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This search based on the July 13, 2008 release of the Rulings.
409 - Playing Spells and Activated Abilities
- 409.1 - Playing a spell or activated ability follows the steps listed below,
in order. If, at any point during the playing of a spell or ability, a
player is unable to comply with any of the steps listed below, the spell
was played illegally; the game returns to the moment before that spell or
ability was played (see Rule 422, "Handling Illegal Actions").
Announcements and payments can't be altered after they've been made.
[CompRules 2003/07/01]
- 409.1a - The player announces that he or she is playing the spell or
activated ability. If a spell is being played, that card (or that copy of
a card) physically moves from the zone it's in to the stack. It has all
the characteristics of the card (or the copy of a card) associated with
it, and its controller is the player who played it. If an activated
ability is being played, it's created on the stack as an object that's
not a card. If an activated ability is being played from a hidden zone,
the card that has that ability is revealed. On the stack, the ability has
the text of the ability that created it, and no other characteristics.
Its controller is the player who played the ability. The spell or ability
remains on the stack until it's countered or resolves.
[CompRules 2008/02/01]
- 409.1b - If the spell or ability is modal (uses the phrase "Choose one -,"
"Choose two -," or "[specified player] chooses one -"), the player
announces the mode choice. If the player wishes to splice any cards onto
the spell (see Rule 502.40), he or she reveals those cards in his or her
hand. If the spell or ability has a variable mana cost (indicated by {X})
or some other variable cost, the player announces the value of that
variable at this time. If the spell or ability has alternative,
additional, or other special costs (such as buyback, kicker, or convoke
costs), the player announces his or her intentions to pay any or all of
those costs (see Rule 409.1f). You can't apply two alternative methods of
playing or two alternative costs to a single spell or ability. If a cost
includes hybrid mana symbols in its cost, the player announces the
nonhybrid equivalent cost he or she intends to pay. Previously made
choices (such as choosing to play a spell with flashback from his or her
graveyard or choosing to play a creature with morph face down) may
restrict the player's options when making these choices.
[CompRules 2008/05/01]
- 409.1c - If the spell or ability requires any targets, the player first
announces how many targets he or she will choose (if the spell or ability
has a variable number of targets), then announces his or her choice of an
appropriate player, object, or zone for each of those targets. A player
can't play a spell or ability unless he or she chooses the required number
of legal targets. The same target can't be chosen multiple times for any
one instance of the word "target" on the spell or ability. If the spell
or ability uses the word "target" in multiple places, the same object,
player, or zone can be chosen once for each instance of the
word "target" (as long as it fits the targeting criteria).
[CompRules 2008/05/01]
Example: If an ability reads "Tap two target creatures," then the same
target can't be chosen twice; the ability requires two different legal
targets. An ability that reads "Destroy target artifact and target land,"
however, can target the same artifact land twice because it uses the word
"target" in multiple places. [CompRules 2004/10/01]
Example: If an ability reads "Tap two target creatures," then the same
target can't be chosen twice; the ability requires two different legal
targets. An ability that reads "Destroy target artifact and target land,"
however, can target the same artifact land twice because it uses the word
"target" in multiple places. [CompRules 2004/10/01]
- 409.1d - If the spell or ability targets one or more targets only if an
alternative, additional, or special cost (such as a buyback or kicker
cost) is paid for it, or if a particular mode is chosen for it, its
controller chooses those targets only if he or she announced the intention
to pay that cost or chose that mode. Otherwise, the spell or ability is
played as though it did not have those targets. [CompRules 2003/07/01]
- 409.1e - If the spell or ability requires the player to divide or distribute
an effect (such as damage or counters) among one or more targets, or any
number of untargeted objects or players, the player announces the
division. Each of these targets, objects, or players must receive at
least one of whatever is being divided. [CompRules 2008/05/01]
- 409.1f - The player determines the total cost of the spell or ability.
Usually this is just the mana cost (for spells) or activation cost (for
abilities). Some cards list additional or alternative costs in their
text. Some effects may increase or reduce the cost to pay, or may provide
other alternative costs. Costs may include paying mana, tapping
permanents, sacrificing permanents, discarding cards, and so on. The
total cost is the mana cost, activation cost, or alternative cost (as
determined in Rule 409.1b), plus all additional costs and cost increases,
and minus all cost reductions. If the mana component of the total cost is
reduced to nothing by cost reduction effects, it is considered to be {0}.
It can't be reduced to less than {0}. Once the total cost is determined,
it becomes "locked in." If effects would change the total cost after this
time, they have no effect. [CompRules 2008/05/01]
- 409.1g - If the total cost includes a mana payment, the player then has a
chance to play mana abilities (see Rule 411, "Playing Mana Abilities").
Mana abilities must be played before costs are paid.
[CompRules 2004/06/01]
- 409.1h - The player pays the total cost in any order. Partial payments are
not allowed. Unpayable costs can't be paid. [CompRules 2007/05/01]
Example: You play Death Bomb, which costs {3}{B} and has an additional
cost of sacrificing a creature. You sacrifice Thunderscape Familiar,
whose effect makes your black spells cost {1} less to play. Because a
spell's total cost is "locked in" before payments are actually made, you
pay {2}{B}, not {3}{B}, even though you're sacrificing the Familiar.
[CompRules 2003/07/01]
- 409.1i - Once the steps described in Rule 409.1a through Rule 409.1h are
completed, the spell or ability becomes played. Any abilities that
trigger on a spell or ability being played or put onto the stack trigger
at this time. The spell or ability's controller had priority before
playing it, he or she gets priority. [CompRules 2006/05/01]
- 409.2 - Some spells and abilities specify that one of their controller's
opponents does something the controller would normally do while it's being
played, such as choose a mode or choose targets. In these cases, the
opponent does so when the spell or ability's controller normally would do
so. [CompRules 2008/05/01]
- 409.2a - If there is more than one opponent who could make such a choice,
the spell or ability's controller decides which of those opponents will
make the choice. [CompRules 2005/08/01]
- 409.2b - If the spell or ability instructs its controller and another player
to do something at the same time as the spell or ability is being played,
the spell's controller goes first, then the other player. This is an
exception to Rule 103.4. [CompRules 2005/08/01]
- 409.3 - Playing a spell or ability that alters costs won't do anything to
spells and abilities that are already on the stack. [CompRules 2003/07/01]
- 409.4 - A player can't begin to play a spell or activated ability that's
prohibited from being played by an effect. [CompRules 2003/07/01]
- 409.4a - If an effect allows a card that's prohibited from being played to
be played face down, and the face-down spell would not be prohibited, that
spell can be played face down. See Rule 504, "Face-Down Spells and
Permanents." [CompRules 2007/05/01]
- 409.Ruling.1 - As a note on Rule 409.1e, dividing an effect can be
communicated using a bunch of possible words, including "divide"
and "distribute". This is not locked to the word "divide".
[DeLaney 2003/12/14]
- 409.Ruling.2 - Effects that alter the cost of a spell or ability are all
applied and the order does not matter because no currently available
cost modifier is conditional based on the current cost.
[D'Angelo 2006/09/30]
- 409.Ruling.3 - A spell with no mana cost (a cost of {0} does have a mana
cost and is different from something with no mana cost) cannot normally be
played since it is impossible to pay a nonexistent cost in Rule 409.1h.
If there is a way to play a spell without paying its mana cost, you can
play a spell with no mana cost this way. [Time Spiral FAQ 2006/08/30]
This search based on the July 13, 2008 release of the Rulings.
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