602.5d Activated abilities that read “Activate only as a sorcery” mean the player must follow the timing rules for casting a sorcery spell, though the ability isn’t actually a sorcery.It doesn’t apply to other, identically worded abilities.
An ability’s activation cost must be paid by the player who is activating it.Įxample: The activation cost of an ability that reads “) in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control since the start of their most recent turn. 602.1a The activation cost is everything before the colon (:).Activated abilities have a cost and an effect. More frequently, effects may impose mana increases or decreases on activation costs, or even increases to loyalty "costs" as with Carth the Lion.īelow are examples of different activated abilities.įrom the Comprehensive Rules (July 8, 2022- Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate) Drought and Brutal Suppression do impose additional costs through effects however. Therefore, an ability's total cost is usually equal to its activation cost. Unlike spell mana costs, activation costs are very flexible in phrasing and extent, so activated abilities don't generally have additional costs, and costs in addition to mana are simply part of the activation cost of the ability. The cost most commonly includes paying mana and/or tapping the permanent with the ability ( ), but can can include almost anything, such as sacrificing a permanent, paying life, untapping ( ), or unusual actions like putting cards from a graveyard into a library. It is either printed on the card, or defined by rule for some keywords. The activation cost of an ability must be paid by the player at the time of activation, and is analogous to the mana cost of a spell. Many keyword abilities only have the colon in their reminder text and rules definition. The exception is loyalty abilities of planeswalkers, which are also activated abilities and which use a different notation. Colons aren't used in Magic rules text for anything other than activated abilities, and are the one punctuation mark that has a rules meaning in the game. Most of these abilities are written in the form ": ", with a colon to distinguish the two parts and identify it as an activated ability. However, there are cards, such as Stifle, Squelch, and Voidslime, that do counter these abilities. The same criteria applies to attacking with a creature this rule as a whole is informally known as " summoning sickness".Īctivated abilities cannot be countered by spells or abilities that counter spells, because they aren't spells. Like triggered abilities, activated ones may have targets.Īn activated ability of a creature that includes the tap or untap symbol ( or ) in its cost cannot be activated unless its controller has controlled it continuously since the start of their most recent turn, or the creature has haste. Mana abilities can also be activated while paying a cost, and do not use the stack. These abilities can usually be activated any time the player has priority and uses the stack, unless it says otherwise, or is a mana ability. Only an object's controller (or owner, if it has no controller) can activate its activated abilities, and only when it's on the battlefield, unless the ability specifically implies otherwise. Activated abilities are usually found on permanents, but can sometimes be used on cards in other zones, such as the graveyard or a player's hand. An activated ability is an ability that can be activated by paying its activation cost, which often includes mana or tapping but can have many other components.
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