You may choose Captive Audience’s first mode even if your life total is already 4. Similarly, you may choose its second mode even if you have no cards in hand.

In a Two-Headed Giant game, Captive Audience’s first mode causes its controller to gain or lose life so that their team’s life total becomes 4.

In a multiplayer game, if Captive Audience’s owner leaves the game, Captive Audience leaves the game with them. If Captive Audience’s controller leaves the game, Captive Audience is exiled (assuming that player wasn’t also Captive Audience’s owner).

For a player’s life total to become 4, that player gains or loses the appropriate amount of life. For example, if a player’s life total is 20, Captive Audience will cause that player to lose 16 life; alternatively, if their life total is 1, it will cause them to gain 3 life. Other cards that interact with life gain or life loss will interact with this effect accordingly.

If all three modes have been chosen, Captive Audience’s triggered ability is removed from the stack with no effect, but Captive Audience remains on the battlefield.

Once Captive Audience is controlled by your opponent, its ability triggers during that player’s upkeep and that player makes all choices for it. That player is affected by its first two modes, and that player’s opponents create the tokens for its last mode.