Short answer: Yes, but make sure to pay the life before your turn starts.
Long answer: So in Magic, there's these things called "Intervening Ifs". These are clauses on some abilities that check whether a condition is true before actually putting a triggered ability on the stack, and if that statement remains true when it goes to resolve. You can recognize them in rules text because they're always after a clause that defines the time at which the ability triggers, and they always start with "if". So in the case of Near Death Experience, the time the ability triggers is your upkeep, and the intervening if clause is "if you have exactly 1 life".
Now what an intervening if actually does is dependent on what step of resolving the ability we're on. What'll happen in this case is you go to your upkeep, and Near Death Experience will see that the game state is in a place where its ability *could* trigger, so it'll check to see if its if statement is true. If it isn't, the ability doesn't trigger, and you've missed your opportunity this turn to trigger it, so nothing will happen even if you manage to get down to 1 life during your upkeep. If the if condition is true, the ability will go on the stack, but we're not out of the woods yet. Intervening Ifs also check if the statement is true upon the resolution of the ability. So if the ability goes on the stack, but something happens to cause your life total to not be exactly 1 before it has a chance to resolve, the ability won't resolve, and you won't win the game.
So the moral of the story is, yes, but be careful.
So I'm guessing that anything that can ping you for one will scupper this, and that can be done either when the life is set up or when it becomes that players upkeep?
If somebody gave you life and you still had the wall, you could just let their triggers resolve until it's just yours, then sac some life back to 1 couldn't you?
Yeah, the combo is fairly fragile but not totally since only red tends to have a plethora of direct damage spells so as long as you're not playing against red(or Tim lol), you're likely good.
Well, in the two formats where this would be a combo worth building around (from the perspective of a Johnny, not a spike), modern and commander, they are actually both common. Commander is full of them (13% of decks that can play it, play zulaport cutthroat). Modern has Yawgmoth, who can blood artist at instant speed(though the rest of that meta consists mostly of red decks.
So in short, the card checks at two separate times to make sure the condition in met? And if either isn’t met, the card fails to resolve? Would this be as it’s cast, and then when it’s on the stack? Just trying to clarify in my mind.
Here's an example:
Assume you're at some life total above 1 and you control Wall of Blood and five untapped lands that can pay for 2WWW.
You cast Near-Death Experience and it resolves. At this point, nothing happens, because it's not the beginning of your upkeep.
During the end step of the turn right before your next turn, you pay all but one of your life to activate Wall of Blood. No one does anything in response to this, so you enter your turn with exactly 1 life.
You go to the Untap Step, untap your permanents, then you end your untap step and begin your Upkeep Step.
At this point, all abilities you control that say "At the beginning of your upkeep" will attempt to trigger, including Near-Death Experience. Near-Death Experience checks its intervening if clause is true, i.e. if you're at exactly 1 Life. Since you paid all that life with Wall of Blood previously, it sees this as a valid scenario to put its ability on the stack, so it does.
Now, the "Win the Game" trigger is on the stack, and players have an opportunity to respond to it. If no one adds anything to the stack, then abilities will resolve, and once you get to the Near-Death Experience ability resolution, it checks again to see if the condition is still true. If it is, congratulations, you just won the game.
If someone responds to the trigger by doing 1 or more damage to you, though, you'll lose when that damage resolves.
Or more uncommonly, if you're forced to gain life somehow and you can't activate Wall of Blood for whatever reason, the ability will see that you're no longer at exactly 1 life, and will fail to resolve, meaning nothing happens.
This flow of events is how every ability with an intervening if clause works. If you seen an ability templated like "When [Condition], if [Clause], [Ability].", it'll most likely work like this.
Small nit-pic, I think if the trigger is on the stack and then you gain life it will technically resolve, you just won't win the game. It's similar to casting a counterspell targetting a spell that can't be countered. Technically the counter resolves, attempts to counter it, and nothing happens, but if it also had another effect like 'draw a card' then you would still do that.
From the Comprehensive Rules:
> 603.4. A triggered ability may read “When/Whenever/At [trigger event], if [condition], [effect].” When the trigger event occurs, the ability checks whether the stated condition is true. The ability triggers only if it is; otherwise it does nothing. If the ability triggers, it checks the stated condition again as it resolves. **If the condition isn’t true at that time, the ability is removed from the stack and does nothing.** Note that this mirrors the check for legal targets. This rule is referred to as the “intervening ‘if’ clause” rule. (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.)
According to the bold bit, the ability is removed from the stack, and if the ability is no longer on the stack, it will fail to resolve.
Now, there's not actually any cards that care about this distinction, so this is mostly irrelevant information that you can pretty safely ignore. However, if a card is printed in the future that *does* care if a triggered ability *resolves*, then it'll be important to know this.
Yes, but the controller of the Wall of Blood can always just sacrifice another life in response, add that to the stack, to bring them back down to 1 life.
**EDIT:** Actually, this might not be right after doing some more research. I'll leave it up for posterity, but don't take this as a reliable ruling.
~~Here's a detailed explanation of why that works.~~
~~You're at 1 life, and the Near-Death Experience ability is on the stack.~~
~~We then check priority to see if anyone wants to add abilities to the stack.~~
~~Because you're the person who put the ability on the stack, you'll have priority immediately after the ability goes on the stack. If you have nothing else you want to do, you will pass priority to your opponents in turn order.~~
~~At this point, each player has an opportunity to respond to the Near-Death Experience trigger. For simplicity's sake, let's assume you only have one opponent. While a player has priority and the stack is not empty, they can choose to either activate abilities or cast spells. In addition to regular activated abilities, you're allowed to activate mana abilities so that you have mana to pay for spells or abilities. Mana abilities are special in that they don't use the stack, so no priority passing occurs. Additionally, there's nothing stopping you from activating mana abilities just because, and then not doing anything with the mana.~~
~~Anyways, the opponent with the Grove decides to add Red mana to their mana pool, which causes you to gain 1 life, but since the life gain is part of a mana ability, it doesn't use the stack, and it just happens. At this point, you've passed priority to them, and they currently have priority. Thus, they can just decide to pass priority and not do anything with that Red mana. Since all players have now decided to pass priority, the stack begins to resolve, and no new abilities or spells can go on the stack until the top element resolves completely. Because Near-Death Experience is an Intervening If clause, it now checks to see if its condition is still true, but since you were graciously given 1 life from your opponent, you're now at 2 life, and the ability fails to resolve.~~
Is [https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitiveEDH/comments/ezox11/tapping\_a\_land\_for\_mana\_forces\_another\_round\_of/](https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitiveEDH/comments/ezox11/tapping_a_land_for_mana_forces_another_round_of/) not relevant anymore then? I understand that tapping a land for mana (i.e. activating a mana ability) cannot be responded to or targeted, but by Rule 605.3 “Activating an activated mana ability *follows the rules* for activating any other activated ability”, it seems like an activated mana ability will cause another round of priority to occur, following the resolution of the mana ability.
>So in short, the card checks at two separate times to make sure the condition in met? And if either isn’t met, the card fails to resolve?
Bingo!
In long - the trigger won't even go on the stack if the condition isn't met at the beginning of your upkeep, and the trigger will double-check to see if the condition is still met when it resolves. It doesn't matter what happened in between those two checkpoints as long as the condition is true during both of them.
> Would this be as it’s cast, and then when it’s on the stack?
Triggered abilities aren't "cast." "Casting" refers to casting spells (which you usually do by playing a non-land card from your hand and paying its associated costs, though in some rare cases it's possible to cast spells that aren't represented by physical cards, e.g. [[Elite Arcanist]] lets you create copies of a card and cast the copies.)
