Hardcast

Hardcast (or Paying Retail) is Magic: The Gathering jargon used to describe the playing of a spell by paying its mana cost. It is usually used when a spell has an alternative cost, or a permanent could be put into play by a means other than casting it. For example, playing Force of Will by paying is hardcasting it, while playing it by paying 1 life and exiling (pitching) a blue card is using the alternate cost.

In a similar vein, spells that are not intended to ever be cast, but rather have abilities that active from zones other than the battlefield, can also referred to have been hardcast as a sign of an unusual game. Examples here include Simian Spirit Guide, Decree of Justice and Stinkweed Imp.

See also: Free spell

The inability of some decks to hardcast a portion of their spells (Reanimator, Tooth and Nail, Hypergenesis, or decks based on Sneak Attack) may be an exploitable weakness, as the creatures they want to put into play are dead cards without the respective enablers.