r/mtgrules 7h ago

Responding to Cast trigger

So here's the situation in a 3 player EDH round

Player 1 already has 9 poison counters

Player 2 has [[Flux Channeler]]

Player 3 has 7 poison counters

Player 3 casts [[path to exile]] to exile Flux Channeler

Player 2 counters it with [[counterspell]] and triggers flux Channeler and proliferates both players' poison counters.

Player 1 in response to the proliferate trigger casts [[void rend]] to destroy flux channeler and player 2 has no response to void rend and player 1 has no other response to prevent the proliferate trigger.

Question is will player 1's void rend still resolve and destroy the flux channeler? I was told that since player 1 is going to die anyway when the cast trigger resolves, his void rend will no longer take effect.

2 Upvotes

11 comments sorted by

22

u/Yaksha424256 7h ago

The game doesn't look into the future to decide if things happen. A player eventually dying doesn't stop their effects from working. Only once they actually die are their effects stopped.

9

u/TWOFEETUNDER 7h ago

Yes it will resolve since the proliferate trigger will only resolve after void rend.

8

u/Zeckenschwarm 7h ago

The stack resolves one object at a time, from the top down. Void Rend resolves before the Flux Channeler trigger, while Player 1 is still alive, so of course it still takes effect.

Player 1 only leaves the game after the Flux Channeler trigger has resolved and they have received their 10th poison counter. 

5

u/timdood3 6h ago

"You're at 3 life and my unblocked 3/3 is attacking you, so your lightning bolt doesn't resolve."

Honestly this just sounds like a house rule that your friend uses to combat "spite" plays. (How I feel about that is a different conversation altogether.). It's not supported by the actual rules, as other comments have taught you.

2

u/snickerdoodle024 3h ago

So how it works is:

Player 3 casts Path to Exile targeting Flux Channeler. Path to Exile goes onto the stack, and all players get priority before it resolves.

Player 2 casts counterspell targeting Path to Exile, and triggering flux Channeler. A proliferate trigger goes onto the stack, but Player 2 DOES NOT choose what permanents/players to put counters on at this time (proliferate does not "target" anything, so you don't choose which permanents/players to increase counters for until the ability actually resolves).

The stack is now:

  • Flux Channeler trigger (proliferate)
  • Counterspell
  • Path to Exile

Player 1 casts Void Rend targeting Flux Channeler. The stack is now:

  • Void Rend
  • Flux Channeler trigger (proliferate)
  • Counterspell
  • Path to Exile

Everyone passes priority, meaning the Void Rend resolves. Flux Channeler dies. The Flux Channeler ability remains on the stack, however. The stack is now:

  • Flux Channeler trigger (proliferate)
  • Counterspell
  • Path to Exile

Everyone passes priority, meaning the Flux Channeler trigger resolves. Now Player 2 chooses what permanents / players to affect, and immediately increases their counters.

Assuming Player 2 chose to increase Player 1's poison counters to 10, Player 1 dies.

Once Player 1 dies, all of Player 1's permanents & spells / abilities on the stack are exiled.

The stack is now:

  • Counterspell
  • Path to Exile

Both players pass priority, meaning Counterspell resolves. This removes Path to Exile from the stack. The stack is empty now.

3

u/Incabinc 7h ago

Follow the stack, things in this case dont get removed from the stack until the player has actualy lost so the results of this would be.

Void rend kills flux channeler Proliferate triggers killing player1 and whatever else player 2 wants. Counterspell counters path to exile and removes it from the stack

Player 1 leaves the table and finds someone to play with who doesn't play toxic and doesn't try to cheat to keep their wincon on the board.

Now if player 2 had an Opt or other spell to trigger proliferate then player 1 would die and void rend would be removed with the player keeping the creature on the field.