IT should be clear if you look at the stack. He attacks with Emrakul, the annihilator 6 trigger goes on the stack. At this point, you say "ok, I use vial to bring in phantasmal image as an emrakul". Then the phantasmal image resolves, you have your emrakul, while the annihilator 6 trigger is still on the stack, now you have less than 6 permanents, so you sacrifice up to 6 (in this case, all of them).
There is no way to save yourself here unfortunately. You have no occasion to cast or activate anything between choosing the permanents to sacrifice and sacrificing them, it's all during the Annihilator trigger's resolution. If you respond to Annihilator, well, you have 4 permanents instead of 3 when Annihilator resolves, you still have to sacrifice them all including your new Emrakul. If you don't respond to the Annihilator trigger, you lose your Vial and thus can't activate it afterwards. Either way, no permaments, you take 15.
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That's correct, barring another specific answer to Emrakul or Sneak Attack (which we won't get into here, because that would be strategy advice). You'd need at least 6 permanents other than the Image when Annihilator resolves if you want to be able to block with it.
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.
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He then attacks with Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and in response...
I tap my Aether Vial (with 2 counters on it) to bring in my Phantasmal Image and copy Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.
Will the Phantasmal Image have to be one of the 6 permanents that I have to sacrifice as it attacks, or does it get in safely?
P.S. I only have 2 islands and an Aether Vial in play.
Thanks!
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
It looks like the only option here would be to get 6 permanents in play including Aether Vial before Emrakul, the Aeons Torn comes in...
And then Aether Vial in Phantasmal Image so it would stay, and the other 6 permanents get sacrificed.