stack/vial

[affinityplaya]

if i have 2 vials out and vial out a disciple and a ravager can i sack everything to ravager causing loss of life before he can kill disciple w/ fire ice? (during my turn)

[Zim Zam McGoo]

If you put in the disciple first, they may suspect you will put in a ravager when you activate the second vial, so burn the disciple then. Putting in the ravager first means the worst that could happen is you have to sacrifice two artifacts without loss of life if they fire the ravager before the disciple arrives. If they have a destroy spell rather than burn then you could lose the ravager before you get the disciple.

[affinityplaya]

don't you have priority though? can't you sac cards as soon as disciple comes into play and can't you vial into play disicple in response to burning the ravager?

[epeeguy]

don't you have priority though? can't you sac cards as soon as disciple comes into play and can't you vial into play disicple in response to burning the ravager?

The resolution of the Aether Vial's ability is what puts the Disciple/Ravager into play. So, what happens is that if you Vial in a Ravager (activate, let it resolve and put the Ravager into play) and then activate the second Vial, they use the burn on the Ravager. So, you have to respond to save the Ravager before the Disciple is actually in play. The same happens if you Vial in the Disciple first, they just respond to the activation of the second Vial and kill the Disciple.

[affinityplaya]

but u can sac after disciple gets into play after an unburned ravager?

[GenericKen]

Not if your opponent plays it smart. The vials resolve one at a time. If your opponent flinches first, then you can vial in the second piece in response for the life loss, but if you flinch first, he can kill one of the pieces before you get the second one into play.


One of the more interesting things about vial is that it has a "may" in the tap ability. That means you can tap vials to actually fake-out your opponent and force suboptimal plays without actually having to put a creature from your hand into play.