Three questions about Ezreal: (1) Does Ezreal's legend ability trigger if Frigid Touch with Repeat is countered by Defy? (2) Does Ezreal Prodigy reduce the cost of spells played by Fizz from the discard? (3) What is the resolution order when playing Arcane Shift on Fizz?

Question

Accepted Answer

1) Yes. Choices you made while playing a Repeat instance of Frigid Touch count for Ezreal - Prodigal Explorer’s condition even if the spell is later countered by Defy. 2) Ezreal - Prodigy’s text only reduces optional additional costs you pay; it will reduce optional additional costs you choose to pay while playing a spell even if that spell is being played from discard, but it does not by itself reduce a spell’s base Energy/Power cost unless that cost is expressed as an optional additional cost. 3) When you resolve Arcane Shift on a friendly unit (e.g., Fizz): first the unit is banished, then the spell instructs its owner to play that unit (that play is a normal play action that requires choices/cost-payment steps and will put any “When you play me” triggers on the chain), then the “Deal 3” is performed, then Arcane Shift banishes itself — all in that written sequence.

1) Yes — the choices required by the Repeat execution are made during the Make Relevant Choices step while the spell is being played, so they count toward Ezreal - Prodigal Explorer’s requirement even if the spell is later countered by Defy [820.2.a]. 2) Ezreal - Prodigy reduces optional additional costs you pay (and such discounts apply when that component is added and may reduce additional costs to 0); it will apply to optional additional costs paid while playing a spell from discard, but it does not inherently reduce a spell’s base Energy/Power cost unless that cost is an optional additional cost [356.4.c] [356.4.f] [356.4.f.1]. 3) Arcane Shift’s instructions resolve in order: banish the friendly unit; that effect causes you to play the unit (the play action is initiated and goes through the normal play steps and will create any “when you play me” triggers); then deal 3 to the chosen enemy unit at a battlefield; then banish Arcane Shift itself. The play-of-the-unit is a separate play action that is placed on the chain and finalized as usual [820.2.a] [FAQ:unleashed#18] [357.1].

Q1 — Playing Frigid Touch with Repeat: When you play the spell you make the choices for each execution during the Make Relevant Choices step of playing the card; those choices are made as the card is being played and therefore count toward conditions that ask whether you "have chosen" enemy units/gear twice this turn. If an opponent plays Defy to counter the spell during resolution, the countering happens later and does not retroactively remove the earlier choices [820.2.a]. Q2 — Ezreal - Prodigy and spells played from discard: When you are instructed to play a spell from discard it is still a play action; optional additional costs are decisions made while playing and discounts that apply to those optional additional costs (like Ezreal - Prodigy’s line) are applied when that component is added and can reduce those additional costs to 0. Ezreal - Prodigy only references optional additional costs, so it does not automatically reduce a spell’s base Energy/Power cost unless that base was being applied as an optional additional cost [356.4.c] [356.4.f] [356.4.f.1]. Q3 — Resolving Arcane Shift on a friendly unit: Resolve the instructions in order: (a) banish the chosen friendly unit; (b) the effect "then its owner plays it, ignoring its cost" initiates a Play action for that unit — the unit’s Play process (choices, costs, triggers like “When you play me”) occurs as a normal play and will create any relevant triggered abilities on the chain; (c) deal 3 to an enemy unit at a battlefield; (d) banish Arcane Shift. The play-of-the-unit is treated as a play event placed on the chain and finalized following normal rules [820.2.a] [FAQ:unleashed#18] [357.1].

If some other replacement effect replaces the banish with a different event when Arcane Shift tries to banish the unit (e.g., a hypothetical card that replaces banish with 'kill' or 'recall'), that replacement could change whether the subsequent 'play it' instruction can legally occur — replacement effects can modify what happens and those modifications are applied in the usual replacement ordering (not covered fully in provided context). If the unit that is being played by Arcane Shift has mandatory additional costs (e.g., Deflect or "As an additional cost to play me, kill a friendly unit."), whether those costs must be paid when the card is 'played ignoring its cost' depends on the precise meaning of 'ignoring its cost' on Arcane Shift (not fully defined in the provided text). My ruling assumes 'ignoring its cost' means ignoring Energy/Power costs but not necessarily non‑standard additional costs; if the card explicitly ignored all costs then mandatory additional costs would be ignored as well. If the Repeat instance of Frigid Touch involved choosing targets that would be illegal at finalization (e.g., the only legal target was removed before finalization), rule 357.3 would prohibit paying costs that create deterministic illegal choices unless unavoidable; this could affect whether the Repeat execution could be chosen/payed.

Q1 — Frigid Touch + Repeat countered by Defy: When you play Frigid Touch and pay Repeat you must make the choices for the additional execution(s) during the Make Relevant Choices step of playing the card; those choices are therefore 'made' at play time and are valid events for abilities that check whether you 'have chosen' enemy units or gear twice this turn. The fact that an opponent later plays Defy to counter the resolving spell does not retroactively remove the earlier choices you made while playing the spell. Support: Repeat requires you make choices during the usual Make Relevant Choices step of Playing a Card [820.2.a]. Therefore those choices count for Ezreal - Prodigal Explorer’s "Use only if you've chosen enemy units and/or gear twice this turn…" condition even if the spell is later countered by Defy. Q2 — Does Ezreal - Prodigy reduce the cost of spells played from discard: Ezreal - Prodigy’s text specifically reduces 'optional additional costs you pay' by 1 Energy or 1 rainbow rune. Discounts that apply to components of a spell’s cost are applied when that component is added to the spell’s cost, and discounts can reduce additional costs (including to 0). Therefore, if you are playing a spell from your discard (the play is still a play action) and you choose to pay an optional additional cost while playing it, Ezreal - Prodigy’s discount will apply to that optional additional cost when that component is added and can reduce it (potentially to 0) [356.4.c] [356.4.f] [356.4.f.1]. However, that line does not by itself reduce the spell’s base Energy/Power cost unless that base cost is implemented as an optional additional cost; base Energy/Power costs are a separate component and are only reduced by effects that apply to them. Q3 — Resolution order for Arcane Shift on Fizz: Follow the written sequence on Arcane Shift. First the targeted friendly unit is banished. Second, the spell instructs that its owner plays that unit 'ignoring its cost' — that is a Play action being initiated by Arcane Shift and must go through the normal play steps (choices, cost-payment where applicable, creation of any "When you play me" triggers). Plays triggered or initiated this way are put on the chain/handled as plays normally are (see the example in the FAQ showing play events placed on the chain) [FAQ:unleashed#18]. After the play action instruction resolves (including any resulting triggers that are created and placed on the chain), Arcane Shift then deals 3 to an enemy unit at a battlefield, and finally Arcane Shift banishes itself. Note on costs: the provided card text says 'ignoring its cost' but the Core Rules excerpt here does not define the precise scope of that phrase for nonstandard additional costs; my working assumption is that 'ignoring its cost' refers to ignoring Energy/Power costs, while mandatory additional costs (like Deflect or explicit 'as an additional cost to play me...' costs) may still be relevant unless the card text explicitly ignores them — if the card truly ignored all costs, then those would not be required. Relevant rules: discounts/optional cost timing and Repeat choices are governed by [356.4.c] and [820.2.a], optional additional-cost 'paid' semantics by [356.4.f.1], and play/payment steps by [357.1].