Patron of the Orochi and Other untap effects.
Asked by Sathanas 8 years ago
So I guess I'm wondering how specifically the "Play this ability only once each turn." clause works with Patron of the Orochi.
Say I have an Instill Energy on the patron and I tap it and with its effect still on the stack I untap and tap it again. Do I get to resolve his effect twice or has the only once each turn clause already gone into effect?
I would think I could do it twice in a case like that because it is similiar to the Epic effect of other cards from Kamigawa or is it because the clause says play this ability only once each turn.
It isn't the same as Epic, because Epic has, as part of the resolution of the spell, "You can't play spells for the rest of the game" So that clause doesn't impact your ability to play spells until the spell resolves. Which is why you can respond to it, or copy it etc etc.
Patron of the Orochi has an actual limit on how you can activate the ability at all (Only once per turn) so before you can even activate the ability, you have to be able to meet any restrictions and pay any costs, so you need to have it be untapped and you need to have never activated the ability previous in the turn.
It might help if you look at the updated Oracle Text for the card which says "Activate this ability only once each turn"
Boza says... #1
You cannot tap patron to use his ability twice in the same turn for any reason. You activate an ability once you have paid all its costs (tapping Patron) and put it on the stack. For restricted abilities such as this one, there is no way to do it twice in one turn.
July 3, 2015 2:46 a.m.