The text explains the concept of copying spells on the stack, which are not cast but put on the stack. It emphasizes that copies of spells are not played, and spells and abilities that trigger or care about spells being cast will not trigger or count this copy as being played. Fork is always Fork, and when it resolves, it creates a copy of the spell it is targeting, which appears on the stack.
Copies of a spell or ability copy both the characteristics of the spell or ability and all decisions made for it, including modes, targets, the value of X, and additional or. Dual casting allows players to choose a new target of the copy of the mana leak, and remand is a legal target for mana leak.
There are various ways to put a copy of another spell on the stack, such as replicating a keyword ability that allows players to pay extra mana to copy the spell after paying its casting cost and placing it on the stack. Once on the stack, a copy of a spell is similar to an ability, as it is not represented by a physical marker, so players simply remember it’s on the stack until it resolves or.
Copies go to the stack differently since another spell or ability puts them there. “cast” usually refers to spells being played from zones like the hand, exile, or the graveyard. A copy of a spell is owned by the player under whose control it was put on the stack. A copy of an ability is itself an ability, even though it has no spell card associated with it.
Copies of spells, activated abilities, or triggered abilities mean to put a copy of it onto the stack. If something copies a spell already on the stack (such as repilcate, storm, fork, etc.), it will usually put the copy directly on the stack.
Melek’s third ability copies the spell that you cast, but the copy is another instance of the same spell. If you create a copy of a spell on the stack and target a creature you control with a valiant ability, that ability will trigger as long as the copy is created on the stack.
In conclusion, spells and abilities are placed on top of the stack as the first step of being played and removed from it as the last step of resolving.
📹 Magic Rules You Might Be Getting Wrong | The Stack
I might just turn this into a series since it seems to be a hit. Certainly there is enough to talk about with regards to the rules in this …
Do copied spells count towards storm?
Storm copies are not cast; thus, they do not generate their own storm copies and are not counted by other storm spells. Cards such as Twincast, which are capable of replicating a spell with the Storm mechanic, merely result in the generation of a single novel spell.
How does cloning spell work?
Clone spells clone troops within a spell’s radius, resulting in equal levels and full health. However, they can be destroyed prematurely by defenses. This spell is useful in situations where other solutions are unavailable or if the player is desperate. Balloons can also be used to clone troops, as they will tank for the Electro Dragon, especially if Seeking Air Mines are involved. Clone spells can be used to clone other Clan Castle complements, such as Super Wizards or Super Archers cloaked under Invisibility Spells.
Cloned Super Barbarians or Rocket Balloons will not have their ability active when created, while cloned Sneaky Goblins can spawn with the cloak ability, but this ability expires once the original Sneaky Goblin’s cloak expires. Cloned Super Minions will spawn with all its long shots available, even if the original Super Minion has already used some or all of its long shots.
Can you stack clone spells?
Cloned Golems, Witches, Lava Hounds, and Yetis can be cloned into their respective sub troops, including the Skeleton Spell’s Skeletons. Each Skeleton, Bat, Frostmite, Lava Pup, Yetimite, Golemite, and Big Boy takes 1 housing space, while Spawned troops from the Barbarian Puppet, Archer Puppet, Healer Puppet, and Hog Rider Puppet Equipment can be cloned. Lower-leveled Clone Spells cannot clone larger troops, while a level 8 Clone Spell can clone every troop in the Home Village. If multiple Clone Spells are used, each spell is treated separately, and the capacity is not combined. For example, two level 5 Clone Spells cannot clone three Dragons.
Do copied spells trigger cascade?
Cascade is a triggered ability introduced in Alara Reborn, which allows players to cast a spell with cascade by exileing non-land cards from the top of their library until a non-land card with a mana value less than the cascading spell is cast. This card can be cast without paying its mana cost, and all exiled cards that weren’t cast will be placed in a random order on the bottom of the library. Countering the original spell doesn’t counter the cascade ability.
Do copied spells have mana value?
The table explains the rules for determining the mana value of a copy of another object, regardless of whether it is a token or non-token card. If the mana cost can be copied, the mana value is also copied. If the mana value cannot be copied, the copy’s mana value is 0. A face-down copy cannot turn face-up to regain its original mana value, and a DFC back face or melded permanent transform cannot acquire a non-zero mana value.
Designed-for-digital cards can manipulate the mana cost or value of themselves or other spells, but only Specialize can do so. Once Specialized, these cards gain a mana symbol perpetually, affecting their mana value and color.
Is a spell on the stack a permanent?
A spell is a card that has been cast and placed on the stack, or a copy of another spell. It is only a spell when on the stack, and in most other zones, it is simply a card or a permanent when on the battlefield. All card types, except lands, are types of spells, and even permanent cards are typically cast as spells before becoming permanents. Spells exist as game objects, and their rules determine interactions and effects between the casting of the spell and its taking effect. A copy of a spell is also a spell, even if it doesn’t have a card associated with it.
How do spells resolve on the stack?
The Comprehensive Rules for Duskmourn: House of Horror (September 20, 2024) state that spells and abilities that use the stack can be responded to by all players, allowing them to play with them still on the stack. The stack resolves in order from top to bottom, so spells and abilities will resolve before the spell they were played “in response” to. However, actions that do not use the stack, such as paying costs or turning a face-down creature with morph face-up, cannot be responded to.
Do copies of spells go on the stack?
The text outlines the rules for copying spells, abilities, and tokens. It states that a copy of a spell or card ceases to exist if it is in a zone other than the stack or the battlefield. A copy of an ability has the same source as the original ability, and effects count how many times that ability has resolved during the turn.
