Triggered ability

Example

• Drekavac says "When Drekavac comes into play, sacrifice it unless you discard a noncreature card." The trigger event is when Drekavac enters the in-play zone, by whatever means. As soon as it does, this ability triggers and goes on the stack. When it resolves, you must discard or sacrifice the Drekavac.

Example

• Wild Growth says "Whenever enchanted land is tapped for mana, its controller adds to his or her mana pool." Any time the enchanted land's mana ability is activated, Wild Growth will add its own mana at the same time, without the player needing to pass priority.

Example

• Ignorant Bliss says "Remove all cards in your hand from the game face down. At end of turn, return those cards to your hand, then draw a card." The delayed triggered effect waits until the next end of turn step, then goes on the stack. If it resolves, you return the removed cards to your hand and draw a new card. If it doesn't resolve, (such as being countered with Voidslime), those cards will remain removed from the game indefinitely, and you don't get to draw a card.

Example

• Nekrataal says "When Nekrataal comes into play, destroy target nonartifact, nonblack creature." If the only nonartifact, nonblack creatures in play are ones you control, you must choose one of them to be targeted by Nekrataal's ability. Only if there are only black and/or artifact creatures in play will Nekrataal's ability be taken off the stack.

Examples

• Flanking is a creature ability that triggers when the creature is blocked by one without flanking, giving the blocker -1/-1. Cavalry Master has flanking and says "Other creatures you control with flanking have flanking." If you have two Cavalry Masters and either one becomes blocked, it will trigger flanking twice - once for its own effect, and once again for the other Cavalry Master, for a net -2/-2 to its blockers.

• Genju of the Fields has an activated ability that turns an enchanted land into a creature and gives it "whenever this creature deals damage, you gain that much life." If this ability is activated three times, the enchanted land will be a creature with three instances of the life-gaining ability. If it then deals 2 damage, each of those three abilities will trigger, each will see that 2 damage was dealt, and each will give 2 damage to its controller, for a total gain of 6 life.

• 404. Triggered Abilities
  • 404.1. A triggered ability begins with the word “when,” “whenever,” or “at.” The phrase containing one of these words is the trigger condition, which defines the trigger event.
  • 404.2. Triggered abilities aren’t played. Instead, a triggered ability automatically “triggers” each time its trigger event occurs. Once an ability has triggered, it goes on the stack the next time a player would receive priority. See rule 408.1, “Timing, Priority, and the Stack,” and rule 410, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”
  • 404.3. A triggered ability may read “When/Whenever/At . . . , if [condition], [effect].” The ability checks for the stated condition to be true when the trigger event occurs. If it is, the ability triggers. On resolution, the ability rechecks the condition. If the condition isn’t true at either of those times, the ability does nothing. This rule is referred to as the “intervening ‘if’ clause” rule. Note that the word “if” has only its normal English meaning anywhere else in the text of a card; this rule only applies to an “if” that immediately follows a trigger condition.
  • 404.4. An effect may create a delayed triggered ability that can do something at a later time. A delayed triggered ability will contain “when,” “whenever,” or “at,” although that word won’t usually begin the ability.
    • 404.4a Delayed triggered abilities come from spells or other abilities that create them on resolution. That means a delayed triggered ability won’t trigger until it has actually been created, even if its trigger event occurred just beforehand. Other events that happen earlier may make the trigger event impossible.
      • Example
        Part of an effect reads “When this creature leaves play,” but the creature in question leaves play before the spell or ability creating the effect resolves. In this case, the delayed ability never triggers.
      • Example
        If an effect reads “When this creature becomes untapped” and the named creature becomes untapped before the effect resolves, the ability waits for the next time that creature untaps.
    • 404.4b A delayed triggered ability will trigger only once—the next time its trigger event occurs—unless it has a stated duration, such as “this turn.”
    • 404.4c A delayed triggered ability that refers to a particular object still affects it even if the object changes characteristics.
      • Example
        An ability that reads “Destroy that creature at end of turn” will destroy the permanent even if it’s no longer a creature during the end of turn step.
    • 404.4d A delayed triggered ability that refers to a particular permanent will fail if the permanent leaves play (even if it returns again before the specified time). Similarly, abilities that create a one-shot effect that applies to an object in a particular zone will fail if the object leaves that zone.
      • Example
        An ability that reads “Remove this creature from the game at end of turn” won’t do anything if the creature leaves play before the end of turn step.
    • 404.5. Some objects have a static ability that’s linked to a triggered ability. These objects combine both abilities into one paragraph, with the static ability first, followed by the triggered ability. A very few objects have triggered abilities which are written with the trigger condition in the middle of the ability, rather than at the beginning.
      • Example
        An ability that reads “Reveal the first card you draw each turn. Whenever you reveal a basic land card this way, draw a card” is a static ability linked to a triggered ability.
      • Example
        An ability that reads “The controller of enchanted creature sacrifices it at the end of his or her turn” is a triggered ability.

