If I use Past in Flames to exile a Reverberate, and I want to cast Reverberate so that it doesn't remain in exile, do I have to have a legal target on cast to cast Reverberate? As in, can I cast it without a target or at an illegal target (for example, targeting a creature). It kinda sounds dumb, so I'm guessing no. HOWEVER, if I cast it on a legal target but then it becomes illegal on resolution, it will still return to the graveyard?
(On a side note why is Past in Flames such an expensive card? Anyone know what deck it's used in?)
Past in Flames doesn't exile anything. Instead, it just grants all the instants and sorceries in your graveyard Flashback. This means you can cast them from your graveyard if you want and, if you do, they will be exiled instead of going to your graveyard when they resolve or get countered or try to get returned to your hand (with Remand for example). Basically, if you cast anything with FLashback, it will always end up in exile instead of going to your graveyard.
To answer part of your question: you cannot cast a spell without being able to fulfill all requirements for casting it and this includes being able to choose a target. If there is no legal target available for Reverberate, you can't cast it.
Thanks for the reply. The first part of my question meant to ask about Commune with Lava exiling Reverberate. In response to second question, if it originally targets a legal target, but becomes illegal on resolution, will it go from the stack to the graveyard, if it was originally cast from exile because of Commune with Lava?
Yes, if the spell fizzles it will go to whatever zone it would normally go to when countered. Barring something like Flashback, that will be the graveyard.
(On a side note why is Past in Flames such an expensive card? Anyone know what deck it's used in?)
To answer part of your question: you cannot cast a spell without being able to fulfill all requirements for casting it and this includes being able to choose a target. If there is no legal target available for Reverberate, you can't cast it.
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