Some effects copy a spell or ability and state that its controller may choose new targets for the copy. The player may leave any number of targets unchanged, even if those targets would be illegal. If the player chooses to change some or all of the targets, the new targets must be legal. Once the player has decided on the copy’s targets, the copy is put onto the stack with those targets.
Some effects copy a spell or ability for each player or object it “could target”, and the copies are put onto the stack in the order of their controller’s choice. If the spell or ability has more than one target, each of its targets must be the same player or object. If that player or object isn’t a legal target for each instance of the word “target”, the copy isn’t created.
Some effects copy a permanent spell, which ceases being a copy of a spell and becomes a token permanent when it resolves. If an effect creates a copy of a transforming permanent spell, the copy is also a transforming permanent spell with both a front face and a back face. The token that’s put onto the battlefield as that spell resolves is a transforming token.
Does silence stop spells on the stack?
The casting of a spell by an opponent prior to the casting of the spell in question does not result in the spell being affected, including those that are still on the stack. The aforementioned rule does not impede opponents from casting spells subsequent to the casting of the spell in question, prior to its resolution.
Do copied spells trigger Guttersnipe?
The ability of Guttersnipe is contingent upon the casting of an instant or sorcery spell by the player, rather than upon the creation of a copy on the stack. The act of copying a spell does not, in and of itself, constitute the casting of the copied spell, unless the effect of the copied spell explicitly states otherwise. The replication of a spell does not constitute a casting of the copies, and thus does not result in the triggering of Guttersnipe’s ability. The copy is created on the stack, not “cast.”
📹 Rules Magic Players Keep Getting Wrong | The Command Zone 521 | Commander EDH
——– Show Notes: Magic is a complicated game. “How complicated?” you ask. With over 265 pages in the comprehensive rules, …
For everyone who wants to get a little deeper into the rules: The MTG Judge Academy let’s you go through all kind of rules/judging related material in form of article courses. You can do all courses up to the level 1 judge exam for free. You also get a little badge and title of “rules advisor”… don’t know if anyone cares for that though
Whenever i teach ppl how to play Magic, i try to seperate the creature from the ability it just created, so when its on the stack they understand that the ability and the creature are not the same, that its no the creature thats on the stack. I also explain that even if you kill the “man with a bow, the arrow will stil arrive”
One thing you may have wanted to mention in this article is that priority passes in turn order. So if turn player 1 casts a spell, player 4 has to wait for the other 2 opponents to pass priority before countering that spell. This is most relevant I think when there is a board wipe on the stack and a player has a sac outlet, and another player after them in turn order plans on countering the board wipe. Awesome article man, really clear on stuff, I’m sure this helped a lot of players.
I think it is important to note that holding priority doesn’t allow you to actually resolve any abilities it just lets you put multiple things on the stack before passing priority. Also, when resolving a stack with multiple spells or abilities, priority technically should get passed around the table on each of them before it resolves. I’ve seen some new players think that once a full round of priority passes on the top spell in the stack the whole stack must then resolve with no further responses.
This one’s a bit niche but a common one I’ve seen misunderstood: Mizzix’s Mastery triggers Magecraft only once per spell, not twice (same for cards like Isochron Scepter). Magecraft triggers when you cast a spell or copy a spell. Mizzix’s mastery copies cards, and then you can cast those cards (as spells)
One important interaction with the stack that I think was missed – if you respond and remove the target(s) of a spell or ability, the spell/ability will be countered if it no longer has any legal targets. For example, if an opponent plays expedite and then you kill the target creature, when Expedite goes to resolve, it will see that it has no legal target and will fail to resolve at all, meaning they will not draw a card.
This article was a good introductory explanation of the stack, how about a follow up article detailing more in depth interactions with the stack, such as allowing certain spells to resolve from the stack and then adding new spells to the existing stack, for tactical advantage. Possibly explaining how holding priority can be used to benefit you and when you should employ this tactic, and perhaps what your options might be after someone has added multiple effects to a stack while maintaining priority, finally passing priority allowing their opponents a chance to interact with the existing stack.
I had to run time stop effects for some time because there were two players in my meta who ran obliterate and would hold it up specifically until they could essentially restart the game and try and make people quit. Most people would concede because they would usually cast it 2 hours in and no one wanted to keep going.
“Time Stop”/”Remove from stack” abilities are technically NOT counter-spells. They can remove abilities/spells from the stack that “can not be countered” the effect is similar to a counter spell but not actually counter spells. (“Delay” counters a spell, “Ertai’s Meddling” does not as such “Ertai’s Meddling” can remove “Supreme Verdict” from the stack)
I definitely think these articles are very useful 🙂 I remember the days of instants and interrupts, in hindsight they were always confusing. And I remember the stack being introduced and thinking ‘why are they making it all so much more complicated?’ lol. Something about the way it was described in the rules inserts always made it seem so much more complicated than necessary – but as you suggest, just remembering the two basic principles of things going on the stack in priority order and resolving ‘first in, last out’ covers the majority of situations pretty well. Another one that I see people having trouble with from time to time is delayed triggers (I think that’s the correct term) – the specific example I’m thinking of is Liesa Forgotten Archangel, who has a triggered ability that says “Whenever another nontoken creature you control dies, return that card to your hand at the beginning of the next end step.” People sometimes think that removing Liesa after this ability has triggered will stop the ability, because the ability doesn’t resolve until later – but that’s just it, the ability has already triggered so they would need to stifle it (or remove Liesa before it triggers, by, for example, responding to a boardwipe on the stack by removing her at instant speed, so she’s not there to trigger when the wipe resolves) (because the creatures sit in the graveyard between the trigger and the resolution, graveyard removal during that interval would also disrupt the ability).
