If the target card is an illegal target by the time Cling to Dust tries to resolve, the spell won’t resolve. You won’t gain 3 life or draw a card.
Cling to Dust
If you cast a spell with its escape permission, you can’t choose to apply any other alternative costs or to cast it without paying its mana cost. If it has any additional costs, you must pay those.
To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost you’re paying (such as an escape cost), add any cost increases, then apply any cost reductions. The mana value of the spell remains unchanged, no matter what the total cost to cast it was and no matter whether an alternative cost was paid.
Magic: The Gathering · ™ & © Wizards of the Coast · Illus. Caio Monteiro
Card data via Scryfall. Rarix is fan-made; not endorsed by the rights holders.
