Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar when on the battlefield
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Can I pay the cost of Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar if he's on the battlefield? I can't activate the ability if he's not in the graveyard, but can you pay the cost of the ability even if you can't activate it, using him to return lands to hand?
Accepted Answer
No. Multani's last ability has an effect that moves Multani out of the graveyard, so that ability can be activated only from the graveyard, not in any other zone including the battlefield (C.R. 113.6k).
Activating an ability includes paying its cost, which in the case of Multani's last ability includes "Return two lands you control to their owner's hand"; you can pay that cost only as part of activating that ability (C.R. 602.1, 602.2, 602.2b, 601.2h). If you can't activate an ability at the moment (whether because the object that has it is not in the appropriate zone or for any other reason), you can't pay its activation cost. In this sense, Multani's last ability is no different from ninjutsu (C.R. 702.48a) or Reassembling Skeleton's ability.
Go to full postActivating an ability includes paying its cost, which in the case of Multani's last ability includes "Return two lands you control to their owner's hand"; you can pay that cost only as part of activating that ability (C.R. 602.1, 602.2, 602.2b, 601.2h). If you can't activate an ability at the moment (whether because the object that has it is not in the appropriate zone or for any other reason), you can't pay its activation cost. In this sense, Multani's last ability is no different from ninjutsu (C.R. 702.48a) or Reassembling Skeleton's ability.
No. Multani's last ability has an effect that moves Multani out of the graveyard, so that ability can be activated only from the graveyard, not in any other zone including the battlefield (C.R. 113.6k).
Activating an ability includes paying its cost, which in the case of Multani's last ability includes "Return two lands you control to their owner's hand"; you can pay that cost only as part of activating that ability (C.R. 602.1, 602.2, 602.2b, 601.2h). If you can't activate an ability at the moment (whether because the object that has it is not in the appropriate zone or for any other reason), you can't pay its activation cost. In this sense, Multani's last ability is no different from ninjutsu (C.R. 702.48a) or Reassembling Skeleton's ability.
Activating an ability includes paying its cost, which in the case of Multani's last ability includes "Return two lands you control to their owner's hand"; you can pay that cost only as part of activating that ability (C.R. 602.1, 602.2, 602.2b, 601.2h). If you can't activate an ability at the moment (whether because the object that has it is not in the appropriate zone or for any other reason), you can't pay its activation cost. In this sense, Multani's last ability is no different from ninjutsu (C.R. 702.48a) or Reassembling Skeleton's ability.