Magic Rules You Might Be Getting Wrong | The Stack

[@mfsoab]

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 video 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

[@petnikolaos9908]

rules advisors are able to apply to face to face and other events, and might get taken on (and paid) to be at the events, either to run side events or to shadow judges :]

[@mfsoab]

@@petnikolaos9908 Yeah I know that this is possible, at least in theory. Never saw one in the wilds though. What I meant was more if any of the readers here personally care for that title, or any other "normal" players. And you can't officially judge events alone as RA so even at small FNMs you'd still need at least a level 1 judge to supervise. But other than that it's nice to have the opporunity to educate oneself in terms of MTG rulings and events in general

[@tichrondus]

@@mfsoab I don't think that's actually right, but I could be wrong. One of the steps to becoming an L1 is to judge small local events like FNM, isn't it?

[@mfsoab]

@@tichrondus In theory, yes, but not alone, more as a judges shadow. But the actual requirement to be able to take the L1 exam, is that you get sponsored by a L2 judge in the Academys system. Some judges want to know you and your skills personal, some just don't care and sponsor ppl if asked. So there is a possibility to become L1 without having set food on a tournament floor whatsoever.

[@Gnif572]

This actually sounds kind of neat. I'm a newbie, and it'd be kinda funny if I was a "rules advisor" without even having played my 3rd game yet hahaha

[@GrahamFoxDelta]

No one will ever have priority or place anything on the stack during the untap step. Abilities triggered during Untap are pushed to the upkeep and placed onto the stack at the beginning of the upkeep. See CR 502.4

[@YoSoyMatiVlog]

According to this, the very first chance u have to make a move (at instant speed) in your opponents turn would be reacting to something happening at the beginning of the upkeep? or did you receive priority when the active player is going from untap to upkeep step?

[@GrahamFoxDelta]

@@YoSoyMatiVlog The first time during a turn when anyone receives priority is at the beginning of the upkeep, when the active player receives priority. The first opportunity you have to do something if it’s your opponent’s upkeep is in response to their triggers/actions during the upkeep, or when they try to pass to their draw step if nothing went on the stack during their upkeep. So yes your first statement is correct.

[@henrymarshall8825]

There is a very specific way around this using a convoluted combo, but outside of that, nothing goes into the stack on your upkeep

[@GrahamFoxDelta]

@@henrymarshall8825 many things go onto the stack during the upkeep all the time. Per 502.4, nothing can be on the stack during the untap.

[@YoSoyMatiVlog]

@@GrahamFoxDelta thanks so much dude!

[@magnusberge]

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"

[@twilightwolf90]

It's difficult since other games (yugioh, HS, and LoR) are inconsistent with this too.

[@nvvv_]

Most of my knowledge of the stack actually comes from my teacher explaining it in the frame of a wizard duel. However when I started, mana burn was still a thing.

[@TeamSprocket]

@@twilightwolf90 yugioh acts fairly similarly, where an effect activates and destroying the source of the effect doesn't do anything (other than the exception of field spells and continuous spell/trap cards).

[@frostasaurus2190]

Thanks for this comment. Really helped me understand why responding to a creature's ability with a creature exile doesn't negate the ability itself.

[@magnusberge]

@@frostasaurus2190 Your welcome! Il leave you with the best "tip" i can give any MTG player. If you google "judge chat" you will get access to a 24/7 LIVE and FREE web browser chatroom with Judges that will help you with ANY MTG interaction you might have questions about ;)

[@heitortremor]

Pleeeeeaaaase make more magic rules videos! I love seeing interesting rules discussions!

[@ThisIsACommanderChannel]

Not to toot my own horn (but literally I am), I have a series that covers Magic rules and such. It's called Tough Rules & Cool Interactions. I'm a super new and small channel so I only have around 35 videos so far. But I've covered all sorts of things from the Stack, Layers, timestamps, how things exist in different Zones, State based Actions, and more. If you happen to check it out, please let me know how you like or dislike things.

[@timtauber5557]

This video was a good introductory explanation of the stack, how about a follow up video 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.

[@Mustachiiio11]

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.

[@celticfan008]

IIRC with exception of mana abilities, those do not go on the stack.

[@DalmarWolf]

@@celticfan008 correct and special actions like turning over a morph creatures do not use the stack.

