Help with Scion of darkness

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.rules,rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy (More info?)

Hello,

If I have Dark Supplicant, False Prophet, and cabal Archon (all clerics) in
play, wich steps would I have to take, to get my Scion of darkness into
play, using the dark Supplicants ability, without killing it with the false
prophet. Is it possible?

Thank you
Jonathan

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.rules,rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy (More info?)

Jonathan Fourie <jonathan@jonREMOVEathan.za.net> wrote:
>If I have Dark Supplicant, False Prophet, and cabal Archon (all clerics) in
>play, wich steps would I have to take, to get my Scion of darkness into
>play, using the dark Supplicants ability, without killing it with the false
>prophet. Is it possible?

Let's see:

Dark Supplicant B Creature - Cleric
1/1 Tap,Sacrifice three Clerics: Search your graveyard, hand, and/or library
for a card named Scion of Darkness and put it into play. If you search your
library this way, shuffle it.
False Prophet 2WW Creature - Cleric
2/2 When ~ is put into a graveyard from play, remove all creatures from the
game.

No problem.

If you use the DS ability, sacrificing it, the FP, and another Cleric, then
the FP ability _will_ trigger. And will go on the stack where? On top of the
DS ability, which is already on the stack (since you started announcing it,
which is before you pay its costs). So the FP ability resolves BEFORE the
DS ability can do so, and removes all remaining creatures from the game
before the Scion _can_ get put into play.

So not only can you do it, you don't ever have to worry about it; you CAN'T
arrange things, in this example, so that the FP ability removes the Scion
from the game.

Dave
--
\/David DeLaney posting from dbd@vic.com "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://www.vic.com/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ & Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.rules,rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy (More info?)

Time to step up the meds; I could have sworn Jonathan Fourie just
said...
> Hello,
>
> If I have Dark Supplicant, False Prophet, and cabal Archon (all clerics) in
> play, wich steps would I have to take, to get my Scion of darkness into
> play, using the dark Supplicants ability, without killing it with the false
> prophet. Is it possible?

Short answer: What you want is not only possible, it's unavoidable. For
the full explanation, see below.
___________________

Dark Supplicant (Legions uncommon)
B
Creature - Cleric
1/1
T, Sacrifice three Clerics: Search your graveyard, hand, and/or library
for a card named Scion of Darkness and put it into play. If you search
your library this way, shuffle it.

False Prophet (Urza's Destiny rare)
2WW
Creature - Cleric
2/2
When False Prophet is put into a graveyard from play, remove all
creatures from the game.

Cabal Archon (Onslaught uncommon)
Creature - Cleric
(Nothing else about it is relevant, could use any Cleric)

Scion of Darkness (Legions rare)
(Big powerful creature whose only relevant "ability" is being named by
Dark Supplicant)
____________________

Here is what will happen. You play Dark Supplicant's ability, sending
False Prophet (among other things) to the graveyard. The stack now looks
like this:

False Prophet ability
Dark Supplicant ability

The False Prophet ability is on top (I.e. was added to the stack more
recently), and so will resolve first. THEN the Dark Supplicant ability
resolves, putting Scion of Darkness into play, presumably as the only
creature. Far from having to take special measures, this combination
already works exactly the way you probably want it to.

You may be confused about the difference between costs and effects. The
reason it works this way is that sacrificing three Clerics is a COST of
the Dark Supplicant ability, not an effect of it. You know this because
it is to the left of the colon in the ability's Oracle text. This means
it happens as part of first playing the ability, NOT as part of its
resolution a little later on.

Suppose instead you had:

I Can't Believe It's Not Dark Supplicant (Hypothetical ultra-rare)
B
Creature - Cleric
1/1
T: Sacrifice three Clerics, then search your graveyard, hand, and/or
library for a card named Scion of Darkness and put it into play. If you
search your library this way, shuffle it.

THEN you would have the problem you're worried about. This ability would
go on the stack, when it resolved you would sac your False Prophet and
two of his buddies, then put the Scion into play, all as one event. Then
the game would notice that False Prophet croaked, and put its ability on
the stack; some time later, that would resolve, removing the Scion from
the game along with all other creatures. The only way to prevent this
would be with Stifle, and being heavily committed to two colours as it
is, chances are you couldn't afford to add a third. Fortunately, as the
cards are actually worded, the problem doesn't arise.