If I attack with both, the Infiltrator gets through, and the Relentless Dead dies, can I pick the order in which things happen? I.e. could I for example choose to first draw a card, then discard a card (say it's a Prized Amalgam), pay 2 to get an Eldrazi Horror, and then pay another 3 to return the Prized Amalgam I just discarded to the battlefield?
If I attack with both, the Infiltrator gets through, and the Relentless Dead dies, can I pick the order in which things happen? I.e. could I for example choose to first draw a card, then discard a card (say it's a Prized Amalgam), pay 2 to get an Eldrazi Horror, ...
Up to here, yes.
... and then pay another 3 to return the Prized Amalgam I just discarded to the battlefield?
No, this part is not possible. You have to designate a target for Relentless Dead's trigger when it is put on the stack, which happens at the same time the Wharf Infiltrator trigger is put on the stack. And so it is also before the Infiltrator's trigger resolves, and the creature card you intend to discard is not yet in the graveyard and thus cannot be targeted by the other trigger.
Despite the return being optional and the choice for it being made upon resolution of the trigger, a target for it has to be chosen wether or not you intend to pay for that option. and if you can't choose a legal target, the trigger is removed from the stack right after it went there.
There are some interesting things you can do here, but not what you describe. An ability that triggers on combat damage being dealt and an ability that triggers from a creature dying from combat damage will be put on the stack at the same time, even if the trigger events are not simultaneous, because a triggered ability isn't put on the stack until a player would receive priority. So you do get to order Infiltrator's damage trigger and Relentless Dead's two die triggers as you put them on the stack. However, Relentless Dead's second die trigger needs you to pick a target in your graveyard as you put it on the stack, at a point Infiltrator's trigger can't have resolved and made you discard a card yet. One cool thing you can do is having Relentless Dead's first die trigger resolve before Infiltrator's damage trigger, so you can discard Relentless Dead to it.
EDIT : Oops, I am a bit late to this party.
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You have to designate a target for Relentless Dead's trigger when it is put on the stack, which happens at the same time the Wharf Infiltrator trigger is put on the stack. And so it is also before the Infiltrator's trigger resolves, and the creature card you intend to discard is not yet in the graveyard and thus cannot be targeted by the other trigger.
Despite the return being optional and the choice for it being made upon resolution of the trigger, a target for it has to be chosen wether or not you intend to pay for that option. and if you can't choose a legal target, the trigger is removed from the stack right after it went there.
Even though they are separate sentences? "You may pay X. If you do..."
Since the decision about paying X doesn't need to be made until resolution, why would a target need to be selected before that?
You have to designate a target for Relentless Dead's trigger when it is put on the stack, which happens at the same time the Wharf Infiltrator trigger is put on the stack. And so it is also before the Infiltrator's trigger resolves, and the creature card you intend to discard is not yet in the graveyard and thus cannot be targeted by the other trigger.
Despite the return being optional and the choice for it being made upon resolution of the trigger, a target for it has to be chosen wether or not you intend to pay for that option. and if you can't choose a legal target, the trigger is removed from the stack right after it went there.
Even though they are separate sentences? "You may pay X. If you do..."
Since the decision about paying X doesn't need to be made until resolution, why would a target need to be selected before that?
The rules state, that any targets for a spell or ability that is put on the stack is chosen when it is put there. That's so everyone knows which objects are going to be affected and can respond accordingly. That there might be a choice as to wether that target will be affected in the end doesn't change this.
There are some spells/abilities that let you coose something to be affected during their resolution, but that is explicitly NOT a target. Exhume and Clone types are examples of this.
You have to designate a target for Relentless Dead's trigger when it is put on the stack, which happens at the same time the Wharf Infiltrator trigger is put on the stack. And so it is also before the Infiltrator's trigger resolves, and the creature card you intend to discard is not yet in the graveyard and thus cannot be targeted by the other trigger.
Despite the return being optional and the choice for it being made upon resolution of the trigger, a target for it has to be chosen wether or not you intend to pay for that option. and if you can't choose a legal target, the trigger is removed from the stack right after it went there.
Even though they are separate sentences? "You may pay X. If you do..."
Since the decision about paying X doesn't need to be made until resolution, why would a target need to be selected before that?
