Children of Korlis help
Asked by Austeritea 9 years ago
I have the card Children of Korlis and it says you can sacrifice it to heal yourself of the damage you've taken. What I'm wondering is--can you sacrifice it at a whim? Or does something need to kill it? Or do you need another card with a a sacrifice ability?
canterlotguardian says... #2
The ability is activated. No ability in Magic is ever "used." Abilities are either triggered, activated, or static.
August 3, 2015 8:35 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #3
Children of Korlis's ability says "Sacrifice Children of Korlis: You gain life equal to the life you've lost this turn."
The colon and "[cost]: [effect]" format indicate that this ability is an activated ability. Sacrificing Children of Korlis is the cost to activate the ability.
Because the ability doesn't specify that it may only be activated at a certain time, you may activate the ability at any time you have priority. To do so, you announce the ability, put it onto the stack, make any required decisions (this ability has none), and pay its costs (sacrifice Children of Korlis).
If instead the ability read "When Children of Korlis is sacrificed, you gain life equal to the life you've lost this turn," then the ability would be a triggered ability and would trigger only if you somehow managed to sacrifice Children of Korlis (triggered abilities don't allow you to spontaneously "perform" their trigger events without cause).
August 3, 2015 8:42 p.m. Edited.
And to state the possibly obvious - you won't be able to heal yourself from a life total less than or equal to 0, as you will lose the game due to state-based actions before you get a chance to activate the ability.
omnipotato says... #1
This should go into q&a not deck help
But yes you can sacrifice it at any time you could play an instant to use its ability.
August 3, 2015 7:16 p.m.