As I understand it, my life can hit zero as long as I am able to raise my life points to at least 1 before the phase in which I hit zero life points changes.
I am not sure what you are trying to refer to, but no object is removed in this case, so what you are quoting is not relevant.
701.5. Counter
701.5a To counter a spell or ability means to cancel it, removing it from the stack. It doesn’t resolve and none of its effects occur. A countered spell is put into its owner’s graveyard.
The ability exists independently of its source; removing one does not impact the other.
Yes, the ability on the stack is a separate object from the source of that ability. Removing one somehow (e.g., countering the ability with Stifle or the rules for targeted resolutions) will not cause the other to be removed.
I have a follow up situation question that I came across in testing.
Rather than clutter with a new thread I will try to ask here:
I have Karmic Guide and Sheoldred, Whispering One on the field. My next turn upkeep arrives and both the Echo sac and Sheoldred's trigger enter the stack. I choose to order them such that Karmic Guide's Echo clause triggers first
Both "At the beginning of your upkeep" abilities trigger simultaneously: at the beginning of your upkeep. You get to choose the order in which they are placed on the stack, but you still have to choose a target for Sheoldred's ability long before Karmic Guide's ability resolves and causes it to be sacrificed.
I agree and understand that. But what I am really asking is does it have to resolve to get the life gain
To force the target to sacrifice a creature and possibly gain life, yes. The resolution is when you follow the instructions. No resolution, no following.
608. Resolving Spells and Abilities
608.1. Each time all players pass in succession, the spell or ability on top of the stack resolves. (See rule 609, “Effects.”)
...
608.2c The controller of the spell or ability follows its instructions in the order written. However, replacement effects may modify these actions. In some cases, later text on the card may modify the meaning of earlier text (for example, “Destroy target creature. It can’t be regenerated” or “Counter target spell. If that spell is countered this way, put it on top of its owner’s library instead of into its owner’s graveyard.”) Don’t just apply effects step by step without thinking in these cases—read the whole text and apply the rules of English to the text.
If Foul-Tongue Invocation is countered, then it doesn't resolve. At all.
701.5a To counter a spell or ability means to cancel it, removing it from the stack. It doesn’t resolve and none of its effects occur. A countered spell is put into its owner’s graveyard.
Someone please verify this, I'm only almost sure: If it has trample he doesn't even have the option to not deal damage to the defending player since there's no creature there to deal the damage to, right?
Yes. This is true regardless of whether the blocker was removed by combat damage in the first combat damage step or by something else in the declare blockers step.
702.19c If an attacking creature with trample is blocked, but there are no creatures blocking it when damage is assigned, all its damage is assigned to the player or planeswalker it's attacking.
If I have Grafted Wargear equipped to a creature and my opponent enchants the Grafted Wargear with Song of the Dryads, would I have to sacrifice my creature? I'm thinking no because the Grafted Wargear would lose its trigger before it falls off.
"lose its trigger"?
Song of the Dryads removes intrinsic abilities from the permanent it is attached to. It will not even try to touch Grafted Wargear's own "Whenever Grafted Wargear becomes unattached from a permanent, sacrifice that permanent." ability. That ability will trigger and do exactly what it says.
Oops. I thought you were attaching Song of the Dryads to the creature rather than the equipment. You are correct.
You're allowed to say "target the one that was on the battlefield first" or any variation on that. This has nothing to do with REL.
707.6. If you control multiple face-down spells or face-down permanents, you must ensure at all times that your face-down spells and permanents can be easily differentiated from each other. This includes, but is not limited to, knowing what ability or rules caused the permanents to be face down, the order spells were cast, the order that face-down permanents entered the battlefield, which creature(s) attacked last turn, and any other differences between face-down spells or permanents. Common methods for distinguishing between face-down objects include using counters or dice to mark the different objects, or clearly placing those objects in order on the table.
You might want to consider bringing small sticky notes for tracking this sort of thing. (And if your opponent complains about the adhesive, you can just put each sticky on the table next to the respective face-down card.)
Does it work the other way? If i want to cast Lightning helix and enemy doesn't have U, then can he/she activate fetchland ability, and then after it resolves use it to counter my spell?
Can I use one of their loyalty abilities, then play the other one, then play one of the second one's loyalty abilities?
Yes. The once each turn limit is applied per permanent, not per subtype.
606.3. A player may activate a loyalty ability of a permanent he or she controls any time he or she has priority and the stack is empty during a main phase of his or her turn, but only if no player has previously activated a loyalty ability of that permanent that turn.
