This seems like a basic stack question but it's just never come up for me personally until playing illusions
Does it work like this:
-Cast Lightning Bolt
....respond, or it resolves...
...if it resolves, target Illusion, make it go away
or does targeting happen literally at the time of casting? Like if I counter a spell or stifle an ability, has my Illusion still been targeted? Or can targeting not occur until a spell resolves? This always seems to be done simultaneously, but usually it doesn't matter as it does with Illusions
Targeting happens as you cast the spell, before you even pay for it. Because your illusion has been targeted, it will die whether or not you counter the spell.
If Lightning Bolt is cast on your illusion, your illusion's triggered ability will trigger and your illusion will die first before the bolt's resolution. The bolt will then get countered upon resolution due to lack of target.
Your opponent casts shock targetting your illusion (phantasmal bear). The trigger to sacrifice the illusion whenever it becomes the target of a spell or ability is placed upon the stack.
If in response, you cancel the shock:
cancel will resolve, countering the shock. The the sacrifice trigger will resolve and you will sacrifice your illusion.
Okay, I announce a Fireball with 10 targets and X=0, target all illusions on the battlefield and then simply notice that I don't have the necessary resources to pay for the spell. If it were like you say, the illusions would all pop, because they already were targeted. This is not the case. While it is true that the targets are announced before the spell is paid, such triggered abilities are only evaluated once the spell is on the stack and fully paid.
(emphasis added)
If you're going to be precise, I'm not sure the bolded part above is a correct summarization of the rules.
The triggered ability "Whenever :::: becomes a target..." has its trigger condition met immediately upon naming targets, before costs are paid.
603.2. Whenever a game event or game state matches a triggered ability's trigger event, that ability automatically triggers. The ability doesn't do anything at this point.
The triggered effect won't actually go on the stack until the next time someone would recieve priority, which is after the spell is successfully cast.
The reason you can't name 10 illusions as a target of Fireball and then say "whoops I don't have enough mana" and still kill the illusions is because once you realize that you're unable to cast the spell in the way you've announced, the game backs up to before you began the process of casting that spell. NOT because the game is waiting until after casting to evaluate what triggers.
The main issue with your summary is in the case of a creature with a "Becomes a target" triggered ability, and a mana ability that would remove the creature from play. For example, an eldrazi spawn token with a Livewire Lash on it. If you cast a spell targeting the spawn, then sacrifice the spawn during the mana payment step of casting, the Livewire Lash will still trigger. If we went by your interpretation of "wait until the spell is cast, then check for triggers", the game would miss the Lash's trigger.
Does it work like this:
-Cast Lightning Bolt
....respond, or it resolves...
...if it resolves, target Illusion, make it go away
or does targeting happen literally at the time of casting? Like if I counter a spell or stifle an ability, has my Illusion still been targeted? Or can targeting not occur until a spell resolves? This always seems to be done simultaneously, but usually it doesn't matter as it does with Illusions
If in response, you cancel the shock:
cancel will resolve, countering the shock. The the sacrifice trigger will resolve and you will sacrifice your illusion.
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(emphasis added)
If you're going to be precise, I'm not sure the bolded part above is a correct summarization of the rules.
The triggered ability "Whenever :::: becomes a target..." has its trigger condition met immediately upon naming targets, before costs are paid.
The triggered effect won't actually go on the stack until the next time someone would recieve priority, which is after the spell is successfully cast.
The reason you can't name 10 illusions as a target of Fireball and then say "whoops I don't have enough mana" and still kill the illusions is because once you realize that you're unable to cast the spell in the way you've announced, the game backs up to before you began the process of casting that spell. NOT because the game is waiting until after casting to evaluate what triggers.
The main issue with your summary is in the case of a creature with a "Becomes a target" triggered ability, and a mana ability that would remove the creature from play. For example, an eldrazi spawn token with a Livewire Lash on it. If you cast a spell targeting the spawn, then sacrifice the spawn during the mana payment step of casting, the Livewire Lash will still trigger. If we went by your interpretation of "wait until the spell is cast, then check for triggers", the game would miss the Lash's trigger.
Please use card tags when you're asking a question about specific cards: [c]Serra Angel[/c] -> Serra Angel.