General Rulings - 602

• 602.1 - Activated abilities have a cost and an effect. They are written as "<-Cost->: <-Effect.-> <-Activation restriction (if any).->" The activation cost is everything before the colon (:). An ability's activation cost must be paid by the player who is activating it. [CompRules 2009/07/08]
  Example: The activation cost of an ability that reads "{2},{Tap}: You gain 1 life" is two mana of any type plus tapping the permanent that has the ability. [CompRules 2009/10/01]
• 602.1a - An activated ability is the only kind of ability that can be activated. If an object or rule refers to activating an ability without specifying what kind, it must be referring to an activated ability. [CompRules 2009/07/08]
• 602.1b - For many years, the action of using an activated ability was referred to on cards as "playing" that ability. Cards that were printed with that text have received errata in the Oracle card reference so they now refer to "activating" that ability. [CompRules 2009/07/08]
• 602.2 - To activate an ability is to put it onto the stack and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. Only an object's controller (or its owner, if it doesn't have a controller) can activate its activated ability unless the object specifically says otherwise. Activating an ability follows the steps listed below, in order. If, at any point during the activation of an ability, a player is unable to comply with any of those steps, the ability was activated illegally; the game returns to the moment before that ability started to be activated (see Rule 714, "Handling Illegal Actions"). Announcements and payments can't be altered after they've been made. [CompRules 2009/07/08]
• 602.2a - The player announces that he or she is activating the ability. If an activated ability is being activated from a hidden zone, the card that has that ability is revealed. That ability is created on the stack as an object that's not a card. It becomes the topmost object on the stack. It has the text of the ability that created it, and no other characteristics. Its controller is the player who activated the ability. The ability remains on the stack until it's countered or resolves. [CompRules 2009/10/01]
• 602.2b - The remainder of the process for activating an ability is identical to the process for casting a spell listed in Rule 601.2b through Rule 601.2h. Those rules apply to activating an ability just as they apply to casting a spell. An activated ability's analog to a spell's mana cost (as referenced in Rule 601.2e) is its activation cost. [CompRules 2009/07/08]
• 602.3 - Some abilities specify that one of their controller's opponents does something the controller would normally do while it's being activated, such as choose a mode or choose targets. In these cases, the opponent does so when the ability's controller normally would do so. [CompRules 2009/07/08]
• 602.3a - If there is more than one opponent who could make such a choice, the ability's controller decides which of those opponents will make the choice. [CompRules 2009/07/08]
• 602.3b - If the ability instructs its controller and another player to do something at the same time as the ability is being activated, the ability's controller goes first, then the other player. This is an exception to Rule 101.4. [CompRules 2009/07/08]
• 602.4 - Activating an ability that alters costs won't affect spells and abilities that are already on the stack. [CompRules 2009/10/01]
• 602.5 - A player can't begin to activate an ability that's prohibited from being activated. [CompRules 2009/07/08]
• 602.5a - A creature's activated ability with the tap symbol ({Tap}) or the untap symbol ({Untap}) in its activation cost can't be activated unless the creature has been under its controller's control since the start of his or her most recent turn. Ignore this rule for creatures with haste (see Rule 702.10). [CompRules 2009/07/08]
• 602.5b - If an activated ability has a restriction on its use (for example, "Activate this ability only once each turn"), the restriction continues to apply to that object even if its controller changes. [CompRules 2009/07/08]
• 602.5c - If an object acquires an activated ability with a restriction on its use from another object, that restriction applies only to that ability as acquired from that object. It doesn't apply to other, identically worded abilities. [CompRules 2009/07/08]
• 602.5d - Activated abilities that read "Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery" mean the player must follow the timing rules for casting a sorcery spell, though the ability isn't actually a sorcery. The player doesn't actually need to have a sorcery card that he or she could cast. [CompRules 2009/07/08]
• 602.5e - Activated abilities that read "Activate this ability only any time you could cast an instant" mean the player must follow the timing rules for casting an instant spell, though the ability isn't actually an instant. The player doesn't actually need to have an instant card that he or she could cast. [CompRules 2009/07/08]