You can pay extra mana for a spell like Radiant Flames only if an external effect is imposing an additional cost to cast it. That's a handy interaction with Vryn Wingmare and the like!
Category: Costs
Hangarback Manifesto (a manifested Walker is not very good)
Turning a manifested Hangarback Walker face up doesn't put counters on it (you can't even pay mana for X), so it will generally die immediately after it turns face up, before you even get a chance to activate its ability.
All About Converge
Welcome back! For today’s Battle for Zendikar mechanic tip we’ll be covering Converge! Converge works very similarly to the Sunburst mechanic from Fifth Dawn- the more colors of mana you sink into the spell, the stronger it gets. For Sunburst that meant charge counters and +1/+1 counters; for Converge, it just means more of everything! […]
Mana Leak and Delve
Even more Delve! Yesterday we learned that you can use Delve as a payment for an alternate cost such as Flashback, because Delve is a payment, not an alternate cost itself. So how does Delve interact with additional costs? Well, that depends! If there were a Delve spell with Kicker, you could use Delve to […]
Combat Tricks with Lodestone Myr
As Magic players, we learn early on that creatures can’t tap or attack (unless they have Haste) the first turn they come under our control. There are cards, however, that can use “sick” creatures to tap, even though they just entered the battlefield. A relevant example is . Myr’s ability only cares that the card […]
Strive and Rebound
While we’re still talking Rebound, let’s look at something it DOES work with- additional costs! As you may know, it isn’t possible to pay more than one alternate cost at the same time (So you couldn’t Overload a spell cast for free via Rebound, for example). What you can do, however, is pay as many […]
Delve vs. Stubborn Denial
As you may know, Delve and Convoke’s basic workings were changed with the rules updates for Magic 2014. Previously, they were simply ways to reduce costs before you paid them; nowadays, the Delving/Convoking is a payment! The only real difference, functionality-wise, is that you can no longer “over-delve” or “over-convoke”- since it’s a payment, at […]
Outpost Siege and Dash
Outpost Siege lets you cast the exiled card, but it doesn't mandate any kind of alternative cost (such as "without paying its mana cost"). That means you can choose to pay the Dash cost for the exiled card, and it will return to your hand normally at end of turn.
All about fetchlands
Learn all there is to know about "fetch lands" in today's tip.