When moving Merchant to a battlefield, can you play reaction spells in response to its trigger to empty your hand before the trigger resolves, thus avoiding discarding a card but still drawing one?

Ruling: Yes, you can play reaction spells in response to Merchant's move trigger to empty your hand before it resolves, allowing you to discard 0 cards and draw 1 card.

Sequence:

• Move Merchant to battlefield
• Merchant's move trigger goes on the stack
• In response, you can play as many reaction spells as you want (potentially emptying your hand)
• Resolve all reaction spells
• Resolve Merchant's move ability (if hand is empty, discard 0 and draw 1)

Nuances:

• Action spells cannot be played onto a chain in response to cards/effects
• You cannot "forget" the trigger and resolve it later after playing spells - this would be considered a missed trigger and would not be allowed in tournament play