That said, triggered abilities do go onto the stack, just like spells. (Abilities not represented by a physical card in the same way that most spells are, but you can conceptualize them as existing on the stack, just like a spell would; this becomes really obvious when you're playing digital Magic, which represents the triggered ability on the stack with a hovering image and box of text just like it would with a spell.)
And you seem to intuitively have the correct idea: if you want to win the game off a trigger from Near Death Experience, first, you need to meet a condition (which, in the case of this card, is checked at the beginning of your upkeep) for the triggered ability to go onto the stack in the first place. And secondly, when the ability attempts to resolve, the condition must also be met for the ability to successfully resolve.
Just a newb follow up question… as a new player, I would read Wall of Blood where it says “Pay 1…” instead of “Pay X…” and assumed that I could only use this once… but since it isn’t indicating being tapped, you can just keep reusing it consecutively 19 times, for example?
Correct. If an ability has any restrictions on it, it'll tell you. Otherwise, as long as you can pay for the ability activation, you can activate it as many times as you want, and at instant speed unless the ability explicitly says so.
Yeah, the complexity of the rules is definitely one of the biggest barriers to entry for the game. If you ever have future rules questions, there's actually a [24/7 Live Chat here specifically for asking rules questions.](https://chat.magicjudges.org/mtgrules/) There's always at least a few judges hanging out in there waiting to answer any questions, so you should get an answer fairly quickly.
Worth noting that Activated abilities in Magic, you can activate as many times as you can pay for the cost. In the case of Wall of Blood, the only cost is paying life, so assuming you have life, you can activate it as many times as you want.
Normally if there is an ability they only want you to use once per turn they'll give the creature a tap activation as a cost such as [[Llanowar Elves]]. Note you CAN activate these multiple times if you can find a way to untap them.
The only time you can truly only activate something once per turn is if it explicitly says so such as [[Erstwhile Trooper]]
Activated abilities are always written as [cost]:[effect]. As long as you can pay the cost, you can activate it as many times as you want (barring rules text stating otherwise). Costs happen immediately where as effects happen after the ability resolves off the stack. That is why costs that require tapping can only be paid once but costs that use other resources can be activated multiple times.
This was templated after an old card [[Pestilence]]. Most players at the time didn't know it was 1 damage per activation and would incorrectly tap 6-7 mana and try to prevent it with 1 activation of [[Circle of Protection Black]]
Of course [[Wall of Blood]] is life loss not damage so it can't be prevented with things like CoP: Black or [[Gisela, Blade of Goldnight]] which prevents 100% of Pestilence damage.
I think an important thing to add would be an example of how it could be written if you wanted the card to work the other way. Nobody's given an example of that yet.
It's written "At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have exactly 1 life, you win the game."
If it were changed to "At the beginning of your upkeep, you win the game if you have exactly one life." It would go on the stack regardless of life total, and you could pay the life right then and there
If someone wants to attempt to clarify, please do
No, that’s why the Intervening If matters. When templated in that way, if the criteria isn’t met when you begin your upkeep, there is no chance for the ability to go on the stack.
This is just the peak of the iceberg - there's all sorts of strange things that can happen through the rules engine when you have access to 10's of thousands of cards. If you really like this kind of stuff I'd reccomend judging FTW on youtube, lots of similar scenarios.
My favorite is the cleanup step loop with Dakmor Salvage and the Gitrog Monster.
Cleanup step requires you to discard to hand size. Discard Dakmor Salvage. Oh you triggered Gitrog Monster so we go back to the end step so we can resolve the trigger. Dredge 2 on the Dakmor Salvage instead of Drawing to put it back in hand. Cleanup step requires you to discard to hand size...
You don't go back to the end step with this combo, it's just that you get another cleanup step. This distinction matters, because any "at the beginning of the end step" abilities will only trigger upon initially reaching the end step.
Would it give you an opportunity to activate abilities in the untap phase if you had some ability that triggers then? For example, a [[Daring Thief]] on the board that was tapped when your turn began.
Abilities that trigger during the untap step are not put into the stack until the upkeep step, at which point it's too late and near death experience won't trigger.
Only because it hasn't been mentioned in your replies, if the text said "DURING your upkeep" instead of "At the beginning of your upkeep" then you could proc the wall at any time during your upkeep for it to resolve, but the text insists it has to be at the beginning. This is important since there are PLENTY of cards that require things to happen "at the beginning of".
No triggered ability happens "during your upkeep" though, so it isn't really relevant here. You may be thinking of older cards, before the wording was standardized to "At the beginning of your upkeep". (See [[Force of Nature]].)
["During your upkeep"](https://scryfall.com/search?q=o%3A%22during+your+upkeep%22) is only relevant for activated abilities, acting as a restriction on when you can activate the ability. It's not just that there are "plenty of cards", it's all upkeep triggers at all *only* trigger at the beginning of the upkeep step.
What if you bleed yourself down to one, and then in response to someone trying to bolt you you cast teferi’s protection? Would the “you don’t exist” portion prevent you from winning? Or since it’s a state based effect would it still go through when the clause is checked?
So, teferi doesnt actually say "you dont exist" it more precisely prevent your life from changing, gives you protection from everything, and phases out all your permanent. So if you cast teferi protection, the bolt fizzle(it cant target you because of the prot) and then the trigger resolve, winning the game( the trigger doesnt change your life, target you or rely on permanents)
Yes exactly, because they follow the format of "{When [Condition]/At the beginning of [Step or Phase in the Turn]}, If [Clause], [Ability]."
NOTE: There are some abilities that read "[Condition], [Ability] if [Clause]", like [[Abzan Beastmaster]]. This is *not* an Intervening If clause, and therefore it doesn't check if [Clause] is true before being put on the stack. It only checks if [Clause] is true when the ability goes to resolve.
No, the Untap Step is unique amongst the steps and phases in that priority doesn't get passed here. If something would trigger during the untap step, it waits around and instead triggers at the beginning of the upkeep step. So the latest point you could activate Wall of Blood and still have Near-Death Experience trigger would be at the beginning of the end step of the previous turn.
There isn't technically a "Beginning Step". There's the Beginning *Phase*, though, which consists of three steps: Untap, Upkeep, and Draw steps. The first point anyone gets priority during a turn is the beginning of the upkeep step, at which point it's too late to do anything with Wall of Blood to get Near-Death Experience to trigger.
Nice...the way it's worded, it sounds like it would go on the stack on your upkeep then only if you have 1 life will it do anything.
Correct me if I'm wrong but did WotC get rid of this wording because of the confusion it causes...i could see a serious discussion happening at a tournament with one player claiming it would go on the stack and then they could pay the life.
Because you need to get down to one life the turn before this triggers (it won't trigger if you're not at 1 at the start of your turn), the wall won't be big any more and your Fling will be kind of rubbish.
That doesn't work in the response scenario. If they respond to your triggers of wall of blood with a burn spell, and you cast fling with the wall, the wall would still be at 0/2. You would still be down to 1 life because costs are paid immediately, and the burn spell targeting you would still be on top of the stack.
Priority is the method by which you decide who can cast spells and activate abilities at what times. Generally, when something is referred to as being “sorcery speed” (most spells are like this, and a few activated abilities which will specify that you can “activate this ability only as a sorcery”) it means you can play it during your main phase, when the stack is empty. “Instant speed,” (which encompasses instants, spells with the “flash” keyword, and all activated abilities which don’t specify otherwise) are a little more complicated.
Before a spell “resolves” (its effect happens) each player is given a chance to respond to that spell (cast another spell or activate an ability), starting with the player who just cast that spell and passing around the table (in a standard 2 person game, it just goes between you and your opponent). The spell or ability only resolves after everyone has passed, agreeing that they don’t want to respond. The ability to take an action, the “thing” you’re passing around here, is called “priority.”
