Waterbend

Waterbend
Keyword Action
Introduced	Avatar: The Last Airbender
Last used	Avatar: The Last Airbender Eternal
Reminder Text	Waterbend [cost] (While paying a waterbend cost, you can tap your artifacts and creatures to help. Each one pays for .)
Scryfall Statistics
cards

Waterbend is a keyword action introduced in Avatar: The Last Airbender. It represents the art of waterbending in the Avatar universe.

Description

Waterbend costs can appear as an additional cost to cast a spell, as part of an ability's activation cost on permanents, or anywhere else you might be asked to pay mana. Spells' mana costs cannot be inherently Waterbended. Waterbending costs thus far have been all generic mana, and for each mana in that cost, you may tap an untapped artifact or creature you control rather than pay that mana. In how they both involve the tapping of nonland permanents to pay for spells, it compares to the cost-reducing abilities convoke and improvise, which can only occur on spells.

When a player has activated a waterbend ability, they are "waterbending".

Future use

If the mechanic is to be reused outside of the Avatar: The Last Airbender IP it has to be renamed.

Rulings

• "Waterbend [cost]" means "Pay [cost]. For each generic mana in that cost, you may tap an untapped artifact or creature you control rather than pay that mana."
• If a waterbend cost is part of the total cost to cast a spell or activate an ability, you may tap an untapped artifact or creature you control rather than pay one generic mana in that total cost any number of times up to a maximum of the amount of generic mana in the waterbend component of that total cost.
• Even if the cost of the spell or ability that waterbend is part of increases or decreases, you still may only tap artifacts or creatures to pay for costs up to the amount of the generic mana in the waterbend cost.
• If an artifact or creature you control has a mana ability with in the cost, activating that ability while casting a spell or activating an ability with waterbend will result in the artifact or creature being tapped before you pay the spell's costs. You won't be able to tap it again for waterbend. Similarly, if you sacrifice an artifact or creature to activate a mana ability to pay a cost with waterbend, that artifact or creature won't be on the battlefield when you pay the spell's costs, so you won't be able to tap it for waterbend.
• You can tap any untapped creature or artifact you control to pay a waterbend cost, even one you haven't controlled continuously since the beginning of your most recent turn.

Examples

Example

Waterbending Lesson
Instant — Lesson
Draw three cards. Then discard a card unless you waterbend . (While paying a waterbend cost, you can tap your artifacts and creatures to help. Each one pays for .)

See also

• Convoke
• Improvise
• Airbend
• Earthbend
• Firebending