0

I am playing an Edgar Markov deck with plenty of 1/1 tokens and an Indulgent Aristocrat on the field.

Indulgent Aristocrat has the ability

{2}, sacrifice a creature: put a +1/+1 counter on each vampire you control.

My opponent is playing the Enhanced Evolution precon, and casts Chittering Harvester for its mutate cost. Chittering Harvester has

whenever this creature mutates, each opponent sacrifices a creature

My question is this: Can I choose to sacrifice a 1/1 token to Chittering Harvester, and then, before resolution, activate Indulgent Aristocrat's ability hitting the same token?

Philip Kendall
  • 10,648
  • 1
  • 35
  • 56
Bob
  • 9
  • 2

1 Answers1

2

No, you cannot.

You sacrifice once as a cost (cost for the activated ability of the Indulgent Aristocrat) and once as an effect (triggered ability from Chittering Harvester), but in both cases you have to choose a creature existing on your battlefield right in that moment. And "after that moment" (formally: after the cost is paid or after the effect has resolved), the creature is already sacrificed.

One scenario could be that you have only one creature and your opponent mutates something onto the Chittering Harvester. Now its trigger goes on the stack, but then you can at least respond to that and sacrifice your one creature to the Indulgent Aristocrat and after that you do not have a creature anymore which you need to sacrifice to the Harvester trigger. With most effects that make you sacrifice, this just means that you do not have to sacrifice anything.

fxm
  • 598
  • 4
  • 10
  • Sorry for not replying to you directly, but I don't know how to use this site. I understand I can't use one creature to pay the sacrifice cost of two abilities, because it gets sacrificed as the ability goes on The stack. But I can't have an effect cause me to sacrifice a creature, choose a creature, and then activate a sacrifice ability choosing the same creature? Magic lets you do a lot of funky things, but I'd be surprised if that's not on the list. – Bob Nov 02 '21 at 12:00
  • @Bob No. You could do that with something like Magus of the Abyss, because it targets the creature affected – targets are specified in advance, at the time the ability goes on the stack. However, for something like Chittering Harvester, there is no target. You only choose the creature to be sacrificed while the ability is resolving, and it is sacrificed right away; you do not have priority to activate other abilities while the Chittering Harvester's ability is resolving. – m90 Nov 02 '21 at 12:58
  • 1
    Oooh, okay, thank you. One of the most confusing concepts to me is the relationship between the stack and priority. Guess I have to do a little more reading. You've been incredibly helpful though, so thank you both! – Bob Nov 02 '21 at 16:56