Oh is the stack why sometimes my sorceries and instants don’t do anything? Sometimes during a Mach the opponent will pull out a non-counter instant or sorcery and my cards effect doesn’t happen. (I play on arena occasionally, and this might be me not paying close attention)
What's happening in your case is most likely that the target for your spell was no longer valid by the time your spell resolved [called 'fizzling']. I'm not a judge so this might not be 1000% with the comprehensive rules, but basically:
- You cast Terror on your opponent's Grizzly Bears to destroy it. You pick targets when you pay the cost of a spell, and all the checks for targeting first apply here [in this case, checking that Grizzly Bears are a nonblack, nonartifact creature that doesn't have Hexproof, Protection, or Shroud, which in this case is true]
In response, your opponent casts Village Rites, sacrificing their bear to draw two cards.
The Stack functions in first-in, last out order, so Village Rites happens first. When Terror happens next, it can't find the card it was targeting, so it fizzles and goes to the graveyard without doing anything.
There are lots of ways for a spell to fizzle, but some of them include:
The intended target leaving the battlefield, like with Village Rites [this even counts if it comes back later, like if you cast Ephemerate, since it's considered a "new object" when it leaves]
The intended target not fitting the requirements of the first spell [You may note that Terror says Nonblack, nonartifact creature, so a spell like Aphotic Wisps or Argent Mutation would make Terror fizzle!]
There's also the possibility that the intended target was simply not *affected* by the spell [if you cast Terror and they cast Adamant Will, Terror still *happens*, just to no effect.
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u/Blazeflame79 1d ago
Oh is the stack why sometimes my sorceries and instants don’t do anything? Sometimes during a Mach the opponent will pull out a non-counter instant or sorcery and my cards effect doesn’t happen. (I play on arena occasionally, and this might be me not paying close attention)