• 410. Handling Triggered Abilities
  • 410.1. Because they aren’t played, triggered abilities can trigger even when it isn’t legal to play spells and abilities, and effects that prevent abilities from being played don’t affect them.
  • 410.2. Whenever a game event or game state matches a triggered ability’s trigger event, that ability triggers. When a phase or step begins, all abilities that trigger “at the beginning of” that phase or step trigger. The ability doesn’t do anything when it triggers but automatically puts the ability on the stack as soon as a player would receive priority. The ability is controlled by the player who controlled its source at the time it triggered. It has the text of the ability that created it, and no other characteristics.
  • 410.3. If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order, puts triggered abilities he or she controls on the stack in any order he or she chooses. (See rule 103.4.) Then players once again check for and resolve state-based effects until none are generated, then abilities that triggered during this process go on the stack. This process repeats until no new state-based effects are generated and no abilities trigger. Then the appropriate player gets priority.
  • 410.4. When a triggered ability goes on the stack, the controller of the ability makes any choices that would be required while playing an activated ability, following the same procedure (see rule 409, “Playing Spells and Activated Abilities”). 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.
    • 410.4.a If a triggered ability is modal (that is, it uses the phrase “Choose one —” or “[specified player] chooses one —”), its controller announces the mode choice when he or she puts the ability on the stack. If one of the modes would be illegal to play (due to an inability to choose legal targets, for example), that mode can’t be chosen. If no mode can be chosen, the ability is removed from the stack.
  • 410.5. Some triggered abilities’ effects are optional (they contain “may,” as in “At the beginning of your upkeep, you may draw a card”). These abilities go on the stack when they trigger, regardless of whether their controller intends to exercise the ability’s option or not. The choice is made when the ability resolves. Likewise, triggered abilities that have an effect “unless” something is true or a player chooses to do something will go on the stack normally; the “unless” part of the ability is dealt with when the ability resolves.
  • 410.6. An ability triggers only once each time its trigger event occurs. However, it can trigger repeatedly if one event contains multiple occurrences. See also rule 410.9.
    • Example
      A permanent has an ability whose trigger condition reads, “Whenever a land is put into a graveyard from play, . . . .” If someone plays a spell that destroys all lands, the ability will trigger once for each land put into the graveyard during the spell’s resolution.
  • 410.7. An ability triggers only if its trigger event actually occurs. An event that’s prevented or replaced won’t trigger anything.
    • Example
      An ability that triggers on damage being dealt won’t trigger if all the damage is prevented.
  • 410.8. Triggered abilities with a condition directly following the trigger event (for example, “When/Whenever/At [trigger], if [condition], [effect]”), check for the condition to be true as part of the trigger event; if it isn’t, the ability doesn’t trigger. The ability checks the condition again on resolution. If it’s not satisfied, the ability does nothing. Note that this mirrors the check for legal targets. Note that this rule doesn’t apply to any triggered ability with an “if” condition elsewhere within its text. This rule is referred to as the “intervening ‘if’ clause” rule.
  • 410.9. Some abilities trigger when creatures block or are blocked in combat. (See rules 306–311 and rule 500, “Legal Attacks and Blocks.”) They may trigger once or repeatedly, depending on the wording of the ability.
    • 410.9a An ability that reads “Whenever [this creature] blocks,” or “Whenever [this creature] becomes blocked,” triggers only once each combat for that creature, even if it blocks or is blocked by multiple creatures. An effect that causes the creature to become blocked (if the creature wasn’t already blocked) will also trigger such abilities.
    • 410.9b An ability that reads “Whenever [this creature] blocks a creature” triggers once for each attacking creature the named creature blocks.
    • 410.9c An ability that reads “Whenever a creature blocks [this creature]” triggers once for each creature that blocks the named creature. It doesn’t trigger if the attacking creature becomes blocked by an effect rather than a blocking creature.
    • 410.9d If an ability triggers when a creature blocks or is blocked by a particular number of creatures, the ability triggers if the creature blocks or is blocked by that many creatures when the attack or block declaration is made. Effects that add or remove blockers can cause such abilities to trigger. This also applies to abilities that trigger on a creature blocking or being blocked by at least a certain number of creatures.
