Chain of Vapor

[Parcher]

Playing Aluren has given rise to several new rules questions for me.

Here is one. I have Aluren, a Raven Familiar, and a Cavern Harpy in play, and am at one life.

I cast Chain of Vapor targeting Harpy. I let it resolve, then sac a land to place another copy on the stack targeting Familiar. In response, I cast Harpy.

What are the options at this point?

I'm assming I can place the gate trigger on the stack, and let Chain resolve, bouncing Familiar. Can I then, with the gate trigger still unresolved, re-cast Familiar, let it's CIP resolve, then return it via the Harpy trigger?

At what point during this may I add a copy of Chain again to the stack?

[Cait_Sith]

When Chain of Vapor resolves you have to choose THEN if you want to make another copy. After the Chain resolved the second time it became too late. If the Second Chain hadn't resolved yet, then on resolution you could sacrifice a land to copy it, but you would have to choose a copy then and make sure what ever was copied did not get bounced until the Chain resolved.

[Lego]

It seems like you misunderstand the stack here. Keep in mind that you don't get to choose how things resolve once they're placed on the stack, they simply resolve in the order in which they were placed. I know, I voted for "Pedro, Salsa Master" too. Let me see if I can explain it.

Aluren, Cavern Harpy, Raven Familiar in play, you cast Chain of Vapor targetting Cavern Harpy. Chain of Vapor resolves, Cavern Harpy returns to hand, and during the resolution you sac a land, copying the spell, declaring Raven Familiar as your target. With the copy on the stack, you play Cavern Harpy, and that resolves. Harpy's CIP ability triggers, and goes on the stack. Your stack is now (the top of the stack will resolve first):

BOTTOM
Chain of Vapor targetting Raven Familiar
Return a blue or black creature you control to its owner's hand
TOP

When the CIP ability resolves, you must choose a creature to return to your hand. If you return Raven Familiar, the game loses track of him, and Chain of Vapor will eventually be countered upon resolution, meaning you can't copy it. If you return Cavern Harpy, you're back to where you started. Best case, you keep Cavern Harpy in hand, let the Chain resolve bouncing Raven Familiar, play Familiar for a card, play Harpy bouncing Familiar, play Familiar for a card. Two cards, assuming irrelevant draws.

In this case it would have been better to Chain the Raven Familiar, and copy it targetting the Harpy. With the Chain of Vapor copy on the stack targetting Harpy, replay Raven Familiar, draw a card. Let the Chain resolve bouncing Cavern Harpy, copy it targetting Raven Familiar. Let this copy resolve, don't copy it, replay Raven Familiar, draw a card. Play Cavern Harpy, bouncing Raven Familiar, draw a card. Three cards, assuming irrelevant draws.

[Parcher]

Thanks for the last paragraph. That's exactly what I was looking for. There's a lot to these Aluren interactions I'm still learning.

No thanks for the condecending opening remark though.

[Lego]

No thanks for the condecending opening remark though.

It wasn't supposed to be condescending at all. It really did seem like you misunderstood the stack. You assumed you could put the gate trigger on the top of the stack, and then let something underneath it resolve. I was simply explaining the "First In, Last Out" nature of the stack. Sorry that it came off as condescending.