can you cast silence in responce to a spell being cast?

Asked by withoutdoubtlongestusernamever 13 years ago

lets say a person plays a baneslayer angel and you say, "in response,i will play silence" question A. Does the Baneslayer angel resolve. B. If not, does he go into the graveyard (this makes silence extremely broken.) C. does silence work for all spells. D. Can u cast silence in response to them tapping for mana but before they cast the spell so they just added mana to their pool but cant spend it.

xeratheenigma says... Accepted answer #1

A): yes Baneslayer Angel will resolve because it was already cast before Silence .

B): N/A

C): yes it works against any spells

D): no you cant because tapping lands for mana doesnt use the stack so they can get off at least one spell before you silence them.

also they can play some spells in response to you casting silence

January 2, 2011 1:08 p.m.

keithroule says... #2

if u cast Silence in response to Baneslayer Angel being cast then the angel would resolve because its not a question of which one resolves first its a question of which one was cast first

January 2, 2011 1:12 p.m.

MagnorCriol says... #3

The key here is the specific verbage used on Silence .

"Your opponents can't cast spells this turn. (Spells cast before this resolves are unaffected.)"

First thing, the reminder text actually answers your question, though you have to know that it's talking about the stack to catch that. When a spell is cast, it goes on the stack; when it resolves, it's removed from the stack and either placed on the battlefield (in the case of a permanent) or has its effect (in the case of an instant/sorcery).

So if you cast Silence in response to Baneslayer Angel , you won't get the effect you're hoping for because the Bankslayer will have already been cast before Silence resolves. Once you cast Silence, though, they won't be able to cast anything else this turn.

This answers A & B. The answer to C is that yes, it blocks all spells, though note that playing your land for the turn isn't a spell.

As for D, paying the mana is part of the cost, and costs can't be responded to. Once an opponent starts tapping mana for a spell there's nothing you can do to stop that spell from being cast and going on the stack. There's plenty of options to stop it resolving, but priority doesn't change (i.e. you don't get to cast spells) until they're done paying costs and putting a spell on the stack.

January 2, 2011 2:15 p.m.

saith17 says... #4

Best time to cast silence is during their upkeep. Can't even play that Instant they might have drawn.

Now feel free to win on the following turn. IF not, I hope the mild delay was worth the slot in your deck.

Try Isochron Scepter and card:Orim's Chant next time.

January 3, 2011 4:35 a.m.

This discussion has been closed