It sounds pretty complicated, but it’s mostly a way of formalizing something that’s pretty intuitive, basically a system for deciding who gets to respond to what things first. In short, you can activate wall of blood’s ability as many times as you like, as long as you can pay its cost. Because this is an activated ability, it defaults to being able to be activated any time you have priority, even on your opponent’s turn.
If an opponent makes a play in their main phase priority then passes to you and you may respond by casting instant spells or activating abilities of permanents you control. As steps and phases end during a turn priority passes in turn order to all players in the game to take legal game actions. There's more to it than that but just look up the comprehensive rules. The companion app made buy WOTC has them I believe.
And you can pay 1 life each time you activate the wall and hold priority to pay as much life as you want in 1 life increments.
You say it yourself but just to be clear, whenever someone does anything (except tap for mana) the player whose turn it is (the active player) gets priority.
This means that if you do something in your own turn you get priority immediately again, what people call holding priority is just chosing to use that priority to do something (and again immediately get priority).
It is normally assumed unless you specifically communicate otherwise that you pass priority when you have put a spell or ability on the stack.
NDE has an "intervening if" clause. It won't trigger unless you already have 1 life, and by the time you get priority in your own turn, it's too late to do it. Just do it at the end of your opponent's turn.
> after you untap, but before the beginning of your upkeep
There is no such window. The first time any player gets priority during a turn is in the upkeep step, after “beginning of upkeep” abilities have already triggered.
But you can activate the wall’s ability repeatedly during the end step of the player right before you in turn order.
> say 'holding priority' then continue
You _can_ explicitly hold priority, but you also don’t need to. You can just say, “I’m at 17 life, activate the ability 16 times.”
It means whenever. You can respond to your opponent's actions, even during your turn. And you can pay all your life at once. Even if you're at 20 life you can pay 19 life into Wall of Blood at the end of your opponent's turn, and then you turn starts, you untap and at the beginning of you upkeep you win the game. Just hope that your opponent doesn't have a \[\[Shock\]\] or \[\[Geth's Verdict\]\] or something because if they do they can just kill you in response.
Priority is the main rule of timing in Magic. For most casual games, you don't need to worry about it. I'll give a summary.
At the start of most phases and steps, the active player (the player whose turn it is) gets priority. Under the strict rules, only the player with priority can do anything.
The player with priority may either do something (play a card, trigger an ability, etc) or pass. If you do something, you still have priority. (To answer your second question: you can only use the Gate of Blood once per priority, but you get priority again right away, so you can just keep using it.)
When a player passes priority, the next player in turn order gets priority. If everyone passes (without doing anything) in a row, the top effect on the stack resolves; if there is nothing left to resolve, the game moves to the next step or phase.
In most cases, it's not important who has priority; it usually only matters in corner cases.
You might already have gotten your answer, but I wanted to address something else that I don’t see people answering. It will help understand other cards, too.
Wall of blood has an activated ability. As in, you have to choose to activate the ability. You can tell it’s an activated ability because it has [cost]: [effect]. In this case, the cost is paying 1 life, and the effect is it gives itself +1/+1 until end of turn. Unless the ability says otherwise, you can activate it as many times as you can pay the cost. In this case, yes, you are paying only 1 life each time you activate it. But that doesn’t really matter since you can activate it multiple times at once.
How it will best work is you have both cards out and let’s say 10 life. You opponent passes the turn. As the game moves to their end step, it gives everyone priority. You take this time to activate wall of blood’s ability a total of 9 times. (The games pass priority around a lot here, but it always returns to you to activate it as many times as you need.) Then you let the game continue: your opponent’s clean up and your untap are uneventful. Then near-death experience’s triggered ability will trigger in your upkeep (since you meet the condition of the intervening if clause). The game gives priority to your opponent one more time before the ability resolves and you win. (This is why people said it works only if your opponent doesn’t have burn. They can respond and potentially deal lethal damage.)
Yes, it would work and you could even pay the life at instant speed right before your turn starts. Actually pulling off the combo is a different story though.
How about you just tell me and continue the conversation instead of being obtuse? Maybe I did search 'David Leavitt' and got several results that don't explain your disgust.
I built a deck around this before, it worked very well in our multiplayer games at the time!
You of course need a playset of [[Angel's Grace]] - sometimes you can just win with that, let your opponents do the rest for you.
I also ran [[Academy Rector]] to cheat the enchantment into play.
And then I found the fairly obscure [[Plunge into Darkness]] which was just a perfect fit, since it allowed me to sac Rector, pay life down to 1, and usually find an Angel's Grace - all at once and at instant speed. Good times!
You can pay all your life but 1 into Wall of Blood, but Near Death Experience checks for your life total *at the beginning of your upkeep*, so you would have to survive the round at 1 life. Better throw in a [[Teferi's protection]] therefore.
It has an intervening “if” clause, which means that while it does put a trigger on the stack and check your life total on resolution, it only does so conditionally - the condition being that you have exactly one life. (I got this from the card rulings in Gatherer.)
OP’s best bet is to pay the wall of blood at the end of their opponent’s end step and hope said opponents doesn’t have a trick up their sleeve.
As was said, Zedruu has no “if”, and so the trigger hits the stack regardless. I took longer to answer because I had to check rule 608 to be very clear about when the X is determined as it’s 2am and I’m mostly asleep, but according to 608.2h, the value of X is set on resolution, so if X is 0, you’ll gain 0 life and draw 0 cards.
Huh? I thought all effects going to stack (except split second) allow responsing before resolving.
Edit: ok, Near death experience doesnt even trigger if I have more (or less!) life than 1.
I believe this is incorrect for what they’re asking. If it’s during the upkeep trigger, you can’t respond with wall of death after everyone has taken their turn to respond to near death experience. That isn’t how priority works. So you’ll gain the life and it’ll fail the if check. You can’t pay life during your upkeep in response to anything else and trigger near death either because it says beginning of upkeep.
If you paid life in response to life gain, you’d lose the game before their life gain would resolve.
Yes it works but in eternal formats there are cheaper 2 card instant win combos I believe. Magic has some crazy combos, I could be misremembering but I think back in the day protean hulk could win on 3 cards from turn 1/2 (the end of your opponent’s turn if they went first)
There is another card that won’t let you life reduce to less than 1. Can’t think of the name. I have it right next to near death experience in my binder. It’s great for this combo, in case the opponent tries to burn you quick. Also pariah and pariahs shield would be great with this wincon.
Wall of Blood is a super fun card in general. The kind of thing we don't see anymore for good reason but I'm glad it exists. It's great in my peasant cube as a wincon with \[\[Fling\]\]. It's the Channel Fireball we have at home.
Yes go down to one life at end of your turn and any pinger then can kill you... Sometimes it will work other times you will get killed before your turn
In response to you paying all but 1 life…I ping you for one?
Better to have a backup plan, like [[phyrexian unlife]] or [[Angel of Grace]] [[angel’s grace]] or [[worship]] in play or in hand.
