0030: Delayed triggers created by actions

Status: Accepted. Extends decision 0026 (item on effects). Rules basis corrected by decision 0032 (CR 603.7g).

Context

Decision 0026 records every delayed triggered ability as a new effect "as the spell or ability that creates it resolves". Some delayed triggers are not created by a resolving spell or ability. Revealing Chancellor of the Annex or Devourer of Destiny from an opening hand creates one directly:

• Chancellor of the Annex: "You may reveal this card from your opening hand. If you do, when each opponent casts their first spell of the game, counter that spell unless that player pays {1}."
• Devourer of Destiny: "You may reveal this card from your opening hand. If you do, at the beginning of your first upkeep, look at the top four cards of your library. You may put one of those cards back on top of your library. Exile the rest."

The opening-hand example recorded Chancellor's reveal but no effect. Its keyframes did not show that a trigger was waiting, and the trigger, when it came on turn 2, had nothing to point back to with from. The same gap would hide a revealed Devourer for a whole turn when its owner is on the draw.

Decision

1. A delayed triggered ability created by a static ability that lets a player take an action is a new effect, like any other. Its line comes straight after the action that created it.
2. Its source is the card with that static ability, its controller is the player who took the action, and its cause is that card (by #16), the same cause as the action itself (decision 0018).
3. Everything else is as in decision 0026: keyframes list it until it ends, its trigger's new ability line ends from ID, and it ceases by rule:delayed-trigger when it triggers.

Rules basis

Checked against the Comprehensive Rules effective 2026-09-25.

• 603.7a: "Delayed triggered abilities are created during the resolution of spells or abilities, as the result of a replacement effect being applied, or as a result of a static ability that allows a player to take an action." Revealing a card from an opening hand is the third case.
• 103.6b: "If a card allows a player to reveal it from their opening hand, the player taking this action does so. The card remains revealed until the first turn begins."
• 603.7g: "If a static ability allows a player to take an action and creates a delayed triggered ability if that player does so, the source of that delayed triggered ability is the object with that static ability. The controller of that delayed triggered ability is the same as the controller of that object at the time the action was taken." This gives item 2 directly.
• 108.4a: "If anything asks for the controller of a card that doesn't have one (because it's not a permanent or spell), use its owner instead." The card is in a hand, so its controller is its owner, the player who revealed it.
• 603.7b: "A delayed triggered ability will trigger only once", the next time its trigger event occurs, "unless it has a stated duration". Both cards' delayed triggers trigger once, so their effects cease as they trigger.

Alternatives rejected

• No effect line; the reveal alone implies the trigger. Rejected: keyframes would not be the full state (decision 0008), and a reader would need to know each card's text to see that something is pending.
• Recording the effect only when it triggers. Rejected: the effect exists from the reveal, and a viewer jumping to turn 1 needs to show it.

Consequences

• The spec covers this case in sections 9.1 and 9.10.
• examples/opening-hand.mtgr adds Chancellor's effect (#22) after the reveal, lists it in the turn 1 and turn 2 keyframes, and ends it as it triggers. Later IDs in that file move up by one.
• examples/more-situations.md shows Devourer of Destiny, from the reveal to its trigger in the first upkeep.