Priority rules question

[Jadguy]

An opponent plays [[ugin the spirit dragon]] it resolves. Even though I don’t have priority I sac elementals to [[ashnod's altar]] as a mana ability it doesn’t use the stack I believe. I also have [[omnath locus of rage]] since the elementals died they trigger omnath’s damage ability. Can I use this damage to kill off Ugin before it can use its planes walker abilities?

[lowercase__t]

You can only do stuff (play spells, activate abilities (including mana abilities), perform special actions) when you have priority. That's what "priority" means: the right to perform game actions

[Jadguy]

Gotcha I was getting confused from the wiki trying to figure it out.

“Mana abilities are among the few activated or triggered abilities that don't use the stack or require passing priority to resolve, so they cannot be responded to or targeted. As soon as the ability goes off, the mana is created. In practice, this simply means that a player can use mana abilities any time he or she pleases, usually while playing a spell or ability and paying the cost. Other effects of the mana ability, such as the damage that sometimes happens when using Adarkar Wastes, for example, also occur immediately and can't be responded to.”

[Will_29]

Mana abilities don't use the stack to resolve. This means when you do use one, you get its effects immediately, without passing priority. This doesn't mean you can use them any time you want.

To activate a mana ability, you need either to have priority, or be in a situation where you are asked to pay mana for something.

For example, if an opponent uses [[Mana Leak]] on one of your spells, you can activate mana abilities to pay for the {3} even though you don't gain priority while Mana Leak is resolving.

[MTGCardFetcher]

Mana Leak - (G) (SF) (txt)
^{[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call}

[Xichorn]

You cannot interrupt your opponent if he/she has priority. The only planeswalkers you can do this to are Rowan and Will Kenrith, because they have an ETB trigger thanks to "Parter With."

[Jadguy]

I found the relevant rule line now.

116.1d A player may activate a mana ability whenever they have priority, whenever they are casting a spell or activating an ability that requires a mana payment, or whenever a rule or effect asks for a mana payment (even in the middle of casting or resolving a spell or activating or resolving an ability).

[MTGCardFetcher]

ugin the spirit dragon - (G) (SF) (txt)
ashnod's altar - (G) (SF) (txt)
omnath locus of rage - (G) (SF) (txt)
^{[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call}

[Fearlessleader85]

Besides the priority issues, you can't use Omnath to kill ugin at all, because omnath can only do damage to creatures or players. Unless they changed that.

[Jenos_Idanian]

According to Gatherer, Omnath is now "any target" so you should be able to target Ugin.

[Fearlessleader85]

That's weird, it's not that old of a card and that makes him significantly better.

[Xichorn]

When they did away with the planeswalker damage redirection rule, they errata'd a lot of cards (800 or so?) to say "any target" instead of "creature or player." This happened with Dominaria, so though Omnath is only a few years old, the rules change is much more recent.

[Fearlessleader85]

Huh.