Hi all! First post ever so sorry if I break any rules or decorum or something...
I have a Q about the rules about sacrificing a creature using another creatures free activated ability for an effect when there are other creatures on the field that get other benefits from sacrificing a creature.
For example: if I have a Viscera Seer , Bloodthrone Vampire , and Bontu the Glorified on the field and I use Bontu to sac' a card other than these 3, like a squirrel or something I dunno, I get that I receive his triggered ability of draining 1 and scy 1 and that I pay the 1B to do that, but do I also get a scry from the Seer and a pump from the Bloodthrone? Does it matter that these are free abilities that have requirements I have met? What if they also cost mana but I was able to pay for that as well? Like If instead of Bloodthrone if I had a Kalastria Highborn and I paid B after paying for Bontu's ability could I also drain for 2 more?
I'm sure this is like "The Stack 101"... but I'm having a hard time balancing all of these actions and their orders in my head. Any help would be so great
Sacrificing is a keyword action meaning you move a permanent you control to your graveyard. In this instance it's a cost and paying a cost for one ability does not allow you to activate other abilities even if they have the same cost. If you sacrifice a creature to Viscera Seer Bontu will be able to attack and block that turn because her static ability condition has been satisfied and if you sacrifice a Vampire in this way, you can pay B to get the effect from Kalastria Highborn's triggered ability, which has seen that a Vampire you control has died.
No, this doesn't work. Each of the cards you mentioned has an activated ability, with the sacrifice being a cost to activate it. The process of activating an ability is to first declare that you're activating it, then pay the cost. The game doesn't look for other activated abilities with costs that look like something you just did and activate those as well; what does do this is triggered abilities like Mortician Beetle's or Blood Artist's.
You can't sacrifice a creature to pay that part of a cost of more than one activated ability for the same reason that you can't cast Goblin Arsonist and then cast Lightning Bolt for free because you paid R for something already and that's what Lightning Bolt costs.
A common analogy that gets used here is that activated abilities are like vending machines. You can't use the same dollar to buy things that cost one dollar from two different vending machines.
Thanks for posting, you wrote your question very well.
No, you can't use the abilities this way. It doesn't have to do with the stack, but with the difference between triggered abilities and activated abilities.
Triggered abilities always start with the word "when", "whenever", or "at", and they'll always trigger when the given event happens. However, except for Kalastria Highborn none of the cards in your example have triggered abilities. They have activated abilities, which are always written as "(cost) : (effect)". Even though some of these cards don't have any mana in the cost of their abilities, they're not "free". Part of the cost is sacrificing a creature. You can't pay a single cost to simultaneously activate multiple abilities, in the same way you can't just use the mana from a single Mountain to simultaneously cast two Shocks. You have to pay the costs for each ability separately.
I have a Q about the rules about sacrificing a creature using another creatures free activated ability for an effect when there are other creatures on the field that get other benefits from sacrificing a creature.
For example: if I have a Viscera Seer , Bloodthrone Vampire , and Bontu the Glorified on the field and I use Bontu to sac' a card other than these 3, like a squirrel or something I dunno, I get that I receive his triggered ability of draining 1 and scy 1 and that I pay the 1 B to do that, but do I also get a scry from the Seer and a pump from the Bloodthrone? Does it matter that these are free abilities that have requirements I have met? What if they also cost mana but I was able to pay for that as well? Like If instead of Bloodthrone if I had a Kalastria Highborn and I paid B after paying for Bontu's ability could I also drain for 2 more?
I'm sure this is like "The Stack 101"... but I'm having a hard time balancing all of these actions and their orders in my head. Any help would be so great
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
You can't sacrifice a creature to pay that part of a cost of more than one activated ability for the same reason that you can't cast Goblin Arsonist and then cast Lightning Bolt for free because you paid R for something already and that's what Lightning Bolt costs.
A common analogy that gets used here is that activated abilities are like vending machines. You can't use the same dollar to buy things that cost one dollar from two different vending machines.
No, you can't use the abilities this way. It doesn't have to do with the stack, but with the difference between triggered abilities and activated abilities.
Triggered abilities always start with the word "when", "whenever", or "at", and they'll always trigger when the given event happens. However, except for Kalastria Highborn none of the cards in your example have triggered abilities. They have activated abilities, which are always written as "(cost) : (effect)". Even though some of these cards don't have any mana in the cost of their abilities, they're not "free". Part of the cost is sacrificing a creature. You can't pay a single cost to simultaneously activate multiple abilities, in the same way you can't just use the mana from a single Mountain to simultaneously cast two Shocks. You have to pay the costs for each ability separately.
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