what can I respond to in magic?
Printable View
what can I respond to in magic?
You can respond to creatures being played spells being played, the question really is about when you have priority to do so.
Seba and Arix can better explain this than me.
*still hate the term respond* *grummel*
you can respond any time there is any object on the stack and you have priority.
There are three things that use the stack:
1. Spells (any card being played that isn't a land).
2. Activated non-mana abilities (any ability written in the form of "COST: EFFECT", that doesn't produce mana).
3. Triggered non-mana abilities (any ability that begins with the word "at", "when", or "whenever", that doesn't trigger off another mana ability and produce more mana).
Anything else - declaring attackers/blockers, drawing a card at the start of your turn, untapping at the start of your turn, taking a special action like playing a land or turning a face-down creature face-up, and so on - doesn't use the stack and can't be responded to.
of corse some of the things that do not use the stack may have a triggered ability that is triggered when that particular non-stack action happens. that trigger will use the stack like any other. e.g. you have a creature with morph that says "when this creature is tured face up do xy" the turning face up will still not use the stack but the trigger when its turned face up will.
Yes, true. I've had a lot of questions about whether you can respond to landfall triggers, since you can't respond to land being played. The best way I can answer them is "Playing a land doesn't use the stack, but the landfall triggers themselves do".