Activated ability

An activated ability is an ability that can be activated by a player by paying a cost. The cost can be almost anything, such as sacrificing a permanent, paying mana, paying life, or tapping the permanent with the ability (). Activated abilities are usually found on permanents, but can sometimes be used on cards in other zones, such as the graveyard or a player's hand.

Only an object's controller (or owner, if it has no controller) can activate its activated abilities unless the ability says otherwise. Also, you can usually activate an activated ability any time you have priority, unless it says otherwise. Except for those that are mana abilities, activated abilities use the stack.

A player cannot activate an activated ability of a creature that includes the tap symbol () or the untap symbol () in its cost unless he or she has controlled the creature continuously since the start of his or her most recent turn. This condition is informally known as "summoning sickness".

Activated abilities cannot be countered by spells or abilities that counter spells, because they aren't spells. However, there are cards, such as Stifle, Squelch and Voidslime, that can be used to counter these abilities.

Examples

Below are examples of different activated abilities.

Lore Broker's activated ability can be activated any time the controlling player could cast an instant, which means he or she must have priority to activate it. The cost includes the tap symbol , which means that because Lore Broker is a creature, the ability cannot be played if the controller has not controlled it from the beginning of his or her turn. (This is informally known as "summoning Sickness".)

Nezumi Bone-Reader's activated ability's cost does not include the symbol, which means it can be activated even if it has summoning sickness. However, it can only be activated during the controller's main phase when he or she has priority and the stack is empty.

Squallmonger's ability can be activated by other players than the controller, because the card explicitly says so. The player activating the ability must still have priority in order to do so, however.

Ghost-Lit Raider has two activated abilities. The card doesn't explicitly say when you can activate the two different abilities, but it is inferred by the cost.

The first requires the controller to tap it, and thus requires the card to be on the battlefield, as only permanents can be tapped. The second (which has the ability word Channel) requires the controller to discard it from his or her hand. This implies that it can only be activated when it is in its controller's hand.