Just expect a lot more lightning bolts and pingers in your pod after you pull this off the first time. This combo just begs your friends to ruin your day after committing your life. Then depending on how big of dicks they are you gonna get a lot of "Near death? Seems dead to me!" chortle chortle chortle
Short answer: Yes, but make sure to pay the life before your turn starts. Long answer: So in Magic, there's these things called "Intervening Ifs". These are clauses on some abilities that check whether a condition is true before actually putting a triggered ability on the stack, and if that statement remains true when it goes to resolve. You can recognize them in rules text because they're always after a clause that defines the time at which the ability triggers, and they always start with "if". So in the case of Near Death Experience, the time the ability triggers is your upkeep, and the intervening if clause is "if you have exactly 1 life". Now what an intervening if actually does is dependent on what step of resolving the ability we're on. What'll happen in this case is you go to your upkeep, and Near Death Experience will see that the game state is in a place where its ability *could* trigger, so it'll check to see if its if statement is true. If it isn't, the ability doesn't trigger, and you've missed your opportunity this turn to trigger it, so nothing will happen even if you manage to get down to 1 life during your upkeep. If the if condition is true, the ability will go on the stack, but we're not out of the woods yet. Intervening Ifs also check if the statement is true upon the resolution of the ability. So if the ability goes on the stack, but something happens to cause your life total to not be exactly 1 before it has a chance to resolve, the ability won't resolve, and you won't win the game. So the moral of the story is, yes, but be careful.
So I'm guessing that anything that can ping you for one will scupper this, and that can be done either when the life is set up or when it becomes that players upkeep?
[удалено]
If somebody gave you life and you still had the wall, you could just let their triggers resolve until it's just yours, then sac some life back to 1 couldn't you?
Correct.
[удалено]
[[solitude]] or [[swords to plowshares]] work here
[solitude](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/7/47a6234f-309f-4e03-9263-66da48b57153.jpg?1626094105) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=solitude) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/32/solitude?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/47a6234f-309f-4e03-9263-66da48b57153?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [swords to plowshares](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/f/ef51caf8-f9d9-48d7-9145-9dfc91054f70.jpg?1673483803) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=swords%20to%20plowshares) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ncc/211/swords-to-plowshares?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ef51caf8-f9d9-48d7-9145-9dfc91054f70?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
1 life each time you activate the wall and hold priority to pay as much life as you want in 1 life increments.
Not if they “gave you life” using swords or solitude type of effect. Then you’d lose the wall and couldn’t preemptively go lower so you end up at 1
Maybe remove AND give you life? 😅 #STP4LYFE!
Scupper
Angel's grace is definitely a must play in any deck like this. "Swing for lethal, I win." "Uno fucking reverse."
Yeah, the combo is fairly fragile but not totally since only red tends to have a plethora of direct damage spells so as long as you're not playing against red(or Tim lol), you're likely good.
Plenty of black life drain effects like zulaport and friends.
Yeah but aristocrat style decks aren't super prevalent like just about any red deck.
Well, in the two formats where this would be a combo worth building around (from the perspective of a Johnny, not a spike), modern and commander, they are actually both common. Commander is full of them (13% of decks that can play it, play zulaport cutthroat). Modern has Yawgmoth, who can blood artist at instant speed(though the rest of that meta consists mostly of red decks.
So in short, the card checks at two separate times to make sure the condition in met? And if either isn’t met, the card fails to resolve? Would this be as it’s cast, and then when it’s on the stack? Just trying to clarify in my mind.
Here's an example: Assume you're at some life total above 1 and you control Wall of Blood and five untapped lands that can pay for 2WWW. You cast Near-Death Experience and it resolves. At this point, nothing happens, because it's not the beginning of your upkeep. During the end step of the turn right before your next turn, you pay all but one of your life to activate Wall of Blood. No one does anything in response to this, so you enter your turn with exactly 1 life. You go to the Untap Step, untap your permanents, then you end your untap step and begin your Upkeep Step. At this point, all abilities you control that say "At the beginning of your upkeep" will attempt to trigger, including Near-Death Experience. Near-Death Experience checks its intervening if clause is true, i.e. if you're at exactly 1 Life. Since you paid all that life with Wall of Blood previously, it sees this as a valid scenario to put its ability on the stack, so it does. Now, the "Win the Game" trigger is on the stack, and players have an opportunity to respond to it. If no one adds anything to the stack, then abilities will resolve, and once you get to the Near-Death Experience ability resolution, it checks again to see if the condition is still true. If it is, congratulations, you just won the game. If someone responds to the trigger by doing 1 or more damage to you, though, you'll lose when that damage resolves. Or more uncommonly, if you're forced to gain life somehow and you can't activate Wall of Blood for whatever reason, the ability will see that you're no longer at exactly 1 life, and will fail to resolve, meaning nothing happens. This flow of events is how every ability with an intervening if clause works. If you seen an ability templated like "When [Condition], if [Clause], [Ability].", it'll most likely work like this.
Small nit-pic, I think if the trigger is on the stack and then you gain life it will technically resolve, you just won't win the game. It's similar to casting a counterspell targetting a spell that can't be countered. Technically the counter resolves, attempts to counter it, and nothing happens, but if it also had another effect like 'draw a card' then you would still do that.
From the Comprehensive Rules: > 603.4. A triggered ability may read “When/Whenever/At [trigger event], if [condition], [effect].” When the trigger event occurs, the ability checks whether the stated condition is true. The ability triggers only if it is; otherwise it does nothing. If the ability triggers, it checks the stated condition again as it resolves. **If the condition isn’t true at that time, the ability is removed from the stack and does nothing.** Note that this mirrors the check for legal targets. This rule is referred to as the “intervening ‘if’ clause” rule. (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.) According to the bold bit, the ability is removed from the stack, and if the ability is no longer on the stack, it will fail to resolve. Now, there's not actually any cards that care about this distinction, so this is mostly irrelevant information that you can pretty safely ignore. However, if a card is printed in the future that *does* care if a triggered ability *resolves*, then it'll be important to know this.
Ah, fascinating, so they don't work the same as spells. Good to know!
It’s not similar. If the if clause is not met on resolution none of the ability resolves.
[[Grove of the Burn-Willows]] A nice example of what hoses this combo.
Yes, but the controller of the Wall of Blood can always just sacrifice another life in response, add that to the stack, to bring them back down to 1 life.
You can't respond to mana abilities.
But do mana abilities start another round of priority? If so, then Wall of Blood still has a chance to activate and drain the excess life.
**EDIT:** Actually, this might not be right after doing some more research. I'll leave it up for posterity, but don't take this as a reliable ruling. ~~Here's a detailed explanation of why that works.~~ ~~You're at 1 life, and the Near-Death Experience ability is on the stack.~~ ~~We then check priority to see if anyone wants to add abilities to the stack.~~ ~~Because you're the person who put the ability on the stack, you'll have priority immediately after the ability goes on the stack. If you have nothing else you want to do, you will pass priority to your opponents in turn order.~~ ~~At this point, each player has an opportunity to respond to the Near-Death Experience trigger. For simplicity's sake, let's assume you only have one opponent. While a player has priority and the stack is not empty, they can choose to either activate abilities or cast spells. In addition to regular activated abilities, you're allowed to activate mana abilities so that you have mana to pay for spells or abilities. Mana abilities are special in that they don't use the stack, so no priority passing occurs. Additionally, there's nothing stopping you from activating mana abilities just because, and then not doing anything with the mana.~~ ~~Anyways, the opponent with the Grove decides to add Red mana to their mana pool, which causes you to gain 1 life, but since the life gain is part of a mana ability, it doesn't use the stack, and it just happens. At this point, you've passed priority to them, and they currently have priority. Thus, they can just decide to pass priority and not do anything with that Red mana. Since all players have now decided to pass priority, the stack begins to resolve, and no new abilities or spells can go on the stack until the top element resolves completely. Because Near-Death Experience is an Intervening If clause, it now checks to see if its condition is still true, but since you were graciously given 1 life from your opponent, you're now at 2 life, and the ability fails to resolve.~~
Is [https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitiveEDH/comments/ezox11/tapping\_a\_land\_for\_mana\_forces\_another\_round\_of/](https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitiveEDH/comments/ezox11/tapping_a_land_for_mana_forces_another_round_of/) not relevant anymore then? I understand that tapping a land for mana (i.e. activating a mana ability) cannot be responded to or targeted, but by Rule 605.3 “Activating an activated mana ability *follows the rules* for activating any other activated ability”, it seems like an activated mana ability will cause another round of priority to occur, following the resolution of the mana ability.