If an opponent has 15 cards left in his deck, and I use Jace, Memory Adept's third ability, does he instantly lose, or does he lose when he goes to draw at the start of his turn?
He loses right after that resolution (before you would gain priority). The rule about losing when a player tries to draw from an empty library doesn't distinguish between the normal draw step action and drawing as (part of) a resolving effect.
(Of course, using the second ability on a player who has fewer than 10 cards in the library would have to wait for an actual draw.)
At a commander game yesterday a player cast Insurrection and temporary gained control of all creatures on board. Among them was a Sliver Overlord. Now before he had to return all creatures he used the Overlord's second ability on itself. Now all of us were unsure what would happen at the end of turn. Would the end of turn effect of Insurrection
return the Overlord to the player who controled him when Insurrection was cast or would the player that cast Insurrection get keep the Overlord because he's now the legal fulltime controller of it.
Let's call the players "A" (the one who cast Insurrection) and "B" (the one who owns several slivers including Sliver Overlord and had previously cast them).
Relevant control information at the start of that turn:
Sliver Overlord: B put it onto the battlefield. Therefore B controls it.
Other Sliver: B put it onto the battlefield. Therefore B controls it.
After Insurrection resolves:
Sliver Overlord: B put it onto the battlefield. Insurrection gave control to A. Therefore A controls it.
Other Sliver: B put it onto the battlefield. Insurrection gave control to A. Therefore A controls it.
After Sliver Overlord's ability resolves:
Sliver Overlord: B put it onto the battlefield. Insurrection gave control to A. Sliver Overlord's ability gave control to A. Therefore A controls it.
Other Sliver: B put it onto the battlefield. Insurrection gave control to A. Therefore A controls it.
Cleanup step, after effects end (including that of Insurrection):
Sliver Overlord: B put it onto the battlefield. Sliver Overlord's ability gave control to A. Therefore A controls it.
Other Sliver: B put it onto the battlefield. Therefore B controls it.
Really the same question with other Control Magic effects. If I control a creature I don't own, what happens to them at the end of a turn where I cast Insurrection. The oracle text doesn't really say where the creatures return to. Their previous controller or their owner?
Is your Control Magic still on it? Is there any later effect overriding that effect?
If your opponent refuses to accept the actual rules, you have a problem that we can not solve from here. Does he attempt to justify his position, or is he just being stubborn?
The ability exists independently of its source; removing one does not impact the other.
Yes, the ability on the stack is a separate object from the source of that ability. Removing one somehow (e.g., countering the ability with Stifle or the rules for targeted resolutions) will not cause the other to be removed.
To force the target to sacrifice a creature and possibly gain life, yes. The resolution is when you follow the instructions. No resolution, no following.
If Foul-Tongue Invocation is countered, then it doesn't resolve. At all.
"lose its trigger"?
Song of the Dryads removes intrinsic abilities from the permanent it is attached to. It will not even try to touch Grafted Wargear's own "Whenever Grafted Wargear becomes unattached from a permanent, sacrifice that permanent." ability. That ability will trigger and do exactly what it says.
Oops. I thought you were attaching Song of the Dryads to the creature rather than the equipment. You are correct.
You might want to consider bringing small sticky notes for tracking this sort of thing. (And if your opponent complains about the adhesive, you can just put each sticky on the table next to the respective face-down card.)
(Of course, using the second ability on a player who has fewer than 10 cards in the library would have to wait for an actual draw.)
There is no "end of turn effect of Insurrection".
Let's call the players "A" (the one who cast Insurrection) and "B" (the one who owns several slivers including Sliver Overlord and had previously cast them).
Relevant control information at the start of that turn:
Sliver Overlord: B put it onto the battlefield. Therefore B controls it.
Other Sliver: B put it onto the battlefield. Therefore B controls it.
After Insurrection resolves:
Sliver Overlord: B put it onto the battlefield. Insurrection gave control to A. Therefore A controls it.
Other Sliver: B put it onto the battlefield. Insurrection gave control to A. Therefore A controls it.
After Sliver Overlord's ability resolves:
Sliver Overlord: B put it onto the battlefield. Insurrection gave control to A. Sliver Overlord's ability gave control to A. Therefore A controls it.
Other Sliver: B put it onto the battlefield. Insurrection gave control to A. Therefore A controls it.
Cleanup step, after effects end (including that of Insurrection):
Sliver Overlord: B put it onto the battlefield. Sliver Overlord's ability gave control to A. Therefore A controls it.
Other Sliver: B put it onto the battlefield. Therefore B controls it.
Is your Control Magic still on it? Is there any later effect overriding that effect?