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Zur the Enchanter:

Whenever Zur the Enchanter attacks, you may search your library for an enchantment card with converted mana cost 3 or less and put it onto the battlefield. If you do, shuffle your library.

My question concerns terminology: the difference between costs and effects. What exactly defines whether a specific part of an effect is a cost, and when is it not a cost.

In the template

'You may ... . If you do, [effect]

Is ... always a cost, or not ? If not, what determines whether it is or isn't ?

Wooden Sphere's wording:

'You may pay {1}. If you do, [effect]

Obviously a cost. Let's change it.

'You may discard a card. If you do, [effect]

Still pretty obviously a cost. Let's change it.

'You may draw three cards. If you do, [effect]

Less obvious, but I think it's still a cost. Let's change it.

'You may search your library for a card, and put it into your hand. If you do, [effect]

Very fuzzy.

So where is the line drawn ? Is the search clause of Zur the Enchanter a cost to shuffle the library? If not, How is this determined?

That was my conclusion as well. It just seems ... odd.
Clearly, the main effect of Zur's ability is supposed to be the search. The shuffling is just an afterthought, so seeing the search as a cost to shuffle is kind of counterintuitive to a typical player.

There is a way to word Zur without making it a cost, which I think is probably preferable:

Whenever Zur the Enchanter attacks, you may search your library for an enchantment card with converted mana cost 3 or less, put it onto the battlefield, and then shuffle your library.

The reason why 'if you do' is used in Zur is not to make the search a cost, but to make shuffling the library dependent on the search, so that the player doesn't have to shuffle each time Zur attacks. The suggested wording makes the shuffle part of the same sentence, and as such part of the 'may', making 'if you do' redundant.

I'd rather define it as an optional instruction, and define costs as a type of an optional instruction.

Also, because the search might not happen they use "if you do, shuffle", so I find it consistent.

I still wonder why Zur the Enchanter 's ability is optional in the first place. Maybe it's meant to allow Zur to attack without messing " Index ed" cards or triggering Psychgenic Probe , unlike Isperia the Inscrutable . Other search effects on triggered abilities are meant to happen only once in the object's lifetime (enters/dies), or are tied to another optional action ( Blood Speaker - "you may sacrifice").

Dec 25, 2012 -- 8:16AM, adeyke wrote:

Quite a few searches are optional. Finding something is optional anyways (if it's more specific than "a card"), but making the search itself optional also makes sense, especially if there's the possibility the player doesn't want to (or can't) find an appropriate card.

Good point. it looks as if there's some inconsistency on whether a quality-specific search effect in a triggered ability is optional or not. It seems that most of the cards with such an effect are optional, and if I'm not mistaken, newly printed cards are made mostly optional.

But then there is Mwonvuli Beast Tracker as an exception, I wonder if it was a calculated decision to make it mandatory or just a mistake.

If Zur's ability were mandatory, you'd be stuck with the busy work of shuffling your library each time he attacks even after you've already gotten all the Aura cards from your library.

It could be the reason, but becasue shuffling a fully random deck can be shortened to not physically shuffling at all, so it might not be a reason enough. That's why I specified " index ing" and Psychogenic Probe as the reason.

Angel of Jubilation doesn't say anything about costs in general. It specifically says "to cast spells or activate abilities". It doesn't stop sacrifices or life payments to pay for other costs.

Indeed, I don't think there's any card that cares about costs in general. The fact that Zur's library searching is technically a cost might be interesting rules trivia, but it's not more than that. Most players don't need to know that it's a cost or even what the technical definition of a cost is.

And yes, there are some rather absurd costs. Delif's Cone is a prime example. The actual benefit is the cost, while the effect is something you really don't want. It really doesn't make sense to conceptually view gaining life there as a cost, but I still don't see what benefit there would be to making it a non-cost.

Is there any actual, non-hypothetical, situation where it matters that something is a cost? Is there a functional difference between the abilities of Ondu Giant and Farhaven Elf ?