What is considered a spell?
Asked by vic 3 years ago
If I have a Fabled Hero and I attack with it and use Rubblebelt Maaka's Bloodrush ability on it, does the Hero get a +1/+1 counter?
I'm thinking that's not considered a spell, but I wanted to check.
Gidgetimer says... Accepted answer #2
Bloodrush is an activated ability. An object on the stack is a spell if you cast it for its mana cost or if the ability you used specifically said to "cast" the card. Mutate (Cubwarden), Overload (Cyclonic Rift), Suspend (Lotus Bloom), and Bestow (Erebos's Emissary) all cast the card as a spell. Bloodrush (Rubblebelt Maaka), Ninjutsu (Ingenious Infiltrator), Transmute (Muddle the Mixture), and Forecast (Paladin of Prahv) are all abilities.
October 11, 2020 11:52 a.m.
Gidgetimer I appreciate this explanation a lot, believe me. These finer intricacies of the game are tough for me to wrap my mind around. For my own clarification, does an activated ability count as a spell? In other words, how would you answer the original poster’s question? I’m leaning toward No, but I’m not sure.
October 11, 2020 12:18 p.m.
Activated abilities are not spells. Stifle can counter bloodrush, but Counterspell cannot. It's why Disallow has to combine the text to do either.
October 11, 2020 12:28 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #5
As Neotrup said, activated abilities are not spells. So Fabled Hero will not get a +1/+1 counter.
As an aside, Heroic not triggering off of abilities is the only thing that makes it not game breaking in formats where activated abilities exist. Nomads en-Kor and Akroan Crusader would be infinite hasty tokens on turn 2. Turn 1 with some minimal jumping through hoops. But they foresaw this and made it only trigger from spells.
Balaam__ says... #1
I’m not an experienced player, but I believe if something is cast and goes on the stack it’s considered a spell. I could be wrong. If I am, someone will doubtless correct me below.
October 11, 2020 11:15 a.m.