Glad you asked, because they sure can! Just because they can’t attack doesn’t mean they can’t sit there and soak up damage for you. Can Creatures With Summoning Sickness Block? They’re just asking for a warm body they can use as fuel for their own fire, so they're allowed to use summoning sick creatures to help pay their costs. It’s just being used to help pay the cost by another source.Ĭards like Aura of Dominion and Holdout Settlement are other fantastic examples. Abilities like crew or convoke are prime examples since the sick creature isn’t the one activating an ability. While we’re at it, this goes for all things that want to tap another creature to help activate it. Crewing doesn’t require the creature to be raring to go, it just has to exist and meet the requirements. A sick and disoriented creature driving around a vehicle sounds a little wild, but it can be done. Can Creatures With Summoning Sickness Crew Vehicles? If you don’t see those symbols you’re good to go. Just look for the tap or untap symbols in the cost to activate the ability. What About Other Activated Abilities?Ībsolutely! As long as the cost to activate the ability doesn’t require the creature to tap to activate it, you’re absolutely fine. This can be circumvented with haste, but the common case would be that they can't. It’s explicitly stated that the creature can't attack or use activated abilities that include the tap or untap symbols in their cost when it’s summoning sick.

Can Creatures With Summoning Sickness Use Tap Abilities? The term officially defines that a creature is always summoning sick unless it’s been continuously controlled by a player since the beginning of that player’s most recent turn. Summoning sickness ends at the start of its controller's next turn. This effect eventually wears off and the creature can act normally again when your next turn comes around. The best way to think of it is that it can’t tap for an attack or its own activated ability. When your creature enters the battlefield one way or another, it's summoning sick. It’s a fundamental part of the design and gameplay of Magic because it dictates the flow and pace of a match, deckbuilding decisions, and card design. The term originates from the concept that your creature is shaken and disoriented from being summoned and it needs to take a moment to rest before it can act. Summoning sickness only lasts until your next turn. Summoning sickness is a term used to describe a creature that has just been played on the battlefield, and because of this it can't attack or use a tap ability. Creeping Tar Pit (Worldwake) | Illustration by Jason Felix

Faceless haven summoning sickness