2

How does repeat this process work?

If for example I cast Hoarder's Greed and win the clashes all the time until I deck myself or am out of life. Do I have priority between the repeat this process clause? Before I repeat what is standing on such a card?

If not, do I have to repeat the process, even if I am out of life? Does the "you lose 2 life" part in hoarders greed come at the end, after repeating as long as I win the clash? Or do I lose life each time before I repeat the process and die before the spell is fully resolved?

1 Answer 1

6

No, you won't get priority during a spell's or ability's resolution. If the effect instructs you to 'repeat this process', then you have to repeat the process for as long as you can.

Instructions of effects are always mandatory, unless the effect itself offers you a choice. "If you win, repeat this process" does not involve a choice. You keep clashing, losing life, and drawing cards, until you fail to win a clash. There are cards that allow you to either continue or stop a process, but they include "may" somewhere in their wording, as do all cards when taking an action is voluntary.

  1. Resolving Spells and Abilities

608.2c The controller of the spell or ability follows its instructions in the order written. [..]

The active player gets priority only after the current spell or ability has finished resolving:

117.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.

Each instance of "lose 2 life" is separate. If there is an ability in your game that triggers on you losing life, it will trigger each time you lose 2 life during Hoarder's Greed. Since you can lose life regardless of your current life total, as opposed to "paying 2 life" which you can only do if you do have 2 or more life, the lower limit to your resulting health depends only on the number of repetitions of the process, and thus on the number of cards in your library.

119.3. If an effect causes a player to gain life or lose life, that player’s life total is adjusted accordingly.

119.4. If a cost or effect allows a player to pay an amount of life greater than 0, the player may do so only if their life total is greater than or equal to the amount of the payment.

The process stops only when you fail to win a clash, i.e. you reveal a card with lower or equal CMC, or when you can't reveal a card at all because your library is empty.

701.22d A player wins a clash if that player revealed a card with a higher converted mana cost than all other cards revealed in that clash.

Note that you don't lose the game during the resolution of a spell, since state-based actions are not being checked at that time.

704.4. Unlike triggered abilities, state-based actions pay no attention to what happens during the resolution of a spell or ability.

If, in the process of resolving Hoarder's Greed, you go to 0 life or less, or try to draw from an empty library, you will lose as soon as the spell has resolved and the active player would gain priority, because at that time, state-based actions are checked.

704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 117, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions simultaneously as a single event.

5
  • 1
    Can you add a rule showing why you will lose the clash once your library becomes completely empty?
    – GendoIkari
    Mar 5, 2020 at 15:42
  • so, even if i am at 1 life and still have cards in the lib to show for clashing and i keep winning, i lose life till -XX and after I lose a clash the spell resolves and I lose the game. And when i clash with an empty library, is the cmc of the card 0? Because no card is no cmc?
    – Eggi
    Mar 5, 2020 at 17:01
  • 1
    @GendoIkari it's not mentioned in the CR explicitely, but if you don't reveal a card at all, 701.22d certainly applies - if you don't reveal a card at all, you did not reveal a card with higher CMC and can't win the clash.
    – Hackworth
    Mar 5, 2020 at 17:27
  • @Hackworth Thanks; that definitely works. It hinges on the fact that clashing only cares about "winning", not about "losing".
    – GendoIkari
    Mar 5, 2020 at 17:29
  • 1
    @Eggi To expand upon what Hacksworth was saying with 701.22d, it's not so much that no card is no cmc; but rather that to win a clash, you must reveal a card with a higher cmc than any revealed. If you don't reveal any card, then you didn't reveal a card with the highest cmc.
    – GendoIkari
    Mar 5, 2020 at 17:36

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .