Can Goblin Welder Bring Tokens Back From The Graveyard Before They Cease To Exist?

Asked by bjgivesbj 1 day ago

Okay, I feel like the answer is “no,” but am unsure.

So, say I have Kibo, Uktabi Prince on the battlefield, and I have already used his ability twice, giving an opponent two bananas. While Goblin Welder is on the battlefield under my control, the opponent sacrifices only one banana. As the token hits the graveyard, could I tap Goblin Welder to return that token to the battlefield and make the opponent sacrifice the remaining untapped banana?

Why would I even want to exchange tokens? Shenanigans I guess. Also, it would trigger Kibo’s triggered ability twice, since two tokens will have gone to the graveyard.

Any morsel of knowledge helps

Thanks!

MollyMab says... Accepted answer #1

No, you could not. Tokens would cease to exist as a state based effect and you can not activate the tap before state based effects are checked and happen

March 2, 2025 9:58 a.m.

Polaris says... #2

To expand on that a bit, tokens can only be on the battlefield. They can go to other zones, but state-based actions are checked after each game event.

When the token goes to the graveyard, it will trigger any abilities that care about that permanent dying (these triggers won't go on the stack yet), and then before players can do anything, state-based actions will be checked, see that a token is in a zone other than the battlefield, and delete it from existence.

Only at this point will the death triggers go on the stack and/or players get priority to cast spells and activate abilities.

March 2, 2025 6:54 p.m.

bjgivesbj says... #3

Thank you so much!

March 3, 2025 8:16 a.m.

Rhadamanthus says... #4

bjgivesbj: Since it's clear you got a satisfactory answer to your question and there don't seem to be any follow-ups or corrections that need to be made, I marked one of the responses as the "Accepted answer" so this topic can move out of the list of unanswered questions. In the future you can take care of this yourself using the "Mark as Answer" button on the response that you feel is the most helpful answer to your question.

There's another important point stopping this from working: Goblin Welder's second target is an "artifact card" in the graveyard. Tokens are never considered to be cards, even if the physical object you're using to represent them is card-like. So even if you did have a chance to respond before the token ceased to exist, you wouldn't be able to target it with the Welder's ability.

March 3, 2025 9:17 a.m.