Is Exert an activated ability?
Asked by Argy 7 years ago
Would Harsh Mentor punish Players for Exerting Creatures?
There is one other ability you have the possibility of seeing in standard, though I'm not sure how prevalent it is in the format, that I can think of. Fetch lands, cards like Evolving Wilds and Warped Landscape are also activated abilities which will trigger Harsh Mentor.
The big thing to look for is the colon to know if its an activated ability. Everything before the colon is cost, everything after is effect. If the part after the colon doesn't generate mana, it will cause Harsh Mentor to trigger.
April 20, 2017 6:36 p.m.
There are many activated abilities that may show up in standard, I merely meant the only two keyworded abilities (which may not always be written as "[Cost]:[Effect]" as cards sometimes omit reminder text) are cycling and equip. I may very well be wrong on this, both because I'm not a standard expert and a hour of devistation may bring in a new keyworded activated ability, so feel free to correct me. Evolving Wilds is a great example of "[Cost]" not including a mana cost though.
April 20, 2017 8:53 p.m.
It's a good reminder because you would normally associate a land's activated ability as producing mana.
April 20, 2017 9:15 p.m.
Be careful with the new Hour of Devastation exert cards however- such as Pride Sovereign. Although Exerting it is not an Activated ability, it is a cost to pay for the activated ability "create two..."
July 4, 2017 12:22 a.m.
VampDemigod says... #9
Activated abilities (except those of basic lands, which don’t activate Harsh Mentor anyway) almost always have a colon (:) in them. This is because the standard formatting of activated abilities is [cost]:[effect]
May 27, 2020 8:12 p.m.
VampDemigod they don't really like you replying to old topics on this site. Just so you know.
Neotrup says... Accepted answer #1
No. Exert is a choice made while attacking. Exert abilities are typically written as a single ability, but include a triggered ability as well. Activated abilities (with the exception of keyworded abilities) are written in the form "[Cost]:[Effect]." Keyword abilities that are activated abilities have that format in the comprehensive rules as well as often times in the reminder text. The two you'll see in standard are "Equip [Cost]" (Which will trigger Harsh Mentor) and "Cycling [Cost]" (Which will not trigger Harsh Mentor).
April 20, 2017 3:51 p.m.