Can Unlicensed Armory be activated without a valid target, just to discard a card?

Question

Accepted Answer

No. You cannot activate Unlicensed Armory solely to discard a card if there is no legal friendly unit to choose for its effect. The discard is part of the ability's cost and the ability requires a legal target during finalization, so without a legal target the activation cannot be completed. [422.3] [FAQ:unleashed#2]

Unlicensed Armory cannot be activated just to discard 1 if there is no legal friendly unit to choose. Discarding 1 is a cost and must be payable, and the ability requires choosing a friendly unit when it is finalized; if no legal target exists when you attempt to activate it, you cannot place the ability on the chain to pay the cost and resolve it. [422.3] [FAQ:unleashed#2]

Determine whether you have at least 1 card in hand to discard. Discarding as a cost must be possible to begin activation. [422.3] When you attempt to activate Unlicensed Armory, treat 'Discard 1, :rb_exhaust:' as the costs and 'Choose a friendly unit...' as the effect that requires choosing a legal target during finalization. You must be able to choose a legal friendly unit at finalization to place this ability on the chain. [FAQ:unleashed#2] If there is no legal friendly unit to choose at the time you would finalize the activation, you cannot finalize the activation and therefore cannot pay the discard cost and exhaust cost solely to produce no effect. [422.3] [FAQ:unleashed#2] If a unit will become a legal target due to an earlier item on the chain (for example, an earlier spell or ability that will play or move a unit by the time of finalization), you may be able to finalize and activate Unlicensed Armory because the target check is done during finalization. [FAQ:unleashed#16] If you successfully finalize (choose a legal target and pay costs) but the chosen unit is later illegal at resolution, follow the usual partial/ignored-instruction rules during resolution. [359.3.e.11]

You have at least one card to discard but no friendly units currently on any battlefield. You cannot activate Unlicensed Armory to just discard because there is no legal target at finalization. [422.3] [FAQ:unleashed#2] A unit becomes available as a legal target only because of an earlier pending chain item that will create/move a unit when finalized. In that case, you can finalize Unlicensed Armory after that earlier item resolves or if finalization timing makes the unit legal; see [FAQ:unleashed#16]. You begin the activation able to choose a legal target and pay costs, but before resolution the target becomes illegal (e.g., it is banished or killed). The resolution will attempt to follow instructions as much as possible; checks about a target that is no longer legal return null and related calculations are ignored. [359.3.e.11] [359.3.e.12] Replacement effects that alter how a cost is paid (e.g., an effect replacing a death) do not prevent the cost from being considered paid, so discarding still counts as paid even if some other replacement applies to other parts of the activation process. [357.2.a]

The activation text on Unlicensed Armory reads like a typical activated ability with costs followed by an effect: 'Discard 1, :rb_exhaust:: Choose a friendly unit. The next time it dies this turn, you may pay :rb_rune_fury: to recall it exhausted instead.' The 'Discard 1' here is a cost, and the rules state that when Discarding is listed as a Cost, the action to discard must be able to be completed to pay that cost [422.3]. More broadly, choosing targets and paying costs occur as part of the finalization step when placing an ability on the chain; you must choose a legal target and pay costs during that process for the ability to be finalized and placed on the chain [FAQ:unleashed#2]. Therefore, if there is no legal friendly unit to choose when you attempt to activate Unlicensed Armory, you cannot finalize the activation, so you cannot pay the discard and exhaust costs solely to produce no effect. If a legal target will exist because of an earlier item on the chain (for example, a pending play that will put a unit onto a battlefield you control), finalization can take that into account and you may be able to activate; see the guidance in [FAQ:unleashed#16]. If you do finalize the activation by choosing a legal target and paying costs but the target becomes illegal by the time the ability resolves, resolution follows the normal rules about partially-executable instructions and null checks. [359.3.e.11]