Counterspells versus X Cost/convoke cards
Asked by wormhole65 10 years ago
I was playing a game with one of my buddies when the following scenario came up:
I played Chord of Calling and was in the process of tapping the necessary land and creatures to pay the X cost for the creature I wanted when my opponent immediately slapped down a counter before I was done. At this point I had tapped only the 3 green mana that is printed as the cost on the card and nothing else-- I figured because tapping lands for mana doesn't use the stack, and now all of a sudden I know my Chord is going to be countered, I can choose not to tap any additional mana to pay the X cost in the card. My friend said that I had to tap everything that I would have tapped had I not known it was going to be countered.
Who is right? Or does his playing a counter at that time constitute an illegal action (because he doesn't yet have priority)? If that's the case would the game state back up to the moment before I played Chord, or the moment before he played the counter?
billpasdmf says... #2
When casting a spell w/ an X cost or if there are additional costs, cost increases, etc... you have to announce what all of those are pryer to casting the spell. So if you were going to do Chord of Calling w/ an X of 3, you would pay the 6 mana and then cast the spell. Only then would your opponent be able to counter the spell.
November 21, 2014 12:07 p.m.
billpasdmf says... #3
I believe it would go back to before he attempted to cast the counter. Seeing as you appeared not to be finished w/ the casting process of your own spell, he wasn't actually allowed to play his own spell at the time.
November 21, 2014 12:10 p.m.
smash10101 says... #4
billpasdmf: That's not quite right. Technically, you announce the value for X and pay the costs as part of casting the spell, not before casting the spell. Of course, this almost never comes up in actual Magic, but if you want to learn how to actually cast a spell, read CR 601.2. Also, this is more of a judge question than a rules question. They aren't allowed to cast a spell while you're still paying costs, so how would I, as a judge, fix this. Do I hold them to the counterspell? Do I hold you to how much you were gonna chord for? This all depends on exactly what happened and who said what when.
November 21, 2014 1:31 p.m.
billpasdmf says... #5
smash10101 I was just saying that the value of X would come up before it is finished being cast, which is to say, during the casting process. I understand the way I worded it was a bit misleading but that is what I meant, not that you pay the mana and then start to cast the spell.
Salient point being that the opponent could not have cast his counter before the casting process was finished.
November 21, 2014 1:55 p.m.
wormhole65 says... #6
I think that clears up what I was wanting to know. Most of my friends are not really used to the "proper" way of casting spells where you play the card and tap your mana as you are paying the costs to cast it, but rather they tap lands first and float the mana before playing a card. That's probably where the confusion came from and why my friend was so hasty to drop that counter (he assumed I had already tapped for it or something).
Anyways thanks for the clarification :)
November 21, 2014 2:50 p.m.
wormhole65 says... #7
Oh and, for what it's worth, in this particular case I did not announce a value for X upfront, so in that case I take it we would rewind.
smash10101 says... Accepted answer #1
It depends on if you had announced a value for X. If you said "Chord for 3" but hadn't finished paying costs, I would have you finish paying and then have him counter it. If you hadn't announced a value for X, I would rewind and let you finish casting chord, at which point your opponent could decide to counter or not.
November 21, 2014 11:53 a.m.