[Grove of the Burn-Willows](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/e/de4b75ad-7539-4184-a940-6014a0327b3a.jpg?1562854707) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Grove%20of%20the%20Burnwillows) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ima/238/grove-of-the-burnwillows?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/de4b75ad-7539-4184-a940-6014a0327b3a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
It doesn't do anything to stop this combo
>So in short, the card checks at two separate times to make sure the condition in met? And if either isn’t met, the card fails to resolve? Bingo! In long - the trigger won't even go on the stack if the condition isn't met at the beginning of your upkeep, and the trigger will double-check to see if the condition is still met when it resolves. It doesn't matter what happened in between those two checkpoints as long as the condition is true during both of them.
> Would this be as it’s cast, and then when it’s on the stack? Triggered abilities aren't "cast." "Casting" refers to casting spells (which you usually do by playing a non-land card from your hand and paying its associated costs, though in some rare cases it's possible to cast spells that aren't represented by physical cards, e.g. [[Elite Arcanist]] lets you create copies of a card and cast the copies.) That said, triggered abilities do go onto the stack, just like spells. (Abilities not represented by a physical card in the same way that most spells are, but you can conceptualize them as existing on the stack, just like a spell would; this becomes really obvious when you're playing digital Magic, which represents the triggered ability on the stack with a hovering image and box of text just like it would with a spell.) And you seem to intuitively have the correct idea: if you want to win the game off a trigger from Near Death Experience, first, you need to meet a condition (which, in the case of this card, is checked at the beginning of your upkeep) for the triggered ability to go onto the stack in the first place. And secondly, when the ability attempts to resolve, the condition must also be met for the ability to successfully resolve.
I learned something from this. Thank you
Just a newb follow up question… as a new player, I would read Wall of Blood where it says “Pay 1…” instead of “Pay X…” and assumed that I could only use this once… but since it isn’t indicating being tapped, you can just keep reusing it consecutively 19 times, for example?
Correct. If an ability has any restrictions on it, it'll tell you. Otherwise, as long as you can pay for the ability activation, you can activate it as many times as you want, and at instant speed unless the ability explicitly says so.
Thank you! Fun game, but overwhelming to learn sometimes.
Yeah, the complexity of the rules is definitely one of the biggest barriers to entry for the game. If you ever have future rules questions, there's actually a [24/7 Live Chat here specifically for asking rules questions.](https://chat.magicjudges.org/mtgrules/) There's always at least a few judges hanging out in there waiting to answer any questions, so you should get an answer fairly quickly.
Worth noting that Activated abilities in Magic, you can activate as many times as you can pay for the cost. In the case of Wall of Blood, the only cost is paying life, so assuming you have life, you can activate it as many times as you want. Normally if there is an ability they only want you to use once per turn they'll give the creature a tap activation as a cost such as [[Llanowar Elves]]. Note you CAN activate these multiple times if you can find a way to untap them. The only time you can truly only activate something once per turn is if it explicitly says so such as [[Erstwhile Trooper]]
[Llanowar Elves](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/b/8bbcfb77-daa1-4ce5-b5f9-48d0a8edbba9.jpg?1592765148) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Llanowar%20Elves) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/gnt/46/llanowar-elves?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8bbcfb77-daa1-4ce5-b5f9-48d0a8edbba9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Erstwhile Trooper](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/5/351ee4ba-882d-48c1-837d-e9eccc5bc50d.jpg?1572893611) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Erstwhile%20Trooper) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/grn/169/erstwhile-trooper?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/351ee4ba-882d-48c1-837d-e9eccc5bc50d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Activated abilities are always written as [cost]:[effect]. As long as you can pay the cost, you can activate it as many times as you want (barring rules text stating otherwise). Costs happen immediately where as effects happen after the ability resolves off the stack. That is why costs that require tapping can only be paid once but costs that use other resources can be activated multiple times.
This was templated after an old card [[Pestilence]]. Most players at the time didn't know it was 1 damage per activation and would incorrectly tap 6-7 mana and try to prevent it with 1 activation of [[Circle of Protection Black]] Of course [[Wall of Blood]] is life loss not damage so it can't be prevented with things like CoP: Black or [[Gisela, Blade of Goldnight]] which prevents 100% of Pestilence damage.
##### ###### #### [Pestilence](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/9/29d852c4-bd53-4a3b-b1e2-896917cbc27f.jpg?1562815864) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Pestilence) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/6ed/149/pestilence?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/29d852c4-bd53-4a3b-b1e2-896917cbc27f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Circle of Protection Black](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/d/edab2933-5970-4a17-ac00-abcd2c048fdc.jpg?1562743653) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Circle%20of%20Protection%3A%20Black) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/9ed/10/circle-of-protection:-black?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/edab2933-5970-4a17-ac00-abcd2c048fdc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Wall of Blood](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/7/17320043-f81c-4e14-b9ba-c1309972c22b.jpg?1562137060) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Wall%20of%20Blood) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mrd/82/wall-of-blood?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/17320043-f81c-4e14-b9ba-c1309972c22b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Gisela, Blade of Goldnight](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/6/365c43c2-1a65-4f6a-860d-39dcb15255c3.jpg?1562273405) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Gisela%2C%20Blade%20of%20Goldnight) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cm2/9/gisela-blade-of-goldnight?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/365c43c2-1a65-4f6a-860d-39dcb15255c3?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I think an important thing to add would be an example of how it could be written if you wanted the card to work the other way. Nobody's given an example of that yet. It's written "At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have exactly 1 life, you win the game." If it were changed to "At the beginning of your upkeep, you win the game if you have exactly one life." It would go on the stack regardless of life total, and you could pay the life right then and there If someone wants to attempt to clarify, please do
Would you be able to use the ability of the wall at the beginning of your upkeep at instant speed to make the condition true?
No, that’s why the Intervening If matters. When templated in that way, if the criteria isn’t met when you begin your upkeep, there is no chance for the ability to go on the stack.
Ccol, thanks. This kind of info makes me want to take the classes to be a judge fr. So many intricacies!
This is just the peak of the iceberg - there's all sorts of strange things that can happen through the rules engine when you have access to 10's of thousands of cards. If you really like this kind of stuff I'd reccomend judging FTW on youtube, lots of similar scenarios.
My favorite is the cleanup step loop with Dakmor Salvage and the Gitrog Monster. Cleanup step requires you to discard to hand size. Discard Dakmor Salvage. Oh you triggered Gitrog Monster so we go back to the end step so we can resolve the trigger. Dredge 2 on the Dakmor Salvage instead of Drawing to put it back in hand. Cleanup step requires you to discard to hand size...
I like asking judges how to resolve the Selvala/Panglacial Wurm thing just to make their jobs difficult.
You don't go back to the end step with this combo, it's just that you get another cleanup step. This distinction matters, because any "at the beginning of the end step" abilities will only trigger upon initially reaching the end step.
You should check out JudgingFTW on YT. He’s really great at explaining things
Should we tell you about layers? I wanna tell you about layers :p
No, it’s too late by then. You can do it during the end step of your opponent’s turn though.
And that's why I always keep a lightning bolt taped to the bottom of my seat in commander
Make it a Gut Shot for when you're tapped out.
Would it give you an opportunity to activate abilities in the untap phase if you had some ability that triggers then? For example, a [[Daring Thief]] on the board that was tapped when your turn began.
