So i had a game earlier tonight where my opponent was playing Muldrotha, the Gravetide. He casts her and we allow her to resolve. i then want to play Path to exile after the resolve to prevent him from playing Necromancy (Which initially lost us the game.)
Was i still unable to exile Mudrotha prior to him casting Necromancy form his grave simply due to having not passed priority. I thought that the steps were
-Responding to cast
-responding to resolve
-Active player has priority
-active player passes priority.
i know you can cast thing s with split second before priority is passed. does split second bypass that or was I able to exile Muldrotha before necromancy hit the stack?)
If it is your opponent's turn, they cast Muldrotha and pass priority. Everyone passes and Muldrotha resolves. Now, the Muldrotha player has priority since it is their turn. They get to be the first person to take an action so they are free to cast Necromancy before you Path it (and, even if they weren't, they can still cast Necromancy as an Instant, but that is irrelevant to this situation).
Also, in your steps above, you can respond to a spell being cast once it is fully cast and on the stack. You cannot respond to it resolving. Once it starts resolving, it fully resolves. Otherwise, the rest is true.
Also, as an aside, Split Second in no way alters the way priority works. You can still only cast a spell with Split Second when you have priority and players still get priority (so they can respond if they want) before the spell resolves.
I just encountered a similar situation. Does the same hold for casting a creature without flash or anything giving it flash?
Priority works the same way for all spells. This includes creature spells. Example:
Main phase begins.
Active player gets priority and casts Glory Seeker. Active player pays the cost of that spell using 1W obtained in an unspecified way.
Active player gets priority and passes.
Nonactive player gets priority and would like to cast Shock on Glory Seeker. But Shock can not target a spell, so that is not currently an option. Nonactive player passes.
The top object on the stack (the spell cast in step 2) resolves. Active player puts Glory Seeker onto the battlefield.
Active player gets priority and casts Holy Strength. Active player chooses Glory Seeker as the target (since that has been a creature since step 5). Active player pays the cost of W using mana obtained in an unspecified way.
Active player gets priority and passes.
Nonactive player gets priority and casts Shock. Nonactive player chooses Glory Seeker as the target. Nonactive player pays the cost of R using mana obtained in an unspecified way.
Nonactive player gets priority and passes.
Active player gets priority and passes.
The top object on the stack (the spell cast in step 8) resolves. Shock deals 2 damage to Glory Seeker and goes to nonactive player's graveyard.
Active player would get priority, but there is a state-based action to process. Glory Seeker has lethal damage and is destroyed.
Active player gets priority and passes.
Nonactive player gets priority and passes.
The top object on the stack (the spell cast in step 6) resolves. But since its only target is gone, it goes to active player's graveyard instead.
Active player gets priority and ....
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Why bother with mere rulings when so many answers can be found in the Rules?
Just to confirm using my specific set up
Active player cast Muldrotha, the Gravetide, It resolves and enters the battlefield.
Nonactive player cast Swords to Plowshares targeting Muldrotha, the Gravetide.
Active player put casting Eternal Witness from their graveyard utilizing Muldrotha's Ablitiy on the stack.
Nonactive players Swords to Plowshares resolves. Exiling Muldrotha
Active players top object on the stack Eternal Witness resolves and enter the battlefield.
So provided this is true is there a limit, provided they have the mana to so of how many could be put on the stack?
Could they put a Creature, Artifact, Enchantment and Plansewalker all on the stack before Muldrotha is removed?
Just to confirm using my specific set up
Active player cast Muldrotha, the Gravetide, It resolves and enters the battlefield.
Nonactive player cast Swords to Plowshares targeting Muldrotha, the Gravetide.
Active player put casting Eternal Witness from their graveyard utilizing Muldrotha's Ablitiy on the stack.
Nonactive players Swords to Plowshares resolves. Exiling Muldrotha
Active players top object on the stack Eternal Witness resolves and enter the battlefield.
So provided this is true is there a limit, provided they have the mana to so of how many could be put on the stack?
Could they put a Creature, Artifact, Enchantment and Plansewalker all on the stack before Muldrotha is removed?
In general, a player can cast a noninstant spell only during their main phase, while the stack is empty and the player has priority (C.R. 117.1a). Thus, in general, a player can't cast Eternal Witness (a noninstant spell) while Swords to Plowshares is on the stack. Muldrotha's ability doesn't allow its controller to cast a spell any time they couldn't otherwise cast a spell of its type; that ability changes only where, not when, a player can cast certain spells or play certain lands during their turn. (In the same vein, Crucible of Worlds doesn't allow its controller to play lands from their graveyard any time they couldn't otherwise play lands.)
Moreover, even if the active player could cast Eternal Witness in this scenario (e.g., if that player also controls Prophet of Kruphix [C.R. 702.8a, 117.1a, 304.5]), Eternal Witness would go on the stack above Swords to Plowshares and get to resolve before Swords to Plowshares (C.R. 405.2, 117.4).
EDIT (May 3, 2019; Jan. 13, 2020): Correctness edit.
EDIT (Sep. 11, 2020): Edited, including to conform to rule and Oracle text changes in the meantime.
-Responding to cast
-responding to resolve
-Active player has priority
-active player passes priority.
The simple answer is that there is no "responding to resolve". You may be confused because it is typically possible to respond to a creature's triggered abilities. Muldrotha's abilities are not triggered.
Just to confirm using my specific set up
Active player cast Muldrotha, the Gravetide, It resolves and enters the battlefield.
Nonactive player cast Swords to Plowshares targeting Muldrotha, the Gravetide.
Active player put casting Eternal Witness from their graveyard utilizing Muldrotha's Ablitiy on the stack.
Nonactive players Swords to Plowshares resolves. Exiling Muldrotha
Active players top object on the stack Eternal Witness resolves and enter the battlefield.
