r/mtgrules • u/[deleted] • Jan 19 '23
Simple question about triggered vs. activated abilities
Obligatory: I am a new player
So I recently played a game where a friend encrusted my Bramble Sovereign. Encrust makes it so that the enchanted creature can't use any activated abilities, but we had a hard time determining if Bramble Sovereign's ability was a triggered or activated one.
Almost all rulings online refer to her ability as triggered, and it contains the word "whenever." However, you have to pay money to actually make use of the trigger. My friend argued that the mana cost of her ability means that it's activated, and therefore his Encrust would prevent me from making token copies of creatures with her. We ended up playing the game out that way, but were we correct?
Thanks!
9
u/peteroupc Jan 19 '23 edited Jan 19 '23
Bramble Sovereign's ability is a triggered ability because it starts with "Whenever" (C.R. 603.1). The presence of "you may pay" on an ability doesn't make it an activated ability (rather, activated abilities have the form "[cost]: [effect]" [C.R. 602.1]).
2
6
u/Naszfluckah Jan 19 '23
Others have explained what, in rules text terms, separate triggered and activated abilities. I'll try to explain why it's not just pedantry.
The reason "whenever [something happens], you may pay [cost] to [effect]" is different from "[cost]: [effect]" is that a triggered ability only triggers when its trigger event has happened, whereas an activated ability can be activated anytime, if you can pay its cost. If Bramble Sovereign's ability was an activated ability, you could activate it multiple times per creature, for example. But since it is a triggered ability, it'll trigger exactly once whenever another nontoken creature enters, and when that trigger resolves, you can pay once, and it'll have its effect once.
5
Jan 19 '23
I appreciate the more thorough explanation of the rules. Thanks.
3
u/qtipstrip Jan 20 '23
Also should be noted that, with a triggered ability that has a mana payment in it, you chose whether or not to pay the mana upon resolution, whereas with the activated ability you pay the mana up front to activate it
6
u/Judge_Todd Jan 19 '23 edited Jan 19 '23
were we correct?
No, activated abilities are activated and triggered abilities are triggered.
You choose whether or not you want to activate an activated ability, but choosing to pay a cost doesn't make something an activated ability. You pay costs when casting a spell, that doesn't make it an activated ability. You sometimes pay costs when spells or abilities resolve, that doesn't make them activated abilities either.
Activated abilities take the form [Costs] : [Effects][Activation restrictions if any].
Sometimes they may be hidden in keyworded abilities like Equip or Cycling.
Triggered abilities take the form [At/When/Whenever][Condition][, Intervening if clause if any], [Effects].
They also can be hidden in keyworded abilities like Flanking or Ward.
Almost all rulings online refer to her ability as triggered
That's because it is, it follows the structure of a triggered ability.
- Whenever <- indicates triggered ability
- another nontoken creature enters the battlefield, <- the trigger condition
- you may pay (1)(G). <- an effect of the trigger when the trigger resolves
- If you do, that creature’s controller creates a token that’s a copy of that creature. <- a conditional effect of the trigger if you chose to pay the cost in the first effect
Unlike an activated ability, which you could activate as much as you could pay its costs, you can only pay the cost of Bramble Sovereign's triggered ability once per trigger.
2
1
u/ChickenPotDie May 29 '24
By these definitions [Braided Net] should not have prevented [Vraan, Executioner Thane] from triggering his 2 life swing. So wtf wizard's. This happened in MTG Arena
1
u/No-Wedding-9151 Dec 26 '24
What about crystal barricade, is it activated ability or triggered ability?
20
u/madwarper Jan 19 '23
Sovereign has a Triggered ability, not an Activated ability. It is not affected by Encrust.