Discussion Forum

Disregard this post, my statement was invalid.

I saw the reply in my e-mail before you did your edit, haha. Why would that be invalid though? I've seen other people say the same thing (that "change" implies that the original targeting had in fact happened) but to me the rules of the stack still seem to apply. I was just curious as to whether there'd been any official rulings one way or another.

[QUOTE=spiralshadow]I saw the reply in my e-mail before you did your edit, haha. Why would that be invalid though? I've seen other people say the same thing (that "change" implies that the original targeting had in fact happened) but to me the rules of the stack still seem to apply. I was just curious as to whether there'd been any official rulings one way or another.[/QUOTE]
The reason I had changed it was because, looking at your statement, it made some sense. However, while I haven't looked at official rulings, I did do some quick research, and here's what most people seem to be thinking:Say you cast a lightning bolt at a Phantasmal Dragon, and you redirect to spellskite, here's what happens:
1)Spell goes on the stack
2)Phantasmal Drake's ability triggers, causing it to be sacrificed.
It is my understanding that the ability resolves before Spellskite would be able to, causing the Phantasmal Dragon to be sacrificed.

Again, this isn't an official ruling or anything.

Ahh okay. So perhaps Phantasmal Dragon's ability triggers at the same time as the targeting occurs, and doesn't go on the stack? This would seem strange since every other creature ability goes on the stack, and is counterable. It makes sense, but I hope official rulings decide this is not the case, because then Negates/Cancels would be useless as well, resolving to counter the spell after the targeting takes place.

The thing with illusions, is that the "sacrifice [cardname] when it becomes the target of a spell or ability" is a triggered ability. That is, the ability is put onto the stack, as soon as the conditions specified by the card are met. Here is a simple example, involving a phantasmal bear and a spellskite on one side of the field, and the opponent casting lighting bolt targeting the phantasmal bear. Lightning bolt goes on the stack first, then the Phantasmal Bear's sacrifice goes on the stack, and then the spellskite ability goes on the stack. So the stack will look like this. (last played --> first played)

Spellskite --> Phantasmal Bear --> Lightning Bolt

So yes, your Spellskite will successfully redirect the lightning bolt to itself, but if you notice, your bears ability was still put onto the stack (and you can't get rid of it unless you have a way to counter an activated ability), and it will still be sacrificed, even though it is no longer the target of the lightning bolt.

Ah yes, that makes sense. I forgot that the sacrificing is the result of an activated ability, which itself would also go on the stack. So I guess Spellskites don't save them after all, hm.

Thanks for the input!