How does Koth of the Hammer's +1 ability work
Asked by woosh01 14 years ago
I just wanted some clarification on this:
+1 Untap target Mountain. It becomes a 4/4 red Elemental creature until end of turn. It's still a land.
My question is does the target mountain have to be tapped, and if so could I just tap one without worrying about mana burn (I was informed it no longer exists?)?
BrightGreenLine says... Accepted answer #2
You can untap an untapped Mountain because the effect doesn't specify whether it's tapped or not. The mountain won't become untapped, in case you have any other effects in play that care about permanents untapping, but the rest of the ability will try to continue resolving.
The only thing Koth's ability cares about is if the target is a mountain: If it's not a mountain, it can't be a legal target for the untap. If for some reason there is an ability in play that prevents it from becoming a creature, the ability will still try to untap it. You'll get your loyalty counter no matter what happens because all you need to use the ability is a Mountain: Gaining loyalty is a cost, and at that point the rest of the ability could be countered but you've already 'paid' the cost so you don't care.
As for mana burn: They removed that in the Magic 2010 rules changes. Here's an article from the Wizards site about the rest of the M10 rules changes (it's a doozy): http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/46a&page=4
yyd says... #1
the mountain that you target doesnt have to be tapped. but most likely, with decks that have koth in it, you are playing something each turn, and thus using Koth of the Hammer 's +1 gives you more to use during your opponents turn, or some nice damage on the board.
also, sure, you can tap a mountain for kicks, then use koth's +1. in casual, tapping land in response to something, and having nothing to use the mana on is something that befuddles any opponent.
June 6, 2011 12:25 a.m.