Pay — Riftbound Rules

444.1.

Paying a resource is the act of removing that resource from your Rune Pool.

444.1.a.

Pay is an action that interacts with Energy and Power.

444.2.

When a player is instructed to Pay a resource, that player may remove that resource from their Rune Pool if it exists there. If they choose not to, the instruction is ignored. Example: When Diana, Lunari’s triggered ability resolves, if its controller has [1] Energy in their rune pool, they choose whether or not to pay that Energy as instructed. If they choose not to pay the Energy, they will not perform the additional effects of the triggered ability.

444.2.a.

If the instruction to Pay resources is part of paying costs for a card or ability, choosing not to pay those resources will cause the act of playing the card or ability to be undone. See rule 358. Check Legality for more information.

444.2.b.

If the instruction to Pay resources is part of paying any other cost, choosing not to pay those resources will prevent the execution of the associated effect. See rule 201. Costs for more information.

444.2.c.

Players may activate abilities that Add resources with the Reaction keyword at any time that they are instructed to Pay resources. Those abilities finalize and resolve immediately, ignoring normal restrictions. See rule 429. Add for more information.

444.3.

Pay is a Limited Action.

444.3.a.

Players may only Pay resources when directed to by Game Effects.

Related FAQ (7)

How much do I pay for an Accelerate cost?

Accelerate costs 1 energy and also 1 power of the unit's domain/color. Usually you'll do this by taking an additional ready rune of the appropriate domain/color, exhaust it, and then recycle that same rune. For example, if a fury/red unit normally costs (3) (or 3 energy) and you want to accelerate it, its total cost would be (4)(R) (or 4 energy and 1 power of the fury/red domain).

What parts of a spell does the Repeat ability cause to be repeated? Is it the entire effect? If I use Temporal Portal to give Find Your Center Repeat and pay the cost while its cost reduction applies, does the cost reduction happen once or twice, and does the final spell cost 2 or 4?

Repeat causes repetition of a spell's instructions. Find Your Center's cost reduction applies once, making the final cost 4 - its base cost of 3, plus its Repeat cost of 3, minus its cost reduction of 2.

What happens if I play Atakhan from my deck with Rek'Sai, Breacher on the board? Can I pay the Accelerate cost and kill Rek'Sai for the Atakhan additional cost? Will it enter ready?

Yes, Atakhan enters ready. Accelerate creates a delayed replacement effect that causes Atakhan to enter ready. Although he lacks the Accelerate keyword when he resolves, he still has the delayed replacement effect that Accelerate generates.

What new choices can I make when I play Rebuttal and pay the additional cost?

You can make new choices for any number of targets or modes; the rest remain the same. Any choices you don't remake must be legal — you can't leave some but not all choices illegal. You can also decline to make new choices entirely, in which case current choices stay as they are, legal or not. Rules or requirements about a spell's choices (such as face-down play targeting) apply regardless of who controls the spell.

If Temporal Breach lets me replay my Elder Dragon and I pay for Dragon Roost, is it played to base or to Dragon Roost?

You choose. When two effects impose competing mandatory positive requirements on where to play a unit — neither of which prohibits other locations — the player picks one requirement and ignores the others. This doesn't apply to restrictions ("can't" effects), which always hold.

Can I pay Dragon Roost's cost to play Perched Grimwyrm there if I haven't conquered it this turn?

No — "can't" beats "can." Perched Grimwyrm can't be played anywhere but a battlefield you've conquered this turn, and Dragon Roost's permission can't overcome that restriction; the play is undone in the legality check. Baron Nashor is different because his ability is a delayed replacement effect ("I enter there") that replaces the entry event itself, which gets around play-location restrictions; Dragon Roost only grants permission on play location.

If Icathian Rain chooses a unit at Heisho, Shell of the World and five units elsewhere, how many times do I pay for Deflect?

Not at all. While your spell or ability chooses a unit at Heisho, you ignore Deflect while paying for it — Deflect is treated as inactive on all units, since Heisho doesn't specify whose Deflect to ignore. This applies only to that spell or ability; at least one of its targets must be a unit at Heisho.