Originally posted by Aaron Henner:
Thank you.
I'm still a little murky on applying “no impact” clause, but it is some guidance.
Uncle Scott's reply was not entirely clear to me either, but if I may take a gander:
The difference is who decides what. If Andrew (who is the controller of Spell Queller and Ormendahl) also controls the DecStone which is exiled by Spell Queller, then Andrew controls everything: He controls the trigger, he controls the spell that would be cast off the trigger, and he controls all legal targets for the spell (this last part is less relevant, the first 2 parts are more relevant). In this case, if Andrew forgets his trigger, it is reasonable to assume he forgot it because, at the time, there were no legal targets (assuming we take the case of no legal targets) and he was just like “yeah, whatever, this stays in exile, not important”.
However, in the case where Andrew does not control DecStone (say Nicole controls it), then all of a sudden Nicole has to make a decision based on Andrew remembering his trigger. Thus, if Andrew does not remember his trigger, Nicole is not prompted to make her decision, even if she has no choices in that decision (a distinction: having a decision vs having choices for that decision; if Andrew forgets his trigger, Nicole does not have the former, while if Andrew remembers his trigger, Nicole does not have the latter, and the distinction is important). Andrew is not permitted to make Nicole's decision for her, even if that decision has vacuous choices, and hence the “this stays in exile because I can't cast it” is not Andrew's decision to make, even if it is the only legal option. Therefore, since Andrew did not prompt Nicole to make her decision, Andrew allows Nicole to jump the trigger as she did in this case. Furthermore, if Nicole is rules-savvy, Nicole knows that she can gain a benefit from not prompting Andrew to remember his trigger, in the way presented in this scenario, and Nicole is thus disincentivized to take her decision at the “correct” (i.e. when the trigger should resolve and Andrew should prompt her on it) time.
I think this is what Uncle Scott was trying to get at in his 3rd answer.
Edited Lyle Waldman (Jan. 12, 2017 01:48:27 AM)