Because that is how the rules work for choosing targets. It is all one ability, even if it is different sentences. Targets are always chosen when the spell or ability goes on the stack and you will know if a spell or ability targets if it uses the word "Target". Here is the rule:
601.2. To cast a spell is to take it from where it is (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. Casting a spell includes proposal of the spell (rules 601.2a–d) and determination and payment of costs (rules 601.2f–h). To cast a spell, a player follows the steps listed below, in order. A player must be legally allowed to cast the spell to begin this process, ignoring any effect that would prohibit that spell from being cast based on information determined during that spell’s proposal. (Such effects are considered during the check detailed in rule 601.2e.) If, at any point during the casting of a spell, a player is unable to comply with any of the steps listed below, the casting of the spell is illegal; the game returns to the moment before the casting of that spell was proposed (see rule 717, “Handling Illegal Actions”).
601.2a To propose the casting of a spell, a player first moves that card (or that copy of a card) from where it is to the stack. It becomes the topmost object on the stack. It has all the characteristics of the card (or the copy of a card) associated with it, and that player becomes its controller. The spell remains on the stack until it’s countered, it resolves, or an effect moves it elsewhere. 601.2b If the spell is modal, the player announces the mode choice (see rule 700.2). If the player wishes to splice any cards onto the spell (see rule 702.46), he or she reveals those cards in his or her hand. If the spell has alternative or additional costs that will be paid as it’s being cast such as buyback or kicker costs (see rules 117.8 and 117.9), the player announces his or her intentions
to pay any or all of those costs (see rule 601.2f). A player can’t apply two alternative methods of casting or two alternative costs to a single spell. If the spell has a variable cost that will be paid as it’s being cast (such as an {X} in its mana cost; see rule 107.3), the player announces the value of that variable. If a cost that will be paid as the spell is being cast includes hybrid mana symbols, the player announces the nonhybrid equivalent cost he or she intends to pay. If a cost that will be paid as the spell is being cast includes Phyrexian mana symbols, the player announces whether he or she intends to pay 2 life or the corresponding colored mana cost for
each of those symbols. Previously made choices (such as choosing to cast a spell with flashback from a graveyard or choosing to cast a creature with morph face down) may restrict the player’s options when making these choices.
601.2c The player announces his or her choice of an appropriate player, object, or zone for each target the spell requires.....
603.3d The remainder of the process for putting a triggered ability on the stack is identical to the process for casting a spell listed in rules 601.2c–d. If a choice is required when the triggered ability goes on the stack but no legal choices can be made for it, or if a rule or a continuous effect otherwise makes the ability illegal, the ability is simply removed from the stack.
Note that the rule for casting spells (601) is a lot longer than what I have put here, but that is the relevant part (mostly 601.2c).
The triggered ability that goes on the stack, from my reading is: "When Relentless Dead dies, you may pay X."
That ability goes on the stack, with an optional effect.
603.5. Some triggered abilities' effects are optional (they contain "may," as in "At the beginning of your upkeep, you may draw a card"). These abilities go on the stack when they trigger, regardless of whether their controller intends to exercise the ability's option or not. The choice is made when the ability resolves.
Once the ability resolves, a target becomes necessary.
114.1d. A triggered ability is targeted if it identifies something it will affect by using the phrase "target [something]," where the "something" is a phrase that describes an object, player, or zone. The target(s) are chosen as the ability is put on the stack; see rule 603.3d.
In the case of Relentless Dead, the triggered ability isn't to return a creature card from the graveyard, it's to pay mana.
You have the answer in your post: Rule 114.1d. Relentless Dead says "target [something]" so it falls under that rule and the targets are then chosen when it is put on the stack. Just because you can do something else when the ability resolves (in this case, pay mana), doesn't mean the ability doesn't target.
603.5 refers to the choice of taking that optional action (paying mana) not of choosing a target.
The triggered ability is most definitely there to return a creature card. In fact, that is all the triggered ability actually does. It is just conditional upon you paying mana during resolution. For example, you can't pay mana to the ability if there is no target to be chosen (if wanted to tap lands for some reason). In that case, the ability wouldn't even go on the stack since there is no legal target.
