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Emmara, Soul of the Accord

Whenever Emmara, Soul of the Accord becomes tapped, create a 1/1 white Soldier creature token with lifelink.

Merfolk Trickster

When Merfolk Trickster enters the battlefield, tap target creature an opponent controls. It loses all abilities until end of turn.

What happens if the trickster targets Emmara?

She gets tapped and then loses all her abilities - but does it count as simultaneous so her ability sees the tapping and creates the soldier?

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  • Great question! I went back and forth a couple times before deciding on an answer. I'm only about 75% confident that it works according to the rules I've quoted....
    – GendoIkari
    Commented Nov 10, 2018 at 22:58

2 Answers 2

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You will still get the token.

Merfolk Trickster's ability does 2 different things, one after the other. Emmara's ability will trigger when the first one happens (tap target creature).

603.2. Whenever a game event or game state matches a triggered ability’s trigger event, that ability automatically triggers. The ability doesn’t do anything at this point.

So at that moment, the ability has triggered (but it is not on the stack yet). Then, immediately after, Emmara loses all abilities.

Next time a player gets priority, the triggered ability goes on the stack:

603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority.

This ability is not tied to Emmara at all; so it doesn't matter that Emmara doesn't have the ability anymore:

112.7a Once activated or triggered, an ability exists on the stack independently of its source. Destruction or removal of the source after that time won’t affect the ability.

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  • That's exactly the line my thinking went too, but like you I was also unsure.
    – Tim B
    Commented Nov 10, 2018 at 23:12
  • If the order of actions were reversed would you not get the token? Say the ability said "Target creature loses all abilities until end of turn. Tap it."
    – DenisS
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 20:59
  • @DenisS I'm almost sure that's correct. Losing the abilities is something that would happen immediately, before it was tapped, even if players don't get any priority between the two events.
    – GendoIkari
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 21:55
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According to the Gatherer rulings for Merfolk Trickster:

If the target creature has an ability that triggers when it becomes tapped, that ability triggers before it loses all abilities.

So yes, you do get the token.

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  • 1
    Funny that I somehow missed the Gatherer ruling! Also, the rulings there are making me re-open an old question of mine.
    – GendoIkari
    Commented Nov 11, 2018 at 5:20
  • @ikegami boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/15438/…
    – GendoIkari
    Commented Nov 11, 2018 at 15:09
  • Excellent thanks, I've accepted the other answer as it used the rules as a source but upvoted this one which confirmed it was correct.
    – Tim B
    Commented Nov 11, 2018 at 22:58

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