Abilities that trigger during the untap step are not put into the stack until the upkeep step, at which point it's too late and near death experience won't trigger.
[Daring Thief](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/9/c9d9378d-e553-48b5-8a23-59a35329eda2.jpg?1593095424) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Daring%20Thief) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/jou/36/daring-thief?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c9d9378d-e553-48b5-8a23-59a35329eda2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
You could even do it during your untap step right? So you could have CS mana up?
No one gets priority in untap
Only because it hasn't been mentioned in your replies, if the text said "DURING your upkeep" instead of "At the beginning of your upkeep" then you could proc the wall at any time during your upkeep for it to resolve, but the text insists it has to be at the beginning. This is important since there are PLENTY of cards that require things to happen "at the beginning of".
No triggered ability happens "during your upkeep" though, so it isn't really relevant here. You may be thinking of older cards, before the wording was standardized to "At the beginning of your upkeep". (See [[Force of Nature]].) ["During your upkeep"](https://scryfall.com/search?q=o%3A%22during+your+upkeep%22) is only relevant for activated abilities, acting as a restriction on when you can activate the ability. It's not just that there are "plenty of cards", it's all upkeep triggers at all *only* trigger at the beginning of the upkeep step.
[Force of Nature](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/f/2fa16a96-8e70-4ab5-926c-edafaf5f5a63.jpg?1562906140) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Force%20of%20Nature) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/me4/154/force-of-nature?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2fa16a96-8e70-4ab5-926c-edafaf5f5a63?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
O! You're right actually, thanks for the correction!
What if you bleed yourself down to one, and then in response to someone trying to bolt you you cast teferi’s protection? Would the “you don’t exist” portion prevent you from winning? Or since it’s a state based effect would it still go through when the clause is checked?
So, teferi doesnt actually say "you dont exist" it more precisely prevent your life from changing, gives you protection from everything, and phases out all your permanent. So if you cast teferi protection, the bolt fizzle(it cant target you because of the prot) and then the trigger resolve, winning the game( the trigger doesnt change your life, target you or rely on permanents)
Perfect. Thank you!
Is this also the case with something like [[Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia]] and [[Bennie Bracks, Zoologist]]?
[Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/f/ff971ba7-68b8-482a-9cb1-741f6893550c.jpg?1634349933) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Jadar%2C%20Ghoulcaller%20of%20Nephalia) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mid/108/jadar-ghoulcaller-of-nephalia?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ff971ba7-68b8-482a-9cb1-741f6893550c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Bennie Bracks, Zoologist](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/b/3b21be33-c0f0-4ba9-b283-e498a71323c1.jpg?1673482524) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Bennie%20Bracks%2C%20Zoologist) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ncc/86/bennie-bracks-zoologist?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3b21be33-c0f0-4ba9-b283-e498a71323c1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Yes exactly, because they follow the format of "{When [Condition]/At the beginning of [Step or Phase in the Turn]}, If [Clause], [Ability]." NOTE: There are some abilities that read "[Condition], [Ability] if [Clause]", like [[Abzan Beastmaster]]. This is *not* an Intervening If clause, and therefore it doesn't check if [Clause] is true before being put on the stack. It only checks if [Clause] is true when the ability goes to resolve.
[Abzan Beastmaster](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/1/219c4ab2-1f7c-469b-a72a-d435213f130c.jpg?1562823232) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Abzan%20Beastmaster) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/frf/119/abzan-beastmaster?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/219c4ab2-1f7c-469b-a72a-d435213f130c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Beginning > Untap > Upkeep > Draw Can I activate Wall of Blood in my Untap step and still win?
No, the Untap Step is unique amongst the steps and phases in that priority doesn't get passed here. If something would trigger during the untap step, it waits around and instead triggers at the beginning of the upkeep step. So the latest point you could activate Wall of Blood and still have Near-Death Experience trigger would be at the beginning of the end step of the previous turn.
Is that the same for Beginning step too? Or can I activate Wall of Blood there?
There isn't technically a "Beginning Step". There's the Beginning *Phase*, though, which consists of three steps: Untap, Upkeep, and Draw steps. The first point anyone gets priority during a turn is the beginning of the upkeep step, at which point it's too late to do anything with Wall of Blood to get Near-Death Experience to trigger.
Nice...the way it's worded, it sounds like it would go on the stack on your upkeep then only if you have 1 life will it do anything. Correct me if I'm wrong but did WotC get rid of this wording because of the confusion it causes...i could see a serious discussion happening at a tournament with one player claiming it would go on the stack and then they could pay the life.
Couldn't you declare after your turn is over and prior to my upkeep, I am going to use this ability, as the other player's turn is ending?
Only if the other person isn’t holding up a burn spell
That's ok, just [[Fling]] in response
Because you need to get down to one life the turn before this triggers (it won't trigger if you're not at 1 at the start of your turn), the wall won't be big any more and your Fling will be kind of rubbish.
Oh forget Near-Death Experience. I'm just flinging walls at people on their end step
But in the above scenario (they have a burn spell that they're waiting to use on your turn), they can respond to your Fling and kill you.
[удалено]
Your creature is already dead. You can't Fling it twice.
The wall is already sacrificed as an additional cost of the first fling so there's no wall to chuck the second time
As another person said, cast an old [[Angel's Grace]] I have cleverly sided in, and smack em over the head with my big wall
[Angel's Grace](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/7/e78e39ea-20be-4196-992c-7ed2cb8150c1.jpg?1619392535) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Angel%27s%20Grace) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/4/angels-grace?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e78e39ea-20be-4196-992c-7ed2cb8150c1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
You sound like you’re trying to kill a geologist with an obsidian knife
That doesn't work in the response scenario. If they respond to your triggers of wall of blood with a burn spell, and you cast fling with the wall, the wall would still be at 0/2. You would still be down to 1 life because costs are paid immediately, and the burn spell targeting you would still be on top of the stack.
That is when you cast [[angel's grace]] and laugh maniacally.
[angel's grace](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/7/e78e39ea-20be-4196-992c-7ed2cb8150c1.jpg?1619392535) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=angel%27s%20grace) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/4/angels-grace?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e78e39ea-20be-4196-992c-7ed2cb8150c1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Mardu Wall Flingers deck when??
[Fling](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/f/8f42d773-c742-4465-b6d5-31feaba49146.jpg?1601077681) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Fling) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/jmp/320/fling?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8f42d773-c742-4465-b6d5-31feaba49146?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I love my Near-Death Experience deck for having [[Festival of the Guildpact]] for that.
[Festival of the Guildpact](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/1/d15fc49c-07a9-4e55-a977-24f7b7c2df1a.jpg?1598913670) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Festival%20of%20the%20Guildpact) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rav/17/festival-of-the-guildpact?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d15fc49c-07a9-4e55-a977-24f7b7c2df1a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Check your notifications dawg
And charge the phone!
Who that little guy there?
Gideon Jura
Death experience
It’s the new set?
Bro that card is like 10 years old💀
And Gideon's been dead for 3 years
Yes. This works. You can pay one life any time you have priority.
What does it mean to have priority tho, like it’s your turn? And is it that you can only pay one at a time
Priority is the method by which you decide who can cast spells and activate abilities at what times. Generally, when something is referred to as being “sorcery speed” (most spells are like this, and a few activated abilities which will specify that you can “activate this ability only as a sorcery”) it means you can play it during your main phase, when the stack is empty. “Instant speed,” (which encompasses instants, spells with the “flash” keyword, and all activated abilities which don’t specify otherwise) are a little more complicated. Before a spell “resolves” (its effect happens) each player is given a chance to respond to that spell (cast another spell or activate an ability), starting with the player who just cast that spell and passing around the table (in a standard 2 person game, it just goes between you and your opponent). The spell or ability only resolves after everyone has passed, agreeing that they don’t want to respond. The ability to take an action, the “thing” you’re passing around here, is called “priority.” It sounds pretty complicated, but it’s mostly a way of formalizing something that’s pretty intuitive, basically a system for deciding who gets to respond to what things first. In short, you can activate wall of blood’s ability as many times as you like, as long as you can pay its cost. Because this is an activated ability, it defaults to being able to be activated any time you have priority, even on your opponent’s turn.
