Covercast

Keywords · intermediate

Covercast is an ability word on a digital-only (MTG Arena / Alchemy) card. Like every ability word it has no rules meaning of its own — it italicizes and names an ability rather than doing anything itself.

How it works

• The ability after "Covercast —" is an ordinary triggered ability. On the one card that uses it, that ability triggers whenever you cast another instant or sorcery spell, checks whether five or more mana was spent to cast it, and if so makes the covercast card intensify.
• It works while the card is still in your hand: you build the card up by casting expensive spells, then cast it later for a bigger effect.
• The payoff scales off the card's intensity, which starts at a printed value and climbs each time the covercast trigger fires.

Rules notes

• Because it functions from your hand rather than the battlefield, opponents can't interact with a covercast card while it's charging up.
• The trigger checks mana spent on the other spell, not that spell's mana value, so cost increases count toward the threshold and cost reductions can drop you below it.
• It only sees other spells; casting the covercast card itself doesn't trigger it.
• Covercast is not in the Comprehensive Rules — it is digital-only, so the card's printed text is the authority. See the intensity entry for how the underlying counter works.

Rule reference

[207.2c]