Rules question:
I have out Spiny Starfish and Rats of Rath. I tap a Swamp and activate Rats of Rath ability to destroy a creature I control, I choose to destroy the Spiny Starfish and regenerate it by tapping an Island. I repeat this process three more times. How many Starfish tokens do I get when Spiny Starfish's ability resolves at the end of the turn? 4, correct? Since Spiny Starfish's ability doesn't resolve until the end of the turn and checks to see how many times it actually did have to regenerate, would it be considered a 'delayed trigger'?
Thank you.
Yes you would get 4 tokens total. The ability as written on the card is somewhat confusing, but the oracle text makes it easier.
At the beginning of each end step, if Spiny Starfish regenerated this turn, put a 0/1 blue Starfish creature token onto the battlefield for each time it regenerated this turn.
From this wording it's a lot clearer that you get a token at end of turn for each time it was regenerated. This does mean it has to actually use the regeneration to save it from destruction rather than just use the regeneration ability though.
No, it's just an "at the beginning of the end step" trigger, with an intervening-if clause. So you cannot wait till the end step for destroying/regenerating the Starfish, you have to do that before the end step begins or the trigger doesn't go off.
A delayed trigger is a trigger that is created by a resolving spell or ability and will go off at a later time if its trigger condition is met. That can be a specific point of the turn ("at the begining of the end step", etc.), or it can trigger several times if it was given a duration ("until end of turn, whenever ...", etc.)
I have out Spiny Starfish and Rats of Rath. I tap a Swamp and activate Rats of Rath ability to destroy a creature I control, I choose to destroy the Spiny Starfish and regenerate it by tapping an Island. I repeat this process three more times. How many Starfish tokens do I get when Spiny Starfish's ability resolves at the end of the turn? 4, correct? Since Spiny Starfish's ability doesn't resolve until the end of the turn and checks to see how many times it actually did have to regenerate, would it be considered a 'delayed trigger'?
Thank you.
Servien
Chaos' Realm
Escalation of Chaos
Tales of Cahdaria
Enigmatic Distrubance
Celestial Unveiling
At the beginning of each end step, if Spiny Starfish regenerated this turn, put a 0/1 blue Starfish creature token onto the battlefield for each time it regenerated this turn.
From this wording it's a lot clearer that you get a token at end of turn for each time it was regenerated. This does mean it has to actually use the regeneration to save it from destruction rather than just use the regeneration ability though.
Now, is it a 'delayed trigger'?
Servien
Chaos' Realm
Escalation of Chaos
Tales of Cahdaria
Enigmatic Distrubance
Celestial Unveiling
A delayed trigger is a trigger that is created by a resolving spell or ability and will go off at a later time if its trigger condition is met. That can be a specific point of the turn ("at the begining of the end step", etc.), or it can trigger several times if it was given a duration ("until end of turn, whenever ...", etc.)
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)