Hi everyone. I am working on a custom set and I came across a rules question. Here is the text giving me confusion:
"Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery from exile, copy it. Cast the copy without paying it's mana cost."
and the "Prowess" keyword.
According to rule 706.10, the copy would be created on the stack and prowess wouldn't trigger. But, the text tells you to cast the copy, so the copy must have been created somewhere else and prowess would trigger.
So, to summarize: Where are copies of instants and sorceries created if the text tells you to cast the copy versus just copying the spell on the stack?
Copies are always made where the thing you're copying is, the card you are talking about creates a copy of a card in exile so the copy is made in exile where it has to be cast to have any meaning. A lot of copy effects will copy instants on the stack so that is where the copies are made in which case there is no need to cast them.
The wording as proposed doesn't work. The first part ("Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery from exile, copy it") makes this a triggered ability that goes on the stack after the spell has been cast, when it resolves it creates a copy of that spell, on the stack because that's where the original is. The second part ("cast the copy without paying its mana cost") doesn't make any sense, because the copy is already on the stack, no need to cast it. (Casting a spell means to take it from where it is and put it on the stack following the procedure described in rule 601). In order to cast a copy of a card, that copy must be created somewhere other than the stack.
(The wording could be fixed by explicitly stating to create the copy in exile and then letting it be cast without paying its mana cost, but that's a lot of text just to get the casting in there.)
I'm a former judge (lapsed), who keeps up to date on rules and policy. Keep in mind that judges' answers aren't necessarily more valid than those of people who aren't judges; what matters is we can quote the rules to back up our answers. When in doubt, ask for such quotes.
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"Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery from exile, copy it. Cast the copy without paying it's mana cost."
and the "Prowess" keyword.
According to rule 706.10, the copy would be created on the stack and prowess wouldn't trigger. But, the text tells you to cast the copy, so the copy must have been created somewhere else and prowess would trigger.
So, to summarize: Where are copies of instants and sorceries created if the text tells you to cast the copy versus just copying the spell on the stack?
(The wording could be fixed by explicitly stating to create the copy in exile and then letting it be cast without paying its mana cost, but that's a lot of text just to get the casting in there.)
Former Rules Advisor
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