So provided this is true is there a limit, provided they have the mana to so of how many could be put on the stack?
Could they put a Creature, Artifact, Enchantment and Plansewalker all on the stack before Muldrotha is removed?
He would not be able to cast Eternal Witness in response to your Swords to Plowshares, as stated by peteroupc above.
A more likely scenario is this...
-Active player casts Muldrotha, then passes priority
-Nonactive player has no response to Muldrotha on the stack, and passes priority
-All players have passed priority since Muldrotha was cast. Muldrotha resolves and enters the battlefield, priority returns to active player. (nonactive player cannot currently cast spells, as they don't have priority)
-Active player casts Eternal Witness from GY using Muldrotha's Ability, then passes priority (as they cannot cast other sorcery-speed cards while EWitness is on the stack, unless they have something like a Vedalken Orrery on the field)
-Nonactive player now has priority. This is the first opportunity the nonactive player has to cast a spell while Muldrotha is on the battlefield, rather than the stack. Nonactive player casts Path to Exile targetting Muldrotha. Priority returns to active player.
-Active player has no responses. Spells are still on the stack, so the active player still can't cast other permanents from their grave that don't have flash in some way. Passes priority.
-Nonactive player passes priority. Path to Exile resolves, as it is the top card of the stack and all players (in this example, there are only two) have passed in succession. Path to Exile's effects are carried out, then priority returns to the active player.
-Eternal Witness is still on the stack, active player has no responses and passes.
-Nonactive player has no responses and passes, Eternal Witness resolves, her triggered ability goes on the stack (and a target is selected, and priority returns to the active player.
Hope that helps. Usually all these tiny nuanced steps are skipped over for sake of expediency, but this is how the game works 'beneath the surface'.
Oddly, if Muldrotha entering the battlefield triggers an ability, such as from Essence Warden, then the nonactive player will have a chance to exile Muldrotha as a response to that ability before Muldrotha's controller will be able to cast a non-flash card from their graveyard (they cannot do so when they first receive priority, because an ability is on the stack and permanents are cast at sorcery speed).
Was i still unable to exile Mudrotha prior to him casting Necromancy form his grave simply due to having not passed priority. I thought that the steps were
-Responding to cast
-responding to resolve
-Active player has priority
-active player passes priority.
i know you can cast thing s with split second before priority is passed. does split second bypass that or was I able to exile Muldrotha before necromancy hit the stack?)
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Also, in your steps above, you can respond to a spell being cast once it is fully cast and on the stack. You cannot respond to it resolving. Once it starts resolving, it fully resolves. Otherwise, the rest is true.
Also, as an aside, Split Second in no way alters the way priority works. You can still only cast a spell with Split Second when you have priority and players still get priority (so they can respond if they want) before the spell resolves.
Active player cast Muldrotha, the Gravetide, It resolves and enters the battlefield.
Nonactive player cast Swords to Plowshares targeting Muldrotha, the Gravetide.
Active player put casting Eternal Witness from their graveyard utilizing Muldrotha's Ablitiy on the stack.
Nonactive players Swords to Plowshares resolves. Exiling Muldrotha
Active players top object on the stack Eternal Witness resolves and enter the battlefield.
So provided this is true is there a limit, provided they have the mana to so of how many could be put on the stack?
Could they put a Creature, Artifact, Enchantment and Plansewalker all on the stack before Muldrotha is removed?
Moreover, even if the active player could cast Eternal Witness in this scenario (e.g., if that player also controls Prophet of Kruphix [C.R. 702.8a, 117.1a, 304.5]), Eternal Witness would go on the stack above Swords to Plowshares and get to resolve before Swords to Plowshares (C.R. 405.2, 117.4).
EDIT (May 3, 2019; Jan. 13, 2020): Correctness edit.
EDIT (Sep. 11, 2020): Edited, including to conform to rule and Oracle text changes in the meantime.
He would not be able to cast Eternal Witness in response to your Swords to Plowshares, as stated by peteroupc above.
A more likely scenario is this...
-Active player casts Muldrotha, then passes priority
-Nonactive player has no response to Muldrotha on the stack, and passes priority
-All players have passed priority since Muldrotha was cast. Muldrotha resolves and enters the battlefield, priority returns to active player. (nonactive player cannot currently cast spells, as they don't have priority)
-Active player casts Eternal Witness from GY using Muldrotha's Ability, then passes priority (as they cannot cast other sorcery-speed cards while EWitness is on the stack, unless they have something like a Vedalken Orrery on the field)
-Nonactive player now has priority. This is the first opportunity the nonactive player has to cast a spell while Muldrotha is on the battlefield, rather than the stack. Nonactive player casts Path to Exile targetting Muldrotha. Priority returns to active player.
-Active player has no responses. Spells are still on the stack, so the active player still can't cast other permanents from their grave that don't have flash in some way. Passes priority.
-Nonactive player passes priority. Path to Exile resolves, as it is the top card of the stack and all players (in this example, there are only two) have passed in succession. Path to Exile's effects are carried out, then priority returns to the active player.
-Eternal Witness is still on the stack, active player has no responses and passes.
-Nonactive player has no responses and passes, Eternal Witness resolves, her triggered ability goes on the stack (and a target is selected, and priority returns to the active player.
Hope that helps. Usually all these tiny nuanced steps are skipped over for sake of expediency, but this is how the game works 'beneath the surface'.
Oddly, if Muldrotha entering the battlefield triggers an ability, such as from Essence Warden, then the nonactive player will have a chance to exile Muldrotha as a response to that ability before Muldrotha's controller will be able to cast a non-flash card from their graveyard (they cannot do so when they first receive priority, because an ability is on the stack and permanents are cast at sorcery speed).
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