War's Toll Propaganda against mana producing creatures
Asked by Ziggy101 7 years ago
My opponent has War's Toll + Propaganda
I have 3 creatures, 2 of which can tap to add 1 mana to my mana pool.
Can I tap the two of them to pay for Propaganda and attack with my last creature or does the mana empty before Propaganda can be paid?
Cheers
Mr_Radical says... Accepted answer #2
You would be able to pay the 2 mana. It would play out like this:
Declare attackers step begins
You activate your two creatures' mana abilities and spend the mana to allow the third creature to be declared as an attacker
When you declare your attacker, War's Toll's effect is put on the stack
You receive priority which is passed in succession, causing War's Toll's effect to resolve...your two mana creatures are obliged to attack, but they can't, so nothing happens
Declare attackers step ends and mana pools empty
March 25, 2017 10:53 p.m.
War's Toll's second ability doesn't use the stack, nor does Propaganda. Propaganda adds a restriction to the attack (requiring a mana payment), and War's Toll adds a requirement to the attack (attacking with all creatures, When you attack, you must follow all requirements you are able to without violating any restrictions. If you only attack with one creature, you are violating the War's Toll requirement, but if you were to attack with all three creatures (without paying the mana, because Propaganda cannot make you tap land if you don't want to), you would be violating a restriction, so the attack would be illegal. Because of this, the attack with a single creature is more legal than the attack with all creatures, and thus is an acceptable attack. The reason this destinction is important because if you simply had 3 creatures and none were able to produce mana, you could still attack with just one creature, even if you had six lands. (Although, you would end up tapping all your lands anyways due to War's Toll's first ability, which is a triggered ability.)
March 26, 2017 2:47 a.m.
Mr_Radical says... #4
Sorry, it didn't occur to me that War's Toll's ability was static. Thanks for clarifying.
Neotrup says... #1
You tap the creatures for mana as part of declaring the attack. Because Propaganda involves a cost in attacking, War's Toll cannot make any of your creatures attack (even if you could pay the costs).
March 25, 2017 7:22 p.m.