I was looking at Evolving Wilds the other day, and I wondered: Could I put down Evolving Wilds as a land, use it for 1 colorless mana by tapping it, and then sacrifice it to search my library for a basic land?
As opposed to only tapping and sacrificing for a search through the library.
Pretty much, mana AND ability, not ability and nothing else.
No, for two reasons.
Evolving Wilds' ability has the tap symbol in its cost. If it is already tapped, then you can't pay that cost, so you can't activity the ability.
Worse, you can't even tap it for 1 colorless mana in the first place! Evolving Wilds has no ability that lets you tap it for mana whatsoever.
You can tap basic lands for mana because the rules grants them an ability to do so, but that ability is only granted to basic lands (Plains, Islands, Mountains, Forests and Swamps). You can't tap other lands for mana unless they have an ability allowing it.
