Hi, so I am a really new player that is trying to find as many loopholes as possible when it comes to how I play my deck. Not so much to gain an unfair advantage(although that is always a plus), but to better understand some of the finer points of this game. Because of this I have come across a situation I can see my deck getting into that I do not know how exactly it would work. I will welcome any/all feedback on this, every opinion helps for sure.
So here is the scenario:
I have Tireless Tracker on the field, two turns latter I have 3 Clues on the field. At this point I play Tamiyo's Journal, in response one of my opponents decides to drop a board wipe and destroy all artifacts. In response I sack the three clues and search my deck for a card that gives my permanents Indestructible, at this point since I have priority due to responding by sacking and searching for the card, and since all of this is happening on my main phase, is it possible to cast the drawn card as part of the response I am already in even if it doesn't have flash/instant abilities?
I am probably not understanding the response rules very well and the answer may very well be no. I am asking because I haven't seen anything addressing this specifically, and the rules I have read seem to say that once you have entered the response you have to pass priority for it to end. I think the key points in this scenario to keep in mind are, the action that interrupted in the first place was valid, and it is my main phase so casting spells is also valid. What I am unsure of is once the response has started in this situation is it limited to only cards with instant/flash? Obviously if I am responding to another player casting spells outside of my turn flash/instant is necessary. But if it is in my main phase so I could cast spells anyway can the response be extended like that or is responding limited to activation of only the single ability/trigger?
The rule for casting non instant non flash cards is that it has to be your turn and the stack has to be empty. So unless you are getting an instant you will have to wait for all spells and abilities to resolve before you can cast more spells.
From your question, it sounds like someone is casting a boardwipe with your Tamiyo's Journal on the stack, and you're activating the Journal's ability while it is still on the stack. You can't do that. Journal has a normal activated ability, which can only be activated while it's on the battlefield.
Hi, so I am a really new player that is trying to find as many loopholes as possible when it comes to how I play my deck. Not so much to gain an unfair advantage(although that is always a plus), but to better understand some of the finer points of this game. Because of this I have come across a situation I can see my deck getting into that I do not know how exactly it would work. I will welcome any/all feedback on this, every opinion helps for sure.
So here is the scenario:
I have Tireless Tracker on the field, two turns latter I have 3 Clues on the field. At this point I play Tamiyo's Journal, in response one of my opponents decides to drop a board wipe and destroy all artifacts. In response I sack the three clues and search my deck for a card that gives my permanents Indestructible, at this point since I have priority due to responding by sacking and searching for the card, and since all of this is happening on my main phase, is it possible to cast the drawn card as part of the response I am already in even if it doesn't have flash/instant abilities?
I am probably not understanding the response rules very well and the answer may very well be no. I am asking because I haven't seen anything addressing this specifically, and the rules I have read seem to say that once you have entered the response you have to pass priority for it to end. I think the key points in this scenario to keep in mind are, the action that interrupted in the first place was valid, and it is my main phase so casting spells is also valid. What I am unsure of is once the response has started in this situation is it limited to only cards with instant/flash? Obviously if I am responding to another player casting spells outside of my turn flash/instant is necessary. But if it is in my main phase so I could cast spells anyway can the response be extended like that or is responding limited to activation of only the single ability/trigger?
You can't activate the Journal if your opponent casts something like Fracturing Gust in response to the Journal spell. The Journal is just a spell on the stack at that point, not a permanent, so it won't be destroyed, but you also can't activate it yet. You will lose your clues before you get the Journal on the battlefield.
However, your scenario is possible if your opponent lets Tamiyo's Journal resolve. You would pass priority after that because you don't intend to take another action that main phase unless your opponent does something. Your opponent casts Fracturing Gust. In response, you activate the Journal and get something like Boros Charm. Still with Fracturing Gust on the stack, you may cast Boros Charm for the indestructible mode, which saves your artifacts and enchantments from being destroyed by the Gust. Spells and abilities on the stack resolve one at a time, and it's possible to cast instants or cards with flash and activate abilities in between things resolving.
Bonus edit:
You could, instead of passing priority to your opponent after resolving Tamiyo's Journal, activate it right away (which you can do before they get the chance to do anything, because you get priority first on an empty stack on your turn), sacrificing the clues as a cost. They can then respond to the Journal's ability with Gust, but the clues are already gone and the Journal's ability is on the stack and will resolve no matter what happens to the Journal. The ability will resolve after Gust has destroyed your remaining artifacts and enchantments, so it's probably pointless to get something like Boros Charm, but you can get any card you want.
I'm a former judge (lapsed), who keeps up to date on rules and policy. Keep in mind that judges' answers aren't necessarily more valid than those of people who aren't judges; what matters is we can quote the rules to back up our answers. When in doubt, ask for such quotes.
You also seem to misunderstand spells being cast in response to something. You mentioned a couple times being "in response" but there is no such thing in the rules.
The way casting spells and activating abilities work is that you cast the spell or activate the ability by putting it on the stack and paying costs (to put it simply). Then, while this is on the stack, priority passes to your opponent and they can choose to perform an action while that spell or ability is on the stack. If they don't, the spell or ability resolves and you again receive priority. If they do, priority passes to you and you can then choose to perform another action while the previous two spells are on the stack. If you don't, your opponent's spell resolves and then another round of priority happens. If no one does anything, then the Journal resolves.
