#resolving spells

[magicjudge]

Hi judge!

Can you elaborate on the step-by-step of resolving Tempt with Discovery? When do opponents choose if they are tempted? Do they know if other opponents are tempted? Do they know what land you grabbed, or what lands other opponents grabbed? When you search for the additional lands, do you know what lands your opponents searched for?

Thanks!

This is a spell that almost no one resolves correctly, but to be fair its resolution has a lot of steps:

You search your library for a land and put it onto the battlefield.

Starting with the player whose turn it is and going in turn order, each opponent chooses whether or not they're going to search for a land card. The search doesn't happen until everyone has chosen.

Every opponent who chose to search for a land does so simultaneously and puts it onto the battlefield. Players should set their chosen card aside face down and only reveal it when everyone had made their choice.

For each opponent who chose to search for a land, you search for a land and put those lands onto the battlefield. Technically these are multiple, sequential searches but that only matters for cards like Aven Mindcensor.

Each library that was searched gets shuffled by the player who searched it. This is usually the owner, but sometimes isn't when cards like Opposition Agent get involved.

So... who knows what when?

All opponents know the first land you searched for before they choose whether or not to search for a land.

The choice to search or not is made sequentially, so your opponents will know if previous opponents were tempted or not.

Your opponents don't get to see what lands the others are searching for, though they can, of course, communicate with each other and make their intentions known.

You know what lands your opponents have searched for before you search for your additional lands.

[magicjudge]

If i cast test of talents on an uncounterable spell, like dovin's veto or abrupt decay, do i still search and exile other copies?

Yes.

The search effect on Test of Talents isn't at all dependent on the spell being countered, meaning that it still happens even if its target can't be countered.

Just remember that the target is still on the stack and won't get exiled by it.

[magicjudge]

What happens if I cast Reanimate targeting Platinum Emperion? Do I lose the 8 life, or is it on the field with its static effect active before life loss occurs?

When resolving a spell or ability, you follow its instructions in the order they’re printed. In the case of Reanimate, Platinum Emperion will be returned to the battlefield by the time you’re instructed to lose life, but Platinum Emperion has locked your life total already and protects you from the life loss.

[magicjudge]

How does macabre mockery work with power-matters etb effects? I know reanimating a redcap will deal 4, but will reanimating an earthshaker khenra allow me to target a creature with power four? Will territorial boar get a trigger?

When you’re resolving any spell or ability, you follow its instructions in the order they’re written (as modified by any replacement effects). For Macabre Mockery, this means that the creature is returned to the battlefield and then gets +2/+0 and haste until end of turn. Anything that triggers from it entering the battlefield based on its power will see its initial power and not its boosted power, but the increased power will be in place by the time those triggers are put on the stack. This means that Earthshaker Khenra’s trigger will be able target anything with up to 4 power, but that same Khenra entering the battlefield won’t trigger Territorial Boar since it only had 2 power when it entered the battlefield.

[magicjudge]

Hi Judge! For a spell on the stack, if its targets all become invalid does it stay until it moves to resolve? I didn't see a state based action that cleaned them up but could have missed something. Such as if my removal spell is blanked by the target being sacrificed but I have on-stack interaction (a redirect, Nivmagus Elemental, Spell Queller, etc at my own spell). Thanks!

Spells only leave the stack when they go to resolve or when a spell or ability moves them from the stack, such as a counterspell effect.

A spell that was cast with legal targets but whose targets all become illegal stays on the stack until it goes to resolve, at which point it will fail to resolve and be removed from the stack.

What all this means is that you can feed a spell that has lost its targets to your Spell Queller or Niv-Magus Elemental without having to worry about state-based actions taking it away from you.

[magicjudge]

For instants or sorceries that shuffle their owner’s graveyard into their library, do they get shuffled in also, since upon resolution they go to the graveyard?

No.

The shuffling happens as part of that spell’s resolution and the spell is still on the stack until it finishes resolving.

[magicjudge]

If I cast Onward on Enigma Drake when I already had 2 instant/sorceries in my graveyard before casting, does the drake get +2/+0 or +3/+0

It will get +2/+0.

When Onward starts to resolve, it’s still on the stack. It won’t go to your graveyard until after all of its effects have happened. Since Enigma Drake is 2/4 at this time, Onward will give it +2/+0 until end of turn, making it 4/3. Then Onward will finish resolving and go to the graveyard, making Engima Drake’s base power 3 for a total P/T of 5/4.

[magicjudge]

An opponent controls one of my creatures through Welcome to the Fold. I cast Dark Intimations. If they sacrifice my creature, can I return it to my hand?

Yes.

Dark Intimations doesn’t have any targets, so all choices for it are made when it resolves. When it resolves, its instructions are followed in order, so your opponent will have sacrificed your creature before you choose a card to return from your graveyard to your hand.