Is Walking Ballista ping ability an activated ability? And is crewing a vehicle a activated ability?

Asked by Thebiggalactus 5 years ago

I'm making a standard deck that uses Harsh Mentor, and I remember people talking about if it affected Walking Ballista but I cant remember if it actually worked or not. I have no clue if it shocks them if you crew a vehicle either. Thanks for any answers! Its really appreciated.

FancyTuesday says... Accepted answer #1

Both are activated abilities. Activated abilities are anything that has the syntax

Cost: Effect

Walking Ballista's ping ability clearly meets that criteria. Cost (removal of counters), colon, effect. Crew is a bit more ambiguous, but just look at Ballista Charger, it's there in the reminder text. Anything where you pay a cost of some description to cause an effect is an activated ability, as distinct from triggered abilities which watch for conditions to be met.

May 21, 2018 6:10 p.m. Edited.