Can I respond to the cost of an activated ability?
Asked by redhead4 5 years ago
So I want to cast Path to Exile as a response to the activated ability of Indulgent Aristocrat or Viscera Seer, sacrificing a Bloodghast. I target the Bloodghast with the Path. The Path would resolve before the ability resolves, but the cost of the ability has to be payed anyways... Does the Path resolve before the sacrificed creature dies, exiling it instead? The ability would resolve anyway, allowing my opponent to put counters on his vampires with Indulgent Aristocrat or scrying with Viscera Seer. But I would stop the Bloodghast from going to his favorite place (the graveyard), right?
If you respond to the activation you have to choose a legal target for Path to Exile. Bloodghast is in the graveyard, not on the battlefield at that time so you cannot target it.
November 28, 2018 9:31 p.m.
The cost of the activation has to be paid before anyone gains priority to respond to it, at which point Bloodghast is already in the graveyard. If you want to Path to Exile before the cost is paid, you have to Path before the ability is even activated, and thus make a guess as to which creature, if any, is being sacrificed.
So in short, you can't respond to the cost of an activation by getting rid of part of that activation's cost. It doesn't work that way, unfortunately.
November 28, 2018 10:07 p.m.
Kogarashi If I wanted to path first, opponent could sacrifice in response though XD Seems like graveyard hate is the real answer to my problem. Thank you so much for the answer!
aussiesnow says... #1
I could be wrong, but i always thought that sacrificing the creature was part of the cost of the ability, and once the sacrifice is declared, the legal target is removed?
November 28, 2018 5:16 p.m.