If my opponent plays Brynhir Thundersong off of my Promising Future, what happens to the card I chose to play? Can I still play it even though Brynhir's effect prevents playing cards?

Question

Accepted Answer

If your opponent plays Brynhir Thundersong as part of the sequence created by your Promising Future, Brynhir Thundersong’s “When you play me, opponents can’t play cards this turn” will stop you from playing your chosen card when Promising Future next instructs you to. The play attempt is prevented and the chosen card is not played.

You cannot play your chosen card. As Promising Future resolves it has the next player (your opponent) play their chosen card first. When they play Brynhir Thundersong, its play-triggered ability will trigger and, when that trigger resolves, create a continuous effect that prevents you from playing cards that turn. When Promising Future then attempts to have you play your chosen card, you are prohibited from doing so, so that play does nothing and the card remains unplayed (resolution continues) [419.3] [419.3.c] [419.4] [419.2].

You cast Promising Future and, as it resolves, each player looks at the top 5 and chooses one, then the rest are recycled; Promising Future then instructs players, starting with the next player, to play those chosen cards [419.3]. The opponent is first and attempts to play their chosen card. They play Brynhir Thundersong as part of Promising Future’s resolution; this is a Play performed as a Limited Action per the spell’s instruction and is processed like a normal Play [419.3] [419.3.b]. When Brynhir Thundersong is played and completes resolution, its "When you play me" ability triggers because abilities that trigger on playing cards trigger when the card's play has completed [419.4] [FAQ:unleashed#14]. That triggered ability resolves and creates the effect “opponents can’t play cards this turn,” which now prevents you from playing cards for the rest of the turn [419.2]. Promising Future then proceeds to the next player (you) and attempts to have you play your chosen card. Because a game effect now forbids you from playing cards, you are not able to perform the Play action; under the Promising Future instruction this is equivalent to there being no eligible card to play, so nothing happens and resolution continues [419.3.c] [419.2]. Your chosen card remains unplayed (left where it currently is) and Promising Future finishes resolving.

If Brynhir Thundersong is countered before it resolves (for example, while it is on the chain), then it was not played and its "When you play me" ability will not trigger; in that case it will not block your play [425.1.b] [419.4.b]. If Brynhir Thundersong was already in play earlier that turn (not played as part of Promising Future), its continuous restriction would already be active and would prevent all subsequent plays, including those requested by Promising Future. If some other effect grants you permission to play cards that specifically overrides "can't play cards" (not present in the given context), that could allow the play to proceed; the ruling above assumes no such overriding permission exists. If Promising Future’s implementation in a specific templating moves or auto-plays the chosen card in a way that makes it not subject to being 'played' (no such text is present here), then Brynhir’s restriction might not apply. The ruling assumes the card must be played by the player when instructed.

Walkthrough: You cast Promising Future. As it resolves each player looks at the top five of their Main Deck, chooses one, and recycles the rest; then Promising Future instructs, "Starting with the next player, each player plays those cards, ignoring Energy costs." That instruction causes a series of Play actions to occur as part of the spell's resolution—these are Plays treated as Limited Actions [419.3]. The opponent goes first and plays their chosen card, which in this scenario is Brynhir Thundersong. When Brynhir Thundersong finishes being played its "When you play me" ability triggers, because abilities that trigger on playing cards trigger when the act of playing the card has been completed by the resolution of the card [419.4]. When that trigger resolves it creates a game effect that states "opponents can’t play cards this turn." That continuous effect now makes you unable to perform Play actions for the rest of the turn. Promising Future then proceeds to instruct you to play your chosen card, but you are prohibited from doing so. Under the rule governing Plays caused by a resolving effect, if there are no eligible cards to Play when instructed to do so, nothing happens and resolution continues [419.3.c]. Since the play is prevented, Promising Future’s instruction has no effect for you and your chosen card remains unplayed. Notes on precision: The rules and the FAQ clarify that "play" can mean multiple technical things, but abilities that trigger "when you play me" trigger when the card's play completes (resolution/finalization), which is sufficient for Brynhir Thundersong to produce its effect in time to stop the subsequent forced play from Promising Future [419.4] [FAQ:unleashed#14]. If Brynhir Thundersong had been countered so it never completed being played, its trigger wouldn't occur and you would be able to play your chosen card normally [425.1.b].