AI DraftFeb 26, 2026
Blood Artist + Forsaken Miner + Phyrexian Altar
Overview
If you sacrifice Forsaken Miner to Phyrexian Altar while you control Blood Artist, Forsaken Miner is moved to your graveyard as a cost (sacrifice) ; that move causes Blood Artist’s triggered ability to trigger for the Miner’s death and go on the stack [2016-06-08]. Forsaken Miner’s return ability only triggers when you “commit a crime” while the Miner is already in your graveyard (it won’t trigger merely because you sacrificed it to Altar unless that sacrifice was part of casting/activating something that was itself a crime) (Ruling [2024-04-12]).
Step 1
You activate Phyrexian Altar’s ability; as part of activating it you announce the ability and then pay its activation costs, which can include sacrificing a creature .
Step 2
You sacrifice Forsaken Miner as the cost; it is moved from the battlefield to your graveyard as part of paying that cost .
Step 3
Moving Forsaken Miner to the graveyard from the battlefield is the event that causes Blood Artist’s triggered ability (“Whenever this creature or another creature dies…”) to trigger; that triggered ability is placed on the stack when triggered abilities are next put on the stack [2016-06-08].
Step 4
If Forsaken Miner’s return ability would trigger, it only does so if you committed a crime while Forsaken Miner was in your graveyard (Ruling [2024-04-12]); merely having been sacrificed to Altar does not create a Miner trigger unless the action that caused the sacrifice was itself a crime and the Miner was already in the graveyard at the moment the crime was committed.
Step 5
Because the Altar’s activated ability was put on the stack before its costs were paid, the triggered abilities generated by the sacrifice (Blood Artist and any valid Forsaken Miner trigger) are put on the stack above the Altar ability and will resolve first .
Step 6
When the Forsaken Miner trigger (if it exists) resolves you may pay 
as an optional cost during that resolution to return Miner to the battlefield; whether you have mana for that payment depends on what’s in your mana pool at that time — you don’t get mana from the Altar until the Altar ability resolves, which will be after those triggers resolve .
as an optional cost during that resolution to return Miner to the battlefield; whether you have mana for that payment depends on what’s in your mana pool at that time — you don’t get mana from the Altar until the Altar ability resolves, which will be after those triggers resolve .Resolution
When you activate Phyrexian Altar’s ability and sacrifice Forsaken Miner as part of paying that activation cost, the sacrifice moves Forsaken Miner from the battlefield to your graveyard as a cost ; Blood Artist will trigger for that creature dying and its triggered ability will be put on the stack [2016-06-08]. Forsaken Miner’s own triggered ability will only trigger if you committed a crime while Forsaken Miner was already in your graveyard (Ruling [2024-04-12]). Because the Altar ability is an activated ability that was put on the stack before its cost was paid, the triggered abilities caused by the sacrifice are put on the stack above the Altar ability and will resolve first . That means the Altar won’t produce mana until after those triggers resolve, so you can’t use Altar’s mana to pay a Miner return trigger that didn’t already exist when you committed the crime; you can pay Forsaken Miner’s return cost () when its triggered ability resolves, and per rule that optional payment is paid during that ability’s resolution .
) when its triggered ability resolves, and per rule that optional payment is paid during that ability’s resolution .Feedback