Yawgmoth's ability and targeting question
Asked by Enral 4 years ago
It was brought up to me about this ruling:
Targets are declared before costs are paid in the process of activating the ability (is it true?)
Therefore, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician 's ability can technically target a creature that I'm sacrificing with Yawgmoth to invalidate the card draw since the target would be illegal when the ability resolves. This explanation sounded really wonky to me and I don't think it works. Would appreciate if someone can clarify if this play is legal or not?
Boza: I just want to know if this ruling works or not:
Targets are declared before costs are paid in the process of activating the ability
June 27, 2019 11:20 a.m.
The process of activating an ability goes as follows, when broken down (it's important to note that none of this can be interrupted by other players, state-based actions, etc.):
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Announce that you're activating the ability. Put it on the stack.
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Make relevant choices to the ability (modes, alternative/additional costs, value of variables such as , which "half" of hybrid mana you'll be paying, etc.).
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Choose all required targets.
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Choose how effects are divided or distributed as necessary.
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The game checks to see if the proposed ability is legal. If not, the game rewinds. If it is, move to the next point.
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Determine the total cost of the ability (which in this case includes which creature will be sacrificed).
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Activate mana abilities as needed to pay the cost.
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Actually pay the cost.
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Finally effects that modify the characteristics of the ability are applied, and then the ability becomes officially activated.
So with Yawgmoth, Thran Physician , you would choose up to one target creature in step 3, then choose which creature you're sacrificing in step 6, and finally actually sacrifice that creature in step 8. So yes, this means that you could target your Ornithopter , then sacrifice that Ornithopter, resulting in the entire ability fizzling because its only target is no longer legal, resulting in you not actually drawing a card.
Note that Yawgmoth's ability says "up to one target creature." You don't have to choose a creature, and if you don't, you'll just pay the life, sac a creature, and draw a card, without having to worry about it fizzling because someone (such as yourself) removed the ability's target.
If you want to see the full rules text for the process of activating an ability, it's rule 602.2, and references rule 601.2 "casting spells" for the process, since they use the same procedure.
June 27, 2019 11:28 a.m.
Boza, it's not "up to one counter," it's "up to one target creature." You don't get to choose not to put a counter on the creature, you just don't target a creature at all if you don't want to (if, say, all your options consist of Yawgmoth, whatever you're using to pay for the ability, and things with hexproof, shroud, or protection).
June 27, 2019 11:30 a.m.
Now that I reviewed the question once more (I did mean to say creature, instead of counter), I do realize there is a benefit to doing this - you will sacrifice the creature without drawing a card, which can be useful versus, say Nekusar, the Mindrazer .
Thanks Kogarashi for the clarification and extensive answer!
Boza says... #1
Yawgmoth says you can put up to one counter on the creature, so those hoops you are jumping through are not necessary - just choose to put 0 counters on the creature and be done with it.
June 27, 2019 11:18 a.m.