Can you react to a Temporary unit dying at the start of the beginning phase by playing another Temporary unit (like Sprite Call), and will the new unit survive?

Question

Accepted Answer

Yes — if you can legally play a spell that creates a Temporary unit in response to the Temporary trigger (for example by playing it on your own Beginning Phase or by using a hidden/reaction-enabled spell), you may do so and the newly played Temporary token will not itself die from the already-created start-of-Beginning-Phase trigger. Temporary triggers only trigger when the Beginning Phase starts, so items created after that moment don't have their Temporary trigger until the next Beginning Phase. [816.1.b] [816.1.c]

You may play a spell that creates a Temporary unit in response to a Temporary trigger that is on the chain, and the new Temporary unit will survive that resolving trigger. The original Temporary trigger will only kill the permanent it was created for at the time the Beginning Phase started; a unit created afterwards won't have its Temporary trigger for that same Beginning Phase. [816.1.b] [816.1.c] [FAQ:unleashed#2]

Beginning Phase starts for the controller; permanents with Temporary have their Trigger Condition satisfied and a 'kill this' triggered ability is created and placed on the chain. [816.1.c] [816.1.b] Players now have the opportunity to respond to that pending triggered ability by adding items to the chain if they have a legal way to do so (see assumptions about play windows). [FAQ:unleashed#2] If you legally play Sprite Call (or another effect that plays a Temporary token) in response, its token is created as part of resolving that spell and enters the board after the Beginning Phase start event has already happened. Because the new token did not exist at the exact moment the Beginning Phase started, its Temporary trigger was not created at that moment and so it will not die when the original 'kill this' trigger resolves. Its Temporary will instead trigger at the start of the next Beginning Phase it experiences. [816.1.c] [816.1.b]

If you cannot legally play the spell in that reaction window (for example, the spell is only playable "on your turn" and it's not your turn), you cannot add it to the chain in response — so you cannot save the dying Temporary unit that way. If a Replacement Effect or other ability retroactively changes the timing/placement of the Temporary trigger (for example, something that changes when the Beginning Phase is considered to have started), the interaction could change. The provided core excerpts do not include exhaustive Replacement Effect timing details for this exact scenario; use rule 375 if a replacement effect modifies a token being played in this sequence. [375] If a card or effect specifically says it also kills "a Temporary permanent" or otherwise refers to 'all Temporary' then that text could affect newly created tokens — but the normal 'kill this' Temporary trigger only targets "this" and thus only kills the permanent that existed when the trigger was created. [816.1.b] [359.3.e.6]

Temporary is a triggered keyword that is defined to trigger "At the start of this permanent's controller's Beginning Phase, before scoring, kill this." — that means the trigger condition is the Beginning Phase starting for that permanent's controller. [816.1.b] [816.1.c] When the Beginning Phase starts, those Temporary triggers are created and placed on the chain as pending triggered abilities; players may respond to those pending items before they resolve. [FAQ:unleashed#2] If you legally play a spell that creates a Temporary token (for example, Sprite Call which plays a ready 3 M Sprite token with Temporary per [184.2]), and you do so in response to the pending Temporary trigger, the token is created after the Beginning Phase start event has already occurred. Because the token did not exist at the exact moment the Beginning Phase started, its Temporary trigger was not created at that time and therefore it will not die when the original 'kill this' trigger resolves. Its own Temporary trigger will instead occur at the start of the next Beginning Phase it experiences. [816.1.c] [816.1.b] Note that this only applies if you have a legal way to play the spell in that reaction window (for example it must be playable in that window or previously hidden/usable as a reaction); if you cannot legally add the spell to the chain in that window, you cannot save the dying permanent. [FAQ:unleashed#2] Finally, multiple instances of Temporary are redundant in that they only trigger once when their trigger condition is met, but that doesn't change the timing rule above about when a Temporary trigger is created and for which permanents it applies. [816.2]