118. Costs

Rules in this chapter

• 118.1 Costs A cost is an action or payment necessary to take another action or to stop another action from taking place. To pay a cost, a player carries out the instructions specified by the…
• 118.2 Costs If a cost includes a mana payment, the player paying the cost has a chance to activate mana abilities. Paying the cost to cast a spell or activate an activated ability follows the…
• 118.3 Costs A player can’t pay a cost without having the necessary resources to pay it fully. For example, a player with only 1 life can’t pay a cost of 2 life, and a permanent that’s already…
• 118.4 Costs Some costs include an {X} or an X. See rule 107.3.
• 118.5 Costs Some costs are represented by {0}, or are reduced to {0}. The action necessary for a player to pay such a cost is the player’s acknowledgment that they are paying it. Even though…
• 118.6 Costs Some objects have no mana cost. This represents an unpayable cost. An ability can also have an unpayable cost if its cost is based on the mana cost of an object with no mana cost…
• 118.7 Costs What a player actually needs to do to pay a cost may be changed or reduced by effects. If the mana component of a cost is reduced to nothing by cost reduction effects, it’s…
• 118.8 Costs Some spells and abilities have additional costs. An additional cost is a cost listed in a spell’s rules text, or applied to a spell or ability from another effect, that its…
• 118.9 Costs Some spells have alternative costs. An alternative cost is a cost listed in a spell’s text, or applied to it from another effect, that its controller may pay rather than paying…
• 118.10 Costs Each payment of a cost applies to only one spell, ability, or effect. For example, a player can’t sacrifice just one creature to activate the activated abilities of two permanents…
• 118.11 Costs The actions performed when paying a cost may be modified by effects. Even if they are, meaning the actions that are performed don’t match the actions that are called for, the cost…
• 118.12 Costs Some spells, activated abilities, and triggered abilities read, “[Do something]. If [a player] [does, doesn’t, or can’t], [effect].” Or “[A player] may [do something]. If [that…
• 118.13 Costs Some costs contain mana symbols that can be paid in multiple ways. These include hybrid mana symbols and Phyrexian mana symbols.
• 118.14 Costs Some effects say that “mana of any type can be spent” to pay a cost. This means that players may spend mana as though it were colorless mana or mana of any color to pay that cost…