[@DalmarWolf]

Also holding priority is the only way to respond to your own stuff... Lets say you cast a boardwipe, and you also want to cast a spell to make your stuff indestructible, but you'd like to make sure that the board wipe don't get countered. So you cast the board wipe, pass priority, no one responds, when it comes back to you, the spell resolves, you can't then say 'oh now that you've all passed I want to also cast this other spell in response'.

[@justin4531]

I’m glad someone addressed this. First time I’ve ever heard the phrase “hold priority” and I was taken aback.

[@mygalsiii]

​@@DalmarWolf ... so then you can't ever wait to see if something happens [in response] to something you are casting before deciding to squeeze in something else, or not, before that thing you're casting actually happens?

[@azurust1774]

One thing you may have wanted to mention in this video 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 video man, really clear on stuff, I'm sure this helped a lot of players.

[@goesbyAustin]

I waited to counter a board wipe while my friend cleared his entire board with sac outlets and spent all his mana once. It was awesome but man was he salty hahaha

[@Maccabeus87]

Players acting out of this sequence is probably the most common and most egregious mistake in EDH.

[@edhdeckbuilding]

16:12

[@azurust1774]

@@edhdeckbuilding ah jeez, how did I forget that? 😅

[@Jcarr250]

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)

[@arkanixarcmage]

Abilities of creatures: turn diagonal. Attack: horizontal. Summon sickness: 1/2 way back from the front line. Stack: middle level of the field. Thanks for the video! Arcmage

[@uncleacidic8850]

This makes me remember when I was learning the game in 2003. The stack instantly (haha) made sense to me and I was hooked right away. I was told stories of the dark times before the stack was invented

[@jescareno1990]

To confirm for the Phyrexian Arena example at 13:41 in which a player has 1 life left and it is their upkeep, you stated that it would kill you and you can't do anything about this. We can't stop it from getting on the stack, but we can respond by countering it or gaining life. Stay alive!

[@emmettedwards2587]

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 videos you've done have shed more light on some of the confusing rulings I've had tried to be explained to me.

[@NotAllWhoWanderAreLost641]

Again, by far my favorite type of video on your channel 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 videos 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.

[@ThisIsACommanderChannel]

If you enjoy videos like this that go over rules, I have a series that is currently at around 35 videos. The series is called Tough Rules & Cool Interactions. If you happen to check it out, please let me know what you think of it.

[@BananaNationTV]

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.

[@danpearman270]

I definitely think these videos 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).

[@euphoric_lights]

I really enjoyed how you broke down priority. The way you explained it made it super clear how to utilize it correctly. Thank you.

[@bryanholdren9043]

Great Video! 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.

[@coreyroberson4550]

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.

[@Karnigel]

Countered is not the right word here or?

[@coreyroberson4550]

@@Karnigel Well, it used to be. The informal term is that the spell "fizzles." And five or six years ago, Rule 608.2 read "The spell or ability is countered if all its targets... are now illegal." But apparently the current wording says "If all its targets... are now illegal, the spell or ability doesn’t resolve." Not sure when that changed.

[@Karnigel]

@@coreyroberson4550 ah okay :) thanks for looking it up. Counterd would be problematic with spells who can not be counterd I guess. It is hard to keep track of all the minor changes :D

[@coreyroberson4550]

@@Karnigel Cards used to read "can't be countered by spells or abilities" but that wording has more recently been shortened to just "can't be countered" - I can only assume this coincided with the change to rule 608.2b. Just look at the image for the 2012 From the Vault reprint of Boseiju vs the 2022 Secret Lair reprint. It's funny, because when Volcanic Fallout was printed in Conflux, I remember an official WOTC article praising the card for its elegant wording because, without targets, it was able to leave off the traditional "by spells or abilities" wording. I guess they liked that enough to eventually change to rules so all uncounterable spells could have their oracle wording shortened.

[@StevenTLawson]

@@coreyroberson4550 likely because of some niche cards that work when a spell is countered. So they decided that stated the spell does not resolve is fairer and less likely to cause niche problems than if they stated the spell was countered instead.

[@spiritofthenight9067]

These rules videos are helping me out a ton! Thanks for the great content!

[@ThisIsACommanderChannel]

If you're enjoying rules videos like these, I have a whole series that covers stuff like this. It's a pretty new series so there's only around 35 episodes. If you happen to check it out, let me know what you like and also dislike about the videos.

[@thcatbob]

This has given me ALOT to think about, defiantly helping me understand the game better. Thank you for these videos looking forward to more

[@BoredomInc22]

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.

[@jackdawfool107]

Oh so clear me up here say I have suspend Jhiora on field 4 lands tapped and opponents pass turn to me, I untap and before upkeep suspend 2 eldrazis by activating Jhioras ability with my untapped lands, then pass into upkeep and remove suspend counters. Is this possible or are you saying you can't activate abilities on untap?

[@richardqian9493]

@@jackdawfool107 Nope - nothing can be activated on untap, you just untap your permanents and go directly to upkeep. What Roguish Elf is saying is that if a trigger WOULD occur on untap, it gets put on the stack at the beginning of upkeep instead.

[@BoredomInc22]

@@jackdawfool107 What Richard said is correct, you can't activate the ability on untap as you don't get priority and you are required to have priority to activate Jhiora's ability. You can activate it on upkeep but then the suspend trigger won't happen.

[@MrThetruthhurts]

Underrated video. Probably because it is a bit heady but well put together. All new players should be watching videos like these.

[@SHADOWCLOUDGAMING]

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.

[@maximiliangunther9597]

Similar to the special timing rules, it is worth mentioning that Mesmeric Orb triggers never actually go on the stack during the untap step, similar to what happens with Nekusar + Days undoing. Also do timing for Cascade/ Suspend. Rule of law + suspending a card, Flash speed + suspending a card.

[@hunterforce30]

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

[@ThisIsACommanderChannel]

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.

[@NewSchoolPOKERstrat]

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.

[@hansmelby5080]

“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)

[@JacobSmith-rh2sr]

.... Dude that basically makes it a counter spell wtf

[@hansmelby5080]

@@JacobSmith-rh2sr, just clarifying the rules removing spells from the stack gets around “can not be countered” for a player the end result might be the same, the spell does not resolve, but by the rules they are technically two different things.

[@Skelegoblin]

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.

[@channelquietcoyote7564]

I also played before the stack m8. Recently got back into the game in 2021 and this vid helped solidify some better understandings of the game. Thanks!

[@chromelambo3938]

At 17:00 you mention something about going in turn order (active first then their left can respond) but what about cards that mix up the turn order? Like Timeshifter

[@helderboymh]

Turn order is separate from this. It says consistent throughout the game.

[@connorl0204]

Super hyped to see @casuallycompetitiveMTG get footage featured! They were the first people to get me to enjoy watching gameplay videos!

[@charliemarlow647]

Brilliant video, thanks Demo! Suggestion for another one: explanation of layers :)

[@kingofpawns347]

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.

[@edhdeckbuilding]

torbran's (the dwarf) ability is what's called a replacement effect. which means it replacing the original effect with a new one. the effect here being a red source you control dealing damage. since the red source (the burn spell) hasn't actually dealt damage yet, the torbran would do nothing since the red source hasn't dealt damage until after torbran has been exiled.

[@ThisIsACommanderChannel]

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.

[@dragade101]

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.

[@rabidpickleosrs2995]

A spell or ability "fizzles" when its turn to resolve comes, but has no legal target(s) or its resolution condition(s) is/are no longer met.

[@timex198]

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.

[@LucasTheDrgn]

And the thing here that has an exception is actually the Cleanup step; normally a triggered ability only goes on the stack when a player would get priority, but the cleanup step specifically allows for triggers to go on the stack before it moves on (and in the case that it does, queues up an extra cleanup step, as you said.)

[@rosenvitae]

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 video. 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.

[@helderboymh]

Torbrans ability is a replacement effect (often worded as "if ...would ... Instead" ) this replacing of one event with a different happens as the effect is happening (aka as it's resolving) , NOT while an ability is on the stack. So if you can remove the torbran before the ability resolves it won't be around to change it when thw ability does resolve.

[@helderboymh]

About the copy spell it depends how that sequence happens. If you casts spell A and you respond to your spell by casting spell B Wich will copy the spell when it resolves. But the opponent responds to that spell by casting spell C Wich is a counter to spell A. C will resolve first Wich counters A and then when B tries to resolve it no longer has a legal target and the card doesn't resolve and gets put in the graveyard without doing anything (sometimes called fizzling) . In this situation the spell is NOT copied. But if your opponent waits, spell B resolves, copies spell A, that copy is then put on the stack and then after spell B has resolved they play spell C Wich resolves and counters spell A then the copy stays. And will resolve after spell C has resolved. In this case you WILL get a copy. I hope this was clear. If not please don't hesitate to ask.