Great article! What I have learned recently, in regard to the stack and priority, is that anytime a spell/ability resolves from the stack the ACTIVE play receives priority. Say Amy moves to her end step and during her end step Nick plays a wondering emperor. If wondering emperor resolves Nick does not have priority to activate even though wondering emperors abilities are at flash speed (currently). Amy can play her vanishing verse before nick has a chance to activate the planes walker ability. Once Amy’s verse is on the stack Nick can activate the emperor. So say you have 7 things on the stack. Well every time something resolves ACTIVE player receives priority which would be at least 7 times.
Hey man, love your vids and thanks for doing this series! I just wanted to offer a small correction, there are actually no instances of using the stack during the untap step. Any triggers that occur during the untap step will wait until a player would receive priority to go on the stack, and will therefore hit the stack during upkeep. They basically trigger at the same time as upkeep triggers and can be ordered by their controller. Comprehensive rule 502.4.
Q: When should spells fizzle? I feel between Arena bugs and the convoluted nature of what it even means to fizzle, I’m not sure what to make of a spell having several targets and some are illegal when the spell resolves finally. One target is a clear case but this applies more to cards like Opus and the like. I wish I had some specific unusual examples noted.
A little more backstory on what Demo was stalking about for the times before the Stack. It was a system called the Batch and yes, it was very weird and complicated. Batches resolved all at once and Interrupts were ‘faster’ because they could interrupt a batch of other things like Instants and Sorceries trying to resolve in their current Batch.
Again, by far my favorite type of article on your website and so important to the magic community. A lot of what you presented is learned via countless games, but a lot of what is learned at LGS/kitchen table games is misleading. Thank you for clarifying many misconceptions and teaching so concisely. By and afar best educational last 2 articles I’ve seen on YT. Maybe you could go over turn order, and how priority passes to players as spells resolve on the stack in the future, such as when people respond to the stack after a spell resolves from the top etc.
Being a new player and getting into the game, my ‘instructor’ is telling me all these contradicting rules. I’ve got some transferable understanding (Legends of the Five Rings, the old cards) but these articles you’ve done have shed more light on some of the confusing rulings I’ve had tried to be explained to me.
I started playing back in 97, in high school… from what i remember sorcery = played on your turn, instant = played on any turn, interrupt = only played during the casting of another spell to “interrupt it”. And mana source = usable at any time to pay for a spell… From what i remember, you couldnt cast an instant while another spell was being cast, only interrupts could.
Just to clarify your last point, holding priority means your opponent doesnt get to react to the casting of spells and activating of abilities HOWEVER that does not mean you can “protect” them. It just means you can continue to ADD to the stack, you must pass priority to allow anything to resolve meaning your opponents get to respond after you’re done adding (and even in between abilities/spells RESOLVING) Priority essentially just means “If we both want to add to the stack I get to add to it first”.
At 11:51, “just read Time Stop, ” Time Stop has one of the coolest bling versions out there. The tenth edition foil. In some core sets, foil cards got special treatments. Eighth and ninth got black-bordered versions, and tenth had no reminder text. So this leads to the most powerful three words sitting alone in the middle of the card in MtG: End the turn.
Some card design that hasn’t been explored yet but would be neat is effects that manipulate the stack directly… Even if it’s just a silver bordered card. Like imagine a spell that’s like “1B instant: choose two spells or abilities and exchange their place on the stack.” Could be a really fun way to mess with people’s game plans without using counters.
U dan also deal with something on the stack if it has targets. Remove all of its targets n the spell will fizzle when it tries to resolve cuz it is no longer a legal effect. Ur last point about not being able to respond to nothing actually was new info to me so thx. I’m glad I stuck around til the end. So if I understand correctly, drawing a card in the draw step can trigger abilities n replacement effects but since it doesn’t actually use the stack itself, no one can respond to it n instead must wait til after all the cards r drawn when those triggered abilities would then be put on the stack n then they could respond or if no triggers happened then when I go to end the draw step n move to my main phase they would be given a brief moment of priority. Correct?
Hey man. Great content! I’m a casual player, and I have a question on Jinnie Fay & a card like Chandra, Flamecaller. Jinnie’s card says that if a token would ETB, you may INSTEAD create a 3/1 Dog with vigilance, or a 2/2 cat with haste. When I use Chandra’s ability to create 2x 3/1 elementals, Jinnie Fay’s ability triggers. When it does, I opt to instead make 2x 2/2 cats. Will these cats be sacrificed at the end of the turn (because of Chandra’s +1 ability), or will I get to keep the tokens? I’m sure there are other interactions with this card that I haven’t thought yet, so please let me know what you think. Thanks, man!
Question about Shield Broker. Lets say I play shield broker, give an enemy creature a shield token and gain control of it. Then while I have control of the creature, I attempt to put an additional shield counter on it via Boon of Safety. If my opponent deals damage to the creature to break it’s shield counter before Boon of Safety resolves, who has control of the creature after Boon of Safety resolves?
Basically, back in the day, cards resolved last in first out and according to their speeds. So it made sense to talk about “the stack” before it was an actual rule. I mean, the rule was already kinda there and just wasn’t technically called “the stack” but we used to refer to “the stack” to sort of picture the “last in first out” order of the cards resolving. The term was invented by the players and became prevalent and so it was eventually added to the official words of the game. Not long after I started playing (1994?) people started using “the stack” in games. You would just picture the cards all going in a stack then resolving in the reverse order of their casting. It wasn’t that much different really.. well,.. there were some strange things and not all effects used the stack (still the case) and there were complexities around “batches” etc. But the stack being “added to the rules” was really just mtg acknowledging what people were already doing in practice.. kinda the same way they write terms like “mill” into the game now. The stack was a useful way to think about the rules before it was officially referenced in the rules cannon of mtg.
