Bring to Light + 'x' cost cards
Asked by Die4Dethklok 8 years ago
If one tutored a card with Bring to Light, say Icy Blast or Apocalypse Hydra, is it possible to pay to cast them?
BtL says 'you may cast that card without paying its mana cost.'
Does that give you the option to pay for it? Or is it, you either cast it for free, or it's exiled?
Epochalyptik says... #2
When an effect says you may cast something without paying its mana cost, it's offering you one option. You may [cast something without paying its mana cost] or you may [do nothing]. The "may" refers not to the way you pay for the spell, but to the entirety of the option. If no other rule or effect is allowing you to cast that card in another manner, then you aren't allowed to cast it except by using the prescribed alternate cost ("without paying its mana cost" is an alternate cost).
This means that Bring to Light only allows you to cast the exiled card if you do so during Bring to Light's resolution and without paying that card's mana cost. If you choose not to cast the card in this manner, you don't get to cast the card.
titanreaver says... Accepted answer #1
No in this case the only legal option is 0 for x. 107.3b If a player is casting a spell that has an X in its mana cost, the value of X isnt defined by the text of that spell, and an effect lets that player cast that spell while paying neither its mana cost nor an alternative cost that includes X, then the only legal choice for X is 0. This doesnt apply to effects that only reduce a cost, even if they reduce it to zero. See rule 601, Casting Spells. That should help hope. In cases like Bring to light, you either cast with out paying or leave the card exiled. It does however allow you to cast cards that do not have a casting cost like Restore Balance or Ancestral visions without suspending them
October 17, 2015 4:11 a.m.