Heritage Druid lets you tap three elves you control to add GGG to your mana pool. Stifle counters activated or triggered abilities. My question is... if I use Heritage Druid to tap three elves and then that ability is countered are the elves still tapped?
1 Answer
You cannot Stifle Heritage Druid's ability since it is what is called a mana ability
605.1a An activated ability is a mana ability if it meets all of the following criteria: it doesn’t have a target, it could put mana into a player’s mana pool when it resolves, and it’s not a loyalty ability
605.3b An activated mana ability doesn’t go on the stack, so it can’t be targeted, countered, or otherwise responded to. Rather, it resolves immediately after it is activated.
If instead of the Heritage Druid's ability if your opponent was trying to Stifle Imperious Perfect's activated ability your Perfect and lets say the Forest you tapped for the {G} would remain tapped.
701.5a To counter a spell or ability means to cancel it, removing it from the stack. It doesn’t resolve and none of its effects occur. A countered spell is put into its owner’s graveyard.
701.5b The player who cast a countered spell or activated a countered ability doesn’t get a “refund” of any costs that were paid.
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3I think a better counter example would be stifling Arbor Elf's ability. Arbor Elf remains tapped, but the forest doesn't uptap.– corsiKaJul 29, 2015 at 16:07