My biggun is people attempting to counterspell ETB effects after they’re targeted. Pro tip: Don’t ever announce your ETB effect targets until everyone agrees that the permanent has resolved and is actually on the battlefield. Nothing better than dropping a reclamation sage, saying “and I pass priority”, acknowledging that everyone else passes, targeting a blue player’s enchantment, and saying “you can’t counterspell the ETB effect” when they try to save their leyline of anticipation. Same goes for spells that say “CHOOSE” instead of “target”. Druid of purification says “each player chooses”, so when the artifact player attempted to sacrifice their stuff to krark-clan Ironworks in response to having 3 players choose permanents on their board to destroy, they were shocked to find out that the ability had already resolved – which they had acknowledged by participating in the Druid of Purification’s ability. Make sure to remember this for cards like Sculpted Sunburst and other white board wipes that let you save a creature.
Love these vids, even as a long time player. One thing that has always tripped me up is State Based Actions. Are you able to clarify that bc I know it’s one of those areas that a lot of people are confused. Especially if there are any relation to the stack or effects w/ creatures leaving the field, etc. Thanks a million!
I do want to state after you played your torbrand and it resolves as long as you took no other action during that phase before moving into another priority has to be passed to your oppent to make sure everything is resolved and no other actions are taken at that point he can then swords to plows hares without having anything else on the stack.
I promise I’m trying to help here. NOBODY can get priority during the untap step. Abilities cannot be put onto the stack. You simply untap, if there is a winter orb effect in play you would also elect your untap choices, but ANY ability that would be put into the stack in the untap step gets pushed back into the beginning of the upkeep. See Rule 116.3a
You mentioned removal spells won’t stop abilities on the stack from happening, usually (I think you added). If a card stays specifically that (card name) does something, if that card / permanent is removed does the ability fizzle? Example: Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind. I tap to draw a card. Target an opponent, it hits the stack. Opponent plays a removal spell so does the damage not go thorough?
Hey Demo, great article! I am an old player too (started back in Urza’s)… But could you confirm this: Ink-Thread Nephilim + any Radiance spell. Say I’ve got it as a commander and 3 tokens of the same color as the Nephilim. On my side alone, the way I see it, is that the Radiance effect would target the Nephilim, and then the other 3. Due to it’s hability, each other token would generate its own “Radiance copy”, targeting all the other creatures, creating even more copies… Would it make it an infinite loop? Or am I missing something?
An interaction that sometimes comes up but Is often interpreted wrong. Double strike plus trample hitting a creature that prevents damage. Lots of times players will just double the power and trample over cause that’s how the math usually works. And I’ve had players insist that a 6/6 doubltriking my 5/7 that can’t be damaged will deal 5 damage to my face. When in reality it has to strike the creature and attempt to assign lethal combat damage twice. This is also not to be confused with indestructible to which a creatures health may still be reduced.
Ok rules question here. Ok so say you have Witchbane Orb out so you have Hexproof a Pithing Needle out naming Lethal Vapors and a Lethal Vapors out with Endless Whispers also a Sundial of the Infinite. So what you would do with that board state is cast Phage from your hand Lethal Vapors would kill her then you use Sundial ending the turn skipping Endless Whispers trigger till the opponents End Phase which once there Endless Whispers triggers giving them Phage then Lethal Vapors killing Phage but Phages “You lose the game if this card entered your battlefield and was not cast from hand” trigger goes onto the stack at the same time so APNAP order Vapors would resolve first Phage would go into your grave since you own the card, HOWEVER that introduces a new trigger onto the stack Endless Whispers which gave Phage the trigger of “When this creature is put into a graveyard from play, chose target opponent. That player puts this creature card from that graveyard into play under his or her control at the beginning of the end step” So if that trigger goes onto the stack before Phages lose the game trigger resolves then the question is does the delayed trigger resolve? as the first part of the trigger is them picking a opponent Phage goes to at the next end step the delayed part of the trigger is this “That player puts this creature card from that graveyard into play under his or her control at the beginning of the end step” Phage won’t get exiled or go back to my command zone no as the trigger from the active player will go onto the stack first thanks to APNAP order so if it don’t loop she will just be in my grave thanks to Lethal Vapor.
I have a question 🙋♂️ I was at a local FNM when Kaladesh was standard. I was attacking and my opponent declares a blocker with Bomat Carrier. He had two cards to the carrier and then he sacrifices the Bomat, the exiled cards go to his hand and he says he won’t take damage because he declared it blocking. At the time I felt the judge made a bad call (pretty new and not an experienced judge fyi) letting this happen. Would he have taken the damage? If he declares blocker, then sacrifices. Then the sac would be first, there would be no blocker to stop damage and damage would hit. Yes or no?
A couple notes, when Demo was talking about players getting Priority during the Upkeep, he is correct there but technically nothing goes into the Stack before then. During the Untap Step, the first thing that happens is that things phase in andnthinga with Phasing phase out, then after that the game swaps between Night and Day if the requirements are met for it to swap, and then finally things Untap. If any of those things happening trigger an ability, then those set up a trigger that then enters the Stack during the Upkeep. Just like with all triggered abilities, they happen in APNAP order and multiple Triggered abilities from a single player enter the Stack in the order that player decides.
