Hey guys. I haven't played MTG in over a year so I'm rusty on shortcut rules.
If I have New Perspectives and exactly seven cards in hand, can I shortcut cycling multiple cards at once for free? And does that answer change if something is triggering, such as Drake Haven?
I'd love to fill a deck with cycling cards and be able to say something like "here's five cycling cards. I cycle all of them for free, paying five mana for five drakes, and drawing five cards" rather than go through each cycle individually.
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Formerly Angrypossum over at the now-defunct WotC forums.
Yes, such a shortcut is acceptable if your opponent has no means and no intention of interrupting it. It means doing things out of order (as you'd normally need to draw for a cycling before doing the next) but all the actions and the end result would be legal if sequenced by the book, so shortcutting is fine. Drake Haven doesn't change things, you could include paying for it as part of the shortcut.
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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.
If you mean to activate the cycling ability multiple times in a row in the scenario you give, then no, you can't do that. If you control New Perspectives, you choose whether to pay 0 or the "cycling cost" (within the meaning of C.R. 702.1a) as you activate the cycling ability (C.R. 601.2b, 602.2b, 702.28). However, you activate the cycling ability of each card one at a time (C.R. 116.1b; C.R. 602.2a-b, 601.2b-i have no priority window until the ability's activation finishes). Between each activation, the number of cards in your hand will change (because the card discarded each time will leave your hand [C.R. 701.8a]).
EDIT (Apr. 17, Apr. 21): Clarification and additions after comment 7 was posted, and slight clarification after comment 8 was posted.
EDIT (May 4): Correctness edit on the meaning of the "cycling cost". The relevant rule existed even before the release of Amonkhet.
EDIT (Dec. 1, 2018): Clarification.
EDIT (Feb. 24, 2019): Correctness edit.
No, you can't do that. You activate the cycling ability of each card one at a time. Between each ability, the number of cards in your hand will change.
I don't know, this looks acceptable to me under section 719 of the CR, since all game choices taken can legally be taken during the process and the result is a legal game state. Why would you think that wouldn't work?
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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.
No, you can't do that. You activate the cycling ability of each card one at a time. Between each ability, the number of cards in your hand will change.
I don't know, this looks acceptable to me under section 719 of the CR, since all game choices taken can legally be taken during the process and the result is a legal game state. Why would you think that wouldn't work?
In this case, the scenario given in comment 1, as I understood it when I wrote comment 3, isn't a legal shortcut because the sequence of actions mentioned in the shortcut can't be done in any legal way (C.R. 719.2a speaks of a "sequence of game choices"). That is, cycle five cards for their cycling abilities by paying 0 rather than the "cycling cost" (within the meaning of C.R. 702.1a; see also C.R. 702.28) for each card, with exactly seven cards in hand. After each cycling ability is activated the player will have one fewer card than before (because the card discarded this way will leave the player's hand [C.R. 701.8a]) (C.R. 702.28).
EDIT: Clarification and additions after comment 7 was posted.
EDIT (May 4): Correctness edit on the meaning of the "cycling cost". The relevant rule existed even before the release of Amonkhet.
peteroupc, I don't think MadMage is suggesting that the OP activates the cycling ability multiple times while holding priority (which wouldn't work without paying extra mana for the reason you noted.) But if you propose a shortcut where you cycle one card for free, let the cycling ability resolve, draw a new card, cycle the next card for free, let that resolve, draw a card, and so on, then I don't see a reason why this couldn't work as a shortcut and just skip to drawing all of the new cards provided that all of the cycling cards involved are revealed with the shortcut proposal (to demonstrate that they can all be cycled as part of the shortcut) and that there is a specified order in which they will be cycled (in case the opponent wants to respond at a specific point in the middle.)
But if you propose a shortcut where you cycle one card for free, let the cycling ability resolve, draw a new card, cycle the next card for free, let that resolve, draw a card, and so on, then I don't see a reason why this couldn't work as a shortcut and just skip to drawing all of the new cards provided that all of the cycling cards involved are revealed with the shortcut proposal (to demonstrate that they can all be cycled as part of the shortcut) and that there is a specified order in which they will be cycled (in case the opponent wants to respond at a specific point in the middle.)
That is indeed a valid sequence of game choices, so it's allowed by C.R. 719.2a. Unfortunately, comment 1 was ambiguous in this respect, especially since strictly speaking, to "cycle" a card means merely to "discard" it "to pay an activation cost of a cycling ability" (C.R. 702.28c), rather than, possibly as here, to activate one card's cycling ability, wait until it resolves, and draw a card from that ability before activating the next card's cycling ability.
EDIT (May 4): The text of C.R. 702.28c materially changed in Amonkhet.
If I have New Perspectives and exactly seven cards in hand, can I shortcut cycling multiple cards at once for free? And does that answer change if something is triggering, such as Drake Haven?
I'd love to fill a deck with cycling cards and be able to say something like "here's five cycling cards. I cycle all of them for free, paying five mana for five drakes, and drawing five cards" rather than go through each cycle individually.
EDIT (Apr. 17, Apr. 21): Clarification and additions after comment 7 was posted, and slight clarification after comment 8 was posted.
EDIT (May 4): Correctness edit on the meaning of the "cycling cost". The relevant rule existed even before the release of Amonkhet.
EDIT (Dec. 1, 2018): Clarification.
EDIT (Feb. 24, 2019): Correctness edit.
EDIT: Clarification and additions after comment 7 was posted.
EDIT (May 4): Correctness edit on the meaning of the "cycling cost". The relevant rule existed even before the release of Amonkhet.
EDIT (May 4): The text of C.R. 702.28c materially changed in Amonkhet.