<p>Yes you can use creatures with summoning sickness to pay for convoke costs. Summoning sickness means:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><strong>302.6.</strong> A creature's activated ability with the tap symbol or the untap symbol in its activation cost can't be activated unless the creature has been under its controller's control continuously since his or her most recent turn began. A creature can't attack unless it has been under its controller's control continuously since his or her most recent turn began. This rule is informally called the "summoning sickness" rule.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Casting a spell using convoke is neither attacking, nor activating an ability with a tap or untap symbol in its cost. Convoke is just another way to pay for the spell in addition to tapping lands like you normally would.</p>

<p>Note that while tapping the soldiers helps pay for the cost of the spell it isn't actually adding any mana to your mana pool, you tap them instead of paying mana.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-05T14:50:30.390Z
2014-12-05T14:50:30.390Z
diego
<p>Yes, they can. You are probably thinking of the "summoning sickness rule", which does not apply here:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>302.6. A creature‘s activated ability with the tap symbol or the untap symbol in its activation cost can‘t
  be activated unless the creature has been under its controller‘s control continuously since his or her
  most recent turn began. A creature can‘t attack unless it has been under its controller‘s control
  continuously since his or her most recent turn began. This rule is informally called the "summoning
  sicknes" rule.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>So this rule doesn't prevenet creatures for being tapped for any reason other than paying the activation cost of that creature or attacking with that creature.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-05T14:51:05.360Z
This is one of my favorite tricks. Nothing like summoning tokens so you can tap them to pay a cost. It never seems to be expected.
Pow-Ian
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-05T14:56:51.307Z
Along the same lines, [Gilt-Leaf Archdruid](http://magiccards.info/mt/en/124.html) can tap itself the turn it enters the battlefield.
ikegami
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-05T15:44:45.957Z
Along ikegami's line, I often hear the rule (302.6) summarized as "it just can't tap itself, other things can tap it". Of course, this isn't completely accurate as the rules and cards like gilt-leaf show.
corsiKa
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-05T15:54:32.970Z
@Pow-Ian though summoning the tokens often costs at least as much as you save by using them for convoke! Still, it is possible and legal.
David Z
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-05T15:56:40.767Z
@David Z, not always. My favorite combo with this: Battle Screech - If you have a white creature in play, you can cast it, and immediately flash it back. The tokens are used to pay the cost. So I go from having a single white creature to having 1 white creature and 4 tokens. It never fails to surprise.
Pow-Ian
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-05T16:36:05.020Z
The Judge's Corner has a [comprehensive video on Convoke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN-lTUXFbB4) that you could reference in your answer if you wanted to. In any case people can find it here in the comments.
Rainbolt
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-05T14:48:58.720Z
2014-12-05T14:48:58.720Z
GendoIkari
<p>Can creatures or creature tokens be tapped for mana the turn they entered the battlefield when casting a spell with convoke or do they need haste?</p>
<p>For example, can I cast <a class="mtg-autocard" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" href="https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Raise%20the%20Alarm">Raise the Alarm</a> for 2 soldier tokens, then on that same turn tap the soldiers to help pay for a <a class="mtg-autocard" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" href="https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Stoke%20the%20Flames">Stoke the Flames</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-05T15:02:52.300Z
@Diego Your proposed edit introduced poor grammar where there was none, so I rejected it.
Rainbolt
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-05T15:12:48.453Z
@Rainbolt What happened is that Diego attempted to just add card links; using the wording that was originally in the post. But I made an edit at the same time, which added the card links AND fixed the grammar issues.
GendoIkari
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-05T15:14:32.703Z
@Gendolkari I wish I had taken a screenshot, since that's obviously a bug.
Rainbolt
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-05T15:40:46.633Z
@Rainbolt it's not a bug, it's just a merge conflict - they have to use some protocol to resolve the conflict manually, and they just use "most-recently-approved-edit overwrites" - they could use something like a diff and then apply the diffs, but this is just simpler.
corsiKa
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-05T20:01:29.667Z
That calls into question whether or not two questions with the same answer are the same question.
corsiKa
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-05T23:53:30.437Z
This question is asking about a specific situation covered by the other question, which is more general.
murgatroid99
<magic-the-gathering>
Can creatures with summoning sickness be tapped for convoke?
Swaggity Swagminster
# Can creatures with summoning sickness be tapped for convoke?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-12-05)

Can creatures or creature tokens be tapped for mana the turn they entered the battlefield when casting a spell with convoke or do they need haste?

