Does Thalia, Guardian of Thraben still force players to pay 1 more mana for non-creature spells that are made free by an effect?
Asked by 203995014 12 years ago
Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #2
It depends. When calculating the total cost of a spell, first you take into account the base mana cost, then apply any alternative costs that are being applied, then add up all cost increasers, then subtract all cost reducers.
For example: If a player with 5 artifacts wants to cast Thoughtcast
, then the cost will be
4U (base cost) + 1 (Thalia) - 5 (affinity for artifacts) = U.
Another example: If a player is doing the Cascade on a Bloodbraid Elf
and hits Blightning
, the cost to cast Blightning will be
0 ("without paying its mana cost" alternative cost) + 1 (Thalia) - 0 (nothing) = 1.
June 24, 2013 8:59 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #3
@Devonin: That's incorrect. When an effect instructs you to cast a spell without paying its mana cost, that effect is allowing you to pay an alternate cost (in this case, 0) for that spell instead. The additional cost imposed by Thalia, Guardian of Thraben will still need to be paid.
Devonin says... #1
Depends what effect you mean.
Assuming you mean things that say "Play without paying their mana cost" then no, they don't have to pay 1 because cost increasers increase the cost of the spell, which you are not paying.
June 24, 2013 8:15 p.m.