Priority Question. Multiple Counter spells.
Asked by Pheardemons 7 years ago
Game scenario.
My opponent has Death's Shadow on the battlefield who is attacking me and casts Temur Battle Rage. I cast a Condescend, in which case my opponent responds with Pact of Negation. I also have a Negate in my hand, however I want to try and guarantee the win by him not having enough mana to pay for Pact of Negation on his upkeep. Am I able to let his Pact of Negation resolve, and then cast Negate on Temur Battle Rage? Or do I have to cast Negate in response to his Pact of Negation and simply target Temur Battle Rage. Of which case the resolve order would go Negate countering Temur Battle Rage, and Pact of Negation countering my Condescend. Of which case he still needs to pay for Pact of Negation on his upkeep.
Pheardemons says... #2
merrowMania - So if I allow Pact of Negation to resolve first, I can then say "With Temur Battle Rage still on the stack..." and cast Negate to stop that as well? And there will be no question, or fight, about priority? Or should I ask if priority has passed back to me?
September 14, 2016 4:32 a.m.
In the situation you describe you can even cast Negate to counter Temur Battle Rage after they've cast Pact of Negation.
Your Negate will resolve first, countering Temur Battle Rage, than Pact of Negation will resolve and counter Condescend. You counter the spell you wanted to and they'll have to pay the cost at upkeep.
September 14, 2016 4:37 a.m.
To elaborate a bit more on priority, since you asked: Basically, whenever there's a round of priority, first the active player gets priority, and only if they pass, the non-active player gets priority. It works a little different with spells on the stack - whenever a player casts a spell (or activates an ability), that player keeps priority and can respond with yet another casting or activation. Since you're very rarely going to need to do this, it's assumed in tournament play that you're passing priority unless you explicitly state within reasonable time that you intend to maintain it. If there's any fighting, it will be over the interpretation of "reasonable time", which is always horrible to resolve, but it only comes up very very rarely.
Fortunately for you, none of the above matters for your example, as you will eventually get priority and be able to cast your spell. Every time a player gets priority, all other players also get priority (even if they can't cast spells or activate abilities, for example because a spell with Split Second is on the stack), and there's a round of priority both after a spell has been cast/an ability has been activated (as explained above), as well as after a spell or ability resolves. You have multiple opportunities to counter Temur Battle Rage here (and assuming nothing else happens, the result will be the same except for your opponent having to pay mana in their upkeep or lose the game), but the smarter decision is generally to wait until the Pact has resolved, as your opponent might counter Negate or their own Pact in response to your Negate, which gives them more choices than if they can only target your Negate (especially if they're countering via a Remand).
September 14, 2016 5:51 a.m.
Pheardemons says... #5
Thank you BlueScope for elaborating. That answered my question better.
merrowMania says... Accepted answer #1
You can do either. In order for anything to resolve, each player must pass priority. The stack is not a "you must keep responding if you want to do anything" thing like it is in the game Force of Will.
September 14, 2016 4:30 a.m.