.mtgr

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0038: Copies of spells and repeated costs ​

Status: Accepted.

Context ​

Consign to Memory ("Replicate {1}. Counter target triggered ability or colorless spell.") is a common answer to Sowing Mycospawn. When a kicked Mycospawn is cast, three objects go on the stack: the spell (colorless, because it has devoid) and its two cast triggers. A player can cast Consign with replicate paid twice and get three Consigns: the original and two copies, one for each object.

The format could not record this:

  • A cost paid more than once. choose cost "replicate" existed, but nothing said how to show that it was paid twice. Multikicker has the same problem.
  • What a copy of a spell starts with. A copy of an ability was defined to have the original's choices (decision 0023). A copy of a spell had no such rule, so it had no recorded choices and a stack snapshot could not show its target.
  • New targets for a copy. A target line adds a target. A copy that changes the target it copied needs the copied target replaced, not added to.

Decision ​

  1. A cost paid more than once is one choose cost line per payment. Replicate paid twice is two choose cost "replicate" lines. This matches choose symbol, which is one line per symbol.
  2. A copy of a spell or ability starts with the original's recorded choices, in the same order: modes, costs, X, targets, and every other choice. This extends decision 0023's rule for abilities to spells.
  3. target lines straight after a copy's new line are the copy's targets. They replace every copied target, so they list all of the copy's targets, changed or not. With no target line there, the copy keeps the original's targets.

Rules basis ​

Checked against the Comprehensive Rules effective 2026-09-25.

  • 702.56a: "'Replicate [cost]' means 'As an additional cost to cast this spell, you may pay [cost] any number of times' and 'When you cast this spell, if a replicate cost was paid for it, copy it for each time its replicate cost was paid. If the spell has any targets, you may choose new targets for any of the copies.'"
  • 702.33c: "'Multikicker [cost]' means 'You may pay an additional [cost] any number of times as you cast this spell.'"
  • 707.10: "A copy of a spell or ability copies both the characteristics of the spell or ability and all decisions made for it, including modes, targets, the value of X, and additional or alternative costs." Also: "a copy of a spell isn't cast". This is why a copy starts with the original's choices, and why an effect that triggers on casting (Chalice of the Void) sees the original Consign but not its copies.
  • 707.10c: "The player may leave any number of the targets unchanged, even if those targets would be illegal. If the player chooses to change some or all of the targets, the new targets must be legal. Once the player has decided what the copy's targets will be, the copy is put onto the stack with those targets." The copy's targets are decided as one set before it is on the stack, which is why its target lines replace the copied set as a whole.

Alternatives rejected ​

  • A count on the cost line (choose cost "replicate" 2). Rejected: it adds a second form for one choice. One line per payment needs no new syntax and reads the same way as choose symbol.
  • Writing every choice again on the copy. Rejected: the copy's choices are the original's by rule, so repeating them is noise a validator would have to compare, and a writer could get them wrong.
  • A retarget statement for changed targets. Rejected: a copy chooses its targets once, before it is on the stack (707.10c). Listing its targets right after its new line says exactly that with the existing target statement.

Consequences ​

  • Spec sections 6.5, 7.2, 14.2, and 14.3 state the three rules.
  • examples/more-situations.md shows Consign to Memory replicated twice against a kicked Sowing Mycospawn.
  • Readers replaying a game copy the original's choices onto a new copy, and clear the copied targets when a target line follows the copy's new line.