player still wants to do something. A spell does not resolve immediately. Instead, both players have to say “I won’t want to do anything right now” before a spell resolves (I’ll address the technical points of this in a moment). So, Lightning Bolt stays on the stack for now. After Player B played his Lightning Bolt, Player A played his Giant Growth. The expression for this would be “Player A is playing Giant Growth in response to Lightning Bolt. So, Giant Growth goes on top of Lightning Bolt on the stack. The stack now looks like this:
Top of stack
Giant Growth
Lightning Bolt
Bottom of stack
Again, Giant Growth, like Lightning Bolt earlier, does not resolve immediately; both players have to have the opportunity to play a spell if they want to before a spell can resolve. Both players decide that they don’t want to do anything else right now. So, the rule is: when both players decide that they don’t want to do anything, the spell on top of the stack resolves and only the spell on top of the stack resolves. In this case, it is Giant Growth. So, Giant Growth resolves and Flying Men become a staggering 4/4.
Magic is less like this than you thought.
We’re not done yet though because Lightning Bolt is still on the stack, waiting to resolve. Both players again say they don’t want to do anything, so Lightning Bolt resolves and deals 3 damage to Flying Men. Unfortunately for Player B, Flying Men are bigger now with their toughness of 4, so Flying Men will remain in play. Tough break for Player B.
Example #2:
This time, Player A still has Flying Men in play and let’s just assume each player has enough mana to do whatever he wants to do. Player B, determined to get Flying Men, again plays Lightning Bolt targeting Flying Men. This time, Player A doesn’t have Giant Growth, although he does have Brainstorm, a much beloved staple of the Vintage format. Player A plays Brainstorm. The stack looks like this:
Top of stack
Brainstorm
Lightning Bolt
Bottom of stack
Both players decide they don’t want to do anything, so Brainstorm resolves. Player A draws 3 cards and then puts 2 back on top of his library. Fortunately for Player A, he drew Counterspell. But, can Player A use his Counterspell to counter Lightning Bolt?
Yes, he can. From the rule I gave in example #1, the top spell of the stack resolves when neither player wants to do anything and only the top spell of the stack resolves. But Player A wants to do something (in this case, play Counterspell), so he gets the opportunity to do that. Player A plays Counterspell, targeting Lightning Bolt.
Top of stack
Counterspell
Lightning Bolt
Bottom of stack
Both players again decide that they don’t want to do anything else. Therefore, the spell on top of the stack resolves, which is Counterspell. Yes, that’s right, Player A managed to get two spells played and resolved before Player B got a chance for his Lightning Bolt resolve. Unfortunately for Player B, Counterspell is going to counter Lightning Bolt, so Flying Men will again avoid certain doom.
Are you with me so far? I hope so. As you may have noticed, I’ve been using this vague language of “nobody wants to do anything else, so the spell on top of the stack resolves.” I did this for simplification to avoid adding too many steps along the way. The way you figure out who gets to play what and when they get to play it is under a “system of priority.”
What is priority?
”It’s my turn to play a spell!”
“No, it’s my turn!”
When a player has priority, the player has two choices:
1) play a spell, or
2) pass priority to the other player
That’s it, nothing else (well, that’s not really it, but that’s it for right now). To go back to example #1, Player A had Flying Men in play and Player B wanted to kill them with Lightning Bolt. Let’s say Player A started with priority. Player A decided he didn’t want to do anything, so he passed priority. Player B, having priority, chooses to play Lightning Bolt. Simple enough, but who has priority now? Well, did Player B pass priority? No, he chose to play a spell. Therefore, Player B still has priority, even though he just played a spell.
The rule is: whenever a player plays a spell, that player gets priority again until he passes it. So, in theory, a player could play four Lightning Bolts in a row, with a kickered Urza’s Rage on top of that if he wanted to. As unfair as this might seem, it does not generally give the player any special advantage. Each spell still resolves one at a time; the fact that the player played the spells one after the other does not give the spells any special status. So, regardless of how many spells a player plays in a row, the other player will always get a chance to respond.