I cast Anguished Unmaking last night on my opponents Xenagos, in response to him declaring he was moving to the combat step, so there was no combat step trigger. He believes that the declaring of moving to combat can be responded to, but all responses resolve in the combat step, not the end of the pre-combat main phase, which means Xenagos’ trigger would be on the stack still. I am on the other side of the argument, but his argument is this is how it plays out online. Some clarity on this from anyone would be great, cheers 🍻
Seedborn muses untap, happens when another player untaps, if you have another ability like drumbells that untaps creatures, you can stack the triggers and untap the manadorks, float mana, then untap everything… you then have the players Upkeep to spend that mana (because these triggers get shunted to the players upkeep).
Could I respond to the Phyrexian Arena at 1 life with a Teferi’s Protection? It specifically says your life can’t change. I know it would only buy me one more turn and would die the next time it triggers, but its a thought. I once had an opponent enchant me with a Captive Audience and when it came to my third turn to choose, I chose the first option of going to 4 life, then responded to the trigger with a Teferi’s Protection. Everyone was amazed, including myself, at that kind of response. We all thought it was brilliant and figured it should work, which left the audience rather captive for the rest of the game
I recently bought the Anhelo commander deck, which stacks multiple instances of spells being copied. I read somewhere that copies enter the stack regardless of whether the cast spell is countered or not, trying to nderstand that with this article. At 19:20 it’s mentioned that “discarding a card” to trigger the damage damage from Brallin allows opponent prio to exile Torbran before his bonus 2 damage applies to the ability. But since Torbran is in play when Brallin’s discard damage ability is put on the stack, Torbran’s bonus would already be in the stack even though he is now exiled, no? If Torbran’s ability does not factor, then I don’t understand how a spell copy can enter the stack if the spell is countered. Thank you for any answers.
a really good ruling to know about 20:00 is that saying you’re moving to combat is actually not exactly passing priority to go to beginning of combat phase. If you announce going to combat you are already considered to be in beginning of combat phase (before declare attackers) and if someone stops you and says “WAIT I want to respond” you will not still be in your main phase. This is a tournament ruling for ease of judging when someone is trying to interrupt. The exception to this rule is when there is a “At the beginning of combat” trigger, then again the person trying to respond is always the correct one in that they can stop you on main phase to stop that trigger from happening.
I recently was playing commander. I had a question regarding the command zone. An opponent claimed his commander’s abilities were active even in the command zone. I had trouble wrapping my head around this and wanted to know if this is really possible. Would it have to explicitly say on the commander that the effect works from the command zone?
One thing that a lot of people got confused with and I did too was that people didn’t understand that taping/sacrificing was a cost and done automatically. As back in the day we would have, “I tap my prodigal sorcerer to do 1 damage to your fyndhorn elf, well they would go, “I use icy manipulator to tap your prodigcal socerer before he can do that.” and just assumed it worked.
So like, everyone has a phone (almost), if you’re unsure of the rules while playing, you just look them up in the comprehensive rulebook. Some Magic players are so dumb though, that even when I LOOKED UP THE RULE IN THE RULEBOOK, and read them the rule, they disagreed with me, and went outside for a smoke while the judge looked it over and said I was right.
Hi love these rules articles! 2 things; One thing that has confused me in the past. Can i pass priority to see if anyone else does something and if they don’t can i then put something else on the stack, like at instant speed or at the end of turn before the turn ends or the stack resolves. Second thing; i know this now because i have a counters deck. But that +1/+1 counters and -1/-1 counter cancel each other out – meaning both disappears. For example putting 3 x +1/+1 counters and then 4 x -1/-1 counter are placed on the same creature that means only 1 x -1/-1 counter are left. This is relevant to proliferate for example. Long time follower, love your content /Jim LL
That’s so interesting that MTG did not have the stack in the past. The stack and first in/last out and resovling (called returning in programming) are programming concepts, so they make a lot of sense to me. I wish we had an actual physical representation of the stack. I’ve stacked cards too, when showing people how the stack works. I wish we did something like that all the time.
If you could help on this interaction it would be appreciated, I think I’m resolving it right and I am just using the ” first in, last out” rule to do it, but it’s so convoluted I’m not sure I’m doing it right, say you start your turn with five tapped lands,and sidisi brood tyrant, mesmeric orb, parallel lives, and path of discovery on the battlefield, … ( Information you would not know, but Let’s say the top five cards your deck are all creatures). I’ve had this come up in several games, and goldfished it many times to try to figure out how to better learn any interaction and do it at a speed so it isn’t so burdensome on my opponents, it’s so convoluted and branches off so many times and I’m not sure I’m resolving everything at the proper time, it’s a wacky interaction .
niv mizzet paruun is rly hard with storm and stacks, but my favorit comb is with this: frantic search and narsets reversal with paruun in play and thousend year storm (or any other enchantment that copies spells), when you cast them without giving up priority, you have the storm trigger, the draw trigger and after drawing the dmg trigger from niv mizzet. and when your finished, you got 6 mana back and can do this shit again, and with magecraft, it got sooo much more harder. since i use this cmd, i use a stack tocken in the middle of the table, so that everyone can follow and made some proxis for all the trigger itself. stacks is rly much fun (but mostly only for you, when you do it like this 😉 ) but so i have one question, when i have these in this situation on the stack and i start to resolve the trigger and spells on the stack, can i even react on a spell or trigger thats coming from myself, like put a high tide on the stack befor my last piece is resolved?
hey can the same ability be put on the stack multiple times? for example, if i have necrotic ooze in play, with mundungu and pili pala in my graveyard, and my opponents casts a spell, can i tap necrotic ooze using mundungu’s ability, then untap with pili pala’s ability, then tap again using mundungu’s ability, so my opponent would need to pay 2 mana and 2 life or their spell is countered? and could i spread it out, like tap once and if they pay then untap and tap again?
another good example of not being able to respond to elesh norn coming in, would be if someone activates a planar bridge or a thran temporal gateway… they would need to stifle the ability without knowing what is coming in… if they let the player decide white they’re getting, its too late to stifle the ability (as the selection happens on resolution).