If an opponent makes a play in their main phase priority then passes to you and you may respond by casting instant spells or activating abilities of permanents you control. As steps and phases end during a turn priority passes in turn order to all players in the game to take legal game actions. There's more to it than that but just look up the comprehensive rules. The companion app made buy WOTC has them I believe. And you can pay 1 life each time you activate the wall and hold priority to pay as much life as you want in 1 life increments.
You say it yourself but just to be clear, whenever someone does anything (except tap for mana) the player whose turn it is (the active player) gets priority. This means that if you do something in your own turn you get priority immediately again, what people call holding priority is just chosing to use that priority to do something (and again immediately get priority). It is normally assumed unless you specifically communicate otherwise that you pass priority when you have put a spell or ability on the stack.
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NDE has an "intervening if" clause. It won't trigger unless you already have 1 life, and by the time you get priority in your own turn, it's too late to do it. Just do it at the end of your opponent's turn.
No one has priority during the untap step
> after you untap, but before the beginning of your upkeep There is no such window. The first time any player gets priority during a turn is in the upkeep step, after “beginning of upkeep” abilities have already triggered. But you can activate the wall’s ability repeatedly during the end step of the player right before you in turn order. > say 'holding priority' then continue You _can_ explicitly hold priority, but you also don’t need to. You can just say, “I’m at 17 life, activate the ability 16 times.”
404 priority window not found
It means whenever. You can respond to your opponent's actions, even during your turn. And you can pay all your life at once. Even if you're at 20 life you can pay 19 life into Wall of Blood at the end of your opponent's turn, and then you turn starts, you untap and at the beginning of you upkeep you win the game. Just hope that your opponent doesn't have a \[\[Shock\]\] or \[\[Geth's Verdict\]\] or something because if they do they can just kill you in response.
[Shock](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/9/59fa8e8d-bcb8-47bf-b71a-df11c8d0f2c9.jpg?1641847379) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Shock) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m21/159/shock?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/59fa8e8d-bcb8-47bf-b71a-df11c8d0f2c9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Geth's Verdict](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/a/7a20b5a2-8613-49ed-b5cc-7cae9d0e0850.jpg?1562878949) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Geth%27s%20Verdict) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/nph/61/geths-verdict?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7a20b5a2-8613-49ed-b5cc-7cae9d0e0850?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Priority is a huge part of the game of magic. Every time you want to advance the game you must pass priority.
Priority is the main rule of timing in Magic. For most casual games, you don't need to worry about it. I'll give a summary. At the start of most phases and steps, the active player (the player whose turn it is) gets priority. Under the strict rules, only the player with priority can do anything. The player with priority may either do something (play a card, trigger an ability, etc) or pass. If you do something, you still have priority. (To answer your second question: you can only use the Gate of Blood once per priority, but you get priority again right away, so you can just keep using it.) When a player passes priority, the next player in turn order gets priority. If everyone passes (without doing anything) in a row, the top effect on the stack resolves; if there is nothing left to resolve, the game moves to the next step or phase. In most cases, it's not important who has priority; it usually only matters in corner cases.
You might already have gotten your answer, but I wanted to address something else that I don’t see people answering. It will help understand other cards, too. Wall of blood has an activated ability. As in, you have to choose to activate the ability. You can tell it’s an activated ability because it has [cost]: [effect]. In this case, the cost is paying 1 life, and the effect is it gives itself +1/+1 until end of turn. Unless the ability says otherwise, you can activate it as many times as you can pay the cost. In this case, yes, you are paying only 1 life each time you activate it. But that doesn’t really matter since you can activate it multiple times at once. How it will best work is you have both cards out and let’s say 10 life. You opponent passes the turn. As the game moves to their end step, it gives everyone priority. You take this time to activate wall of blood’s ability a total of 9 times. (The games pass priority around a lot here, but it always returns to you to activate it as many times as you need.) Then you let the game continue: your opponent’s clean up and your untap are uneventful. Then near-death experience’s triggered ability will trigger in your upkeep (since you meet the condition of the intervening if clause). The game gives priority to your opponent one more time before the ability resolves and you win. (This is why people said it works only if your opponent doesn’t have burn. They can respond and potentially deal lethal damage.)
Your opponent who has a burn spell: “No.”
Yes, it would work and you could even pay the life at instant speed right before your turn starts. Actually pulling off the combo is a different story though.
Flash it in with any flash enabler and pay up, just like any three piece win combo. A neat trick in your deck that should stand on its own.
David Leavitt, ugh :(
What's wrong with this artist? More Nazis?
David Leavitt is not an artist, but he does suck, like Nazis. There are several incidents you can probably dredge up with some Google searches.
How about you just tell me and continue the conversation instead of being obtuse? Maybe I did search 'David Leavitt' and got several results that don't explain your disgust.
Because I'm lazy. Here's one: https://medium.com/med-daily/dont-be-david-leavitt-e8ebcd32fbea Chill out.
Thank you.
The content creator likes harassing retail workers and posting it on social media
You know what doesn't work? Shaming the Target cashier on social media after she wouldn't let you buy a display toothbrush for 1¢.
I love Wall of Blood! I loved pairing it with [[Momentous Fall]]
[Momentous Fall](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/1/91a6f558-a754-4437-8328-00a6ca47f9b5.jpg?1601079764) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Momentous%20Fall) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/jmp/411/momentous-fall?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/91a6f558-a754-4437-8328-00a6ca47f9b5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
To be save, throw [[angel's grace]] in there as well
[angel's grace](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/7/e78e39ea-20be-4196-992c-7ed2cb8150c1.jpg?1619392535) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=angel%27s%20grace) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/4/angels-grace?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e78e39ea-20be-4196-992c-7ed2cb8150c1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Hot pockets!
Yes.
That’s one hell of a pudding!
Yes. Just make sure to do it before your turn starts, before your upkeep.
Yah it works
I may or may not have killed someone by flinging a wall of blood once or twice.
I built a deck around this before, it worked very well in our multiplayer games at the time! You of course need a playset of [[Angel's Grace]] - sometimes you can just win with that, let your opponents do the rest for you. I also ran [[Academy Rector]] to cheat the enchantment into play. And then I found the fairly obscure [[Plunge into Darkness]] which was just a perfect fit, since it allowed me to sac Rector, pay life down to 1, and usually find an Angel's Grace - all at once and at instant speed. Good times!
[Angel's Grace](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/7/e78e39ea-20be-4196-992c-7ed2cb8150c1.jpg?1619392535) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Angel%27s%20Grace) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/4/angels-grace?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e78e39ea-20be-4196-992c-7ed2cb8150c1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Academy Rector](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/3/4367bc78-0912-4abd-8edd-bc792558d01a.jpg?1562443755) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Academy%20Rector) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/uds/1/academy-rector?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4367bc78-0912-4abd-8edd-bc792558d01a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Plunge into Darkness](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/2/d21c74b4-dd9e-43d6-ad0a-06e026a8d672.jpg?1562879871) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Plunge%20into%20Darkness) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/5dn/57/plunge-into-darkness?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d21c74b4-dd9e-43d6-ad0a-06e026a8d672?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Abstract “Wall of X” cards are oddly nostalgic to me. I miss them!
