Tapping a planeswalkers

Asked by MarloweH 5 years ago

I don’t know if this is the right spot for this question

I’m not sure if this is how a scenerio like this would work out. Let’s say I have Honor-Worn Shaku out. If I had any planeswalker out, for example Garruk Wildspeaker and haven’t used it for the turn (as if to respond to an opponents action with something like a counterspell). I think, with garruk, i could do something like tap 2 lands then I can tap shaku for 1 mana, then tap the planeswalker to untap shaku, and again tap it for 1 more mana, correct? Assuming my planeswalker stays around, am I still able to use it? (in this case it would be to Untap the lands)

I guess my question comes down to, can a planeswalker be used while tapped?

TheVectornaut says... Accepted answer #1

Yes, the abilities of a planeswalker may be used while the permanent is tapped.

"606.3. A player may activate a loyalty ability of a permanent they control any time they have priority and the stack is empty during a main phase of their turn, but only if no player has previously activated a loyalty ability of that permanent that turn."

Loyalty abilities are treated much the same as any other activated ability in this regard. Nowhere in the rules is it stated that a planeswalker must be untapped to use a loyalty ability. The only time a permanent must be untapped for an activated ability to be used is when that ability includes the tap symbol as part of its activation cost.

In this case, you can tap the Garruk Wildspeaker to untap the Honor-Worn Shaku and still use one of his loyalty abilities afterward. With 2 basic lands, 2 Shaku taps, and Garruk's first ability, you should be able to produce 6 mana. However, you can't use Garruk's loyalty ability to create mana to respond to an opponent's action since it must be activated at sorcery speed as per 606.3.

December 10, 2018 5:01 a.m.