One of the most-asked questions with Miracle is whether you can cast it in the middle of a resolving spell or ability. You can’t do that because the ability that triggers when you reveal the card can’t go on the stack until a player would receive priority, which doesn’t happen until all parts of the spell or ability have been completed. If the Miracle card is no longer in your hand at that time, you can’t cast the card when then Miracle ability resolves.

So let’s say you activate Desolate Lighthouse on your opponent’s end step while your hand is empty. You eagerly look at the card you draw, and see that Bonfire of the Damned you really needed right now, and you gleefully reveal it. This triggers the Miracle ability, but you’re not done with the Lighthouse’s ability yet, so the Miracle trigger just floats in limbo. Now you discard a card. Since you have only one card in hand, you have to discard the currently revealed Bonfire of the Damned. NOW the Miracle ability can go on the stack, but you won’t be able to make any use of it, since the card is no longer in your hand.

So you probably never want to activate Desolate Lighthouse with an empty hand, unless you really just want to put the top card of your library into your graveyard!

Today’s Rules Tip written by
Josh Stansfield, Level 2 judge from Orange, CA