In a multiplayer game, if you cast a spell that says 'each opponent loses 3 life,' does each opponent lose life simultaneously?

When a spell or ability uses the word 'each' to affect multiple players, all affected players experience the effect at the same time. This is governed by CR 800.4, which addresses how effects apply to multiple players in multiplayer games — they happen simultaneously unless the spell or ability specifies an order or uses phrasing like 'for each opponent, that player loses 3 life' in a sequential context.

This simultaneity matters practically: if you have four opponents and cast a spell that says 'each opponent loses 3 life,' all four opponents lose 3 life at the same moment. No player's life total is checked before another's — they all drop together.

Triggered abilities that watch for life loss may all trigger at once as well. For example, if you control a Sanguine Bond-like effect, it would trigger once for each opponent who lost life, but the life losses themselves were simultaneous.

Concrete example: You cast Exsanguinate with X=3 in a four-player game. Each of your three opponents loses 3 life at the exact same time. If one opponent was at 3 life and another at 10, both lose 3 life simultaneously — the first drops to 0 and the second to 7, all in the same event.

CR 800.4 and CR 118.2 confirm that life loss events affecting multiple players through a single instruction resolve simultaneously, with state-based actions (like player elimination) checked after the event fully resolves.