[@rosenvitae]

@@helderboymh Appreciate the replies, thanks! Could you look up Anhelo's ability (allowing spells to be copied) and explain how Causality adds it's copy to the stack (especially with twinning staff in play); again from the angle that the original spell is counter spelled? Thanks

[@russelllewis91]

Really good video! The explanations were really clear and thorough. Keep up the good work!!

[@jimlilius-lundmark7647]

Hi love these rules videos! 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

[@orios105]

Newer player like me really finds this helpful. My commander group is full of new players as well, that I brought in. So naturally when a ruling comes up I'm usually the one who tries to resolve it lol.

[@lucasperrella9280]

Love these videos , thank you! In the future, it would help if you could reference the specific rule (like the rule number) so that if an argument ensues in a pod, they can reference the ruling easily.

[@JJMickeyMedia]

One thing about holding priority you should probably mention in your next video: if you want to respond to your own spell, you have to hold priority, you can't 'check' if your opponents have a response first.

[@JJMickeyMedia]

To give a concrete example, if you cast a demonic tutor and want to copy it, you can't wait to see if an opponent has an Opposition Agent before you cast your copy spell.

[@lordwhatshisname3408]

I always struggled to understand the stack when I was first playing, but then I watched the first Friday Nights episode where he says "first in last out" and that simple golden rule cleared up so much for me.

[@twilightwolf90]

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.

[@mor4261]

The four most powerful words sitting alone must be ' cascade, cascade, cascade, cascade'

[@comfortingpain]

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!

[@HomeCookinMTG]

So I understand how state-based actions work but finding the words to explain it without explaining it wrong is difficult. From the wiki: State-based actions are game actions that happen when any of a set of improper conditions arise in the game. (Somebody's life total reaching zero or creatures toughness reaching zero or a player having 10 poison counters all cause a state-based action) Basically anytime priority gets past the game checks for conditions like this and carries them out simultaneously as one action, and then anything that's on the stack gets put on the stack to resolve, priority passes etc etc.

[@dragade101]

@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.

[@helderboymh]

He isn't talking about two different things, he is just talking about clean up.

[@dragade101]

@@helderboymh Its the precision about being within the End Phase, while specifying where you are. Otherwise "clean up" is too vague to newer players.

[@helderboymh]

@@dragade101 arguably, but that's not what your comment said. Or at least not how your comment reads and this is already a fairly long video. You can always make an explanation more through. I don't think these videos are intended necessary for newer players, although they might be helpful, they are for people whom have been playing for a little bit and have certain specific questions or have unknowingly been doing things wrong for a long time. This is a response to a video about things you might be doing wrong. Which implies you've been playing for a while.

[@wolfwing1]

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.

[@chefpaddie3771]

I've been playing as long as you, so I'm not really learning anything in these videos. However, you do a really good job of explaining many common game play mistakes that many people make without realizing. Keep helping people play tighter Magic!

[@ThisIsACommanderChannel]

I have a channel with a series that covers rules and interactions between cards. If you enjoy stuff like this and want to see if there's anything you might not know, ice welcome some feedback about the videos.

[@chefpaddie3771]

@@ThisIsACommanderChannel Just subscribed.

[@ThisIsACommanderChannel]

@@chefpaddie3771 Awesome! Let me know what you think of the stuff. Also, hit me with any tricky scenarios you can think of. I have a little over 100 things written down for future episodes, but I'd love to answer people's direct questions first.

[@chefpaddie3771]

@@ThisIsACommanderChannel Have you heard of or played with/against the card Eye of the Storm? I want to build a deck around it because I think it would be fun for players who understand the stack really well.

[@ThisIsACommanderChannel]

@@chefpaddie3771 Familiar with the card, but never used it or played against it. It can be a super powerful card for sure, and yeah, depending on what cards get exiled with it... Things could get... Strange. What sort of spells are you thinking?

[@bigjclv]

What is cool about The Stack and FILO is they are both algorithmic ways in Computer Science to manage data. WoTC basically adopted this algorithm when rewriting the rules to MtG.

[@izerigau3555]

The Stack and FILO are not exclusive to computer science. It is a standard inventory accounting method used by supply chain management businesses. Believe it or not, mtg is also big with the guys in the logistics department.

[@caden8592]

I'm 99% sure that it was me who was confused with the swords to plowshares thing... It's always great to learn more about the rules!

[@edhdeckbuilding]

it was indeed you.

[@ThomasBauer95]

14:40 can i heal myself as a response to the trigger? using the stack, the heal occurs first, giving me 1+x life, then arena triggers, leaving me with x life, where x is amount of heal.