Relentless Dead's last ability, being a triggered ability (C.R. 603.1), will "go on the stack ... regardless of whether [its] controller intends to exercise the ability's option or not" (C.R. 603.5), that is, in this case, regardless of whether he or she intends to pay mana (and return the targeted creature card if he or she does) when Relentless Dead's last ability resolves. (The mana is not paid when that ability is put on the stack [C.R. 603.5; 603.3 and 601.2c-d attach no cost to putting triggered abilities on the stack].) And since the ability goes on the stack, a target must be chosen for it if possible; this is not optional even though paying the mana is optional (C.R. 603.3d, 601.2c-d). If no target can be chosen, the ability is removed from the stack (C.R. 603.3d) and its controller doesn't get the chance to pay mana. If the ability has only an illegal target when it would resolve, the ability doesn't resolve (C.R. 608.2b) and its controller doesn't get the chance to pay mana.
Moreover, Relentless Dead's last ability is formulated as a cost ("you may pay ... If you do ...") (C.R. 117.12). Therefore, its controller returns the targeted creature card only if he or she pays that cost.
EDIT (Jun. 14, 2018): Edited to conform to rule changes for Dominaria.
Again, choosing a target for Relentless Dead's last ability is not optional. (Because it's chosen when the ability goes on the stack, all players will know what that target is before that ability resolves.) It's only when that ability resolves that its controller chooses whether to pay mana (and no other player will know what that choice is before it resolves).
So, technically, should I declare a target for it, and then I can decide whether or not I want to use it?
Yes, that's correct.
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If I attack with both, the Infiltrator gets through, and the Relentless Dead dies, can I pick the order in which things happen? I.e. could I for example choose to first draw a card, then discard a card (say it's a Prized Amalgam), pay 2 to get an Eldrazi Horror, and then pay another 3 to return the Prized Amalgam I just discarded to the battlefield?
Up to here, yes.
No, this part is not possible. You have to designate a target for Relentless Dead's trigger when it is put on the stack, which happens at the same time the Wharf Infiltrator trigger is put on the stack. And so it is also before the Infiltrator's trigger resolves, and the creature card you intend to discard is not yet in the graveyard and thus cannot be targeted by the other trigger.
Despite the return being optional and the choice for it being made upon resolution of the trigger, a target for it has to be chosen wether or not you intend to pay for that option. and if you can't choose a legal target, the trigger is removed from the stack right after it went there.
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)
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)
EDIT : Oops, I am a bit late to this party.
Even though they are separate sentences? "You may pay X. If you do..."
Since the decision about paying X doesn't need to be made until resolution, why would a target need to be selected before that?
The rules state, that any targets for a spell or ability that is put on the stack is chosen when it is put there. That's so everyone knows which objects are going to be affected and can respond accordingly. That there might be a choice as to wether that target will be affected in the end doesn't change this.
There are some spells/abilities that let you coose something to be affected during their resolution, but that is explicitly NOT a target. Exhume and Clone types are examples of this.
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)
Note that the rule for casting spells (601) is a lot longer than what I have put here, but that is the relevant part (mostly 601.2c).
The triggered ability that goes on the stack, from my reading is: "When Relentless Dead dies, you may pay X."
That ability goes on the stack, with an optional effect.
603.5. Some triggered abilities' effects are optional (they contain "may," as in "At the beginning of your upkeep, you may draw a card"). These abilities go on the stack when they trigger, regardless of whether their controller intends to exercise the ability's option or not. The choice is made when the ability resolves.
Once the ability resolves, a target becomes necessary.
114.1d. A triggered ability is targeted if it identifies something it will affect by using the phrase "target [something]," where the "something" is a phrase that describes an object, player, or zone. The target(s) are chosen as the ability is put on the stack; see rule 603.3d.
In the case of Relentless Dead, the triggered ability isn't to return a creature card from the graveyard, it's to pay mana.
What am I missing?
603.5 refers to the choice of taking that optional action (paying mana) not of choosing a target.
The triggered ability is most definitely there to return a creature card. In fact, that is all the triggered ability actually does. It is just conditional upon you paying mana during resolution. For example, you can't pay mana to the ability if there is no target to be chosen (if wanted to tap lands for some reason). In that case, the ability wouldn't even go on the stack since there is no legal target.
Moreover, Relentless Dead's last ability is formulated as a cost ("you may pay ... If you do ...") (C.R. 117.12). Therefore, its controller returns the targeted creature card only if he or she pays that cost.
EDIT (Jun. 14, 2018): Edited to conform to rule changes for Dominaria.