Can I choose to pay the mana cost of a card when I get to cast it for free?
Asked by chrizzilla 11 years ago
For instance, If I cast an Epic Experiment and I get a card like Clan Defiance , could I chose TO pay the cost of the card to cast it and get to have X not equal 0?
chrizzilla says... #2
That's not the question I asked. I did look at the gatherer webpage.
November 26, 2013 10:58 a.m.
It is the question you asked. The ruling says you MUST choose 0 as its value.
November 26, 2013 10:59 a.m.
chrizzilla says... #4
No, I wanted to know if I could chose to pay the cost of the card. For instance, instead of casting, say, a Fog for free, could I pay the G to cast it normally?
November 26, 2013 11 a.m.
Alright, then I think it would depend on the card being cast and read quite literally. For example, your Epic Experiment . The card tells you to exile X cards then you may cast those cards without paying their mana cost and then finally put all of those exiled cards into the graveyard. At no time does it give you the ability to cast those spells outside of it's effect. So for Epic Experiment , no. I don't know of any cards off the top of my head that the answer could be a yes.
November 26, 2013 11:05 a.m.
chrizzilla says... #6
I thought so, but I wanted to ask anyway. Thanks!
November 26, 2013 11:06 a.m.
Experiment lets you do one of two things: exile the top X cards of your library, or exile them and then cast any number of instants or sorceries from among those exiled cards with CMC X or less for free. You cannot normally cast the exiled cards; the only way to cast them is as epic experiment is resolving, and only how it specifies (for free). Otherwise the card just remains exiled, a zone from which you cannot normally cast the card.
Sounds stupid but it's specified for a reason
November 26, 2013 11:11 a.m.
Sizzlewump says... #9
I think I see where the confusion is. There is a may clause on Epic Experiment that says, "you may cast that card without paying it's mana cost." So I believe you're asking what happens if you choose not to. In that case the card is not cast and goes to the graveyard. As the others said, there is no choice to pay the actual cost.
psychoza says... #1
10/1/2012 If a card has X in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as its value.
A search on Gatherer is usually the best way to go before asking a question. Then if you're still confused you should post here.
Here is the page.
November 26, 2013 10:57 a.m.