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Primeval Spawn
Creature — Avatar
rare
If this creature would enter and it wasn't cast or no mana was spent to cast it, exile it instead. Vigilance, trample, lifelink When this creature leaves the battlefield, exile the top ten cards of your library. You may cast any number of spells with total mana value 10 or less from among them without paying their mana costs.
10/10
Semantic Tags
Suited for blocking and defense. Includes defender, reach, vigilance, and cards that incentivize blocking.
Exile-based card advantage — exile cards from the top of your library and cast them temporarily. Red's primary draw mechanic.
Gains you life. Relevant for lifegain-matters strategies and general survivability.
A keyword ability that causes a player to gain life. See rule 702.15, “Lifelink.”
A card or token on the battlefield. See rule 110, “Permanents.”
A keyword ability that modifies how a creature assigns combat damage. See rule 702.19, “Trample.”
A keyword ability that lets a creature attack without tapping. See rule 702.20, “Vigilance.”
Format Legality
Price history
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Printings (2)
| Set | Rarity | TCGplayer | Card Kingdom | Cardmarket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dominaria United Commander#89 | rare | · | · | · |
| Dominaria United Commander#13 | rare | · | · | · |
Related Concepts
Related Rules
If an ability would produce one or more mana of an undefined type, it produces no mana instead.
Some abilities produce mana based on the type of mana another permanent or permanents “could produce.” The type of mana a permanent could produce at any time includes any type of mana that an ability of that permanent would produce if the ability were to resolve at that time, taking into account any applicable replacement effects in any possible order. Ignore whether any costs of the ability could or could not be paid. If that permanent wouldn’t produce any mana under these conditions, or no type of mana can be defined this way, there’s no type of mana it could produce.
To “tap [a permanent] for mana” is to activate a mana ability of that permanent that includes the {T} symbol in its activation cost. See rule 605, “Mana Abilities.”
An ability that triggers whenever a permanent “is tapped for mana” or is tapped for mana of a specified type triggers whenever such a mana ability resolves and produces mana or the specified type of mana.
A replacement effect that applies if a permanent “is tapped for mana” or tapped for mana of a specific type and/or amount modifies the mana production event while such an ability is resolving and producing mana or the specified type and/or amount of mana.
If an object’s enters-the-battlefield triggered ability or replacement effect refers to X, and the spell that became that object as it resolved had a value of X chosen for any of its costs, the value of X for that ability is the same as the value of X for that spell, although the value of X for that permanent is 0. This is an exception to rule 107.3i.
The tap symbol is {T}. The tap symbol in an activation cost means “Tap this permanent.” A permanent that’s already tapped can’t be tapped again to pay the cost. A creature’s activated ability with the tap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since their most recent turn began. See rule 302.6.
The untap symbol is {Q}. The untap symbol in an activation cost means “Untap this permanent.” A permanent that’s already untapped can’t be untapped again to pay the cost. A creature’s activated ability with the untap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since their most recent turn began. See rule 302.6.
Rulings
If the spell has {X} in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as the value of X when casting it without paying its mana cost.
If an effect from a static ability would remove all abilities from Primeval Spawn if it were on the battlefield (such as that of Humility), then its first ability won’t cause it to be exiled. It will enter the battlefield as normal.
If an effect causes a card to enter the battlefield as a copy of Primeval Spawn and that permanent wasn’t cast or no mana was spent to cast it, that card will be exiled instead of entering the battlefield.
Primeval Spawn’s last ability checks the mana values and types of the spells on the stack, not the mana values and types of the cards in exile. Notably, this means that you may cast the back face of a modal double-faced card or either face of a split card as long as the spells you are casting together have a total mana value of 10 or less.
The spells are cast one after the other during the resolution of Primeval Spawn’s last ability. The one you cast last will be the first one to resolve.
As long as mana was paid for any cost to cast Primeval Spawn, it enters the battlefield as it resolves. It will not be exiled as it tries to enter the battlefield, even if its cost was reduced or a cost other than its normal mana cost was paid.
If a creature token that is a copy of Primeval Spawn would be put onto the battlefield, it’s put into exile instead and then ceases to exist. Creature tokens are never cast, even if the spell that created them was.
If you cast a spell without paying its mana cost, you can’t choose to cast it for any alternative costs. You can, however, pay any additional costs. If the spell has any mandatory additional costs, you must pay those.
If Primeval Spawn is exiled by its first ability as it tries to enter the battlefield, it goes directly to the exile zone without entering the battlefield first. Since it never enters or leaves the battlefield, its last ability won’t trigger.
Conversely, if an effect would cause Primeval Spawn to enter the battlefield as a copy of another permanent, it will enter the battlefield as a copy of that permanent whether or not it was cast or mana was spent to cast it.