Aluren over Commander tax
Asked by legendofa 5 years ago
Can I cast my commander (assuming CMC 3 or less, let's say Gaddock Teeg) through Aluren without paying the Commander tax, and with flash? As I see it, this would be casting a CMC 3 or less creature spell without paying its mana cost, which is what Aluren does.
Other, less rules-y questions (to be answered here only if you want to): Is this a common strategy that I only now figured out, if it works? What is Aluren, lorewise? What does Aluren mean, and why is Squee so excited about animals?
Gidgetimer says... Accepted answer #2
Please don't give opinions on rules, especially unresearched opinions. The Q&A is for factual discussion of what the rules are. (Not trying to be a prick, it is just that one user being unsure about the facts leads posters thinking that there is any ambiguity when someone does post a definitive answer.)
The "mana cost" of a spell is the cost indicated by the mana symbols on the card. The cost you pay to cast a spell is the mana cost, plus any additional costs, minus any cost reductions. Commander tax is an additional cost. Aluren only allows you to not pay the mana cost, it does not negate or reduce additional costs. You could cast Gaddock Teeg with flash and without paying , but you would still need to pay commander tax.
202.1. A card’s mana cost is indicated by mana symbols near the top of the card. (See rule 107.4.) On most cards, these symbols are printed in the upper right corner. Some cards from the Future Sight set have alternate frames in which the mana symbols appear to the left of the illustration.
601.2f The player determines the total cost of the spell. Usually this is just the mana cost. Some spells have additional or alternative costs. Some effects may increase or reduce the cost to pay, or may provide other alternative costs. Costs may include paying mana, tapping permanents, sacrificing permanents, discarding cards, and so on. The total cost is the mana cost or alternative cost (as determined in rule 601.2b), plus all additional costs and cost increases, and minus all cost reductions. If multiple cost reductions apply, the player may apply them in any order. If the mana component of the total cost is reduced to nothing by cost reduction effects, it is considered to be {0}. It can’t be reduced to less than {0}. Once the total cost is determined, any effects that directly affect the total cost are applied. Then the resulting total cost becomes “locked in.” If effects would change the total cost after this time, they have no effect.
November 18, 2018 2:03 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #3
legendofa: Answers to this question have been up for a while. I chose one to mark as the "Accepted Answer" so that the thread can move out of the Unanswered queue. Please remember to take care of this yourself in the future.
November 23, 2018 1:41 p.m.
Rhadamanthus I wasn't receiving notifications that people had commented or answered, after the first comment from Flooremoji. In fact, if you hadn't used my name, I'm not sure I would have received the notification for your comment--I only got the "Rhadamanthus mentioned you at" notification. I don't seem to have unsubscribed from this.
In any case, I'll check out the answer you marked--thanks for covering for me.
Flooremoji says... #1
I think that aluren lets you cast without tax. Squee is an idiot I am pretty sure ;) and I think it is a paradise for animals or something of the like. Of course not sure on any of those and didn't do any research.
November 18, 2018 12:18 p.m.