Selvala, Explorer Returned is an oddball with interactions.
Asked by DJSeras 9 years ago
So say I have Selvala, Explorer Returned in play and I also have in play Forgotten Ancient which has a triggered ability upon the casting of a spell
If I were to say have 1 untapped forest, then announce the casting of a spell such as Voyaging Satyr and for the payment tap Selvala, Explorer Returned to generate mana, but came up short and due to a rule, everything except selvala's ability were reversed...
Would Forgotten Ancient's ability still trigger, or not at all since the spell never made it to the stack?
See also.
- 717.1. If a player takes an illegal action or starts to take an action but cant legally complete it, the entire action is reversed and any payments already made are canceled. No abilities trigger and no effects apply as a result of an undone action. If the action was casting a spell, the spell returns to the zone it came from. The player may also reverse any legal mana abilities activated while making the illegal play, unless mana from them or from any triggered mana abilities they triggered was spent on another mana ability that wasnt reversed. Players may not reverse actions that moved cards to a library, moved cards from a library to any zone other than the stack, caused a library to be shuffled, or caused cards from a library to be revealed.
May 14, 2015 1:05 a.m.
Ahh, I had read that before but didn't notice that when I did, I hadn't thought of this interaction yet, Thanks.
May 14, 2015 1:20 a.m.
In addition, let me mention the Gatherer rulings on Selvala to make clear that you will reverse casting the spell and abilities trying to pay for it, but not Selvalas ability:
If you activate Selvalas ability while casting a spell, and you discover you can't produce enough mana to pay that spells costs, the spell is reversed. The spell returns to whatever zone you were casting it from. You may reverse other mana abilities you activated while casting the spell, but Selvalas ability can't be reversed. Whatever mana that ability produced will be in your mana pool and each player will have drawn a card.
May 14, 2015 3:14 a.m.
You have to activate selvala's ability before paying the cost or casting the spell at all, as there is no priority between the casting of the spell and the cost being payed
March 12, 2016 5:08 a.m.
This is an already answered question, but first off her ability is a mana ability and doesn't use the stack, can be activated any time, and cannot be responded to. Second you pay mana costs as the last part of putting a spell on the stack so you don't need to activate her ability before attempting to cast a spell.
Slycne says... #1
Casting a spell is the full action of putting it onto the stack. If you realize that you can't properly pay for it then it was never cast and depending on the Rules Enforcement Level you'd be warned about taking illegal actions.
May 14, 2015 1:03 a.m.