if a card doesnt have a number in front of mana symbol does that mean i can tap multiple mana to trigger ability?
Asked by cryptghastly 12 years ago
example of card- Nirkana Revenant. where card says tap swamp to add +1+1 counter can i tap 4 swamp to add 4 +1+1 counters?also Deathrite Shaman if can exile 'multiple creautes and tap multiple mana' to triggger 'multi[ple deal 2 damage abilities'?
Absinthman says... #2
Addition to point 3: Nirkana Revenant's first ability actually doubles the mana production capabilities of your swamps. So if you have 4 untapped swamps, you can get 8 black mana out of them, thus being able to activate the Revenant's ability 8 times.
March 21, 2013 5:51 p.m.
Nirkana Revenant has an ability you can repeat as you long as you can afford the black mana.
Deathrite Shaman has nothing but abilities which require you to tap the Deathrite Shaman to use, so you can't use them again until you find a way to untap it. At that point, if you can afford the ability, and have a legal target to exile, then you can use that ability.
I'm not sure what you mean by the mana symbol having a number in front of it. Colorless mana? Could you please link some examples of cards that DO have a number next to the mana symbol so it can be better explained?
March 21, 2013 5:51 p.m.
Well, Absinthman, I think you have this one better explained than me! :3
March 21, 2013 5:52 p.m.
Absinthman says... #6
You're welcome. Also, to clarify the difference between activated and triggered abilities:
Activated abilities are always in this format: [cost]: [effect]. You can choose to activate them whenever you have priority by paying their costs.
Triggered abilities often use the words "when", "whenever" or "at". They specify some condition that must be met or a situation that must occur in order for them to trigger. They wait and watch. When the situation occurs, they're put onto the stack.
March 21, 2013 6:04 p.m.
The numbers in front of mana symbols for activated abilities don't indicate how many times you can activate it; they just specify colorless mana in the activation cost. So an ability that reads 2B would require a black mana and two colorless mana (which can be paid by any color mana) to activate. I doesn't mean that you can only activate the ability twice. Just as others have said.
Abilities that can only be paid a certain number of times are specified in the ability itself. Fire-Belly Changeling, for instance, specifies that you can only activate its +1/+0 ability twice per turn.
Absinthman says... Accepted answer #1
Many things need to be corrected here. I don't even know where to begin.
1. These abilities are activated abilities, not triggered abilities. You may activate them by paying their cost.
2. The ability on Nirkana Revenant doesn say "Tap a swamp you control: Put a +1/+1 counter on Nirkana Revenant." It says "Pay one black mana: Nirkana Revenant gets +1/+1 until end of turn." Black mana symbol doesn't represent a swamp, although swamps are the most common source of black mana. You can actually get mana via other sources too. Also, until end of turn buffs are not counters.
3. You activate such abilities as many times as you can pay their cost. For Nirkana Revenant, you can activate its ability as many times as you have mana for it. So for example, if you have 4 black mana sources, you can activate it 4 times.
4. This is however not the case with Deathrite Shaman, because his abilities include tapping him. You may use it once (pay mana and tap Shaman). Then you can't use it again, unless you find a way to untap him again or wait untilhe naturally untaps during your next untap step.
5. I don't understand how a number in front of mana symbol is relevant in context of multiple activation. Numbers in grey fields in front of mana symbols indicate how much colorless mana (or mana of any color) you have to pay in addtition to the colored mana in order to activate the ability or cast a spell.
March 21, 2013 5:47 p.m.