Index	Table of Contents	Terms
	What's an Ability?

Once you play an ability, it doesn’t matter what happens to its source. If you play Prodigal Sorcerer's ability and then the Sorcerer is destroyed, the ability will resolve anyway.

There are three types of abilities: activated abilities, static abilities, and triggered abilities.

You can usually play activated abilities with  in their costs only once a turn because you can't tap a permanent if it's tapped already. You can play activated abilities without  in their costs as many times as you can pay the cost. You can play an activated ability any time you could play an instant (whenever you have priority). It goes on the stack and waits to resolve just like an instant. You can only play the activated abilities of permanents you control.

Playing an Activated Ability in Magic Online
To activate a permanent's ability, just add any mana in its activation cost to your mana pool and click on the permanent. If the permanent has multiple activated abilities you could play, click the permanent and select the ability you want to play. Some abilities have nonmana costs. If a nonmana cost requires you to make a choice, Magic Online will ask to you to pay that cost before the ability is put on the stack.

What Happens When an Activated Ability Resolves?
1. Each of the ability's targets is checked to see if it's still a legal target. (If the ability has no targets, skip this part.) A target isn't legal if it has left play. It also isn't legal if it doesn't match the requirements of the ability anymore. If none of the ability's targets are legal when it tries to resolve, it's countered. Otherwise, just ignore any illegal targets when the ability resolves.

2. The ability's effect happens in the same order as it's written on the permanent. (Replacement effects may change what you do.) If the text tells you to make a choice other than targets or "Choose one —", you make those choices.

For example, Venerable Monk reads, "When Venerable Monk comes into play, you gain 2 life." The trigger event is the Monk coming into play. When that happens, the Monk's ability goes on the stack. When it resolves, you'll gain 2 life (if you were the one who played the Monk). You can't choose to ignore or delay a triggered ability. If the trigger event occurs more than once, the ability goes on the stack once for each time the trigger event occurs.

What Happens When a Triggered Ability Goes on the Stack?
The player who controlled the permanent with the triggered ability makes the choices and picks the target(s) when the ability goes on the stack. Once the ability is on the stack, the player who would've gotten priority gets it back.

If more than one ability triggers at the same time, the active player's abilities are put on the stack, in whatever order that player chooses. Then the opponent's abilities are put on the stack, in whatever order the opponent chooses.

What Happens When a Triggered Ability Resolves?
1. Each of the ability's targets is checked to see if it's still a legal target. (If the ability has no targets, skip this part.) A target isn't legal if it has left play. It also isn't legal if it doesn't match the requirements of the ability anymore. If none of the ability's targets are legal when it tries to resolve, it's countered. Otherwise, just ignore any illegal targets when the ability resolves.

2. The ability's effect happens, in the same order as it's written on the permanent. (Replacement effects may change what you do.) If the text tells you to make a choice other than targets or "Choose one —", you make those choices.

Most enchantments have static abilities. For example, Levitation reads, "Creatures you control have flying." Once Levitation is in play, you don't have to pay a cost to give your creatures flying. They just have flying until Levitation leaves play. In Magic Online, any creatures that you control that didn't already have flying will have the word "Flying" on them in blue.