Legolas' Quick Reflexes + Tap On Block
Asked by Andromedus 4 months ago
I have a tapped Cenn's Tactician in play. Opponent attacks. I cast Legolas's Quick Reflexes on the Cenn with intent to both block and use the Cenn's tap ability to a) pump itself and b) ping a creature.
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Does the +1/+1 counter land before the block happens? I assume that one is yes. But the one I'm stumped on is
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Does the +1/+1 counter land before the ping damage from Legolas?
Thanks much for your help on this.
Andromedus says... #2
Thanks irmsilver but I'm still confused about #2. I was under the impression that if triggers were put on the stack simultaneously and were both controlled by the same player, that player could put them on the stack in the order of their choosing.
Aren't these triggers both controlled by the active player and aren't they simultaneous?
January 26, 2024 11:01 a.m.
Andromedus says... #3
(I meant both are controlled by the non-active player)
January 26, 2024 11:24 a.m.
You are correct that triggered abilities controlled by the same player and simultaneously triggering can be placed on the stack in the order of your choosing. But that's not what's happening here. There's an activated ability, and a triggered ability. They are different, and aren't simultaneous.
Cenn's Tactician is an activated ability. Activated abilities follows this format: cost, colon (:), effect. The cost is {W},{T}, followed by a colon, and the effect is to put a +1/+1 counter on target soldier creature. It's not a trigger. You can activate it whenever you choose as long as you have priority.
Legolas's Quick Reflexes creates a triggered ability on the targeted creature. Triggered abilities follow the format of "when certain conditions are met, do the following action(s)." You don't "activate" it, even though you can cause it to trigger with Tactician's activated ability. It will trigger for any reason the creature becomes tapped, and go on the stack as soon as possible. But it will not trigger unless the creature becomes tapped first. In this case, it cannot trigger without you first activating and paying the costs to place Tactician's ability on the stack, and as soon as you do, only after does it trigger. The it goes on the stack after the activated ability already has, and then the stack resolves top to bottom, with the triggered ability resolving first, and the activated ability second.
irmsilver says... #1
Yes. After your opponent declares attackers and you’ve untapped Cenn's Tactician with Legolas's Quick Reflexes, you can proceed to Declare Blockers Step. After you’ve declared Tactician as a blocker, both players have a chance to cast spells/activate abilities before the Combat Damage Step. Tapping it as part of a cost to activate its ability won’t remove it from combat, and its ability will resolve and give itself a +1/+1 counter before you proceed to the Combat Damage Step.
Sadly, no. Legolas's Quick Reflexes creates a triggered ability that triggers whenever the creature becomes tapped for any reason, and will be placed on the stack whenever this happens as soon as possible. Once you’ve activated Tactician’s ability by paying the cost of {W} and tapping it, the triggered ability triggers and goes on the stack above it, and will resolve before Tactician gets a counter.
January 26, 2024 4:50 a.m.