![]() Basically, the way that spells resolve in Magic has no basis in reality. ![]() This is where many players get tripped up initially. Magic is less like this than you thought.But wait, wasn’t Lightning Bolt played first? Shouldn’t it resolve first since Player B played it first and therefore was faster? No. So, Giant Growth resolves and Flying Men become a staggering 4/4. So, the rule is: when both players decide that they don’t want to do anything, the spell on top of the stack resolves and only the spell on top of the stack resolves. Both players decide that they don’t want to do anything else right now. The stack now looks like this:Īgain, Giant Growth, like Lightning Bolt earlier, does not resolve immediately both players have to have the opportunity to play a spell if they want to before a spell can resolve. So, Giant Growth goes on top of Lightning Bolt on the stack. The expression for this would be “Player A is playing Giant Growth in response to Lightning Bolt. After Player B played his Lightning Bolt, Player A played his Giant Growth. So, Lightning Bolt stays on the stack for now. Instead, both players have to say “I won’t want to do anything right now” before a spell resolves (I’ll address the technical points of this in a moment). Lightning Bolt has to sit there for a moment because a player still wants to do something. So, when Player B plays his Lightning Bolt, it goes on top of the stack (which was empty). Whenever a player plays a spell, that card goes on top of the stack. Player A doesn’t like this very much, so he plays Giant Growth “in response”, targeting Flying Men, hoping that he will save them. So, Player B plays his Lightning Bolt, targeting Flying Men. Player B would very much like to kill Flying Men. Player B has a Mountain in play and a Lightning Bolt in his hand. Let’s go through some examples and see how this thing works.Įxample #1: Player A has Flying Men and a Forest in play and a Giant Growth in his hand. In fact, this is a good way to keep track of what order things are happening and I encourage you to do it whenever things start getting complicated. ![]() The name comes from the actual stacking of the cards on the table. The stack is how the game of Magic decides and regulates when spells and abilities resolve (meaning, do their effect, such as a Lightning Bolt dealing its 3 damage). If players can understand the basics, the exceptions and peculiarities become much easier to pick up. I think the problem is that there are so many rules that it can sometimes be overwhelming. In this article, I will try to explain the stack and the priority system, starting with very simple rules and then moving on to more complex rules. However, there are a number of players, both new and old, that do not understand the subtleties of these two things. Practically every action in the game involves them, either directly or indirectly. Priority and the stack are two of the most important aspects of the rules of Magic. ![]()
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