In Adam Styborski's newest Serious Fun column, A Vault Unleashed, he discusses a Commander deck featuring lots of ETB, recycling, and flicker effects. I am new to MtG, and flicker predates my experiences. The following is from this article:
Fiend Hunter and Phyrexian Ingester combine well with straight recycling, but are particularly brutal if we use a flicker effect while their ETB trigger is still on the stack! (The target doesn't come back at all!)
I don't understand how this works!
He lists some cards that provide the flicker effect earlier in the article. Since he mentions the ETB effect being on the stack, let's use Momentary Blink with Fiend Hunter for this discussion.
The only thing I can think of is the target not being where it's expected to be as the stack resolves, but I can't fully match the idea with the rules. Any citations to the rules would be greatly appreciated.
See the other couple of threads on the front page regarding what happens when you remove Fiend Hunter from the battlefield while its ETB ability is still on the stack. The net result is that the chosen creature stays exiled permanently.
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I am no longer on MTGS staff, so please don't contact me asking me to do staff things. :|
When Fiend Hunter enters the battlefield, its ability goes on the stack. If it leaves play before that ability resolves, its leaves play ability goes on the stack above its enters the battlefield trigger, and resolves first. So, first you return the exiled creature to play (Which you can't, because nothing has been exiled yet), and then you exile the creature. Because the trigger to return it has already happened, the creature is exiled permanently.
Private Mod Note
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DCI Level 2 Judge
If your question is "What would a judge do is this situation?", only one person's answer is relevant, and that is the Head Judge at your event. I can quote the rules, but I don't know your HJ.
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I don't understand how this works!
He lists some cards that provide the flicker effect earlier in the article. Since he mentions the ETB effect being on the stack, let's use Momentary Blink with Fiend Hunter for this discussion.
The only thing I can think of is the target not being where it's expected to be as the stack resolves, but I can't fully match the idea with the rules. Any citations to the rules would be greatly appreciated.
Here are some probability graphs I've made.
Probability to Hit Land Drops
Probability of Having X Lands in Opening Hand
Probability to Miracle
If your question is "What would a judge do is this situation?", only one person's answer is relevant, and that is the Head Judge at your event. I can quote the rules, but I don't know your HJ.