MTG

1866 readers

16 users here now

Magic: the Gathering discussion

General discussion, questions, and media related to Magic: the Gathering that doesn't fit within a more specific community. Our equivalent of /r/magicTCG!

Type [[Card name]] in your posts and comments and CardBot will reply with a link to the card! More info here.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

andrew@mtgzone.com

mike@mtgzone.com

I would greatly appreciate some clarification on how triggered/activated abilities, especially those that involve a cost, can be copied. Thank you for your help with this. (lemmy.ml)

submitted 6 months ago by bec@lemmy.ml to c/mtg@mtgzone.com

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Could you please clarify for me? If I activate an ability that has a cost and then copy it, do I need to pay the cost again for the copy to resolve?

For example, the ability of [[Isareth, the Awakener]]. If I decide to attack and pay X mana to reanimate a creature, do I also have to pay again if I copy the ability? And if so, am I able to pay a different amount, considering that the source of the copying states, "You can choose new targets for the copy"?

A second question is for a card like [[Drana, Liberator of Malakir]]. If she deals direct damage and her ability triggers, would the +1/+1 counter be placed on each attacking creature, including herself, twice, were I to copy it?

I'm not sure if it's necessary to mention, but I am new to this, I am using [[The Peregrine Dynamo]] to copy those abilities.

Thank you for your help in clarifying this!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] bec@lemmy.ml 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, you're totally right about being able to copy the ability after I already paid the mana cost and choose new targets. So I can target a different creature with the same mana value to bring back now. Makes sense!

I checked out Isareth's Gatherer page and it seems like the first ability, the one triggered by attacking, doesn't actually target anything when it goes on the stack. So I can either copy the ability after I paid mana like we talked about earlier, or I can copy the first one right after the trigger. This means I can pay mana twice and bring back two creatures with different mana values! It's a pretty cool trick that can be really handy depending on what's going on with the board and graveyard.

[–] HumanBehaviorByBjork@hexbear.net 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Ah shoot, you're right, I didn't read the card closely enough and see that it's a triggered ability, not a an activated ability.

[–] bec@lemmy.ml 1 points 6 months ago

Don't worry about it!