How would Council of the Absolute work with Sphinx's Revelation?
Asked by SpaderAce 10 years ago
Would Council of the Absolute lower the cost of x in the cost of Sphinx's Revelation ? As in, if i play the council naming Sphinx's Revelation , and then pay 1WUU, would I get 3 cards out of that because 3-2(from the council)=1?
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #2
You have the order wrong. When you cast an X spell, you declare the value for X. The declared value is then used to calculate the total casting cost.
TCC = [mana cost OR alternate cost] + [additional/increased costs] - [cost reductions]
You do NOT derive X from the payment. You derive the payment from the X value.
March 23, 2014 5:11 p.m.
So does it reduce the cost and therefore give me 2 extra cards? Epochalyptik?
March 23, 2014 6:17 p.m.
It doesn't give you ANY extra cards.
You're casting the spell for X=3, which has the effect of gaining 3 life and drawing 3 cards. You get exactly what you state for the spell. But when the COST of the spell is calculated, the COST is reduced by 2 from Council.
March 23, 2014 6:21 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #5
You're still thinking about it the wrong way.
You announce your intended X value as one of the first steps during the casting process. When you pay the spell's cost during the last step of the casting process, you will pay [XWUU] - [2].
Let's say you declare X=5. You determine that TCC = [5WUU] - [2] = 3WUU. You pay 3WUU.
You don't get "extra" cards; you declared exactly what X would be when you began casting the spell. I suppose you can say you get extra in the sense that you can get more than you could have without the cost reduction, but the order of events is still important here.
March 23, 2014 6:24 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #6
"Extra" in the sense of "more than you'd be able to afford otherwise", but as the others have explained you decide what X is first, then figure out how much the spell is supposed to cost. It's a minor detail and most of the time doesn't matter, but when it does it's important. For example: if someone wanted to Spell Blast your Sphinx's Revelation its CMC is still 6, even though you only paid a total of 4 mana to cast it.
March 23, 2014 7:08 p.m.
Yes, I understand the order now, it just didn't make sense to me before what the outcome would be. The OUTCOME is sort of like extra cards, but yeah X is determined first so it really isn't extra, it's just cheaper. Alright thanks
Rhadamanthus says... #1
Yes, that's right. Calculating and paying costs is the very last step of the spellcasting process, and choosing the value of X happens in one of the earlier steps. If X=3 then the Sphinx's Revelation in your example costs 3WUU - 2 = 1WUU.
March 23, 2014 4:56 p.m.