Going back to the example, Player B kept priority after playing Lightning Bolt. But, Player B didn’t want to do anything else, so he passed priority to Player A. Player A again faces the choice: play a spell or pass priority. The situation is different now, however. Remember earlier how I mentioned that “if neither player wants to do anything, the top spell on the stack resolves”? Well, when both players pass priority in a row, that’s how the game knows that nobody wants to do anything. If Player A had chosen to pass rather than play his Giant Growth, his Flying Men would have died because the Lightning Bolt would have resolved.
But, that’s not how it happened, so Player A played Giant Growth and then Giant Growth resolved after both players passed priority in a row. So who has priority now? Alas, things have to get more complicated still. When a spell resolves, the active player (the player whose turn it is) gets priority, regardless of whose spell just resolved. Note a very important distinction here:
Whenever a player plays a spell, that player keeps priority.
Whenever a spell resolves, the active player gets priority.
If you can get these two rules down, you will be well on your way to getting all this stack and priority stuff figured out. To answer the question posed above, it depends on whose turn it is. One thing that is important to note about keeping priority after playing a spell is that players often assume that a player is passing priority after playing a spell. As a practical matter, if you intend to play one spell right after the other without passing priority, you probably need to say something like “I’ll Lightning Bolt Flying Men and in response to that I’ll Shock you.” Otherwise, the game may skip ahead when you don’t want it to.
Don’t let the silence throw you from
what’s really going on.
Let’s see if we can put it all together now.
Example #3:
Player A has Flying Men in play, has priority, and it is his first main phase. Again, each player has enough mana to play whatever he wants to play. After all these attempts by Player B to kill Flying Men, Player A is concerned, so he hopes to dig up an answer by playing Ancestral Recall, targeting himself.
Top of stack
Ancestral Recall (targeting Player A)
Bottom of stack
Player A passes priority. Player B does not like Player A’s attempt to abuse Vintage brokenness, so he plays Counterspell, targeting Ancestral Recall, and he passes priority.
Top of stack
Counterspell (targeting Ancestral Recall)
Ancestral Recall (targeting Player A)
Bottom of stack
Because Ancestral Recall is so important to resolve, Player A plays Mystical Tutor and passes priority.
Top of stack
Mystical Tutor
Counterspell (targeting Ancestral Recall)
Ancestral Recall (targeting Player A)
Bottom of stack
Player B passes priority back and Mystical Tutor resolves. Player B tutors up Cancel and puts it on top of his library. The stack looks like this:
Top of stack
Counterspell (targeting Ancestral Recall)
Ancestral Recall (targeting Player A)
Bottom of stack
Player A has priority now (because it is his turn). Player A plays the last card in his hand, Brainstorm, to try get Cancel off the top of his deck. Player A passes priority. However, Player B’s plan has finally come together. Player B plays Lightning Bolt, targeting Flying Men, and passes priority.
Top of stack
Lightning Bolt (targeting Flying Men)
Brainstorm
Counterspell (targeting Ancestral Recall)
Ancestral Recall (targeting Player A)
Bottom of stack
The less popular Falling Men.
Top of stack
Brainstorm
Counterspell (targeting Ancestral Recall)
Ancestral Recall (targeting Player A)
Bottom of stack
Player A gets priority again after Lightning Bolt resolves, because it is his turn. It doesn’t matter whose spell just resolved. Player A passes priority and Player B passes priority. Brainstorm resolves. Player A draws Cancel, as expected, and puts the other two cards back on top of his library.
Top of stack
Counterspell (targeting Ancestral Recall)
Ancestral Recall (targeting Player A)
Bottom of stack
Player A gets priority because a spell resolved and it is his turn. He plays Cancel, targeting Counterspell.
Top of stack
Cancel (targeting Counterspell)
Counterspell (targeting Ancestral Recall)
Ancestral Recall (targeting Player A)
Bottom of stack
Player A passes and Player B passes. Cancel resolves, countering Counterspell.
Top of stack
Ancestral Recall (targeting Player A)
Bottom of stack
Ancestral Recall finally resolves and Player A draws his 3 cards. Unfortunately, it is already too late for Flying Men.
The stack is empty now and Player A has priority. He passes priority and Player B passes priority back. There isn’t a spell on the stack to resolve, so what happens? Whenever both players pass in a row with an empty stack, the game moves on to the next step, which in this case would be the “beginning of combat step” since we were previously in the first main phase. This tends to be important during the combat phase, although it can be important at other times.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, I took some liberties with the rules to explain some things in a simpler way. There are a few things that, while complicating, are important enough that you should know. First, there are things other than spells that use the stack. Activated abilities (like Prodigal Sorceror’s deal one damage ability) use the stack just like spells. Don’t let the fact that there is not a physical card on the stack confuse you; it works in exactly the same way as a physical spell card. Triggered abilities (like Primordial Sage’s card draw ability) also use the stack (precisely how triggered abilities work is beyond the scope of this article). Just know that whenever a trigger event occurs, that ability goes on the stack and then the player that has priority gets a chance to do whatever he is going to do. As a short example, if Player A plays Flying Men and has Primordial Sage in play, the card drawing ability will go on the stack before Player A would get a chance to respond to his own Flying Men. If Player A then responded to his own Flying Men with Brainstorm, the stack would look like this:
Top of stack
Brainstorm
Primordial Sage triggered ability
Flying Men
Bottom of stack
The rules of when a player can play spells still apply. A player can only play sorcery and creature spells during his main phase and only if the stack is empty.
While this stack stuff is pretty exciting, there are some things in Magic that don’t use the stack. While there are number of things that don’t use the stack, the two most important ones that you should be concerned with right now are mana abilities and playing a land. A mana ability is any activated ability that puts mana into your mana pool (tapping a Forest for mana being a very simple example). Rather than having to wait for your mana, you get it immediately after using the ability and without passing priority. When a player plays a land, that action does not use the stack. Instead, the land just comes into play and the player keeps priority. Note the distinction, however, between playing a land and things that put a land into play. If a player plays Untamed Wilds, that spell will use the stack just like any other, as will the ability from fetching an Island with Polluted Delta. Also, lands can only be played when the stack is empty.
That about wraps up the basics, so let’s try some problems.
Problem #1: Player A controls Squire. During Player A’s turn, Player A plays Giant Growth targeting the Squire. In response, Player B plays Shock. What happens to Squire?
Squire will be destroyed. Giant growth goes on the stack first. Before Giant Growth resolves, Player B plays Shock in response, so the stack looks like this:
Top of stack
Shock
Giant Growth
Bottom of stack
Since Shock is on top of the stack, it resolves first. Shock deals 2 damage to Squire, killing it. Giant Growth then fizzles (meaning, it is countered on resolution because all of its targets are illegal), and does nothing.
Top of stack
Shock
Giant Growth
Bottom of stack
Since Shock is on top of the stack, it resolves first. Shock deals 2 damage to Squire, killing it. Giant Growth then fizzles (meaning, it is countered on resolution because all of its targets are illegal), and does nothing.
Problem #2: Player A controls Goblin Hero. During Player A’s turn, Player A passes priority to Player B. Player B plays Brainstorm and Brainstorm resolves. Player B then plays Sudden Shock, targeting Goblin Hero. Player A says he wanted to play Extirpate, targeting the Sudden Shock in Player B’s graveyard. Who is right?
Player A is right. After a spell resolves, the active player (the player whose turn it is) gets priority, regardless of who controlled the spell that resolved. Therefore, Player A always had priority after Brainstorm resolved and Player B never had it. Player B therefore could not play Sudden Shock yet. Player A will get to play Extirpate (which will resolve first due to split second), and will remove the Sudden Shocks from Player B’s graveyard and Player B’s hand. Too bad for Player B.
Problem #3: Both players are at 1 life. Player A controls Prodigal Sorcerer. Player A taps his Prodigal Sorcerer to deal one damage to Player B. Player A says he wins because he dealt one damage to Player B. Player B says that the damage hasn’t been dealt yet. He tries to play Brainstorm in response. Over Player A’s protests that the game is over, Player B draws 3 cards and puts 2 back. Player B then plays Lava Dart, targeting Player A. Who wins?
Player B wins. Prodigal Sorcerer’s ability, just like most anything else, uses the stack and does not resolve immediately. So, Player B’s plays were legal.
Problem #4: Player A has floating in his mana pool (it was left over from a Dark Ritual he played earlier). Player A forgets that the has in his mana pool and passes priority. Player B taps a Mountain and then plays Shock, targeting Player A. Player A remembers that he has floating in his mana pool and says that he is playing Extirpate, targeting the Shock in Player B’s graveyard, in response to Player B tapping his Mountain for mana. What happens?
