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Rules Q&A » Post: Timing of 608.2k versus One-Shot Effects

Timing of 608.2k versus One-Shot Effects

June 8, 2017 08:22:58 AM

Beau
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy))

USA - Midatlantic

Timing of 608.2k versus One-Shot Effects

Apologies if this one has been asked before. It's very similar to the Bestow simultaneity question, but I just wanted to clarify it with an ‘O’ answer.

So, according to 610.3, one-shot effects like Banisher Priest technically don't “stop applying” like a continuous effect, but instead create a second one-shot effect when their condition is true. But that causes a very slight delay between the gamestate where the condition is true, and the one where the effect is done/undone, which is why Porphyry Nodes will trigger when Banisher Priest dies as the last creature on the battlefield.

How does that timing compare to the timing of resolving a spell (or any other simultaneous effect or action)? For example, if I Go For The Throat Banisher Priest who previously exiled a Dryad Militant, then where does Go For The Throat go? Do we perform the one-shot described by 610.3 first, return the Militant, then exile Go For The Throat? Or do we move the spell to the graveyard in the same ‘frame’ that the condition is no longer true and the one-shot is being created?

Edit: To wrap everything together… I control Porphyry Nodes, a Banisher Priest that exiled Dryad Militant, and any creature Bestowed onto it. If my opponent casts Go For The Throat, I will not sacrifice Nodes (because the Bestow is a creature the instant that Priest is gone), but the spell will go to the graveyard because the Militant doesn't return in time to apply its replacement. Is that right?

Edited Beau (June 8, 2017 08:39:08 AM)

July 12, 2017 02:02:01 PM

Callum Milne
Forum Moderator
Judge (Uncertified)

Canada - Western Provinces

Timing of 608.2k versus One-Shot Effects

If you Go for the Throat a Banisher Priest that's exiling Dryad Militant, Go for the Throat will be exiled.

As soon as Banisher Priest (or another card like it) leaves the battlefield, everything stops. The exiled card is returned to the battlefield immediately, before anything else can possibly happen. Only then will the rest of the game resume.

Personally, I like imagining this as the Magic rules version of the Mid-Battle Tea Break. (Warning: TVTropes; you may be trapped for hours.)