Dreadhorde, Etwine and Overload
Asked by MLS91 2 weeks ago
Dreadhorde Arcanist castings
After reading some rulings on gatherer I wanted to ask for further clarification:
1) Does dreadhorde's power need to be 7 and i can alternatively at the time of cast spend mana otherwise(land or artifact, or floating) for the entwine cost seeing as it is an "additional" cost or does it need to be 9 to entwine a Tooth and Nail off of Arcanist?
2) In the case of "overload" in the subject matter of Vandalblast, dreadhorde's power MUST be 5 to choose the overload casting cost of vandalblast?
Rhadamanthus says... #2
MLS91: An answer to your questions has been up for a while. Since there don't seem to be any follow-ups or corrections that need to be made, I marked the response as the "Accepted answer" so this topic can move out of the list of unanswered questions. In the future, remember to use the "Mark as Answer" button on the response that you feel is the best answer to your question in order to resolve the discussion.
I try to avoid marking my own responses when I do this but in this case it was the only option.
Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #1
1) Dreadhorde Arcanist's power only needs to be 7, since that's the mana value of Tooth and Nail. You do need to pay the additional entwine cost separately if you want to make use of it. A spell's "mana cost" is specifically the symbols printed up in the corner, and when an effect tells you to cast something "without paying its mana cost", that's the only part of the cost you get for free. Anything else still needs to be paid for.
2) You can't overload Vandalblast this way. "Overload" is an alternate cost, and "without paying its mana cost" is also an alternate cost. Only one alternate cost can be applied to casting a spell, and Dreadhorde Arcanist's ability only gives you permission to cast the spell from your graveyard with its own alternate cost, not any other.
June 5, 2025 9:01 a.m. Edited.