can you exile a spell with x cost with elite arcanist?
Asked by dotytron 11 years ago
say i play Elite Arcanist can i exile Epic Experiment with him
You can't exile Epic Experiment with Elite Arcanist because Elite Arcanist's ability specifies instants and Epic Experiment is a sorcery. If it were an instant with X in the cost (say Syncopate ) you could exile it, but whenever you cast a spell without paying its mana cost, X is considered to be 0, so it would not do anything.
August 13, 2013 10:40 p.m.
Thisusername says... #3
But Arcanist says "you MAY cast... Without paying its mana cost."
Can you CHOOSE to pay a mana cost? Like 1 to trigger Elite Arcanist then choosing a value for X?
April 11, 2016 1:33 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #4
This question is approaching three years old. Next time, please ask a new question rather than responding to an old one.
No. You get two options: [cast the card without paying its mana cost] -or- [nothing]. You don't get to pick one option and then change it.
Casting a card without paying its mana cost follows the rules for casting it for an alternate cost. Because the ability allows you to cast the card for a defined alternate cost, you can only cast it for that cost if you're casting it through the ability. You can't choose another cost instead.
April 11, 2016 2:16 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #6
If you have nothing to contribute to the discussion, please refrain from posting.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #1
Well, you can't exile Epic Experiment because it's a sorcery. Let's assume you mean an instant like Sphinx's Revelation .
You can exile the instant, but you won't be able to choose a value for X. Outside of the stack, X values in mana costs are treated as 0. Because you aren't paying the mana cost to cast the copy of the exiled spell, you can't choose a value for X. X will default to 0.
August 13, 2013 10:39 p.m.