Hello. I recently saw Jeff Hoogland play a BR Reanimator deck in Legacy and I was curious about one of the plays. Jeff is on the draw and reveals a Chancellor of the Annex from his starting hand. Opponent plays a Polluted Delta and passes. Jeff draws a card, plays a Badlands and uses it to cast a Thoughtseize, targeting himself. Opponent attempts to counter it with a Force of Will by paying one life and exiling Cunning Wish from their hand. Then Chancellor of the Annex’s triggered ability goes on the stack, but the opponent never cracked the Polluted Delta. Their Force of Will gets countered and they concede the game. Apparently one can’t crack a fetch land to get a land to pay for cost increases, and I am just wondering why. If someone could point me to the reference in the rules book, that’d be much appreciated.
It's just the fact that fetchlands have ordinary activated abilities that use the stack, and take time to resolve. Mana abilities, like a regular old Island would have, are special cases.
605.3. Activating an activated mana ability follows the rules for activating any other activated ability (see rule 602.2), with the following exceptions: #
605.3a A player may activate an activated mana ability whenever he or she has priority, whenever he or she is casting a spell or activating an ability that requires a mana payment, or whenever a rule or effect asks for a mana payment, even if it’s in the middle of casting or resolving a spell or activating or resolving an ability. #
605.3b An activated mana ability doesn’t go on the stack, so it can’t be targeted, countered, or otherwise responded to. Rather, it resolves immediately after it is activated. (See rule 405.6c.)
The triggered ability from Chancellor of the Annex's first ability doesn't impose an additional cost to cast Force of Will, but rather has an effect that counters a certain spell already cast unless its controller pays 1; the choice to pay is made as that ability resolves, not when that spell is cast (C.R. 603.5, 117.12a). The opponent could have activated Polluted Delta's ability in response to that ability to bring an Island or Swamp card into the battlefield (such an ability would go on the stack above the Chancellor of the Annex ability and get to resolve before it [C.R. 405.2, 116.4, 116.7]). Had they brought such a card, they could have tapped the land for mana when the Chancellor of the Annex ability resolves (C.R. 605.3a).
Thanks for the quick reply. So Chancellor of the Annex's triggered ability cannot be responded to at all? For example, once it goes on the stack, can I counter it with a Disallow? Your answer makes it sound like it doesn't go on the stack at all, like it immediately resolves upon and opponent playing their first spell.
Thanks for the quick reply. So Chancellor of the Annex's triggered ability cannot be responded to at all? For example, once it goes on the stack, can I counter it with a Disallow? Your answer makes it sound like it doesn't go on the stack at all, like it immediately resolves upon and opponent playing their first spell.
No, the ability goes on the stack and can be responded to like any other triggered ability. Once a player allows the ability to resolve they get the chance to pay mana, but you cannot activate non-mana abilities at this time so you have to crack the fetchland before the ability begins to resolve. In paper it's easier to word things so you don't accidentally do things incorrectly, but on magic online things are done in a technical manner so it's easy to accidentally pass priority when you don't mean to.
Thank you. I just always assumed that activated abilities (mana or nonmana) could be activated at any time, but clearly that's not the case. In this particular case, it has to do with the fact that Chancellor of the Annex's ability comes from a delayed effect, and not from a spell cast from hand, correct? For instance, if Jeff didn't have the Chancellor of the Annex in his opening hand but had instead Dazed the Force of Will, the opponent would have been able to fetch for a land, correct?
Thank you. I just always assumed that activated abilities (mana or nonmana) could be activated at any time, but clearly that's not the case. In this particular case, it has to do with the fact that Chancellor of the Annex's ability comes from a delayed effect, and not from a spell cast from hand, correct? For instance, if Jeff didn't have the Chancellor of the Annex in his opening hand but had instead Dazed the Force of Will, the opponent would have been able to fetch for a land, correct?
Just like Chancellor of the Annex, the choice to pay 1 is made when Daze resolves, and players can activate abilities (including Polluted Delta's ability) in response to Daze (C.R. 116.1b, 117.12a, 116.7). Compare Chancellor of the Annex and Daze with Conduit of Ruin, which affects how much a spell costs as it's cast.
Thank you. I just always assumed that activated abilities (mana or nonmana) could be activated at any time, but clearly that's not the case. In this particular case, it has to do with the fact that Chancellor of the Annex's ability comes from a delayed effect, and not from a spell cast from hand, correct? For instance, if Jeff didn't have the Chancellor of the Annex in his opening hand but had instead Dazed the Force of Will, the opponent would have been able to fetch for a land, correct?
No, that delayed trigger can be responded to. But players have to adhere to the timing rules, which means, the opponent got priority first after the trigger went on the stack (since he had priority before casting hs spell, he's the first player to gain priority afterwards). I assume, he passed priority because he forgot about the Chancellor. (EDIT: In tournaments it's assumed that a player passes priority after casting a spell, so he would have to explicitly state that he retains it.) But since he passed and the active player passed to, the trigger resolved, with no more chance to crack the fetch in time.
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No, the ability goes on the stack and can be responded to like any other triggered ability. Once a player allows the ability to resolve they get the chance to pay mana, but you cannot activate non-mana abilities at this time so you have to crack the fetchland before the ability begins to resolve. In paper it's easier to word things so you don't accidentally do things incorrectly, but on magic online things are done in a technical manner so it's easy to accidentally pass priority when you don't mean to.
No, that delayed trigger can be responded to. But players have to adhere to the timing rules, which means, the opponent got priority first after the trigger went on the stack (since he had priority before casting hs spell, he's the first player to gain priority afterwards). I assume, he passed priority because he forgot about the Chancellor. (EDIT: In tournaments it's assumed that a player passes priority after casting a spell, so he would have to explicitly state that he retains it.) But since he passed and the active player passed to, the trigger resolved, with no more chance to crack the fetch in time.
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