Shock will go on the stack before Player A gets to play Extirpate. This is because mana abilities don’t use the stack and resolve immediately. Player A will still get the chance to play Extirpate, it just won’t affect the Shock that is already on the stack.
In summary, there are basically three things to keep in mind:
1) When a player plays a spell or ability, that player keeps priority.
2) When a spell resolves, the active player (the player whose turn it is), gets priority.
3) The thing on top of the stack resolves when both players pass in a row.
I am curious as to how helpful this article was. If you found it useful (or if you found it useless), please let me know in the forums, as I am considering writing more articles like this one. Have an idea for a tutorial? Let me know. Thanks for reading.
To my understanding, I choose the order Blade of Selves' myriad trigger and Identity Thief's attack trigger go on the stack because they trigger at once and I have priority. Is that correct?
Also, i believe the Myriad ability has to be locked in as the base Identity Thief because the Myriad ability went on the stack before Identity Thief copied anything. Is that correct?
I was hoping I could get multiple Keiga's on the field to put them in the graveyard and take control of other creatures, but I'm not sure it's legal to do it this way.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-rulings
Additionally, when you ask your question in the rulings forum, I would also mention the specific cards involved beyond Primal Surge (even if they're just example cards), because it is difficult to answer rules questions in the abstract. Sorry I can't be of more help.
I hope my questions make at least a little sense.
It should say Player A tutored up cancel. This was really confusing for me.
Your second example, however, is incorrect. There are two issues here. First, abilities exist independent of their sources. So, for example, if your opponent used Dust Bowl (sacrificing something other than Dust Bowl) to try to destroy your Cavern of Souls, your Cavern of Souls wouldn't be saved if you use your Strip Mine to destroy his Dust Bowl in response. Yes, your opponent's Dust Bowl would be destroyed, but your Cavern of Souls still gets destroyed by Dust Bowl.
Second, you can't destroy his Strip Mine in response to his using its destroy ability---part of the cost of using Strip Mine's destroy ability is sacrificing Strip Mine. So, even if you tried to destroy his Strip Mine with your own in response, you couldn't do that. By the time he's activated the ability, he's already paid the costs (sacrificing Strip Mine and tapping it), so there's nothing to target.
Does the creature dies before the oponent resolves first on top it the stack?
Shouldn't a +2/+2 resolve?
Let's assume you control Mons's Goblin Raiders. You play Gather Courage targeting the Raiders. The stack looks like this:
Top of Stack
Gather Courage #1 (targeting Mons's Goblin Raiders)
Bottom of Stack
Gather Courage doesn't resolve immediately. Instead, both players have to pass priority in a row for it to resolve. As the article explains, when a player plays a spell, he keeps priority. So, rather than passing priority, you announce that you're playing another Gather Courage, again targeting Mons's Goblin Raiders. The stack now looks like this:
Top of Stack
Gather Courage #2 (targeting Mons's Goblin Raiders)
Gather Courage #1 (targeting Mons's Goblin Raiders)
Bottom of Stack
Now you pass priority. Your opponent, however, wants to kill your Raiders. Rather than passing priority, he responds by playing Disfigure targeting the Raiders. The stack now looks like this:
Top of Stack
Disfigure (targeting Mons's Goblin Raiders)
Gather Courage #2 (targeting Mons's Goblin Raiders)
Gather Courage #1 (targeting Mons's Goblin Raiders)
Bottom of Stack
He passes priority and you pass priority back. The top item (and only the top item) on the stack resolves, which in this case is Disfigure. Mons's Goblin Raiders becomes -1/-1. The game immediately sees that Raiders has a toughness of 0 or less and Mons's Goblin Raiders goes to the graveyard immediately. This is called a "state-based action". The stack now looks like this:
Top of Stack
Gather Courage #2 (targeting Mons's Goblin Raiders)
Gather Courage #1 (targeting Mons's Goblin Raiders)
Bottom of Stack
You both pass priority and Gather Courage #2 resolves. But your Raiders are already dead so it's too late. Gather Courage #2 is countered on resolution because all of its targets are illegal. The same will be true for Gather Courage #1 when you both pass priority again.
