AI DraftFeb 26, 2026
Nether Traitor + Pawn of Ulamog + Phyrexian Altar
Overview
When Pawn of Ulamog dies while you have Nether Traitor in your graveyard and Phyrexian Altar on the battlefield, both Pawn's and Nether Traitor's triggered abilities will trigger. If you want to use the Spawn token from Pawn to pay Nether Traitor's "may pay 
" effect, put Pawn's trigger to resolve before Nether Traitor's trigger so Pawn creates the Spawn. After Pawn's trigger resolves you get priority and can activate Phyrexian Altar, sacrifice the Spawn to produce mana, then let Nether Traitor's trigger resolve and pay to return Nether Traitor from your graveyard to the battlefield. This ordering works because triggered abilities are put on the stack and you get priority to activate mana abilities between resolutions ; Nether Traitor's ability functions from the graveyard because its effect moves the card out of that zone ; and tokens that die are put into the graveyard before they cease to exist, so you can sacrifice a Spawn to Altar and get its mana [Ruling 2021-03-19].
" effect, put Pawn's trigger to resolve before Nether Traitor's trigger so Pawn creates the Spawn. After Pawn's trigger resolves you get priority and can activate Phyrexian Altar, sacrifice the Spawn to produce mana, then let Nether Traitor's trigger resolve and pay to return Nether Traitor from your graveyard to the battlefield. This ordering works because triggered abilities are put on the stack and you get priority to activate mana abilities between resolutions ; Nether Traitor's ability functions from the graveyard because its effect moves the card out of that zone ; and tokens that die are put into the graveyard before they cease to exist, so you can sacrifice a Spawn to Altar and get its mana [Ruling 2021-03-19].Step 1
A nontoken creature you control (for example, Pawn of Ulamog) is put into your graveyard from the battlefield; that event causes Pawn's triggered ability and Nether Traitor's triggered ability (while Nether is in your graveyard) to trigger.
Step 2
After the game checks state-based actions, both triggered abilities are put on the stack; you choose the order to put simultaneous triggers you control on the stack .
Step 3
Put Pawn of Ulamog's trigger on the stack above Nether Traitor's trigger if you plan to use the Spawn to pay for Nether's ability; Pawn's trigger resolves first and creates a 0/1 Eldrazi Spawn token.
Step 4
After Pawn's trigger resolves you get priority ; activate Phyrexian Altar's activated ability and sacrifice the Spawn to add one mana of any color (the Spawn is a token, and a token that dies is put into your graveyard before it ceases to exist, so the token going to the graveyard happens and the Altar produces mana) [Ruling 2021-03-19].
Step 5
With the mana in your mana pool, let Nether Traitor's graveyard trigger resolve; when it resolves you may pay . Pay (using the mana from Altar) and return Nether Traitor from your graveyard to the battlefield .
. Pay (using the mana from Altar) and return Nether Traitor from your graveyard to the battlefield .Resolution
You can create a Spawn with Pawn of Ulamog's trigger and sacrifice that Spawn to Phyrexian Altar to produce mana to pay Nether Traitor's "may pay " when Nether Traitor's graveyard trigger resolves — provided you order the triggers (and/or have priority) so the Spawn exists and can be sacrificed before you need to pay. Nether Traitor's triggered ability functions from the graveyard because its effect moves the card out of that zone . Tokens that die are put into the graveyard before they cease to exist, so sacrificing the Spawn to Altar produces mana you can use if you arrange the stack correctly [Ruling 2021-03-19] and you may get multiple triggers from Pawn if multiple nontoken creatures die at once [Ruling 2010-06-15].
" when Nether Traitor's graveyard trigger resolves — provided you order the triggers (and/or have priority) so the Spawn exists and can be sacrificed before you need to pay. Nether Traitor's triggered ability functions from the graveyard because its effect moves the card out of that zone . Tokens that die are put into the graveyard before they cease to exist, so sacrificing the Spawn to Altar produces mana you can use if you arrange the stack correctly [Ruling 2021-03-19] and you may get multiple triggers from Pawn if multiple nontoken creatures die at once [Ruling 2010-06-15].Feedback