Recently the following situation popped up in a casual game and it was a bit confusing. I was wondering if someone here could help out.
- Player T has 4 mana open and plays a 2 mana spell in his main phase
- Player G has a Nivmagus Elemental out and plays a Rune Snag to counter T's 2 mana spell; Player G has no Rune Snags in his graveyard
- T decides to pay the 2 mana required to not have his spell countered.
- At this point G exiles his rune snag using Nivmagus Elemental to obtain two +1/+1 counters
It seemed to me that this cannot happen, since either Rune Snag resolves and T pays two mana, or Nivmagus Elemental eats Rune Snag and T does not need to pay 2 mana since it never resolves.
Does player T need to pay two additional mana to play his spell even if Nivmagus Elemental eats it?