  • 410.10. Trigger events that involve objects changing zones are called “zone-change triggers.” Many abilities with zone-change triggers attempt to do something to that object after it changes zones. During resolution, these abilities look for the object in the zone that it moved to. If the object is unable to be found in the zone it went to, the part of the ability attempting to do something to the object will fail to do anything. The ability could be unable to find the object because the object never entered the specified zone, because it left the zone before the ability resolved, or because it is in a zone that is hidden from a player, such as a library or an opponent’s hand. (This rule applies even if the object leaves the zone and returns again before the ability resolves.) The most common types of zone-change triggers are comes-into-play triggers and leaves-play triggers.
    • 410.10a Comes-into-play abilities trigger when a permanent enters the in-play zone. These are written, “When [this card] comes into play, . . . “ or “Whenever a [type] comes into play, . . .” Each time an event puts one or more permanents into play, all permanents in play (including the newcomers) are checked for any comes-into-play triggers that match the event.
    • 410.10b Continuous effects that modify characteristics of a permanent do so the moment the permanent is in play (and not before then). The permanent is never in play with its unmodified characteristics. Continuous effects don’t apply before the permanent is in play, however (see rule 410.10e).
      • Example
        If an effect reads “All lands are creatures” and a land card is played, the effect makes the land card into a creature the moment it enters play, so it would trigger abilities that trigger when a creature comes into play. Conversely, if an effect reads “All creatures lose all abilities” and a creature card with a comes-into-play triggered ability enters play, that effect will cause it to lose its abilities the moment it enters play, so the comes-into-play ability won’t trigger.
    • 410.10c Leaves-play abilities trigger when a permanent leaves the in-play zone. These are written as, but aren’t limited to, “When [this object] leaves play, . . .” or “Whenever [something] is put into a graveyard from play, . . . .” An ability that attempts to do something to the card that left play checks for it only in the first zone that it went to.
    • 410.10d Abilities that trigger on one or more permanents leaving play, or on a player losing control of a permanent, must be treated specially because the permanent with the ability may no longer be in play after the event. The game has to “look back in time” to determine what triggered. Each time an event removes from play or changes who controls one or more permanents, all the permanents in play just before the event (with continuous effects that existed at that time) are checked for trigger events that match what just left play or changed control. The same is true for cards with abilities that trigger when they leave a graveyard, as they may move to a zone that is hidden from a player.
      • Example
        Two creatures are in play along with an artifact that has the ability “Whenever a creature is put into a graveyard from play, you gain 1 life.” Someone plays a spell that destroys all artifacts, creatures, and enchantments. The artifact’s ability triggers twice, even though the artifact goes to its owner’s graveyard at the same time as the creatures.
    • 410.10e Some permanents have text that reads “[This permanent] comes into play with . . . ,” “As [this permanent] comes into play . . . ,” “[This permanent] comes into play as . . . ,” or “[This permanent] comes into play tapped.” Such text is a static ability—not a triggered ability—whose effect occurs as part of the event that puts the permanent into play.
    • 410.10f Some Auras have triggered abilities that trigger on the enchanted permanent leaving play. These triggered abilities can track the Aura to its owner’s graveyard in addition to tracking the enchanted permanent to whatever zone it moved to.
  • 410.11. Some triggered abilities trigger on a game state, such as a player controlling no permanents of a particular type, rather than triggering when an event occurs. These abilities trigger as soon as the game state matches the condition. They’ll go onto the stack at the next available opportunity. These are called state triggers. (Note that state triggers aren’t the same as state-based effects.) A state-triggered ability doesn’t trigger again until the ability has resolved, has been countered, or has otherwise left the stack. Then, if the object with the ability is still in the same zone and the game state still matches its trigger condition, the ability will trigger again.
    • Example
      A permanent’s ability reads, “Whenever you have no cards in hand, draw a card.” If its controller plays the last card from his or her hand, the ability will trigger once and won’t trigger again until it has resolved. If its controller plays a spell that reads “Discard your hand, then draw that many cards,” the ability will trigger during the spell’s resolution because the player’s hand was momentarily empty.
  • 410.12. Some triggered abilities trigger specifically when a player loses the game. These abilities trigger when a player loses or leaves the game, regardless of the reason: Due to a state-based effect, a spell or ability, a concession, or a Game Loss awarded by a judge in a tournament. See rule 102.3.