Just to be a little more exact, changing phase does not pass priority per se. A phase or step in which players receive priority ends when the stack is empty and all players pass in succession. So, you do not so much as change phase, but rather, you do nothing and if everyone passes without doing anything, the game progresses.
Re Phyrexian Arena triggering when you have one life left: True, you can’t do anything about the triggered ability going on the stack. But you do have an opportunity to respond to it. You could cast Swords to Plowshares targeting one of your own creatures, or any other way to try to gain life before you lose it. Or, knowing you’re about to get knocked out, spend your resources to influence the game while you still can. You can even save yourself with an end-the-turn effect and get rid of the enchantment before it triggers again.
So, i know the typical play with thassa’s oracle combos is to hold priority to cast it together with demonic consultation. But one of my friend did something weird. He cast thoracle, let priority pass around the table for counters, and THEN cast the demonic consultation on top of it in the stack. Can you do that?
I was going to use Infernal Tribute as an example if you didn’t. 😂 I use it in my Aphemia deck as a way to sacrifice Treacherous Blessings or Trial of Ambition or to immediately dredge with Stinkweed Imp, etc. I had to read the errata to see if I could sacrifice the Zombie tokens. Nope, “non-token permanent.”
One questions: I have God-Eternal Kefnet in play and cast ‘Into the Story’ at an opponents turn. So I draw my first card in turn with ‘into the Story’. Is it correct that GEK triggers as soon as i draw the first card and i need to reveal it before drawing (seeing) the other three cards, but ‘into the Story’ resolves first completely before the reveald card gets copied because an ability/spell can’t be interrupt while it resolves?
can you give a good example of when holding priority makes sense? the opponent can respond as soon as you stop holding it, anyway and their spells resolve first. So if you cast 5 instants by holding, i could react with 5 negates, targeting each one of them. Would be the same thing as you cast one, i counter (and do this 5 times). like …. what benefits do u have from holding prio?
9:30 regarding stacks. Let’s say I have Elas Il-Kor as a commander, and I have a whole bunch of zombie tokens and other creature cards out in the battlefield. And I play the sorcery card, Damn and pay the Overload cost. Would Elas Il-Kor’s ability to deliver 1 damage for every creature I removed from battlefield go into effect, even though Elas Il-Kor is likewise going to be destroyed? And a follow up to that, if I used another spell (I forgot the name of it.. a white interrupt of some sort) That returns all creature cards (zombies not included since they are tokens) that were sent to the graveyard this turn back into the battlefield, would Elas Il-Kor’s ability to gain 1 life whenever a creature I control enters the battlefield likewise apply to all the returning creatures? (EDIT: STACK UNSTOPPABLE ALL HAIL THE STACK. I Figured it out.)
Okay so I have a question regarding the stack AND copies. For example I copied a Syr Conrad, the Grim and then played a Blasphemous act killing 12 total creatures including the copy and the original. What order do the creatures die in or is it assumed they all die at the same time? If so how much of the ability is triggered? I think we resolved it wrong because I took 11 dmg, he took 11 and everyone else took 22.
Bit of a pedantic nitpick: it’s not that moving through phases passes priority, it’s that how priority works is first, if a spell was just cast or an ability was just activated, the player that did that gains priority, otherwise it’s the active player that gets priority. That player may cast spells, activate abilities, or any other game action that is legal at that time. If they do, they pay whatever costs and move relevant objects to the stack, and you start from the top, with that player getting priority. If they choose not to do anything, they pass priority to the next player in turn order. Then, if every player in sequence passes priority, you resolve the top-most object from the stack, then go back to the top, this time with the active player getting priority. If there is no object to resolve, you immediately proceed to the next phase, which starts with (any relevant turn actions happening, then triggers going on the stack, and then) the active player getting priority (with the exception of the untap step and the cleanup step, which no one gets priority during). Notably, as the active player, if you pass priority you can’t “react” to the other players agreeing to pass to the next phase. There isn’t a “moving out of the main phase” priority pass, the priority pass initiated moving out of the phase; you don’t get to response-check your opponents and still do things in your main phase. If they DO cast things in your main phase, you DO get another round of priority once the stack is empty and you can once again play lands or cast sorcery-speed spells, but if you all pass in sequence the next time you get priority will be the enter combat step or the end step.
Demo, just a quick question related to the “at the beginning of upkeep” triggers for each player… Let’s say, hypothetically, that each player has a permanent with a triggered ability during each upkeep and it’s my turn now. I thought that as the active player, I would be able to place the abilities of each permanent (regardless of who controlled it) that triggered on the stack that way I wanted to, however you are suggesting, that that is not how it works and that they stack based on turn order (e.g. mine go first, the person to the left next, then to his left, etc.) – Could you please confirm?