So, what should you do instead? The proper play is this: Like above, play Gather Courage #1, targeting Mons's Goblin Raiders. Rather than playing another one immediately, however, pass priority and give your opponent a chance to respond. This is a key strategic moment in the game to understand. Your opponent has one of two choices: he can either play Disfigure in response and hope you don't have another way to buff the Mons's Goblin Raiders or he can pass priority and Gather Courage will resolve immediately. Note that he does not get to kind of feel you out here and go "are you going to do anything else?" He either has to let Gather Courage resolve or make a play in response, that's it.
Let's assume he does play Disfigure in response. The stack now looks like this:
Top of Stack
Disfigure (targeting Mons's Goblin Raiders)
Gather Courage #1 (targeting Mons's Goblin Raiders)
Bottom of Stack
He passes priority to you. Now you get a chance to respond. You don't want your Raiders to die, so you respond with your second Gather Courage. The stack looks like this:
Top of Stack
Gather Courage #2 (targeting Mons's Goblin Raiders)
Disfigure (targeting Mons's Goblin Raiders)
Gather Courage #1 (targeting Mons's Goblin Raiders)
Bottom of Stack
You pass priority and your opponent passes priority back. Gather Courage #2 resolves and the Raiders become 3/3. The stack looks like this:
Top of Stack
Disfigure (targeting Mons's Goblin Raiders)
Gather Courage #1 (targeting Mons's Goblin Raiders)
Bottom of Stack
You both pass priority. Disfigure resolves and the Raiders become 1/1 again. The stack looks like this:
Top of Stack
Gather Courage #1 (targeting Mons's Goblin Raiders)
Bottom of Stack
You both pass priority. Gather Courage #1 resolves and the Raiders become 3/3 again. The raiders survive.
Ultimately, the trick here is to not get in a hurry and try to force through a bunch of buffs at the same time. Let one resolve at a time. Note that even if you wanted to use both Gather Courages in the same turn, you could just play one, let it resolve (after both players pass priority), then play a second one and let it resolve as well, without even changing phases/steps of the game.
So, Echoing Truth would return the Informer to my hand. Then Informers ability would trigger and the Bolt would fizzle?
Top of Stack
Lightning Bolt (targeting Undercity Informer)
Bottom of Stack
You discard Simian Spirit Guide. This ability resolves immediately because it is a mana ability and does not use the stack. So, you have a red mana. Costs are paid at the time an ability is activated, so you use up the red mana and sacrifice Undercity Informer, so he goes to the graveyard immediately. You would have to name a target at this point---let's assume you target yourself. The stack looks like this:
Top of Stack
Undercity Informer's activated ability (targeting you)
Lightning Bolt (targeting Undercity Informer)
Bottom of Stack
Your opponent tries to play Echoing Truth targeting Undercity Informer, but the Informer is already in the graveyard and isn't a valid target. So, your opponent can't play Echoing Truth at all here---it will just stay in his hand. In real life and as a practical matter, presumably you would have called the judge at this point and the judge would say that the Echoing Truth just stays in your opponent's hand and the game goes on (assuming a more casual environment).
Both players pass and Undercity Informer's activated ability resolves. You flip cards off your deck until you hit a land and then put them in the graveyard. The stack looks like this:
Top of Stack
Lightning Bolt (targeting Undercity Informer)
Bottom of Stack
Both players pass. Lightning Bolt tries to resolve, but Undercity Informer is already in the graveyard. So, Lightning Bolt's target is illegal and Lightning Bolt is countered on resolution due to all of its targets being illegal (also known in the old days as "fizzling").
I cast Undercity Informer,
I activate his mill ability targeting me (I have no lands),
I return four Narcomoebas to play,
(with Bridge from below in my GY) I sac a Narc and cast Cabal Therapy targeting my opponent (FOW), and put a 2/2 token on the battlefield,
I sac another Narc and cast Cabal Therapy targeting my opponent (whatever card I found), and put a 2/2 token on the battlefield,
I sac a third Narc and cast Cabal Therapy targeting my opponent (whatever card I found), and put a 2/2 token on the battlefield,
I sac a fourth Narc and cast Cabal Therapy targeting my opponent (whatever card I found), and put a 2/2 token on the battlefield,
I then sac three 2/2 tokens and cast Dread Return, returning Angel of Glory's rise, returning a Lab Maniac and Azami Lady of Scrolls,
I tap Azami for the win.