For example, can I cast [Raise the Alarm](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Raise%20the%20Alarm) for 2 soldier tokens, then on that same turn tap the soldiers to help pay for a [Stoke the Flames](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Stoke%20the%20Flames).

**Tags:** magic-the-gathering

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: @username_5 Your proposed edit introduced poor grammar where there was none, so I rejected it.  
> **username_2**: @username_1 What happened is that username_5 attempted to just add card links; using the wording that was originally in the post. But I made an edit at the same time, which added the card links AND fixed the grammar issues.  
> **username_1**: @Gendolkari I wish I had taken a screenshot, since that's obviously a bug.  
> **username_3**: @username_1 it's not a bug, it's just a merge conflict - they have to use some protocol to resolve the conflict manually, and they just use "most-recently-approved-edit overwrites" - they could use something like a diff and then apply the diffs, but this is just simpler.  
> **username_3**: That calls into question whether or not two questions with the same answer are the same question.  
> **username_4**: This question is asking about a specific situation covered by the other question, which is more general.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-12-05. Score: 10 | Accepted answer

Yes, they can. You are probably thinking of the "summoning sickness rule", which does not apply here:

> 302.6. A creature‘s activated ability with the tap symbol or the untap symbol in its activation cost can‘t
> be activated unless the creature has been under its controller‘s control continuously since his or her
> most recent turn began. A creature can‘t attack unless it has been under its controller‘s control
> continuously since his or her most recent turn began. This rule is informally called the "summoning
> sicknes" rule.

So this rule doesn't prevenet creatures for being tapped for any reason other than paying the activation cost of that creature or attacking with that creature.

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: This is one of my favorite tricks. Nothing like summoning tokens so you can tap them to pay a cost. It never seems to be expected.  
> **username_7**: Along the same lines, [Gilt-Leaf Archdruid](http://magiccards.info/mt/en/124.html) can tap itself the turn it enters the battlefield.  
> **username_3**: Along username_7's line, I often hear the rule (302.6) summarized as "it just can't tap itself, other things can tap it". Of course, this isn't completely accurate as the rules and cards like gilt-leaf show.  
> **username_8**: @username_6 though summoning the tokens often costs at least as much as you save by using them for convoke! Still, it is possible and legal.  
> **username_6**: @username_8, not always. My favorite combo with this: Battle Screech - If you have a white creature in play, you can cast it, and immediately flash it back. The tokens are used to pay the cost. So I go from having a single white creature to having 1 white creature and 4 tokens. It never fails to surprise.  
> **username_1**: The Judge's Corner has a [comprehensive video on Convoke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN-lTUXFbB4) that you could reference in your answer if you wanted to. In any case people can find it here in the comments.  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2014-12-05. Score: 1

Yes you can use creatures with summoning sickness to pay for convoke costs. Summoning sickness means:

> **302.6.** A creature's activated ability with the tap symbol or the untap symbol in its activation cost can't be activated unless the creature has been under its controller's control continuously since his or her most recent turn began. A creature can't attack unless it has been under its controller's control continuously since his or her most recent turn began. This rule is informally called the "summoning sickness" rule.

Casting a spell using convoke is neither attacking, nor activating an ability with a tap or untap symbol in its cost. Convoke is just another way to pay for the spell in addition to tapping lands like you normally would.

Note that while tapping the soldiers helps pay for the cost of the spell it isn't actually adding any mana to your mana pool, you tap them instead of paying mana.


---

