Consuming Aberration + Maddening Cacophony + Phenax, God of Deception

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Overview

When you cast Maddening Cacophony, Consuming Aberration’s triggered ability triggers and (if allowed to resolve) will resolve before Maddening Cacophony does, causing opponents to reveal and put cards into their graveyards and thereby increasing Consuming Aberration’s power and toughness (a characteristic-defining/static effect) [Ruling (2024-11-08)] [604.3]. After that triggered ability resolves but before Cacophony resolves you may activate Phenax-granted abilities; those activations mill based on the creature’s toughness as that ability resolves (so tapping a creature after the Aberration trigger has resolved uses the increased toughness) [Ruling (2024-11-08)] [112.6] [613.5].

The StackRules & CitationsDetails & Edge Cases

Step 1

You cast Maddening Cacophony; when you finish casting it, Consuming Aberration’s triggered ability is triggered because it reads “Whenever you cast a spell.” Put that trigger on the stack above the Maddening Cacophony spell [Ruling (2024-11-08)].

Step 2

Players receive priority and may respond. If you let the Aberration trigger resolve before the Cacophony spell resolves, the trigger resolves now, and each opponent reveals cards from the top of their library until they reveal a land, putting the revealed nonland cards into their graveyard. These cards entering opponents' graveyards immediately increase the number of cards in your opponents' graveyards.

Step 3

Consuming Aberration’s power and toughness update to equal the new number of cards in your opponents’ graveyards because its P/T-setting ability is a characteristic-defining/static ability (it defines the creature’s power and toughness) [604.3] and continuous effects that set power/toughness apply as described by layers rules [613.5].

Step 4

After that trigger has resolved, the Maddening Cacophony spell is still on the stack; before it resolves you get priority and may activate Phenax-granted activated abilities from your creatures (they have “: Target player mills X cards, where X is this creature’s toughness”) [112.6]. If you activate after the Aberration trigger has resolved, the activated ability will mill using the creature’s now-increased toughness.

Step 5

When a Phenax-granted activated ability resolves, the target player mills X cards where X equals the creature’s toughness at resolution. If the creature that was tapped to pay the cost is no longer a creature as the ability resolves (for example, Phenax stopped being a creature), the ability will do nothing [Ruling (2014-02-01)].

Step 6

Finally, if you let Maddening Cacophony resolve, it will mill each opponent for eight (or half their library, rounded up, if it was kicked) as written on the spell, adding even more cards to opponents’ graveyards. Note that if an effect attempts to put more cards into a graveyard than the player has in their library, all remaining library cards are put into the graveyard; a player only loses for attempting to draw from an empty library, not from being milled to zero cards [704.5b].

Resolution

Cast Maddening Cacophony → Consuming Aberration’s "Whenever you cast a spell" trigger is put on the stack above Cacophony and (if allowed to resolve) resolves before Cacophony, milling by revealing-until-land and increasing Aberration’s P/T via its characteristic-defining ability [Ruling (2024-11-08)] [604.3]. After that trigger resolves and before Cacophony resolves you can activate Phenax-granted abilities; the number of cards milled by each activation equals that creature’s toughness at the time the activation resolves (so you can take advantage of the higher toughness created by the Aberration trigger). If Phenax (or the creature you tapped) is no longer a creature as the ability resolves, no cards are milled by that activation [Ruling (2014-02-01)].