[@dapperghastmeowregard]

Yeah, you can respond to arena's trigger before it kills you. Although note this is because the life loss is part of the effect. If you activate Greed with 2 life, you'll lose the life immediately as part of the cost and won't get a chance to do anything before you die (of course generally you would just gain life first and *then* activate greed, but just an fyi)

[@tzarl]

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".

[@teejaygibson4315]

So your saying for example, I can put 2 instant spells on the stack before my opponent can put anything on the stack?

[@teejaygibson4315]

Or can he put stuff on the stack in-between my 2 instant spells?

[@teejaygibson4315]

And I'm lost on the part where you can only respond to the opponent doing stuff. If it's my turn and I cast a creature and it resolved, does my opponent have to wait till I do something else or change phases to cast a red instant dmg spell?

[@tzarl]

@@teejaygibson4315 Sorry, my comment about between spells was about resolving specifically! All players must pass priority before each spell/ability resolves, meaning everyone gets an opportunity to do stuff before anything resolves.

[@tzarl]

@@teejaygibson4315 Your last comment is correct though! On your turn if your opponent wants to cast a spell/activate an ability they have to wait for you pass priority (which you have to do to change phases or let a spell/ability resolve). That's why the activating planeswalker example in the video works the way it does!

[@Shikatosan83]

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?

[@rhys9522]

My favorite ever ruling that I stopped a potential win with was the fact that doubling season doesn't double the loyalty counters earned from loyalty abilities which someone using oath of teferi and teferi time bender to get his ult immediately after playing him

[@Bathios13579]

They would be able to ult right away though. Doubling season would put twice the amount of counters on Teferi as it entered the battlefield, which since he starts at 5 would put him at 10, and his ult costs 9. While yes, it doesn't increase the counters gained from the abilities, it does still double the counters from planeswalkers etbing.

[@helderboymh]

Fun fact, vorinclex does double counters you get from activating loyalty abilities. And if you have both a vorinclex and a doubling season you'll get 4 times the counters when you activate a loyalty ability, both will double it! Since the vorinclex is a replacement effect, therefore the cost of adding counters is replaced by vorinclex, so now the adding of counters is an effect and not a cost therefore doubling season will "see" it and double it too.

[@dewaynemaddox1296]

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 .

[@IzzRei]

Can’t wait for the layers vid. Opalescence + Humility time!

[@danielcraig2010]

😆

[@punkypinko2965]

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.

[@summpwner7837]

The thing that really gets me is how much communication is involved for all these things. Take Hold Priority.... you have to SAY THAT PHRASE IMMEDIATELY after declaring your activation/trigger/whatever, otherwise it would be understood that opponents now have priority

[@helderboymh]

Well no, if you play a spell and your opponent does something before getting priority or asking if they have priority you can tell them to take it back and let you respond to your own spell first. In fact if you would do this constantly in a competitive tournament this could definitely get you a warning and then effectually worse. Holding priority comes from MTG online (and later Arena) where the game does automatically pass priority unless you turn on holding priority before casting a spell. (but even that can be turned off I believe and you'll always have to manually pass priority) Saying I hold priority is sometimes done but mostly non competitive play and just for clarity, not because you need to.

[@magnusberge]

Summery Desmissal also counters spells that has "this spell cant be coutnerd"

[@jeonghwankim8174]

Lol "Coutnerd" sounds like an insult 😄 Other player: "your face cant be coutnerd"

[@magnusberge]

@@jeonghwankim8174 haha!

[@rubyyrare]

i'm definitely gonna be using "coutnerd" now LMAO

[@andrewkoehnen4732]

technically it doesn't, but yes

[@hunterforce30]

I love summary dismissal in my control edh deck because I can exile spells like nexus of fate so they can’t keep coming back

[@SileoNeco]

I know I'm late to the party here, and I don't know if it's been brought up yet, but: when you decide to change phase, if an opponent uses the opportunity to put something on the stack; the phase does not change when the stack empties, and the active player gets priority again.

[@rustyshell2]

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?

[@joesmith6226]

yes. There are 2 clear examples of this; cards like Oloro, Ageless Ascetic which state "if this card is in the command zone" and cards like The Ur Dragon have an ability called Eminence that states "As long as The Ur-Dragon is in the command zone or on the battlefield". Both of these clearly state they are abilities that are active in the command zone. If this is ever the case it'll clearly state it is so on the card.

[@rustyshell2]

@@joesmith6226 thanks for the clarification. I didn’t see it anywhere stated on their commander that their abilities worked from the command zone. Very interesting

[@joesmith6226]

@@rustyshell2 do you by any chance remember which commander it was?

[@rustyshell2]

@@joesmith6226 Chishiro, the Shattered Blade

[@rustyshell2]

And Meren of Clan Nel Toth

[@toddmiller2812]

What happens when you cast or use an ability to search for a basic land and you search for a duel land that says is a Island and a Swamp? Is this legal, if no why?

[@helderboymh]

If something tells you to search for one of the 5 basic land *types* then that's okay. So if you have a card that says: "search your library for an island card and put it on the battlefield" then you can search for any card that has the island type, even if it also has other types. But if something tells you to search for a basic land then you need to search for a land that says "basic land" on the type line.

[@evaman0182]

When you have a game as complicated as magic these videos are always needed

[@ThisIsACommanderChannel]

I started a whole series as well just to help explain rules of Magic and try to help people in their Commander games. Small series so far being new, only around 35 videos for now.

[@moreparmesan5261]

I love MTG's complexity. I wish my love for the inner workings and mechanics of Magic translated to me understanding pharmacy tech information/laws/drugs/etc.

[@blazehawk1229]

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?

[@Minizemful]

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.

[@MaskOfXano]

Sorry, but thats not entirely right. You need to have 6 targets. But the spell will kill all targets still legal as it resolves. Here the ruling from Gatherer: "You must target six different creatures. If you can't, you can't cast Hex. If some of the creatures become illegal targets before the spell resolves, Hex will still destroy the rest of them."

[@counterclockwisepup5237]

In regards to the Inspired mechanic, it doesn't actually cause priority to pass around during the untap step. Instead the triggered ability is put on the stack at the beginning of the upkeep.

[@RaginKavu]

Hey Demo, great video! 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?

[@nielsmarckmann3897]

Radiance spells choose 1 target (or however many the spell specifies) and then applies an effect to that target, as well as all other creatures that share a color with it. The spell doesn't get copied, and the other creatures don't get targeted. In general, effects that copy or target are always spelled out either on the card's oracle text or in the rules regarding a keyword. Radiance is an ability word, not a keyword, as seen by the use of italics, so what it says on the card is what it does.

[@dapperghastmeowregard]

Radiance doesn't copy the spell, it just affects creatures that share a target. If you have the nephilim, 3 red goblins, and a green saproling with nothing else on the board and you Brightflame tje Nephilim for 3, you'd create 4 copies of brightflame (plus the original). When they resolve, the one targeting the nephilim will deal 3 damage to it and each other creature, the ones targeting the goblins will each deal 3 damage to their target as well as each other red creature, and the one targeting the saproling will deal 3 damage to it and each other green creature.

[@Bladeluce]

Hold up, on the last rule bit. Did that change? I could have swore it used to be that priority passes WHENEVER the active player chooses to do anything. I get holding the stack until your first action, but if true, this is surprising.

[@helderboymh]

You do get priority after a player does something, but only after they have had again first. So if a player casts a spell or activates an ability, the first person to decide whether to do something in response to that, is that player. If decide not to the next person in turn order gets priority. And if they decided to do something then the same thing happens. Until they pass priority to the next person. After each spell or ability has resolved each player again will get priority, starting with the active player and then going in turn order.

[@stephentaylor451]

Great video. 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

[@sreggad]

technically speaking that's true for all phases and steps. You don't move to the next thing till everyone passes priority with and empty stack. for the astral dragon tokens it depends on what you copied for the clever impersonator and the phyrexian metamorph. If they are copies of noncreature permants then the astral dragon tokens could come in as copies of what ever they are copying. The tokens don't come in as copies of clever impersonator or phyrexian metamorph because they aren't those things while on the battlefiled if you copied something.

[@sethhale8828]

We always used LIFO... last in first out

[@tvmann6333]

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!

