<p>Yes, Horribly Awry will still counter your Sylvan Messenger.  (And so to answer the title question, no you can't raise the CMC of a spell.)  Geist-Fueled Scarecrow adds an <em>additional</em> cost, but this doesn't affect either the mana cost or the converted mana cost of the spell:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>202.4. Any additional cost listed in an object’s rules text or imposed by an effect isn’t part of the mana cost. (See rule 601, “Casting Spells.”) Such costs are paid at the same time as the spell’s other costs.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-15T02:16:35.637Z
2016-12-15T02:38:18.027Z
2016-12-15T02:38:18.027Z
Steven Stadnicki
<p>Say for example, I cast <a class="mtg-autocard" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" href="http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?name=%2b%5bSylvan%20Messenger%5d">Sylvan Messenger</a>, normally {3}{G}, but there is also a <a class="mtg-autocard" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" href="http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?name=%2b%5bGeist-Fueled%20Scarecrow%5d">Geist-Fueled Scarecrow</a> in play - thereby bringing up the cost to {4}{G}.</p>

<p>In response, my opponent casts <a class="mtg-autocard" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" href="http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?name=%2b%5bHorribly%20Awry%5d">Horribly Awry</a>. Can Horribly Awry counter my Sylvan Messenger?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-15T13:42:13.800Z
related: http://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/23750/do-effects-that-reduce-a-spells-casting-cost-also-reduce-its-converted-mana-cos
diego
<magic-the-gathering>
Can you raise the CMC with Geist-Fueled Scarecrow?
Aj Godinez
# Can you raise the CMC with Geist-Fueled Scarecrow?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-12-15)

Say for example, I cast [Sylvan Messenger](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?name=%2b%5bSylvan%20Messenger%5d), normally {3}{G}, but there is also a [Geist-Fueled Scarecrow](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?name=%2b%5bGeist-Fueled%20Scarecrow%5d) in play - thereby bringing up the cost to {4}{G}.

In response, my opponent casts [Horribly Awry](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?name=%2b%5bHorribly%20Awry%5d). Can Horribly Awry counter my Sylvan Messenger?

**Tags:** magic-the-gathering

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: related: http://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/23750/do-effects-that-reduce-a-spells-casting-cost-also-reduce-its-converted-mana-cos  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2016-12-15. Score: 8 | Accepted answer

Yes, Horribly Awry will still counter your Sylvan Messenger. (And so to answer the title question, no you can't raise the CMC of a spell.) Geist-Fueled Scarecrow adds an *additional* cost, but this doesn't affect either the mana cost or the converted mana cost of the spell:

> 202.4. Any additional cost listed in an object’s rules text or imposed by an effect isn’t part of the mana cost. (See rule 601, “Casting Spells.”) Such costs are paid at the same time as the spell’s other costs.


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