Krosan Gripping an SDT

[Frenger]

So I'm playing FT, and I just cast doomsday with a top in play.

I tap my top to draw a card and my opponent responds by gripping the top. Does the top go back to my library since it's part of the effect, or what? What happens to the top in this situation?

[Finn]

Tap: Draw a card, then put Sensei's Divining Top on top of its owner's library.

The top will try to do as much as possible. So you get the card and then as per Krosan Grip, the top is destroyed. And then you win because your opponent is a buffoon and let you get your Meditate. He should have Gripped it before you activated it. I speak from personal experience here.

[cdr]

Finn is not quite correct; "as much as possible" is 416.3, which is only applicable to an effect trying to do more of something than it can, like causing two cards to be discarded when there's only one in hand.

The reason it remains in your graveyard is that when something changes zones, almost everything that knew about it loses track of it.

So you'll draw the card and then the second part will do nothing since as far as the effect is concerned, Top ceased to exist.


217. Zones

217.1c. An object that moves from one zone to another is treated as a new object. Effects connected with its previous location will no longer affect it.

There are five exceptions to this rule: (1) Effects from spells, activated abilities, and triggered abilities that change the characteristics of an artifact, creature, enchantment, or planeswalker spell on the stack will continue to apply to the permanent that spell creates. (2) Abilities that trigger when an object moves from one zone to another (for example, "When Rancor is put into a graveyard from play") can find the object in the zone it moved to when the ability triggered. (3) Abilities of Auras that trigger when the enchanted permanent leaves play can find that permanent in the zone it moved to and can also find the Aura in its owner's graveyard after state-based effects have been checked. (4) Prevention effects that apply to damage from an artifact, creature, enchantment, or planeswalker spell on the stack will continue to apply to damage from the permanent that spell becomes. (5) Permanents that phase out or in "remember" their earlier states. See rule 217.8c.


Sensei's Divining Top 1
Artifact
1: Look at the top three cards of your library, then put them back in any order.
T: Draw a card, then put Sensei's Divining Top on top of its owner's library.

[Finn]

Darnit. I suppose I should have known that the actual words "as much as posible" had been co-opted.

It's Nihil's fault.