If Garruk is lightning bolted after he resolves, can I use his +1 ability as an interrupt to save him?
Asked by mufficity 14 years ago
I played Garruk and my friend I was playing against bolted him. Can I use his +1 to leave him at one after both resolve or will he be destroyed?
Ok, Rewind a second, and think about it this way.
Plainswalker ability need to trigger at Sorcery Speed.
When you cast a plainswalker, in this case, Garruk, if your opponent does not counter the plainswalker it resolves and hits the battlefield.
When this happens, you become the player with active priority and as such, you can announce the activation of his first ability to untap 2 lands. The cost of this activation of the ability is to add 1 loyalty counter, therefore, you get to do this before your opponent can even begin casting Lightning Bolt .
The cost of the spell or ability needs to be met before the spell/ability can be cast.
Much like mana tapping for a spell or ability.
So as long as you don't say "Entering my attack step" or "Turn" or play another spell or effect first, you can sit and think about which ability of the plainswalker you'd like to trigger and your oponent can NOT cast a spell in response until he or she receive priority to do so.
And they get priority usually when you place something on the stack (play spell or ability) or when you are passing a phase of your turn. I.E end of first main phase.
So to answer your question, If you have just played Garruk Wildspeaker then you can activate the +1 ability to untap 2 lands, and save Garruk from being bolted.
BUT if you do something else, then your opponent can kill Garruk Wildspeaker
October 9, 2010 3:13 p.m.
@blueclay: Yes and no. Yes, it would go on the stack and resolve before the untap 2 lands ability. But adding 1 counter to Garruk is the cost to activate the ability. So you put one counter onto garruk in order to put the untap ability on the stack, meaning that garruk gains 1 counter before the ability is stacked, therefore he's already up to 4 counters before the opponent gets the chance to respond by bolting Garruk.
And interrupt... man, thats some archaic phrasing.
October 10, 2010 2:32 p.m.
Couldn't your opponent cast Lightning Bolt in response to Garruk entering the battlefield?
SocialistElite says... #1
He will be destroyed. You can only use Planeswalker abilities as sorceries.
October 9, 2010 2:40 p.m.