Gaea's blessing and grindstone

[thefreakaccident]

This just came up in a game with one of my temmates... I have a grindstone out, milling him until infinity, he has boarded in a Gaea's blessing to quell my heresy... I looked up the oracles on both cards, and neither have a 'may' clause... so is there an infinite loop here, or does the blessing resolve after the grindstone has finished the milling...

I was unsure.

[Sanguine Voyeur]

The Grindstone will mill the library away. After the Grindstone's ability is done resolving, Blessing's trigger is put on the stack and the graveyard is shuffled back.

[Illissius]

Blessing is triggered, so the library gets milled and then shuffled back. However, Serra Avatar for example is a replacement effect, so that will loop forever. From what I've heard.

[AceofAllan]

Ok, this is me not understanding the rules and jumping into the middle of a conversation, so feel free to ignore me.

What happens in an infinite loop like that in a tournament atmosphere? Does it go to a draw or is there a crazy rule that determines a winner?

I'd imagine it's a draw...

[EDIT] By the way, this would also trigger for any of the elemental incarnations (http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/index.aspx?term=elemental%20incarnation&Field_Type=on&setfilter=All%20sets).

[EDIT AGAIN] Infinite loop does not happen from the elemental incarnations.

Will not go infinite from the Lorwyn Incarnations. They have triggered abilities that would be put on the stack after the milling just like Blessing.

[Sanguine Voyeur]

An infinite loop that cannot be stopped results in a draw. Note that if the loop can win you the game, it does.

[thefreakaccident]

So I was right; the blessing trigger will resolve after the grindstone has mill'd the library... OK, thanks guys!

[TrialByFire]

Will not go infinite from the Lorwyn Incarnations. They have triggered abilities that would be put on the stack after the milling just like Blessing.

[Versus]

Can't the Painter Deck player pop a Tormod's Crypt in response to GB on the stack and stop the loop, thus making the mill final, or am I making that up? I swore I saw that posted somewhere...

[Sanguine Voyeur]

You can remove the Blessing with Crypt. It will remove the entire library, so there will be nothing left to shuffle back into the library.

[TrialByFire]

Can't the Painter Deck player pop a Tormod's Crypt in response to GB on the stack and stop the loop, thus making the mill final, or am I making that up? I swore I saw that posted somewhere...

Yes, because the Blessing and the rest of their graveyard will still be there while the ability is on the stack. Then you remove their graveyard from the game and Blessing trigger shuffles nothing

[Locutus]

Also note that one Serra Avatar wouldn't cause a draw, since eventually the Serra Avatar would be the only card left in the Library, and then the Grindstone wouldn't see two cards of the same color milled, so it would stop with the avatar being shuffled back in the library..two avatars, two Darksteel Colossi or a mix of both however would cause the game to end in a draw.

[Opterown]

That's IF there's an odd number of cards...
Otherwise it's still infinite, correct?

[bigbear102]

No, one Serra Avatar/Colossus should end the loop with one card left in your deck no matter the number you start with. The last will will either be 2 of the same, with one being shuffled back, or 1 card, which would be the Avatar/Colossus and be shuffled back. Any 2 Avatars/Colossi would result in a draw. Any 1 will give you one turn to win/solve the problem of a 1 card library.

[Anusien]

One quick note that doesn't seem to be coming across in the thread as strongly as it should: No player gets priority during the resolution of Grindstone. The only reason Tormod's Crypt can stop Blessing is that Blessing is a triggered ability, and therefore does not do anything until Grindstone's ability itself has finished resolving. The replacement effects like Darksteel Colossus replace being put into the graveyard, and will function during the resolution of Grindstone's ability.

[Illissius]

And, of course, Darksteel Colossus and Legacy Weapon only result in a loop if there's a Painter's Servant in play.