[@helderboymh]

Hey, so jinnie Fay's ability is a replacement effect. Which means she replaces part of the ability with something else: the kind of token you create. This means two things. 1) her ability doesn't use the stack, so you active Chandra, her ability does go on the stack, then that ability goes to resolve, you are about to create a 3/1 with haste but you decide to replace that with a cat or a dog instead. That last part, the replacing doesn't use the stack. It just happens right as the ability resolves (same goes for spells that make tokens resolving btw) 2) this means that the rest of Chandras ability still happens, so she still exile's those tokens at the end of turn. When it says "exile those" it's just referring to the tokens that were made, that those tokens are different then what it says on the card Doesnt matter. Small note on the side some cards make tokens with an ability that would make you sacrafice or exile them at the end of turn. (Like spark splitter) Written as follows: create a Token named spark elemental.... with "at the beginning of the end step, sacrafice spark elemental" If you replace those with a different kind of token they will stay. These tokes have the ability themselves, written on them if you will, so if you replace them with a different kind of token those new tokens don't have that text. where as with Chandra it's her ability that exile's them. I hope that makes sense. If that last part is confusing, you can forget it. All you need to know is that Chandras tokens would still exile at the end of turn if you replaced them with Fay.

[@pedrobrito2158]

It's important to also mention that as cursed mirror does not target a creature, it can copy even creatures with hexproof or shroud.

[@kukivave]

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.

[@ThisIsACommanderChannel]

Yeah. It was all part of the Batch system back then. And yes, it was a dumb and complicated system.

[@davidpepin3017]

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.

[@jasonbuchanan7974]

Great video! Priority has always confused me and you explained it very well.

[@chrisgebben2043]

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)

[@richardqian9493]

Not quite hexproof - more like indestructible. You can still attempt to counter a spell that has "cannot be countered" and the counterspell will resolve as normal, it just won't do anything. Everything else is right though!

[@jeremyharmon4517]

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 video 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?

[@helderboymh]

When two or more triggered abilities attempt to go on the stack at the same time they go on APNAP order. This stands for Active Player, Non-active Player. It means that those triggers that are controlled by the active player go on the stack in whatever order he or she wants, followed by those triggered abilities that are controlled by the non-active player in whatever order he or she wants. As items on the top of the stack resolve first, the triggered abilities controlled by the non-active player will resolve first. So yes, the way it happened in your example was incorrect.

[@Hazaak.]

OK with holding priority, That would mean i could do abunch of stuff, and then holding priority, cast a krosan grip which would then stop that stack right cause of split second?

[@henrymarshall8825]

Not quite. Once the krosan grip resolves (first) your opponent s can do stuff again

[@Hazaak.]

@@henrymarshall8825 well yes but that would still mean they cant do activate abilities or play spells on that stack.

[@CJWproductions]

@@Hazaak. until after krosan grip resolves. At which point the rest of your stuff remains on the stack, so it can still be interacted with.

[@coreyroberson4550]

@@Hazaak. Objects resolve one at a time off the stack, at which point each player must pass priority again before the next object resolves off the stack. If you have five things on the stack under a Krosan Grip, no one can respond (except the morph player, but that's an exception) until Krosan Grip resolves. Then you're back to a stack of five objects, and the top object only resolves if everyone passes priority again without responding. And teh same for the fourth and the third and so on.

[@counterclockwisepup5237]

@@coreyroberson4550 You can also use mana abilities with Split Second up, such as using Phyrexian or Ashnod's Altar to sac and potentially put a triggered ability on the stack over the Grip

[@floorsweepings666]

If I attack with the ur dragon and opponent casts sudden spoiling, ur dragon trigger still resolves because they waited for me to attack, right?

[@helderboymh]

If you have a question about a specific card it's always a good idea to look that card up on gather ( MTG official site of all cards, you can just use a search engine) there, if you scroll down a bit. You'll see the rulings on the card, which are like the official explanation of how the card works in situations that are likely to come up. For example for Ur dragon: "You draw one card for each Dragon you controlled that attacked, even if some of them left the battlefield before The Ur-Dragon's triggered ability resolves" Hope that helped.

[@DragonicNight]

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.

[@LucasTheDrgn]

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. "Holding priority" is actually just choosing to go through this process in a more explicit manner; it's less an action you take and more NOT taking an action: most players and even most MTG clients (I know arena does, I think mtgo does as well) assume that immediately following you putting an ability on the stack, you would like to pass priority; rarely is it optimal for you to do things in response to your own spells and abilities when you could allow them to happen one at a time and change course if an opponent throws a wrench in your plan. SOMETIMES however, especially for "copy target spell" type effects, you don't want that object to resolve, you want to do things to it while it's still on the stack. In this case you communicate that you would like to forego the usual shortcut of automatically passing priority whenever you put a spell on the stack, which the community-agreed upon term for is "hold priority". On MTGA I believe the default key for this is holding Control as you perform the action that would normally result in you passing priority afterwards, and is referred to as "full control mode". Haven't done much MTGO myself so I wouldn't be able to tell you there.

