Sothera's end step trigger doesn't return a creature if Sothera is no longer on the battlefield
Sothera, the Supervoid's end step trigger to sacrifice itself and put an exiled creature onto the battlefield currently doesn't work if it can't sacrifice itself. If it leaves the battlefield with its trigger on the stack (for example The Mind Stone flickering it or returning it to hand), the trigger does nothing instead of skipping the sacrifice and still putting a creature onto the battlefield like expected. Since there's no "if you do" clause making the rest of the ability depend on sacrificing it, I can't see any reason except a bug that this could be the case.
Tested on Windows version 2026.60.10 against Sparky, ensuring no other effects could interfere with what that trigger is trying to do.
Cheznug#54016
shared this idea
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Tim the Enchanter#77172
commented
Sacrificing Sothera is part of its triggered ability. I’ve been reading and rereading and I still come to the same consclusion. I know spells and abilities can check the previous board state when they try to resolve, but:
3. If Bounced in Response to the End Step Trigger: If your end step begins, a player controls no creatures, and Sothera's second ability triggers, an opponent might try to bounce Sothera in response.The result: Sothera is returned to your hand. When the ability resolves, you cannot sacrifice Sothera (since it's gone), but the rest of the effect still attempts to resolve. However, because Sothera left the battlefield, the resolving ability can no longer find any cards "exiled with it." The ability will do nothing, and the cards stay in exile.
The same thing happens if you flicker it, it’s a new object and the last ability can’t find the old exiled cards.
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rubix#35425
commented
Sothera's ability also fails if Sothera is still on the battlefield but unable to be sacrificied.
I tested it against sparky using :
- Zurgo, Thunder's Decree (During your end step, Warrior tokens you control have “This token can’t be sacrificed.”)
- Applied Geometry (Create a token that’s a copy of target non-Aura permanent you control, except it’s a 0/0 Fractal creature in addition to its other types. Put six +1/+1 counters on it.)
- Stalactite Dagger (Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and is all creature types.)
this gives us a warrior token Sothera that can't be sacrificed in the end step, and the ability refuses to return an exiled creature. Removing the dagger (and thus the Warrior subtype) makes the ability once again function normally.Also, Tim is incorrect in saying that leaving the battlefield breaks the ability. Linked abilities that care about exiled cards track said exiled cards directly. I have tested it with Emperor of bones, which has similarly linked abilities, and removing it from the battlefield in response to its "return" ability doesn't break it like Sothera.
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Tim the Enchanter#77172
commented
I’m not a judge, but when I think through the interaction I can see why you think it should work, but I believe the problem is that when Sothera changes zones, moving it breaks the relationship between Sothera and the cards exiled with it. So at the beginning of your end step it checks to see if a player has no creatures. If all players do it doesn’t trigger. If it does trigger it checks again before resolving. So I think that even with the ability on the stack, doing anything other than sacrificing Sothera won’t return a card because at that point those cards are just plain exiled, not exiled _with Sothera_ when the ability tries to resolve.