How does Elite Arcanist work?
Asked by Awded 11 years ago
It's my understanding that each turn, you can pay the converted mana cost and tap Elite Arcanist to create a copy of the spell and cast that copy. Is that about right?
nobu_the_bard says... Accepted answer #2
Effectively, yes. So long as Elite Arcanist does not have "summoning sickness" (because he cannot be tapped to pay his ability's activation cost the first turn you control him unless he gains haste somehow), you can pay the activation cost to get a copy of the exiled card. It's an activated ability, so you can active it whenever you could play an instant, once he can be tapped to activate; it doesn't necessarily have to be your turn.
There's a few caveats mind you: the card that was exiled stays exiled, even if Elite Arcanist leaves the battlefield. If Elite Arcanist leaves the battlefield, and somehow he reenters it, he "forgets" what was exiled the first time (because he is a new instance) and you have to exile another instant to be able to use his ability. If you choose to not use his ETB ability to exile an instant from your hand for some reason, his ability cannot be activated.
Gidgetimer says... #1
Well at any time the Arcanist is untapped without summoning sickness and you could activate an ability you may tap it, pay the spell's cmc and cast a copy of it. I think you understood most of those things but it doesn't hurt to specify since technically you could untap him and do it twice in a single turn.
January 23, 2014 9:22 a.m.