[@helderboymh]

After the the stack gets cleared you don't immediately move on to the next phasez there is first another round of priority pass. And you say there is no phase priority passing that's happening. But when the stack is empty and you pass priority you are essentially saying I'm ready to move to the next phase. This is what is meant with phase changing causing the passing of priority.

[@SeraphimKnight]

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.

[@MrNess640]

There were a couple playtest cards in Mystery Booster that interacted with the stack.

[@tcmatias]

"Stack is an imaginary place". So good. Koma is good to understand the stack

[@T4N7]

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?

[@helderboymh]

Before passing to a next phase every player gets priority. (except for when you are in untap and clean up)

[@johnvrecenar9076]

I use a Satin Tower as my deck box, and I use the top of my deck box as a platform to place spells on the stack before they resolve.

[@bizmofunyuns8924]

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!

[@helderboymh]

All creatures enter the battlefield at the same time, they.dont come in one at a time. After the spell in finished resolving, all the abilities will go on the stack. triggers that are controlled by the active player go on the stack in whatever order he or she wants, followed by those triggered abilities that are controlled by the non-active player in whatever order he or she wants. As items on the top of the stack resolve first, the triggered abilities controlled by the non-active player will resolve first.

[@bizmofunyuns8924]

@@helderboymh , that makes sense. Thanks

[@hillaryallan5426]

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.)

[@helderboymh]

You don't need an answer anymore ?

[@christianbergeron2519]

About the "destroying a creature to prevent its activated ability to resolves", an example i've been given that I really like is : if a soldier throw a grenade, shooting the soldier won't prevent the grenade from explosing.

[@dirkdieters5773]

That was the exact analogy that was used in the old rulebooks that were included with "starter decks". (a real misnomer, since it was essentially 3 of what we would now call draft boosters (45 cards, 3 rares, 12 uncommon and 30 common) and 15 lands (*usually* 3 of each)

[@michaelturner2806]

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.

[@curtisnielsen1399]

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?

[@helderboymh]

The adding of the name just specifies the source of damage. But it's not relevant to wether the source is still there when the ability resolves. However when you tap niv, you put that ability on the stack and someone can destroy it before the draw a card resolves and therefore prevent the trigger ability (dealing one damage) to go on the stack. Once that trigger is on the stack it's to late.

[@curtisnielsen1399]

@@helderboymh thank you for the clarification. I always thought the source of the damage still had to be in play for the damage or ability to resolve. The secondary ability makes sense though since the source isn't in play for that trigger to ever happen to begin with.

[@ChiefTheRipper]

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?

[@helderboymh]

What you are referring to is called a delayed trigger. And the rulings on necropotence should be able to help here: "Necropotence's last ability creates a delayed triggered ability that will put the exiled card into your hand. That ability still triggers even if Necropotence is removed from the battlefield before your end step."

[@pianojoker2]

Thanks for the video ! It may be useful for new people here to give a link for the template you made that describes all steps in a turn ? I know I've printed it and it helped my group in several situations.

[@danielcraig2010]

Great idea, and would be a nice resource link to add to another addition to this series about turn order and it's complicated break down.

[@darian235]

If you exile a spell on the stack that counters that spell but does the car to spell card go into the graveyard or does the spell card going exile?

[@al_kaufman]

For the Phyrexian Arena example, could you not cast an instant at the end of the untap? Or do you untap and move directly to "Beginning of Upkeep"?

[@edhdeckbuilding]

exactly the point i was making. you can't do anything during untap.

[@JohnnyYeTaecanUktena]

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. There are two questions here "Will another trigger go directly onto the stack while the rest of the triggers started resolving and resolve before the rest?" and "Does the delayed trigger resolve if the first trigger went onto the stack before the rest resolved since the player that loses does not control the trigger?" If it works how i think it works as in it loops and kills everyone else then it is a great game ending combo assuming they can't do anything to win before hand or get rid of my Witchbane Orb which would end up killing me next turn as you know they will target me for it if they destroy that There is actually no rules clarification officially between this interaction

[@tasteoftacos]

I want to add fiery emancipation to a deck of mine. What is a source? Does it include creatures, enchantments, or non-permanent cards?

[@jacobstone4070]

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?

[@edhdeckbuilding]

everyone always chooses the order of their own triggers regardless of turn.