Illicit Auction bidding rules

Asked by builderboy7 2 weeks ago

I cast Illicit Auction targeting my opponent's Grizzly Bear with both of us having 20 life while my opponent controls a Phyrexian Unlife, if they decided to overbid their life total and say they bid 1000 life, would they lose 1000 life and wind up at -980 and no poison counters?

Neotrup says... Accepted answer #1

Yes, they can do that.

From Gatherer: 10/4/2004 This is a life loss and not a life payment so you can bid more life than you have.

Regarding Phyrexian Unlife there are a couple other things going on here. First is that Illicit Auction causes loss of life rather than dealing damage. That means even if their life total was already 0 or less they could still bid 1000 life without worrying about poison, since only damage will cause them to receive poison counters.

If something were to cause your opponent to take 1000 damage all at once (such as a massive attack or very large Fireball) they would go to -980 with no poison counters due to all the damage being dealt while they had more than 0 life.

From Gatherer: 6/1/2011 Phyrexian Unlife won't affect damage that reduces your life total from a positive number to 0 or less. For example, if you're at 3 life and are dealt 5 damage, you'll end up at -2 life. The next time you're dealt damage, it will be dealt as though its source had infect.

December 30, 2024 11:08 a.m.