Can you activate a creatures ability with no actual target?
Asked by Psychonautical 9 years ago
Take for example Vampire Hexmage . Can I sacrifice her when there are no permanents with counters on them just for the sake of having a creature die for Morbid or another effect? Or can I only kill her off at any time IF some permanent can then have counters removed?
The same would apply to any similar scenario. If I can pay a cost to use an ability with no target, can I?
Necrohellion says... Accepted answer #2
Yes and No. You do need a legal target to activate abilities, but in the case of Vampire Hexmage you can sacrifice it because all it needs is a permanent on the battlefield to activate even if the target has no counters to be removed. But you can't pay the life cost on Necropotence if you have no cards in your library to target
October 15, 2014 11:49 a.m.
GreatSword says... #3
Necropotence doesn't target the cards it exiles, as it doesn't say the word "target" in it's effect.
October 15, 2014 11:57 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #4
In order to cast a spell or activate an ability, you have to have a full set of legal targets available. Vampire Hexmage only requires a "target permanent", not necessarily one that actually has counters, so it would be a very rare situation where you weren't able to activate her ability.
Some better examples: you can't cast Cancel if there's no spell currently on the stack, and you can't activate Corpse Hauler if there are no creature cards in your graveyard.
October 15, 2014 12:15 p.m.
Psychonautical says... #5
Thanks, those all work. On that note, however, Rhadamanthus, can't you target Cancel itself when casting it? I can think of no time where you'd need to, but can you?
October 15, 2014 1:07 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #6
No. There's a special rule that says "a spell or ability is always an illegal target for itself".
KrosanTusker says... #1
No. You need to choose a target to activate any targeted ability.
October 15, 2014 11:37 a.m.