Casting spells that are not instants and do not have flash require a couple of things; it is your main phase and there is nothing else on the stack. Just being your main phase isn't enough. As mentioned, in this case the stack still has the spell your opponent cast. So, you need to wait for that to resolve before casting your spell.
However, psly4mne brings up a good point. The way you worded the situation, your opponent is responding to you casting Tamiyo's Journal so it is still on the stack. If so, you can't activate the ability of the Journal since it is not on the battlefield yet. This makes sense as then they would destroy your artifacts before you can sacrifice them which is why they are casting their spell with the Journal on the stack rather than letting it resolve and then casting their spell.
Cool, thanks for the info. There is plenty I don't understand about this game yet as I have only been playing for a couple months. So far I only have one decent EDH deck and haven't really gotten into any of the other formats. On a side note, how do you add decks to your comments like that? I'm sure mine isn't worth showing off like that but I wan't to anyway :P.
Cool, thanks for the info. There is plenty I don't understand about this game yet as I have only been playing for a couple months. So far I only have one decent EDH deck and haven't really gotten into any of the other formats. On a side note, how do you add decks to your comments like that? I'm sure mine isn't worth showing off like that but I wan't to anyway :P.
You mean the card tags, which make you see the cards when you place your cursor over them and link you to a database when you click them? I sent you a private message when you posted, to show you how, because these are actually mandatory when asking questions here. You can see your messages by clicking on the envelope icon in the toolbar at the top of the page.
-MadMage
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm a former judge (lapsed), who keeps up to date on rules and policy. Keep in mind that judges' answers aren't necessarily more valid than those of people who aren't judges; what matters is we can quote the rules to back up our answers. When in doubt, ask for such quotes.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
So here is the scenario:
I have Tireless Tracker on the field, two turns latter I have 3 Clues on the field. At this point I play Tamiyo's Journal, in response one of my opponents decides to drop a board wipe and destroy all artifacts. In response I sack the three clues and search my deck for a card that gives my permanents Indestructible, at this point since I have priority due to responding by sacking and searching for the card, and since all of this is happening on my main phase, is it possible to cast the drawn card as part of the response I am already in even if it doesn't have flash/instant abilities?
I am probably not understanding the response rules very well and the answer may very well be no. I am asking because I haven't seen anything addressing this specifically, and the rules I have read seem to say that once you have entered the response you have to pass priority for it to end. I think the key points in this scenario to keep in mind are, the action that interrupted in the first place was valid, and it is my main phase so casting spells is also valid. What I am unsure of is once the response has started in this situation is it limited to only cards with instant/flash? Obviously if I am responding to another player casting spells outside of my turn flash/instant is necessary. But if it is in my main phase so I could cast spells anyway can the response be extended like that or is responding limited to activation of only the single ability/trigger?
However, your scenario is possible if your opponent lets Tamiyo's Journal resolve. You would pass priority after that because you don't intend to take another action that main phase unless your opponent does something. Your opponent casts Fracturing Gust. In response, you activate the Journal and get something like Boros Charm. Still with Fracturing Gust on the stack, you may cast Boros Charm for the indestructible mode, which saves your artifacts and enchantments from being destroyed by the Gust. Spells and abilities on the stack resolve one at a time, and it's possible to cast instants or cards with flash and activate abilities in between things resolving.
Bonus edit:
You could, instead of passing priority to your opponent after resolving Tamiyo's Journal, activate it right away (which you can do before they get the chance to do anything, because you get priority first on an empty stack on your turn), sacrificing the clues as a cost. They can then respond to the Journal's ability with Gust, but the clues are already gone and the Journal's ability is on the stack and will resolve no matter what happens to the Journal. The ability will resolve after Gust has destroyed your remaining artifacts and enchantments, so it's probably pointless to get something like Boros Charm, but you can get any card you want.
The way casting spells and activating abilities work is that you cast the spell or activate the ability by putting it on the stack and paying costs (to put it simply). Then, while this is on the stack, priority passes to your opponent and they can choose to perform an action while that spell or ability is on the stack. If they don't, the spell or ability resolves and you again receive priority. If they do, priority passes to you and you can then choose to perform another action while the previous two spells are on the stack. If you don't, your opponent's spell resolves and then another round of priority happens. If no one does anything, then the Journal resolves.
Casting spells that are not instants and do not have flash require a couple of things; it is your main phase and there is nothing else on the stack. Just being your main phase isn't enough. As mentioned, in this case the stack still has the spell your opponent cast. So, you need to wait for that to resolve before casting your spell.
However, psly4mne brings up a good point. The way you worded the situation, your opponent is responding to you casting Tamiyo's Journal so it is still on the stack. If so, you can't activate the ability of the Journal since it is not on the battlefield yet. This makes sense as then they would destroy your artifacts before you can sacrifice them which is why they are casting their spell with the Journal on the stack rather than letting it resolve and then casting their spell.
-MadMage