I can do all of this without ever passing priority???
Mana abilities---abilities that generate mana---don't use the stack. So, things like tapping a Forest for mana, tapping Sol Ring for mana, or exiling Simian Spirit Guide to get a red mana don't use the stack.
On the other hand, spells that create mana when they resolve do use the stack. The best example would probably be Dark Ritual. If you play Dark Ritual, your opponent will get a chance to respond.
You cast Undercity Informer. He could respond to that by paying Counterspell or Brainstorm, for example. Both of you have to pass priority for Informer to resolve.
When you activate the mill ability, he can respond to that. So, he could play Stifle to try to counter the Informer's ability, for example.
Let's assume you have no lands in your library, as you say, so your whole deck goes in the graveyard. As you were putting the cards in your graveyard, of course, some of those cards are Narcomoebas. These have triggered abilities. I won't get into all the details here (see my article on triggered abilities, instead: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/articles/15667-magic-101-triggered-abilities), but basically all four of the narcomoebas' abilities will go on the stack separately, that ability being "put Narcomoeba into play from your graveyard since you put it into your graveyard from your library." So, the stack would look like this after the Informer's ability resolved:
Top of Stack
Triggered ability of Narcomoeba #1
Triggered ability of Narcomoeba #2
Triggered ability of Narcomoeba #3
Triggered ability of Narcomoeba #4
Bottom of Stack
Each of those technically requires both players to pass in a row. So, both players could respond here with something like Stifle to counter one of the triggered abilities and prevent one of the Narcomoebas from coming into play.
But, if both players pass once, the first Narcomoeba will come into play and you'll have this:
Top of Stack
Triggered ability of Narcomoeba #2
Triggered ability of Narcomoeba #3
Triggered ability of Narcomoeba #4
Bottom of Stack
Again, both players get the chance to respond, if they want to. Note that you couldn't play Cabal Therapy yet because it's a sorcery and the stack has to be empty to play a sorcery.
Once all those triggered abilities resolve, THEN you could play Cabal Therapy. Let's say you play Cabal Therapy from your graveyard and you have exactly one Bridge from Below in your graveyard. When you play Cabal Therapy, you'll have to pay the cost of sacrificing a creature. So, you play Cabal Therapy and sacrifice a Narcomoeba. Bridge from Below sees that Narcomeoba went to the graveyard and triggers. Before either player gets a chance to respond to Cabal Therapy, Bridge from Below's ability will go on the stack, so you'll have this:
Top of Stack
Triggered ability of Bridge from Below
Cabal Therapy (targeting your opponent)
Bottom of Stack
Both players get a chance to respond to the Bridge from Below trigger (with something like Stifle). If they both pass, you end up with this:
Top of Stack
Cabal Therapy (targeting your opponent)
Bottom of Stack
Again, both players get priority and get a chance to respond.
The same is true with Dread Return---it will go on the stack and both players get a chance to respond. Your opponent would get a chance to return to the trigger of Angel of Glory's Rise (returning Azami, Lady of Scrolls). Your opponent would get a chance to respond to the activation of Azami also.
Finally, assuming your opponent let Azami's ability resolve and you had an empty deck, the game would NOT let you respond to Laboratory Maniac's ability. That's because he has a replacement effect, which, in short, basically means that instead of one thing happening that is supposed to happen, something else happens instead and that thing happens immediately when the original thing would happen. So, instead of you drawing a card from your library, you win the game instead. The game is over immediately and you win.
In short, your opponent will have a numerous opportunities to respond, if he wants to.
My opponent controls Merfolk of the Pearl Trident and it's my first main phase. I cast Shock, targeting Merfolk of the Pearl Trident. In response, my opponent plays Titanic Growth, targeting the Merfolk. In response to that, I cast Opportunity, targeting myself. My opponent lets Opportunity resolve and I draw 4 cards, one of which is Counterspell. I then say that I want to cast the Counterspell that I drew, targeting the Titanic Growth. My opponent protests, saying it's too late to play Counterspell and that the Merfolk will die. I say that it's not too late and that I can still counter Titanic Growth. Who is right and why?