Does Walking Ballista instantly die after Collected Company?
Asked by Vandoren4 3 months ago
I have a rules question that I can't find online. I'm not very good with rules, so I apologize if it's super obvious. let's say I have infinite mana and cast Collected Company and one of the top six cards is a Walking Ballista. can I bring the Walking Ballista into play from the Collected Company with 0 counters, and then activate it's 4 mana ability to give it a counter? does it instantly die or can I activate the ability an infinite number of times before? I'm assuming that it instantly dies, but I'm not 100% sure. Thanks!
thanks! that's what I thought, I just wasn't exactly sure the order that things happened so I didn't know.
August 1, 2024 12:32 p.m.
hey, I have a similar question now. If I were to cast Finale of Devastation for x=10, could I find Walking Ballista and give it +10/+10? this feels like it should work because it's part of the spell, not a separate ability. am I wrong?
August 1, 2024 12:39 p.m.
It does work, yes. State Based Actions are only checked after the spell fully resolves, so Walking Ballista will enter the battlefield as a 0/0, then get +10/+10 (and haste) before any State Based Actions are checked.
Neotrup says... #1
TL;DR - No.
In order to activate an ability a player needs to have priority. After a spell or ability resolves, first State Based Actions are checked, then triggered abilities waiting to be put onto the stack are added to the stack (in APNAP order), then the active player is given priority. Putting a creature with 0 toughness into the graveyard is a State Based Action, so it's the first thing that will happen after Collected Company resolves. This also means that you cannot use a triggered ability to save it, so finding Walking Ballista and Bond Beetle with your Collected Company would still result in the Walking Ballista dying.
August 1, 2024 12:30 p.m.