Ashiok, Wicked Manipulator's passive does not work for pay life abilities when my life total is below the normal cost even with enough cards
I love the new Ashiok, Wicked Manipulator and pair its passive ability with Staff of Compleation and Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion. These are really fun combinations. However if my life total is too low I can't use the pay life abilities. Ashiok's passive states that instead of paying life I exile cards. So, as long as I have enough cards in my deck I should be able to activate any pay life abilities with Ashiok, Wicked Manipulator on the board. That's how the card reads.
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olin olidimara#93760 commented
I agree, this is bs. This happened to me too. The card reads "If you would pay life WHILE YOUR LIBRARY HAS AT LEAST THAT MANY CARDS IN IT, exile that many cards from the top of your library instead"
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im playing ashiok, wicked manipulator in historic brawl and had added lord of the forsaken as a card into the deck because it has the ability "Pay 1 life : add 1 colorless mana. spend this mana only to cast a spell from your graveyard." this effect has no mention about being unable to activate without a target in the graveyard meaning i should be able to activate it whenever i want to pay a life and add a mana. with ashiok in play this would mean i could add a mana by removing the top card of my deck instead making it a good card to use when aiming to use ashioks -7 loyalty ability as i could fill my exile zone easily through it with no repercussions as mana burn in no longer a thing in magic. sadly the game makes you unable to even activate the ability if theres nothing to spend mana on making this card useless for the strategy i wanted to employ with it even though it should be able to be done with both how magic works and how the card is read.
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[Deleted User] commented
If you don't have life to pay, you can't pay the cost, even if a replacement effect would alter how that cost is paid.