If I play a spell card with Repeat and my opponent Defies it, can I use Repeat to play it again, or does Defy prevent me from playing it entirely?

Question

Accepted Answer

If your opponent plays Defy to counter a spell you played with Repeat, Defy will counter that play and you cannot retroactively pay Repeat again for that same play. If you already paid Repeat as part of playing the spell, those Repeat costs remain paid but the countered spell does nothing. To get the spell effect again you must play the spell as a new Play (and pay its costs/Repeat then).

A spell countered by Defy is countered for that Play and cannot be given additional Repeat payments after it has been countered. Repeat must be paid as an additional cost while playing the spell; once Defy resolves and counters the spell, that Play is negated and you would need to Play the card again to try again. Costs (including Repeat payments) already paid are not refunded when a spell is countered.

You declare the Play of the spell and, during the Make Relevant Choices and Pay Costs steps, decide whether to pay its Repeat optional additional cost(s) and pay those costs if you choose [820] [357]. If your opponent plays Defy in response, they initiate a Counter action targeting your chain item; when Defy resolves it counters the spell on the chain and clears it from the chain [425]. If you had already paid Repeat as part of that Play, those Repeat payments are still paid but the countered spell does nothing on resolution (costs aren't refunded) [425]. You cannot pay Repeat after the spell has been Countered — Repeat is an additional cost that must be paid while playing the spell, not after it has been countered or removed from the chain [820] [357]. To get the spell’s effect after it was countered, you must Play the spell again as a new Play (paying its Energy/Power and any Repeat additional costs during that new Play) [419] [820].

If you paid the Repeat cost(s) while playing the spell and then Defy later counters it, the Repeat costs remain paid and are not refunded; the spell still does nothing because it was Countered [425]. If the spell has multiple instances of Repeat, you must decide and pay for each instance during the Play process. You cannot pay an additional Repeat instance after the spell has been countered [820]. If you have Reactions that Add resources (for paying costs) you may activate them during the Pay Costs step to pay Repeat when you are playing the spell, but you cannot use those to pay Repeat after the spell is countered — Add Reactions finalize immediately when activated in the Pay Costs step, they can't be used retroactively after Counter resolves [357] [429.3]. If a game effect created a Limited Play (a card being played as part of another effect), the same rules apply: Repeat must be paid during that Play process, and if the resulting chain item is countered it does nothing [419]. If you want the spell effect after it was countered you need to pay the costs and Play it again; Defy only negates that particular chain item, it doesn't prevent you from playing the card again later if you have resources [425] [419].

Repeat is an optional additional cost that must be paid as part of playing the spell — the Repeat cost is an Additional Cost paid during the steps of playing a spell, and paying it causes the spell’s instructions to be executed additional times when it resolves [820] [357]. Defy is a Reaction that says “Counter a spell ...” When Defy resolves it performs a Counter action against the targeted chain item; a Countered card does nothing and is removed from the chain, and Countering does not refund any costs paid (including additional costs like Repeat) [425].

Therefore, you cannot wait until after Defy resolves and then pay Repeat for that already-countered Play: Repeat must be paid while you are playing the spell. If you already paid Repeat when you played the spell, those costs remain spent, but if Defy subsequently counters the chain item the spell will still do nothing on resolution because it was countered and cards that are countered are not considered to have been played [425] [820].

If you want the spell effect after it was countered, you must Play the spell again as a new Play and pay its costs (and any Repeat additional costs) as part of that new Play [419] [820]. The FAQ confirms that costs spent during a Play remain spent even if the spell is later countered, which reinforces that paying Repeat during the Play isn’t undone by countering [FAQ:unleashed#21].