Can You Use Spells When You First Start Your Upkeep?

In general, you can cast instants before a “beginning of your upkeep” triggered ability resolves, but you cannot do it before that ability gets triggered and goes on the stack. Act of Treason says “until end of turn”, meaning you can cast Quicken and Act of Treason on your opponent’s end of turn (after EoT). Players have priority to cast spells and abilities until they resolve, and only after all players pass in a row does the top spell or ability resolve (C.R. 116.4).

No one can cast spells or activate abilities between the untap and upkeep steps because no one has priority. If the active player puts a spell or ability on the stack, you can exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost. The “beginning phase” consists of three steps: untap step, upkeep, and rebound.

You can cast an instant in response to a trigger in your upkeep, but if it also has a “beginning of upkeep trigger”, timing has been missed. The earliest you may cast a spell on your opponent’s turn is at the end of their Upkeep Step, after they Untap but before. No player receives priority during the untap step, so no spells can be cast or resolve, and no abilities can be activated or resolved.

Your upkeep is the second step of your turn, between untap and draw steps, meant for triggers that are set to happen before your draw step and open up. Your opponent has the ability to cast instants during your upkeep phase. If you pass after getting priority at the beginning of your upkeep, then “At the beginning of your upkeep” effects are triggers and resolve using the stack. You can use an Instant speed spell or ability to avoid this.

Can you cast instants at end of combat?

The combat phase involves several steps, including casting instants and activating abilities. Players can cast instants and activate abilities during the beginning of the combat phase. They can also decide which untapped creatures will attack and which player or planeswalker they will attack. The opponent decides which untapped creatures will block the attacking creatures, and players can cast instants and activate abilities during the blockers phase.

The combat damage phase assigns combat damage to the defending player, planeswalker, blocking creature, or blocking creature. If an attacking creature is blocked by multiple creatures, the damage is divided among them. Players can then cast instants and activate abilities during the end of the combat phase.

The second main phase is similar to the first, with players casting any type of spell and activating abilities, while opponents can only cast instants and activate abilities. Players can play a land during this phase if they didn’t play one during the first main phase.

The end phase involves triggering abilities at the beginning of the end step, and players can cast instants and activate abilities during the cleanup step. All damage on creatures is removed, and “until end of turn” effects end.

When can you cast sorcery spells?

Sorceries and instants are spells that can only be cast during the player’s main phases and when the stack is empty. Instants can be cast at any time, including during other players’ turns and while another spell or ability is waiting to resolve. Before the introduction of the stack in 6th Edition, there was another type of spell called an “Interrupt”, which could be played at any time but only allowed players to respond to interrupts with other interrupts.

In Magic lore, the player is a “planeswalker”, a wizard who can travel between different realms or universes. Planeswalker cards represent scaled-down versions of other players, with their decks represented by their abilities. Most planeswalkers are legendary and subject to the “legend rule”, where a player controls more than one legendary planeswalker with the same name, choosing one and placing the other in their owner’s graveyard.

Can sorcery be played anytime?

Sorceries and instants are two types of spells that are grouped together as “spells” in the Comprehensive Rules (September 20, 2024— Duskmourn: House of Horror). Sorceries are never put onto the battlefield, but take effect when their mana cost is paid and the spell resolves, and are immediately put into the owner’s graveyard. They share the same timing restrictions as all permanent spell types, only being cast during the player’s main phase and when nothing else is on the stack.

Effects checking if a spell was cast “anytime a sorcery couldn’t have been cast” only check if the spell’s controller cast it without priority, during a different phase, or while another object was on the stack.

What is the rule for instants in MTG?

Instants are one-shot or short-term magical spells that do not appear on the battlefield. They take effect when their mana cost is paid and the spell resolves, and are immediately placed in the player’s graveyard. Instants are the only card type in Magic with no timing restrictions, allowing them to be played at any time, including during other player’s turns and while another spell or ability is waiting to resolve.

Can you cast spells during a rest?