Hi Demo, I have this problem about the interactive between Season of Witch, and Silent Arbiter, at first I thought we have to sacrifice a creature but then there’s former Judge I think said no we won’t sacrifice a creature, since Silent Arbiter stop your other creature from attacking. what is your opinion about this?
oh and heres a good one for people “cannot be countered” there’s a loop hole around that because what it really means is it hexproof to stuff that say “counter target ***” so if you get a counterspell that doesn’t say “counter target ***” it can counter it like “time stop” (and “Summary dismisal” and “Mind Trap”) effects those are exiling all the spells from the stack it’s not countering the spells on the the stack so the “cannot be counters” then cards like “Ashiok’s Erasure” and “Spell queller” they said “exile target spell” its the same thing but just one spell (its exiling it from the stack and not countering)
Hi people i do have a question! I was in a situation with my Osgir deck where i had 3 pv left and i had a mana crypt and Osgir in play and all my manas was tapped. Here is the question, can i sacrifice the mana crypt after my untap phase with Osgir’s first ability before the trigger of mana crypt goes in the stack at the begining of the upkeep? (Sordy for my bad english)
So upkeep trigger question…..recently a friend and I were playing commander and he had a sheoldred whispering one on the field. I had a dragon brood mother. Both have beginning of upkeep triggers. Our understanding was as the active player I got to decide on which order they resolved so of course I resolve broodmother first making a token dragon then resolve sheoldred a sacrifice ability sacrificing the token rather than the broodmother. Based on your article however it sounds like we are wrong? Does my ability go first regardless of choice and so his sheoldred would resolve first forcing me to sacrifice the broodmother and leaving me with just the token? Boiling it down….can the active player opt for other players upkeep triggers to go on stack first?
I have a question, hope you see this: ‘Lier, Disciple of the Drowned’ is on the board – spells cannot be countered Player A casts ‘Infernal grasp’ on ‘Grizzly Bear’ Player B reacts with ‘Swords to Plowshares’ on the same ‘Grizzly Bear’ Swords exile bear, player B gets life Now per the rules ‘Infernal Grasp’ lost all legal targets thus should now be countered as a whole so player A does not loose 2 life BUT since Lier is on the board and spells cannot be countered….. what actually happens?
Let’s say my opponent takes control of one of my creatures, such as with expropriatie. On my next turn, I cast a spell with a blink or flicker effect like turn to mist, where a card is exiled and then returned to the battlefield, to its owner. Where does the card go? Who’s it’s owner? I own the card in my collection, but in game its owned by my opponent.
If a spell on the stack is targeting something, another way to “counter” that spell is simply removing it’s target. If the spell doesn’t have the necessary targets, it can’t resolve and is removed from the stack by state based actions. This is relevant for spells like hex, which needs exactly six targets; you can simply get rid of one to save the other five, give one protection, hexproof, shroud, blink it, etc. Something else you could talk about in terms of abilities is replacement effects like doubling season, and how they interact with other effects.
I have got to say. The stack IS NOT imaginary, it is another zone of the game like the hand or the battlefield. Some cards say if a creature enters the battlefield from the graveyard or was cast from the graveyard. This is because of that little detour through the stack. This is relevant for a card like flayer of the hatebound which has in its rulings that a card cast from the graveyard will not cause it to trigger. I know i made this sane comment on another of your articles right around the time this uploaded. Mild apologies for saying this again.
How does lingering effects work, or rather, is there any way to disrupt them. Like with Necropotence, as a Yugioh player, when continuos spells get destroyed, the effects won’t resolve. Does things like Necropotence have similar ways of disrupting them after they have paid the cost for the effect, or does it have to be countered when it hits the field?
here’s something I have been confused about for years I play goblin sharpshooter a lot in my goblin commander deck, and his ability lets him untap each time a creature dies. so if all the creatures another player controlls dies, can I untal goblin sharpshooter then tap him again in response to each instance of a creature dying or would he only untap once? additionally, if the whole board gets wiped and everyone including goblin sharpshooter dies, would I be able to do the same thing or would I need to be in control of the board whipe and place goblin sharpshooter on the stack first? sorry if this specific problem or something similar has been covered in another article I haven’t watched the whole series
I believe you are kind of wrong on king macar. My understanding is his ability will not be put on the stack until someone receives priority which will not happen until the beginning of upkeep This is the ruling from the gatherer If an inspired ability triggers during your untap step, the ability will be put on the stack at the beginning of your upkeep. If the ability creates one or more token creatures, those creatures won’t be able to attack that turn (unless they gain haste).
question at 19:20 he mentioned the non active player (lets call him player 2) cant respond to player 1s dwarf after its cast until he move on to something else aka takes an action… my question is say player ones next action would be to cast a burn spell. so what would happen is the burn spell goes on the stack then swords to plowshares gets cast. swords would resolve first because its the most recent spell cast on the stack. that would exile the dwarf, then the burn spell would happen. it cant trigger the dwarf because its been removed correct? i lost recently because i had no idea that you couldnt negate an ability by destroying its source. a guy had aaetherflux resivoir on the board and used it and i tried to respond and destroy it not realizing i couldnt.
Great article. I got 2 things: 1) how would cards like Clever Impersonator and a phyrexian Metamorph interact with Astral Dragon tokens if they are copying a non-creature permanent? 2) I just think it’s neat how if someone responds to you leaving your 2nd main phase, it will kick you back into your main phase once the stack clears
L1 here. You can never get priority during Untap. If a triggered ability would occur during the Untap step, it waits for the beginning of the Upkeep to go onto the stack. If a triggered ability happens during Cleanup, there will be another Cleanup step after that one. I’d love to see you do a “Rules you’re getting wrong – Intervening If triggers.” They’re relatively new in Magic but super important that people know how they work. They’re triggered abilities that if their initial condition is not met they don’t even trigger, but a lot of people don’t know that and I see people try to interact with a trigger to fulfill that condition while the trigger is on the stack so it will resolve properly. Example: “At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control two or more creatures, do X,” will not even trigger if you do not have two or more creatures at the beginning of your upkeep, and you have to maintain the condition throughout the resolution of the triggered ability.
