how would sacrificing an attacking creature affect ancient stone idol?
Asked by Meeknomore 5 years ago
For the sake of simplicity, I'll lay out the scenario like this. If I have 5 1/1 Eldrazi Scion tokens attacking my opponent, the cost of Ancient Stone Idol is reduced by 5. Can I sacrifice those tokens for the 5 mana to then cast the Idol? Or does the act of sacrificing them bring the cost back up as they are no longer attacking?
To cast a spell, you follow the steps laid out in Rule 601.2 and its subparts.
First you start with proposing casting the spell--this is where you move the card from the zone it is in and puts it on the stack.
Second, you announce mode choices if it modal (i.e. Cryptic Command ), or if you want to splice anything onto the card. Or if you want to pay additional costs, such as buyback or kicker.
Third, you announce targets.
Fourth, you announce division or distribution of the effects if applicable.
Fifth, you check to see if the spell is legal to cast.
Sixth, and here is where it is important, you determine the total cost of paying the spell.
Seventh, you have a chance to activate mana abilities.
Eighth, you actually pay the costs for the spell.
Ninth, the spell is actually cast.
Notice how the costs are locked in at stage 6, and activation of mana abilities is at stage 7.
That means the cost is locked in at before you activate mana abilities. Since the Eldrazi scions' sacrifice ability is a mana ability, you can sacrifice them during stage 7 to pay the mana cost that has already been locked.
This is expressly stated in Ancient Stone Idol 's Gatherer ruling dated July 13, 2018:
The total cost to cast a spell is locked in before you pay that cost. For example, if you control five attacking creatures, including one you can sacrifice to add Colorless to your mana pool, Ancient Stone Idol costs 5 to cast. Then you can sacrifice the creature when you activate mana abilities just before paying the cost, and it still costs only 5 to cast.
March 2, 2019 7:27 p.m. Edited.
Meeknomore says... #4
I hadn't looked it up on Gatherer...now I feel kinda dumb, lol
March 2, 2019 7:36 p.m.
cdkime What would happen with the attacking eldrazi scion tokens though? Would the attack be canceled since the scion tokens are no longer valid attackers since they’ve been sacrificed and not be legal or are they still considered a legal attacker? Sorry don’t mean to jack the thread, just seems like this was answered and would be kind of annoying to copy/paste all this to ask a separate question on it.
March 5, 2019 12:49 p.m.
The attack would not be canceled. Instead, the defender would not have to declare blockers for those attackers because they are no longer on the battlefield, and the defender would take no damage from those attackers for the same reason.
Gidgetimer says... #1
Costs are locked in before you have to pay them, so you can sacrifice the attacking Scions to pay for Ancient Stone Idol .
March 2, 2019 7:20 p.m.