If you cast a spell for another cost “rather than paying its mana cost,” such as an emerge cost, you can’t choose to cast it for any other alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs, such as kicker costs. If the spell has any mandatory additional costs, those must be paid to cast it.
A creature’s mana value is determined solely by the mana symbols printed in its upper right corner (unless that creature is the back face of a double-faced card, is a melded permanent, or is copying something else; see below). If the mana cost includes {X}, X is 0. If it’s a single-faced card with no mana symbols in its upper right corner (because it’s an animated land, for example), its mana value is 0. Ignore any alternative costs or additional costs (such as kicker) that were paid as the creature was cast.
You may sacrifice a creature with a mana value of 0, such as a token creature that’s not a copy of another permanent, to cast a spell for its emerge cost. You’ll just pay the full emerge cost with no reduction.
Last observed on Scryfall 2 months ago at $0.14. Over the trailing 90 days the price moved between $0.03 and $0.15 across 54 observations. Cross-checked across TCGplayer, eBay sold, Cardmarket EU, and Star City.
This printing is one of 3 catalogued treatments from MH3 — the lineup includes Foil and Nonfoil alongside the standard finish. Across our catalog the Rarix library tracks every variant in the same family so collectors can compare price, scarcity and demand inside a single lineage.
Card #14 of *Modern Horizons 3*, the set that shipped alongside the June 2024 Modern Horizons 3 release.
Card type: Creature — Eldrazi Sphinx, color identity blue, printed at uncommon. Uncommons fill the middle-tier slots in a standard booster configuration. Mana cost: {8} (8 converted). Keyword abilities: Flying and Emerge.
Legal across the major constructed formats — Modern, Legacy, Vintage, and Commander — plus Standard rotation play.
EDHrec ranks this card #18,946 in Commander, putting it in the fringe-play tier of the format's playable pool.
Illustrated by Nino Vecia. Rarix catalogs 117 other cards credited to this artist.
Magic: The Gathering · ™ & © Wizards of the Coast · Illus. Nino Vecia
Card data via Scryfall. Rarix is fan-made; not endorsed by the rights holders.
The mana value of a creature spell with emerge isn’t affected by whether its emerge cost is paid. For example, if you cast Decimator of the Provinces for its emerge cost and sacrifice a creature whose mana value is 3, Decimator of the Provinces’s mana value remains 10.
The creature chosen to be sacrificed is still on the battlefield as the cost of the emerge spell is determined and as you activate mana abilities to cast the emerge spell. Its abilities may affect the spell’s cost, be activated to generate mana, and so on. However, if it has an ability that triggers when a spell is cast, it will have been sacrificed before that ability can trigger.
Once you begin to cast a spell with emerge, no player may take actions until you’re done. Notably, opponents can’t try to remove the creature you wish to sacrifice.
Emerge represents two static abilities that function while the spell with emerge is on the stack. “Emerge [cost]” means “You may cast this spell by paying [cost] and sacrificing a creature rather than paying its mana cost” and “If you chose to pay this spell’s emerge cost, its total cost is reduced by an amount of generic mana equal to the sacrificed creature’s mana value.”
You may sacrifice a creature with mana value greater than or equal to the emerge cost. If you do, you’ll pay only the colored mana component of the emerge cost.
Colored mana components of emerge costs can’t be reduced with emerge.
The mana value of the back face of a double-faced card is the mana value of its front face. The mana value of a melded permanent is the sum of the mana values of its front faces. A creature that’s a copy of either has a mana value of 0.
If you sacrifice a creature with {X} in its mana cost, that X is 0.
The triggered ability may target permanents that are already tapped. It will still put a stun counter on them.
The triggered ability will resolve before Twisted Riddlekeeper does. If Twisted Riddlekeeper is countered or otherwise leaves the stack in response to its triggered ability, the triggered ability will still resolve as normal.
