Spell

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This is a description of spells and spell casting, for a list of spells goto Category:Spell

Spells are cards that can be played at any time and have an one-time effect. Once successfully cast, the spell takes effect and is sent to the Graveyard.

Like abilities, all spells have a Speed. These identify the order in which the spells resolve in the resolve phase. The speed rank starts at speed , then goes to , , , , and lastly . -speed is different in that as soon as that spell is cast, it goes into effect and resolves automatically. Lower speed spells must go through a resolution as described by the Speed System.

Spell Casting

To cast a spell, one must first have a spell to cast in hand. If so, then the game first checks if the caster meets the requirements of cost. If that is met, the spell will be highlighted by a green border. If not, the spell will not show a green border. Additional requirements such as pre-requisites (such as Heroic Strike's requirement of the caster controlling a Hero type monster) and having a valid target must be met. Once a spell is cast on a valid target, it cannot be retargeted. Spells without a choice of target are cast one a single click, and cannot be revoked if the requirements are met, so take extra care with these.

The Speed System governs in what order spells take effect.

Failure

When both players agree to resolve, the game checks again for the requirements of the spell. If between the casting and the resolution, the caster no longer has enough mana for the spell, the spell is treated as if it were not cast. Example:

Fury of Heaven is speed; Smash Hopes is speed; Mana Explosion is speed.

Player A has four entities on the field and casts Fury of Heaven. Player B responds by casting Smash Hopes on one of Player A's effects. Player A then casts Mana Explosion, reducing his to 10. As Player A no longer has enough mana for Fury of Heaven, the spell will have no effect. The card itself is still kept in their hand and no mana will be deducted. Player B's spell will still take effect and be moved to the Graveyard.

Sometimes the caster will intentionally provoke the opponent into action in effort to cause a wasted spell (see below for details).

Note, the spell must be still in hand as each spell resolves in the chain to take effect. Example:

Fury of Heaven is speed; Smash Hopes is speed; Remembrance is speed.

Player A has four entities on the field and casts Fury of Heaven. Player B responds by casting Smash Hopes on one of Player A's effects. Player A then casts Remembrance. As each spell resolves, Rembrance requires Player A to discard a card to take effect, so Fury of Heaven is discarded. Since Player A no longer has Fury of Heaven in hand when it is its turn to take effect, no effect occurs and no mana is deducted from Player A's mana pool. Player B's spell will still take effect and be moved to the Graveyard.

If the caster has enough mana, but does not meet the pre-requisities of the spell or has no valid target, the spell goes to the graveyard without taking effect and the cost of that spell will be deducted from the caster's mana pool. Example of pre-requisite failure:

Fury of Heaven is speed; Smash Hopes is speed.

Player A has four entities on the field and casts Fury of Heaven. Player B responds by casting Smash Hopes on one of Player A's effects. If player A does nothing else, then the pre-requisite of Fury of Heaven is not met, and is sent to the graveyard along with 15 being deducted from Player A's mana pool.

Example of valid target failure:

Alien Lawyers is speed; Mana Furnace has speed.

Player A casts Alien Lawyers on a monster Player B controls, Player B responds by using Mana Furnace's ability on that monster. With Mana Furnace's ability taking effect first, Alien Lawyers no longer has a valid target. Alien Lawyers is sent to the Graveyard and 9 is deducted from Player A's mana pool.

A note: even when the target is no longer there, the spell cannot be recasted to another valid target. In addition, some spell have a failure cost. When these spells fail like this (rather than from a lack of mana), they will instead take on the effect of the failure cost.

Counterspells

See the Counterspell article for further information on the subject.