While these are different scenarios they both result in copies on the stack, which are still considered spells. Some cards put extra copies of a spell on the stack, like Sea Gate Stormcaller, while others instruct you to copy a spell and then cast it, like God-Eternal Kefnet. What if You Cast a Copy of a Card?Ĭasting copies works similarly to just casting a normal card from your hand. If your opponent has a Negate, they can target either one. If you cast Mentor's Guidance and copy it, both the original and the copy are spells on the stack. Yes, a copy of another spell is considered a spell itself. A card becomes a spell when you move it from any zone to the stack. Spells don’t exist in your library, hand, battlefield, or any other zone. When Are Cards Considered Spells?Ĭards are only considered spells when they’re on the stack. This is different for lands, which can only be played but never cast. If an effect says you can play a spell, that’s functionally the same as saying you can cast a spell. Some older cards make this confusing, but the language has been clarified on modern cards. Yes! Playing and casting a spell are the same thing. Resolving an instant or sorcery means you do everything on the card in the order that it’s written and then put that card in the graveyard. Permanents enter the battlefield when they resolve. If someone casts another spell or activates an ability, that goes onto the stack above your original spell, repeating the process. Your spell resolves if everyone declines to take an action. Casting a spell gives each player a chance to “respond” to it before it resolves, in turn order. How Do Spells Resolve?Ī spell resolves when it’s the top card of the stack and each player passes priority. That ability wasn’t cast, so it’s not a spell. The actual cards go to the graveyard while the activated ability goes on the stack. They’re activated abilities that you use from your hand. Bloodrush and similar discard abilities like cycling and channel aren’t spells because you don’t cast them. It can’t target a permanent that’s already on the battlefield. Lithoform Engine can target a permanent on the stack, which creates a token copy of that permanent. Cards that mention “permanent spells” refer to spells on the stack with permanent types.įor example, the last activated ability on Lithoform Engine copies a permanent spell, which is different from just copying a permanent. Permanents on the stack are considered spells, but they’re just permanents once they resolve. Mana abilities don’t use the stack, and other activated abilities of lands aren’t spells even if they use the stack. No, tapping a land doesn’t count as casting a spell. When you play a land it immediately enters play and never exists on the stack to be interacted with. They move directly from other zones to the battlefield without using the stack. Using a planeswalker loyalty ability doesn’t count as casting a spell. A planeswalker card in your hand becomes a planeswalker spell when you cast it, and then it becomes a planeswalker permanent on the battlefield. Planeswalkers are also spells while they’re on the stack. Players often use the word “spell” as shorthand for “instants and sorceries,” but those aren’t the only types of spells in Magic. Sorceries are also spells while they’re on the stack. Once you cast it, it’s an instant spell for as long as it exists on the stack. A Lightning Bolt in your hand is an instant card. Instants are spells while they’re on the stack, but nowhere else. Likewise, Murder can destroy a creature on the battlefield, but it can’t target a creature on the stack because Murder doesn’t target a “creature spell.” Is an Instant a Spell in MTG? Once they resolve and enter the battlefield, they become permanents instead of spells.Ĭounterspells like Essence Scatter can target a creature while it’s on the stack, but they can’t target a creature that’s already on the battlefield because it’s no longer a spell. Do Creatures Count as Spells in MTG?Ĭreatures are spells when you cast them, and while they remain on the stack. A spell must be either a physical card on the stack or a copy of another spell. For example, you’re not casting a spell when you activate Merfolk Looter’s tap ability. When you cast a card, it becomes a spell until it resolves.Įven though most abilities use the stack, they don’t count as spells. Cards in your hands aren’t spells, and permanents on the battlefield don’t count either. Codespell Cleric | Illustration by Manuel CastañonĪ spell is a card that’s on the stack.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |