Most of the time, casting a spell is pretty straightforward — you play it from your hand, choose some targets, pay some mana, and presto change-o, you’re a wizard, Harry! Sometimes, however, it’s important to know exactly what steps you’re supposed to follow in order to actually cast that spell.

The very first step of casting a spell is announcing it, which involves taking it from wherever it is (usually your hand) and putting it on the stack — the place where spells hang out until they resolve and do something. This is the point where the game checks whether it’s actually legal for you to cast a spell. For example, you can normally only cast creatures during your own main phase when the stack is empty.

Prophet of Kruphix changes that by letting you cast creature cards as though they had flash. The Prophet’s effect is only checked at one point in the casting process, and that’s the very first one that I just mentioned: when you announce your intent to cast a creature card. Normally, this wouldn’t be very relevant…but the Theros set introduced bestow cards, which change types as they’re being cast!

Let’s say that I have a Prophet of Kruphix on the battlefield and a Leafcrown Dryad in my hand. It’s my turn, and I declare that I’m attacking with my Prophet. My opponent decides to block with a 3/3 Centaur token — could this be the end for our faithful Prophet? Fortunately, the rules save me! Thanks to the Prophet’s ability, I can bestow Leafcrown Dryad on it during combat. Here’s why:

First, I announce that I’m casting Leafcrown Dryad. The Dryad is a creature card, so my Prophet gives me permission to skip the usual timing restrictions on casting creatures. I then announce my intention to pay Leafcrown Dryad’s bestow cost. Leafcrown Dryad turns into an Aura spell. Even though it’s not a creature card anymore, I’ve already started casting it, so that doesn’t matter anymore! The game only checks whether you have permission to cast a spell once, at the very beginning of the casting process. The casting process then finishes by having me choose a target for my Dryad Aura (I choose the Prophet, of course), giving me a chance to activate mana abilities, and finally paying the Dryad’s total cost.

And that’s what we call using the rules for fun and Prophet!

Today’s Rules Tip written by Paul Baranay