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I was reading Equipment cards and the timing of their activated ability and wondered about the Equip keyword timing.

Let's say I'm playing Vedalken Orrery (which has, You may cast spells as though they had flash) and have an artifact with Equip. I can now cast sorceries (because they are spells) at any time (because it's "as though they had flash"). Does that mean I can equip at any time?

702.6a: Equip is an activated ability of Equipment cards. “Equip [cost]” means “[Cost]: Attach this permanent to target creature you control. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.”

702.8a: Flash is a static ability that functions in any zone from which you could play the card it’s on. “Flash” means “You may play this card any time you could cast an instant.”

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2 Answers 2

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No.

307.5. If a spell, ability, or effect states that a player can do something only “any time they could cast a sorcery,” it means only that the player must have priority, it must be during the main phase of their turn, and the stack must be empty. The player doesn’t need to have a sorcery they could cast. Effects that would preclude that player from casting a spell or casting a sorcery don’t affect the player’s capability to perform that action (unless the action is actually casting a spell or casting a sorcery).

So in other words, "any time you could cast a sorcery" is just short-hand; it doesn't actually mean "casting a sorcery is a thing you can do right now". It means that the timing rules for that ability follow the normal timing rules for casting a sorcery.

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No; see the Rulings below the card:

6/15/2010 This applies only to casting spells. It does not, for example, change when you may activate abilities that can only be activated “any time you could cast a sorcery”.

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  • Simply put, abilities are not spells. Anything that affects only how spells are cast (timing, cost, etc.) does not change anything about how abilities are activated. Nov 8, 2018 at 16:12
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    @NuclearWang I think that would actually make a decent independent answer.
    – David Z
    Nov 8, 2018 at 21:03
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    @DavidZ I disagree for this particular question. The confusion here wasn't whether activating an ability was affected by things that affect spells, but rather about if "any time you can a sorcery" is affected by things that change when you can cast a sorcery.
    – GendoIkari
    Nov 8, 2018 at 22:01
  • Thanks to both for your comments, but, yeah - it's like @gendolkari says. It's about timing, not about mixing spells with abilities. Nov 9, 2018 at 0:15

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