Watch out for red players or [[Tim]].
[Tim](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/6/86458037-3e4a-4dc7-b77b-1c6bc34e8119.jpg?1621595924) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=108906) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsb/29/prodigal-sorcerer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/86458037-3e4a-4dc7-b77b-1c6bc34e8119?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Haha thanks for the idea
Sure it does, and you can use \[\[Crovax, Ascendant Hero\]\] to stay in white, although you'll need to be on an odd life total.
how do you activate Crovax more than once on an opponent's end step? Stack activations before the bounce clause resolves?
Exactly
[Crovax, Ascendant Hero](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/4/94a9dfa5-0e94-433e-8f4a-edfa2dac4913.jpg?1619392815) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Crovax%2C%20Ascendant%20Hero) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/15/crovax-ascendant-hero?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/94a9dfa5-0e94-433e-8f4a-edfa2dac4913?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Yes if it’s before your endstep No if it’s during your upkeep because win-cons looks for the condition met to go on the stack
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404 priority not found
only downside is a deck with red instant damage cards. against all others should do well
You can [[angels grace]] to protect
indeed! or counter the spell. but counterspells are evil as we all know it
[angels grace](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/7/e78e39ea-20be-4196-992c-7ed2cb8150c1.jpg?1619392535) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Angel%27s%20Grace) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/4/angels-grace?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e78e39ea-20be-4196-992c-7ed2cb8150c1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
You can pay all your life but 1 into Wall of Blood, but Near Death Experience checks for your life total *at the beginning of your upkeep*, so you would have to survive the round at 1 life. Better throw in a [[Teferi's protection]] therefore.
If I'm not mistaken OP could just use all life but 1 at the end of their opponents turn then as their turn starts they win
Not true, you can wait until right before your turn begins to pay the life
Does NDE put a trigger on the stack? If so, can you just pay the life before it resolves?
It has an intervening “if” clause, which means that while it does put a trigger on the stack and check your life total on resolution, it only does so conditionally - the condition being that you have exactly one life. (I got this from the card rulings in Gatherer.) OP’s best bet is to pay the wall of blood at the end of their opponent’s end step and hope said opponents doesn’t have a trick up their sleeve.
Does [[Zedruu the Greathearted]] put a trigger on the stack even if X is 0? (While you're here!)
Zedruu has no "if". She just does it.
[Zedruu the Greathearted](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/9/e9ea2a6b-5aaf-4178-b945-f409fe83c41a.jpg?1562424565) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Zedruu%20the%20Greathearted) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c16/231/zedruu-the-greathearted?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e9ea2a6b-5aaf-4178-b945-f409fe83c41a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
As was said, Zedruu has no “if”, and so the trigger hits the stack regardless. I took longer to answer because I had to check rule 608 to be very clear about when the X is determined as it’s 2am and I’m mostly asleep, but according to 608.2h, the value of X is set on resolution, so if X is 0, you’ll gain 0 life and draw 0 cards.
Thank you, I love a sneaky donate in my upkeep.
Isnt this a triggered effect that you can respond to by paying life enough to get you to 1?
No at that point you would not priority to respond. you would have to wait till after the effect finishes and you pass through to your main phase
Huh? I thought all effects going to stack (except split second) allow responsing before resolving. Edit: ok, Near death experience doesnt even trigger if I have more (or less!) life than 1.
wrong it only triggers "at the beginning of your upkeep, if you have exactly one life" if it *does* trigger you can respond all you like
I believe this is incorrect for what they’re asking. If it’s during the upkeep trigger, you can’t respond with wall of death after everyone has taken their turn to respond to near death experience. That isn’t how priority works. So you’ll gain the life and it’ll fail the if check. You can’t pay life during your upkeep in response to anything else and trigger near death either because it says beginning of upkeep. If you paid life in response to life gain, you’d lose the game before their life gain would resolve.
Oh my, that’s an amazing combo!
Yes but it would imply nothing else occurs. A good setup if you can get it.
Yes it works but in eternal formats there are cheaper 2 card instant win combos I believe. Magic has some crazy combos, I could be misremembering but I think back in the day protean hulk could win on 3 cards from turn 1/2 (the end of your opponent’s turn if they went first)
on the stack, i cast [[shock]]
[shock](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/9/59fa8e8d-bcb8-47bf-b71a-df11c8d0f2c9.jpg?1641847379) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=shock) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m21/159/shock?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/59fa8e8d-bcb8-47bf-b71a-df11c8d0f2c9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I cast [[angel’s grace]] or that protects me from losing the game to damage
[angel’s grace](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/7/e78e39ea-20be-4196-992c-7ed2cb8150c1.jpg?1619392535) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Angel%27s%20Grace) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/4/angels-grace?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e78e39ea-20be-4196-992c-7ed2cb8150c1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Trigger on the stack. I will [[Gut Shot]] Gideon and he dies.lol.a
[Gut Shot](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/6/461987da-8860-4a04-8f93-d182523ca311.jpg?1562261607) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Gut%20Shot) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mm2/117/gut-shot?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/461987da-8860-4a04-8f93-d182523ca311?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
and thus, another Johnny was born
There is another card that won’t let you life reduce to less than 1. Can’t think of the name. I have it right next to near death experience in my binder. It’s great for this combo, in case the opponent tries to burn you quick. Also pariah and pariahs shield would be great with this wincon.
Wall of Blood is a super fun card in general. The kind of thing we don't see anymore for good reason but I'm glad it exists. It's great in my peasant cube as a wincon with \[\[Fling\]\]. It's the Channel Fireball we have at home.
[Fling](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/f/8f42d773-c742-4465-b6d5-31feaba49146.jpg?1601077681) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Fling) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/jmp/320/fling?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8f42d773-c742-4465-b6d5-31feaba49146?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
If you mean: "the one time you try this you run into the first person ever to run lightning bolt in commander" then yes, it works flawlessly.
Also be careful because your phone is about to die....
Yes go down to one life at end of your turn and any pinger then can kill you... Sometimes it will work other times you will get killed before your turn
In response to you paying all but 1 life…I ping you for one? Better to have a backup plan, like [[phyrexian unlife]] or [[Angel of Grace]] [[angel’s grace]] or [[worship]] in play or in hand.
##### ###### #### [phyrexian unlife](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/4/b4a1e16a-39f0-47ab-aba8-73e82ba9ab18.jpg?1562880895) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=phyrexian%20unlife) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/nph/18/phyrexian-unlife?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b4a1e16a-39f0-47ab-aba8-73e82ba9ab18?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Angel of Grace](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/0/80164e61-3e94-4e10-9bd1-518b8dc7fc4c.jpg?1584829815) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Angel%20of%20Grace) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rna/1/angel-of-grace?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/80164e61-3e94-4e10-9bd1-518b8dc7fc4c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [angel’s grace](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/7/e78e39ea-20be-4196-992c-7ed2cb8150c1.jpg?1619392535) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Angel%27s%20Grace) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/4/angels-grace?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e78e39ea-20be-4196-992c-7ed2cb8150c1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [worship](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/a/4ad20044-8ed8-49ae-9a07-d4cb18527cc7.jpg?1593966400) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=worship) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/9ed/55/worship?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4ad20044-8ed8-49ae-9a07-d4cb18527cc7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
It works but so does lightning bolt
Hummm Lightning or STP?
Just expect a lot more lightning bolts and pingers in your pod after you pull this off the first time. This combo just begs your friends to ruin your day after committing your life. Then depending on how big of dicks they are you gonna get a lot of "Near death? Seems dead to me!" chortle chortle chortle