Gargos Fights First?
So,
Last night The Pod is having a go. The crew has some of their favourite Mono-Builds out, plus there's the guy with the 'Cloud PreCon' and (out of the box), it's still running like a fine tuned engine, there's another one who's running his, Oloro, Ageless Ascetic 'Drain & Gain' and another has his modded and tuned-up 'Bello PreCon' out, (don't let the cute critters fool you, that thing is scary)!
If you play (paper), you know how these nights go, "Well, no, this goes on 'The Stack 1st', followed by the inevitable, 'I'm not sure if it resolves that way', and 'Can someone Google that?' and the obligatory, 'I want an official ruling not The AI Overview'.
Well, last night conversation turned to a deck build that hasn't even happened yet, and before you ask - Yes!, it's my, 'build in progress', that brought up the question. I guess after Krenko bricked for the 2nd game in a row, I felt the need to stir things up somehow!?
One of the Mono-Builds in action last night has Alpharael, Stonechosen at Commander and features Liliana of the Dark Realms and Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath in the 99, (not that the latter two have anything to do with the question, I just want to highlight how crazy cool this Mono-Black build is. The builder has put some time into it and it is impressive to watch, in action).
Now here's where the conversation got a little sideways, as you might imagine it could. No one here is an expert, none of us are on the Pro-Tour. In short, we just love playing and are all still, very much, learning as we go. It's a very relaxed setting with a bunch of people that are passionate about the game and we all want to get it right.
Alpharael's Ability, 'Whenever Alpharael attacks, if a nonland permanent left the battlefield this turn or a spell was warped this turn, defending player loses half their life, rounded up.'
I'm building a deck that will feature Gargos, Vicious Watcher,
Gargos' Ability, 'Whenever a creature you control becomes the target of a spell, Gargos, Vicious Watcher fights up to one target creature you don't control.'
*Question, 'Does player lose half their life before Gargos gets a chance to fight, or does Gargos fight first?'
I'm sure there's a hard and fast, cut and dry rule. I'm sure we're just 'not aware' how 'the stack' works and I have no doubt that we will eventually get it right. That's our group. More than hurt feelings, we all care about honouring the game, the artists that lend their talents to it and the developers that put their time into their craft.
Everything we've found, and the videos we've (all), watched all seem to suggest 'Gargos Fights First'. When opponent declares (combat), creatures (on Gargos' field) are 'targeted'. Gargos fights first. At least that's the way we see it.
*TLDR 'Would Alpharael's ability still take half life first or does Gargos pick a target and fight first?'
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