#rooftop storm

Rooftop Storm

"Let those idiot priests tremble! A new era in unlife begins here and now. Oglor, raise the lightning vane!" —Stitcher Geralf

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Yes, you have to pay commander tax still.

Rooftop Storm will allow you to pay 0 rather than Varina’s printed mana cost, i.e. 1WUB, but you’ll still need to pay any additional costs to cast her, such as commander tax if you’re casting her from your command zone. A 4 mana discount is still pretty good, though.

Rooftop Storm gives Zombie spells you cast an alternate cost of 0. If you choose to cast a zombie spell using the alternate cost provided by Rooftop Storm, you still have to pay any additional costs for the spell, such as commander tax or exiling a creature card from your graveyard.

Rooftop Storm’s ability just replaces the base cost of the spell, but not anything else.

Yes.

Be aware that anything that says you must do something as an additional cost, you still must do, even if you are paying an alternate cost for the spell rather than its normal casting cost.

Additional costs can be found on cards such as Makeshift Mauler. The additional (2) you must spend for each time you’ve cast your commander from the command zone also counts as an additional cost.

So, for example: Your commander is Grimgrin. You’ve cast him twice from the command zone already this game, and you now control Rooftop Storm. In order to cast him now, you may either pay (0) or pay his normal casting cost, but either way you must also pay the additional (4).

So in the end, you have a choice between paying (4) or (7UB) -- not (3UB), and not (0).

Rooftop Storm doesn’t actually reduce or increase what the mana cost is for Zombie spells. Rather, Rooftop Storm gives you an alternate cost you may choose to pay instead of the Zombie’s casting cost. In this case, that alternate cost is (0).

Similar cards that use alternate costs include Abolish, Blazing Shoal and Bringer of the Blue Dawn. You can always choose to pay the regular casting cost for these cards if you prefer.