The other day me and my buddies had a confusion with the stack that maybe somebody could help us figure out. My friend had Krenko, Mob Boss on the battlefield and he tapped it. In response another player decided to cast a spell that tapped Krenko so he wouldn’t be able to tap and use his ability, I don’t remember which spell was used specifically to do this. Is that how this interaction works or not because we were not entirely sure
I would like a article topic of explaining the sundial usage. I keep seeing everyone use it wrong. People misread things like at the beginning of the next end step or the end of the next turn, and try to save it with Sundial, all it does (in most cases) is save whatever until the end of the very next turn.
In your beginning of upkeep scenarios, say two people have multiple upkeep triggers. You mentioned the person whose turn it is chooses the order of their own triggers, but would they also choose the order of the other player’s triggers? Or would they choose the order for their own triggers after the first player passes priority?
So i have 2 questions. 1 what does resolve mean, and at what point do things resolve? and 2, what does it mean to “copy a spell you control”? Example, the card “Double Major” says “Copy target creature spell you control”, im seeing that doesnt apply to creatures already on the battlefield, as the spell being copied has to be on the stack for Double Major to work. Is that right? So if i cast a creature, it goes on the stack and then ETBs? I would cast Double Major at what point during this action? im confused on the order here
Excellent articles! If you could make a article about interactions of stealing creatures from other players, that would be great! The rule is confusing and I’ve been through strange situations recently. During the Baldur’s Gate draft, I was playing with Jon Irenicus as commander, and when I killed a player who had my creatures, I was counting on them coming back to me — but the table said my creatures would be exiled instead. I’m almost certain this was a mistake. What do you think?
I’m sure MTG didn’t invent the stack, but it was definitely my introduction to the stack, and it’s a great concept that’s been useful in many other games that don’t specify how it works. Who has priority? Can I respond to his activated ability with my own? MTG says yes, and in my opinion, if a game doesn’t specify how priority works, then I play it as if it uses MTG’s stack rules and priority.
@12:45, I think we are talking about two different things here: You can on your turn or on your opponent’s turn, ask for priority. That importantly, after the last Main Phase has ended, you have the opportunity to cast flash spells and instants. Which should be before ‘clean up’ / passing the turn. The End Phase can be subdivided into a place that you may have priority or that you want to completely the pass the turn.
If you are responding to the active players “move” that goes on the stack, can you respond to it and then hold priority to respond to your response? OR When you respond the the active players “move” does the priority restart with the active player to respond to your response? That probably makes no sense. Sorry 🙂
QUESTION: As to the entering battlefield stack, how do things apply if say I were to cast Living Death on my turn while I have a Ravenous Chupacabra in my GY and my opponent has Consuming Aberration in theirs? Can I choose the order that the creatures coming in from GYs enter or the order of players doing so to be able to destroy a specific one of my opponents creatures when my RC ETB goes off? Or am I forced to ETB all my creatures first since it is my turn. Thanks in advance if you take/get the time to answer!
Thank you for the article! I’ve only been playing for about 6 months and the information has been extremely helpful! I had one specific scenario question if you don’t mind; It was my turn and I was attempting to cast an enchantment (I think it was Mind’s Dilation?) and I knew my opponent had a counter spell. I attempted to hold priority and play Krosan’s Grip and keep it on the stack so that the Mind’s Dilation couldn’t be countered due to Split Second. My friend who has been playing much longer than I have told me it wouldn’t matter because of “how priority worked.” Just for learning’s sake how would that situation go? Thanks for the articles!!
What if my opponent has an enchantment that sais when a creature dies put it on the battlefield under his control. And my creature also has the same ability. When he dies i return him to play under my control. Who get the crrature me or my opponent? Ive just been giving it to the owner but im not sure if im right
I have a question with combat, more specifically Double Strike. If a double strike creature is blocked, and the blocking creature dies in the first hit, is the second hit negated, or does the second hit get though for damage? Does this only happen when trample is involved? Thank you bro hope you have a good day 🙂
So with ragadragga gore guts boss my playgroup has a lot of confusion around combat for the second ability when a mana dork attacks untap it, so can you also tap that mana dork for mana and will that take it out of combat since you tapped it or is it still in combat because you have to tap to attack anyways. Second if someone were to use his third ability while attacking could they tap a mana dork and untap that same mana dork with raggas third ability?
you are technically incorrect about phyrexian arena killing you on your upkeep if you are at 1 life. If you can find a way to gain life in response to the trigger being on the stack (such as path to exile one of your creatures or if you have an aetherflux and you cast any instant speed spell) then you will gain the life before the arena trigger resolves and you will not die.
More needs to be said about Bone Miser. Clean up step: you discard down to hand size and dicard a nonland noncreature card, Bone Miser triggers, players get priority, when everyone passes, you will draw a card, all players get priority again, when stack empty and all pass THEN another clean up step happens, you MUST discard down to hand size again – IF you discard another nonland noncreature card, this process will happen all over AGAIN! Please mention this again – thanks OG
@demo An important end of phase distinction: a phase does not end until all players pass priority consecutively. This is most applicable before moving to combat, usually. I was playing Nalia de’Arnise, who has a beginning of combat trigger if I have a full party. He used swords on my warrior when I ended the phase to break up my party. But because he made an action, he kept the phase open, and after the swords resolved, priority returned to me, where I cast another warrior and ended the phase again to get the full party trigger at the beginning of combat. Party on!
Hey Demo, love the rules articles. Here’s a rules question that I think would be good to go over. What are the differences between a mana ability and a triggered mana ability and why are some triggered abilities that produce mana aren’t considered mana abilities. I ran into this problem while making a Raggadragga, Goreguts Boss deck and I think it would be interesting to share.