Rest casting is a strategy where a party can rest cast with their entire slate of spell slots after a day of downtime. The most common spells to rest cast are aid, death ward, and gift of alacrity. These spells are likely to be cast regardless of downtime, so a day of downtime may result in more death wards. However, these spells don’t allow for steamrolling encounters but rather provide a greater margin of error for encounter balance. Rest cast spells generally buff the whole party, and can be used to either hoard or spread them to support players who are deeply attached to their characters.

There’s not much difference between having a day of downtime and having an easy adventuring day in rest casting. However, some DMs still prefer using spell slots from a downtime day to increase survivability for the next adventuring day. A compromise could be treating rest cast slots as coming from the previous adventuring day, which is neither particularly game-breaking.

When can you cast instant spells?

The details of Abilities are that they are cards that can be used outside of the main phases, even on opponents’ turns. They can be used during combat phases, draw steps, end steps, upkeeps, or the main phase. They can be used as instants, allowing players to counter using creature Abilities. However, instants cannot be used if the player has lost the match. For example, if Timmy attacks with his Grizzly Bears, players can use a Shock to target the attacking creature, dealing 2 damage before it can deal any combat damage.

Can you cast spells while resting?

Rest casting is a strategy where a party can rest cast with their entire slate of spell slots after a day of downtime. The most common spells to rest cast are aid, death ward, and gift of alacrity. These spells are likely to be cast regardless of downtime, so a day of downtime may result in more death wards. However, these spells don’t allow for steamrolling encounters but rather provide a greater margin of error for encounter balance. Rest cast spells generally buff the whole party, and can be used to either hoard or spread them to support players who are deeply attached to their characters.

There’s not much difference between having a day of downtime and having an easy adventuring day in rest casting. However, some DMs still prefer using spell slots from a downtime day to increase survivability for the next adventuring day. A compromise could be treating rest cast slots as coming from the previous adventuring day, which is neither particularly game-breaking.

Can you cast spells between first strike and regular damage?

The ability to make a first strike is a common trait among both white creatures and red ones, including the Goblin Chainwhirler and Vampire Hexmage. This ability may be utilized to cast spells prior to the first strike damage step, thereby providing additional firepower to effectively neutralize larger blockers. Additionally, the God-Eternal Oketra possesses the Double Strike ability, which allows it to deal six points of damage if not blocked in combat. This ability is frequently utilized by hordes of zombies.

Can you cast spells after beginning of end step?

During the end step, actions like playing a land, casting a sorcery, or casting non-flash creatures are not possible. These actions can only be cast during one of your main phases. Permanents with abilities that trigger at the beginning of the end step won’t trigger until the next turn’s end step. Effects that create delayed triggered abilities, like Eerie Interlude, return creatures to the battlefield during the opponent’s end step.

Can you cast spells before the beginning of upkeep?

The untap step represents the initial phase of a turn, comprising three distinct steps: untap, upkeep, and draw. During this phase, players do not receive priority, which precludes the casting or resolution of spells and abilities. Any triggers occurring during this phase will be held until the subsequent priority phase, which is typically the upkeep phase. This information is derived from the provisions set forth in Rule 503, entitled “Upkeep Step.”

Can you cast spells at the beginning of combat?

A spell that states it can be cast “only before (or after) attackers are declared” refers to the turn-based action of declaring attackers. It can be cast before or after the declare attackers step begins, regardless of whether any attackers are actually declared. A spell that states it can be cast “only before (or after) blockers are declared” refers to the turn-based action of declaring blockers. Some spells may be cast during combat or during a certain player’s combat phase, depending on the criteria described in rule 506. 7. If a turn has multiple combat phases, such spells may be cast at an appropriate time during any of them.

Some spells may be cast “only before (or after) a particular point in the combat phase” but don’t meet the additional criteria described in rule 506. 7c. If a spell states it can be cast “only before (or after) a particular point in the combat phase”, it may be cast only before the declare attackers step ends or before the precombat main phase ends. If a spell states it can be cast “only during combat after blockers are declared”, but the declare blockers step is skipped, the spell may not be cast during that phase.

Rules 506. 7 and 506. 7a–f apply to abilities that can be activated only at certain times with respect to combat, just as they apply to spells that can be cast only at certain times.