Locked in a tight 3-way edh match. I've just played unnatural selection my previous turn. I'm playing a Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist deck, trying to turn opponents creatures to Salamanders for protection. On player 3's turn he plays Qasali Pridemage and activates the pridemage's ability to destroy Unnatural Selection. If I have mana open: as a fast effect in response can I turn his pridemage into a salamander on top of the stack after the ability has been activated, saving my Unnatural Selection?
I know the creature is sacrificed to pay for and activate the ability, but my bias is to say the ability fizzles. Help prove me wrong so I can earnestly play better.
Card tags fixed. I see you've been explained how to do them below and were able to do them right afterwards. Thanks! -MadMage
And no, you cannot. First, "Fast Effects" aren't a thing. To take actions in Magic, you need priority. And you will not get priority in the middle of a spell or ability being cast/activated. So, there is basically no way to turn the Pridemage into a Salamander to protect your Unnatural Selection as it is sacrificed as part of the cost.
Thanks for the quick response and the help with citing cards!
Is there any situation where the interaction would work in my favor or can my opponent simply re-activate the qasali pridemage in response as he has priority?
Well, there is no re-activation since, again, sacrificing is part of the activation so you could not target it in that case. If you instead try to target the Pridemage before they activate it, they can simply activate their Pridemage in response if they wanted. You are basically not going to get your Unnatural Selection to survive without countering the Pridemage's ability entirely using something like Stifle. Which, if you do use, the sacrificing bit works in your favor as they now lose the Pridemage since that is part of the cost and you don't get to refund costs when a spell or ability is countered. The Pridemage is just gone in that case.
I know the creature is sacrificed to pay for and activate the ability, but my bias is to say the ability fizzles. Help prove me wrong so I can earnestly play better.
Card tags fixed. I see you've been explained how to do them below and were able to do them right afterwards. Thanks! -MadMage
And no, you cannot. First, "Fast Effects" aren't a thing. To take actions in Magic, you need priority. And you will not get priority in the middle of a spell or ability being cast/activated. So, there is basically no way to turn the Pridemage into a Salamander to protect your Unnatural Selection as it is sacrificed as part of the cost.
Is there any situation where the interaction would work in my favor or can my opponent simply re-activate the qasali pridemage in response as he has priority?