Modular, Wrath of God, Manlands

[ParkerLewis]

I have an Arcbound Ravager and a (non activated) Blinkmoth Nexus.

My opponent plays Supreme Verdict.

My understanding is that :

- Supreme Verdict destroys Ravager
- Modular triggers
- With Modular trigger on the stack, I can animate Blinkmoth Nexus
- Let the modular trigger resolve and move all the +1/+1 counters to Blinkmoth Nexus
(And Blinkmoth Nexus survives because Supreme Verdict is already resolved at this point)

Is that all right ?

[H]

You are correct. The Supreme Verdict happens, Modular will trigger and be placed on the stack. In response to the trigger you activate the land. And finish resolving the Modular.

A good rule of thumb to remember, in general once something starts to resolve it will finish before any triggers or new abilities are placed on the stack.

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But for the Modular trigger to go the stack, it needs a valid target. In the case above, there is no legal target when Modular goes on the stack, so activating the Blinkmoth after the Ravager is dead isn't going to work.

Relevant rule:

603.3d The remainder of the process for putting a triggered ability on the stack is identical to the process for casting a spell listed in rules 601.2c–d. If a choice is required when the triggered ability goes on the stack but no legal choices can be made for it, or if a rule or a continuous effect otherwise makes the ability illegal, the ability is simply removed from the stack.

[kombatkiwi]

'H' is right, as per the rule he cited.

If you could power up a Nexus in this way it would mean that you would select targets for triggered abilities when those abilities are resolving, and not when those abilities were placed on the stack. Therefore once the target was selected nobody would be able to respond and the ability would resolve.

There are plenty of familiar staple cards that obviously do not work like this e.g. Flickerwisp and Snapcaster,

[cdr]

Sorry missed this thread earlier. As noted, you need a valid target for triggered abilities when they go on the stack, before anyone has priority.

[H]

'H' is right, as per the rule he cited.

If you could power up a Nexus in this way it would mean that you would select targets for triggered abilities when those abilities are resolving, and not when those abilities were placed on the stack. Therefore once the target was selected nobody would be able to respond and the ability would resolve.

There are plenty of familiar staple cards that obviously do not work like this e.g. Flickerwisp and Snapcaster,

Indeed, consider your example: you can't cast Snapcaster Mage, have it resolve, put the trigger on the stack, then cast a spell, have it resolve, then have the Snacaster's trigger target that spell.

It's important to almost always consider adding a trigger to the stack just like adding a spell to the stack, in basically every case (that I can imagine off the top of my head). You can't add a spell to the stack without it having a legal target and in the same way you can't add a trigger to the stack without it having a legal target.

EDIT:

Sorry missed this thread earlier. As noted, you need a valid target for triggered abilities when they go on the stack, before anyone has priority.

Thanks for confirmation,