Can I bounce something to my hand and discard that thing to counter a spell with Kozilek's ability?

Asked by DrukenReaps 3 years ago

I finally put my Kozilek, the Great Distortion deck together and it has some ways to bounce things to my hand like Erratic Portal.

The question is if my opponent plays a Thought Vessel and I have Nim Deathmantle, erratic portal, and kozilek in play. Could I bounce the nim with portal, hold priority or something, and then discard the nim to counter the thought vessel?

Polaris says... Accepted answer #1

No, because Nim Deathmantle is an equipment, not a creature, and Erratic Portal clearly only bounces creatures.

The answer to your main question (Can I return a creature that costs 2 to my hand and discard it to counter Thought Vessel?) is yes. Once Thought Vessel is on the stack, players can respond with any instant speed spells and abilities before it resolves. You can respond to them casting Thought Vessel by activating Erratic Portal to bounce your creature, then once the creature is in your hand discard it to activate Kozilek's counter ability.

Technically you're not holding priority because the active player (your opponent, since it's their turn and something just finished resolving) will get priority after Erratic Portal's ability resolves, but you just wait for them to pass priority and then activate Kozilek. Priority is an important thing for more-complex interactions but it doesn't matter in this scenario; it defines the order that players get to decide whether to do something, but priority has to pass to everyone before something resolves so it doesn't matter too much.

December 31, 2020 2:14 p.m.