To start off, I am newer to mtg. I was curious if it were possible to flash caste a golgari grave-troll as a mass of token creature hit the graveyard before being "removed from the game" would it's power/toughness be affected by the token? If not, why?
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-MadMage
Tokens outside of the battlefield ceasing to exist is a state-based action; these are checked every time a player would get priority, which will happen before a spell can resolve.
You could try using something like Necromantic Selection, in which case the tokens would still be in the graveyard when the Golgari Grave-Troll is put onto the battlefield, because state-based actions are not checked in the middle of a resolving spell. However, it still would not count the tokens, because the ability is "Golgari Grave-Troll enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each creature card in your graveyard." (emphasis added), and tokens are not cards.
To start off, I am newer to mtg. I was curious if it were possible to flash caste a golgari grave troll as a mass of token creature hit the graveyard before being "removed from the game"
Certainly not with any sort of casting; there would be several times that the tokens in the graveyard would cease to exist before the spell resolves.
704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 117, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for
any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions
simultaneously as a single event. If any state-based actions are performed as a result of a check, the
check is repeated; otherwise all triggered abilities that are waiting to be put on the stack are put on
the stack, then the check is repeated. Once no more state-based actions have been performed as the
result of a check and no triggered abilities are waiting to be put on the stack, the appropriate player
gets priority. This process also occurs during the cleanup step (see rule 514), except that if no statebased
actions are performed as the result of the step’s first check and no triggered abilities are
waiting to be put on the stack, then no player gets priority and the step ends.
704.5. The state-based actions are as follows:
704.5d If a token is in a zone other than the battlefield, it ceases to exist.
There are a few effects that would destroy tokens and put the Golgari Grave-Troll on the battlefield as part of the same resolution, but that still wouldn't matter because of the following:
would it's power/toughness be affected by the token? If not, why?
No, tokens would not matter at all for the "Golgari Grave-Troll enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each creature card in your graveyard." ability.
111.6. A token is subject to anything that affects permanents in general or that affects the token’s card
type or subtype. A token isn’t a card (even if represented by a card that has a Magic back or that
came from a Magic booster pack).
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Why bother with mere rulings when so many answers can be found in the Rules?
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Using card tags is mandatory in the Magic Rulings forum. Please check your private messages to learn how to use them. I've added them for this post.
-MadMage
Tokens outside of the battlefield ceasing to exist is a state-based action; these are checked every time a player would get priority, which will happen before a spell can resolve.
You could try using something like Necromantic Selection, in which case the tokens would still be in the graveyard when the Golgari Grave-Troll is put onto the battlefield, because state-based actions are not checked in the middle of a resolving spell. However, it still would not count the tokens, because the ability is "Golgari Grave-Troll enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each creature card in your graveyard." (emphasis added), and tokens are not cards.
Certainly not with any sort of casting; there would be several times that the tokens in the graveyard would cease to exist before the spell resolves.
There are a few effects that would destroy tokens and put the Golgari Grave-Troll on the battlefield as part of the same resolution, but that still wouldn't matter because of the following:
No, tokens would not matter at all for the "Golgari Grave-Troll enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each creature card in your graveyard." ability.